1. South Carolina –There were at least 10 suicides in the state’s prisons last year— the cause of two deaths have not yet been determined, re- ports The Post and Courier. In addition, there were nine homicides — including seven at Lee Correctional, making last year the deadliest year in the history of the state’s prisons. Prison homicides and suicides have risen in the state for at least five years in a row even as the inmate population declined. 2. Cleveland, Ohio –The state’s prison system is so short of staff that interns evaluate the … [Read more...] about NEWS BRIEFS
News Briefs
News Briefs
California in United States Adelanto, California — Last November, 11 U.S. senators, including 2020 presidential prospect Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, sent letters to Geo Group and CoreCivic criticizing the “perverse profit incentive at the core of the private prison business,” reports Reuters. Detainees are paid $1-a-day salary at the privately run Adelanto Detention Facility, however, a can of tuna sells for $3.25 in the facility’s commissary — four times the price at a Target store near the small desert town of Adelanto; ramen … [Read more...] about News Briefs
News Briefs
Alabama – State lawmakers took steps to change Alabama’s execution method from lethal injections to nitrogen hypoxia, Criminal Legal News reports. The change ended a lawsuit filed by eight Death Row prisoners who chose execution by nitrogen hypoxia over lethal injection.Arkansas – A trial judge dismissed all charges against former Death Row prisoner Rickey Dale Newman and set him free on Oct. 11. Newman spent nearly 17 years incarcerated following the February 2001 murder of a transient woman, the Death Penalty Information Center reports. He … [Read more...] about News Briefs
News Briefs December 2018
San Quentin—Christopher Wadsworth, former chief psychiatrist at San Quentin, was awarded more than $800,000 in a lawsuit that claimed he was retaliated against after he warned that conditions at the prison would endanger inmates, reports The Sacramento Bee. Wadsworth’s complaint alleged that a change in mental health protocol contributed to an inmate’s suicide in 2014. The lawsuit, filed in 2015, concluded this year when Wadsworth accepted a transfer to Folsom State Prison. Oakland—Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) … [Read more...] about News Briefs December 2018
Securus Technologies absorbs more competition
The prison pay phone industry is gradually com- ing under the control of two companies as Securus Technologies recently announced the purchase of one of its smaller competitors, ICSolutions (ICS). A story published in Prison Legal News, using data from Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), said Securus and Global Tel*Link (GTL) pro- vide inmate calling service to 70 percent of the prison and jail market in the United States. The purchase will give Securus all of ICS’s issued and outstanding membership interests of the company, it was reported. … [Read more...] about Securus Technologies absorbs more competition
NEWS BRIEFS: November 2018
1. USA—The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in early 2016 that sentencing juveniles to life with no chance for parole is unconstitutional. The states with the highest juvenile lifers were Pennsylvania, Michigan and Louisiana. As of mid-September, The Advocate reports that Pennsylvania had 530 juvenile lifers affected by the decision—375 were resentenced and 150 were paroled. Michigan’s juvenile population was 360. One-hundred- twenty were resentenced. Fifty were paroled. Louisiana had 302 juvenile lifers affected—218 were resentenced and 23 were … [Read more...] about NEWS BRIEFS: November 2018
News briefs October 2018 Tennessee, Georgia, Texas…
1. Tennessee –A lawsuit raises inadequate treatment for claims diabetic inmates as well as claims of under-staffing since the private prison firm, CoreCivic Inc., opened Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility in 2015. Last year an audit reported that gangs run rampant in Trousdale because of insufficient security, according to the Nashville Tennessean. Understaffing is also key to the diabetes lawsuit, alleging that Trousdale goes on lockdown for weeks at a time — causing diabetic treatment to become worse. 2. Georgia –A federal court has … [Read more...] about News briefs October 2018 Tennessee, Georgia, Texas…
NEWS BRIEFS September 2018 USA, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania & Arizona
1. USA - The stocks of two of the world’s biggest private prison companies are outperforming the market amid the current immigration crisis. Both the GEO Group and CoreCivic sup- ported Donald J. Trump’s presidency. The companies donated $250,000 to Trump’s Inaugural Committee, with GEO hav- ing donated $225,000 to a Trump Super PAC during the 2016 election. 2. USA — There were 56 percent fewer criminal convictions of illegal immigrants than of native- born Americans in Texas in 2015, a new report shows. The report by the Cato Institute … [Read more...] about NEWS BRIEFS September 2018 USA, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania & Arizona
NEWS QUOTES JULY 2018 NYT THE WEEK QUILL
1. “50,000 more drivers needed to meet demand, according to the American trucking associations.” New York Times “Need Fuels Trucking’s Diversity Push” July 28, 2018 2. “Alarmingly high numbers of Americans continue to pay more than half of their income toward rent.” HUD Secretary Ben Carson NYT July 28, 2018 3. “The National Low Income Housing Coalition found that a working earning minimum wage could afford a market rate one-bedroom apartment in only 22 of the country’s 3,000 counties.” NYT July 28, 2018 4. “In 1935 the Supreme Court … [Read more...] about NEWS QUOTES JULY 2018 NYT THE WEEK QUILL
News Quotes November 2017
“There were more than 61,250 technical parole violators in 42 state prison systems as of early 2017,”reports The Marshall Project. Seven states, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, New York and Pennsylvania, have more technical violators than the remaining 35 states combined. ttp:/www.themarshallproject.org/2017/04/23 Los Angeles Police Department doled out almost $81 million dollars in the last fiscal year to settle high-profile lawsuits, the Los Angeles Times reported. … [Read more...] about News Quotes November 2017