1. Washington – Violent crime declined in California in 2011, but increased in Oakland and San Jose, a new FBI report says. Statewide violent crime dropped about 5.5 percent, but Oakland had 104 homicides, 10 more than the previous year. San Jose homicides jumped from 20 to 39. UC Berkeley law professor Franklin Zimring noted Oakland’s 2006 homicide total was 149.
2. New York – A federal judge has rebuked a Brooklyn prosecutor for alleged misconduct in the trial of Jabbar Collins, whose murder conviction was overturned after 16 years in prison. Judge Frederic Block accused prosecutor Michael Vecchione of “horrendous behavior” in the
case. Collins has fi led a $150 million civil lawsuit against the city.
3. Norfolk, Va. – Gov. Bob Mc-Donnell has conditionally pardoned Johnathan Montgomery, who spent four years in state prison for his conviction on charges he molested a 10-yearold girl when he was 14. The woman recently admitted fabricating the story. “The truth sets
you free,” Montgomery, now 26, said after being released from the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarrat, Va.
4. Tracy – Duel Vocational Institution is headed back to its former role as a prison to give prisoners vocational training, says Warden Ron Rackley. “It’s pretty exciting for me,” said Rackley, 46. “That was the history of this place.” The change from reception center to vocational
training was prompted by realignment, the state’s response to court orders to curb overcrowding. Deuel has launched computer literacy classes, and on the horizon are auto body, ventilation and air conditioning, building maintenance and electronics.
5. Tallahassee, Fla. – Florida has contracted with the private Pennsylvania company Wexford Health Sources to provide medical care to more than 15,00015,000 prisoners in several south Florida prisons, Gov. Rick Scott’s administration announced layoff notices were being sent to almost 400 employees, said a prison spokeswoman. The state will pay the company $48 million a year and is estimated to save taxpayers $1 million a month in healthcare cost, prison offi cials report.
6. Atlanta – Reforms in Georgia’s criminal justice system have had a noticeable effect since legislative approval, says a report by the Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform. Rather than growing as projected, the total state prison population has remained fairly steady since June, the report says. The group recommends continuing
a program to help ease re-entry into society for longserving offenders, eliminating double supervision for offenders on probation and parole at the same time, and creating a risk-assessment tool to identify people who have committed nonviolent drug and property crimes who could safely be put into a diversion program rather than prison.
7. Dayton, Ohio – The state’s Death Row population is decreasing as new death sentences are outnumbered by prisoners who die from execution or other causes or are freed through clemency or appeals, the Dayton
Daily News reports. Last year three Ohio prisoners were executed, three new death sentences were handed down, one condemned died in prison and a court vacated another death sentence. Two others received gubernatorial clemency and a life sentence instead and one was released on appeal. The Death Row population dropped from 204 in January 2003 to 142 in 2013. There were 77 new death sentences nationwide in 2012, and 315 in 1996.
8. Springfi eld, Ill. – State officials have shut down the notorious Tamms “supermax” prison after nearly 15 years, saying it was too expensive to
run. Prisoners were moved toother prisons. Tamms isolated the “worst of the worst” prisoners from the general population and kept them in their cells 23 hours a day.
9. Sacramento – Detainees with serious mental illnesses and deemed incompetent to stand trial regularly spend up to six months in jail before bed space opens up in state hospitals, reports the Sacramento Bee. The tragic situation has gotten worse in recent years, says the director of government affairs for the California Psychiatric Association.
10. Indianapolis, Ind. – In 2010, of the state’s 26,700 prisoners, more than 5,800 were found to be mentally ill. However, the state only has the capacity to handle 250 patients, according to The Associated
Press. A federal judge has ruled the condition violates mentally
ill prisoners’ right against cruel and unusual punishment.
11. Columbus, Ohio – Hospital officials at Ohio State University say they are doubtful that its two-year contract will be renewed with the state prison to provide 23 beds for prisoners, reports the Columbus Dispatch. The $40 million contract ends June 2013. “It’s not as lucrative as it has been in the past, for a lot of reasons,” said a highranking offi cial with Ohio State. “This time around, we’re going to take a real critical look at whether we stay in that contract, given that every day we are just slammed for beds, and there’s obviously a lot of other issues relative to public perception.”
12. Harrisburg, Pa. – Corrections officials said its prisonsheld 51,184 prisoners at the end of 2012. “This is a decrease of 454 inmates from last calendar year,” said the director of planning research and statistics. “This also was the largest one-year drop in our population since 1971, and only the third time in the past 40 years that our population has shown an annual decrease rather than an increase.”
13. Seattle, Wash. – State prisoners in solitary units are “increasingly being let out for hours to attend classes, see counselors or hit the gym,” reports The Seattle Times. The move is based on expert analysis showing rehabilitation calms behavior and reduced violent recidivism. It cost almost three times more to keep a prisoner in solitary confinement, The Times report.
14. Georgetown, Texas – Michael Morton was freed in 2010 after DNA evidence showed he was not the person who killed his wife. Morton had spent 25 years behind bars. The prosecutor in the case, Ken Anderson,
may now be facing criminal charges for failing to reveal to the defense, testimony that Morton’s then 3-year-old son witnessed the murder, reports The Associated Press. Anderson, now a district judge, is
also being sued by the State Bar of Texas for his conduct in the Morton case, according to the report.
