Washington, D.C. – In an effort to reduce the number of prisoners in federal penitentiaries, Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, is proposing a post-sentencing bill that would send drug offenders and other low-risk offenders to halfway houses or home confinement using ankle-bracket monitoring, reports The Salt Lake Tribune.
St. Louis, Mo. – The state’s Department of Corrections is celebrating its 10th year helping local underprivileged schoolchildren with school supplies, reports St. Louis Today.com. Offenders in the DOC Restorative Justice program provide KidSmart, a nonprofit organization, with coloring books, journals, flashcards, bookmarks, notepads, and learning games. No tax dollars are used in the endeavor.
Roanoke, Va. – More than 25 percent of the 12,000 prisoners released by the state each year return within three years. Virginia CARES assists more than 400 of the ex-offenders with employment services, reports Roanoke.com. The organization works with a $105,000 annual budget.
Miami, Fl. – All 60 prison facilities are scheduled to offer kosher meals by end of the year, reports The Associated Press. Prison officials say the plan will follow strict Jewish dietary rules.
Tennessee – GED certificates were awarded to 36 prisoners incarcerated at Corrections Corporation of America’s Hardeman County Correctional Center on May 17, reports the Jackson Sun.
Jackson, Miss. – A class-action lawsuit filed against a state prison alleges prisoners are isolated for long periods in “barbaric” conditions, with cell infested with rats and broken toilets. In addition, the suit claims prisoners are denied access to medical and mental heath services, The Associated Press reports.
Hennepin County, Minn. – Drug busts doubled from 2010 to 2012, according to county officials. Heroin deaths and overdoses climbed to a record level. There have been 37 drug-related deaths so far this year, with 15 of them due to heroin overdoses, reports the Star Tribune.
Anniston, Ala. – State officials report its prisons are 192 percent over designed capacity. To avoid a federal order implementing a population cap for prisons, state representatives are planning to build a new women’s prison.
New Haven, Mich. – Prison officials are bringing community college courses and vocational training into the prison system. The program targets a small number of offenders who are near parole, the Detroit News reports. There are 42,000 prisoners in the state’s 31 prisons, and nearly half begin their sentences without a high school diploma or GED.
New York, N.Y. – A task force studied the 1.1 million-student city school system to find out how student misbehavior was handled during the 2011-12 school years, reports the New York Times. The report found that an “overwhelming majority”of 70,000 suspensions were for minor misconduct, which was a 40 percent increase from the previous six years. The report recommended that an interagency leadership team be developed, comprised of educators, social service officials and court officials, with the goal of keeping students safe in school while decreasing the use of the harshest punishments.
Richmond, Va. – Ras-Solomon Tarari, 35, spent more than 10 years in segregation for refusing to cut hair, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Tafari said he conformed to the grooming standards so he can be transferred from the prison where he suffered beatings, a stroke, and other injuries.
Ohio – Three of the state’s juvenile correctional facilities are among the top 13 facilities in the U.S. for rape and other sexual acts forcefully committed against juvenile offenders, reports The Columbus Dispatch. The U.S. Justice Department of Bureau of Justice Statistics found the three juvenile facilities had sexual-assault rates of 30.3, 23.3, and 19.8 percent respectively.
