LAS NUEVAS PROPUESTAS DE LEY ESTAN EN EFECTO
EL gobernador de California Gavin Newsom firmo leyes que entraron en efecto enero 1, del 2023, y rechazó otras cuatro, informó Iniciar Justicia (Initiate Justice), en su carta informativo The Inside Journal. Iniciar Justicia, es una organización sin fines de lucro compuesta por personas que han sido impactadas en varios aspectos de su vida por el sistema carcelario del estado de California. … [Read More...]
9th Circuit upholds reform measures
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a ruling enforcing reforms aimed to protect incarcerated people with disabilities in California’s prisons from abuse by correctional officers, reported the Los Angeles Times. The three-judge panel cited persistent problems with a “staff culture of targeting inmates with disabilities” in their decision. The reforms stemmed from … [Read More...]
South Carolina pushes ‘shield laws’ to protect lethal drug suppliers
South Carolina is pushing to enact a law to shield the identities of pharmaceutical companies that supply the state with drugs used for lethal injections, according to an article by The Associated Press. The state is looking to end its 12-year period of being unable to carry out executions due to a failure to secure the needed lethal drugs after its supply expired in 2013. “Even if … [Read More...]
OHIO: $1.3M settlement reached in wrongful conviction case
After 21 years of incarceration for a crime he didn’t commit, Ralph Smith, 49, was awarded $1.3 million for his wrongful imprisonment, according to a story in the Complex. Smith was falsely convicted of an armed robbery in Ohio in 2000 for which he was sentenced to 67 years in prison. Prosecutors alleged that Smith, who is Black, and another Black man broke into a dwelling that was … [Read More...]
Judge overturns ex-gov’s sweeping commutations
A Nevada judge halted the outgoing governor’s last-minute attempt to have all 57 Death Row prisoners’ sentences commuted because victim families were not properly notified as required by law, the Associated Press reports. Then-Gov. Steve Sisolak recommended the state parole board, which includes the governor, grant commutations on Dec. 20. But District Court Judge James Wilson Jr. ruled that … [Read More...]
Benefits of drug use decriminalization delayed
g personal drug use in 2020 and focusing on drug addiction treatment instead, but the results to date have been underwhelming, The Associated Press reports. Along with decriminalization, Oregon’s Ballot Measure 110 aimed to raise revenue from recreational marijuana sales and drug possession fines to fund addiction treatment and related services. However, an audit of the new … [Read More...]
Second Chance Month highlights the power of personal transformation
Second Chance Month highlights impact of self-help, rehabilitative efforts April is officially Second Chance Month. Every year, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs celebrates formerly incarcerated individuals for successful reentry. A high number of returning citizens, also known as formerly incarcerated, are in college, running social justice reform nonprofits and … [Read More...]
Civil rights lawyer becomes Alameda County’s first Black DA
Civil rights attorney Pamela Price won her bid to be Alameda County’s first Black district attorney, campaigning on pledges of criminal justice reforms. She defeated opponent Terry Wiley, who was endorsed by the previous office holder, Nancy O’Malley. Price has a history of litigating against the state’s prison system and advocating for women who have been the victims of domestic … [Read More...]
New law blocks prosecutors’ use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases
California has a new law banning the use of a rap artist’s lyrics to prosecute crimes. Focus of the legislation was Anere Brown, also known as X-Raided, who spent 26 years in prison. In his trial the prosecution played lyrics from his rap records and tied them to the Sacramento murder of community activist Patricia Harris, the Sacramento Bee reported Sept. 29. Brown was 17 years … [Read More...]
CALIFORNIA – New laws to take effect Jan. 1
Eight bills signed intolaw; governor vetoes gatemoney, prisoner pay hike Following is an excerpt from Initiate Justice’s Policy Corner - Reprinted with permission The following bills are not being sponsored by Initiate Justice but could materially impact the lives of incarcerated people. We are not sponsors of these bills, so please do not write to us for details. We do not offer advice or … [Read More...]
LAW & POLICY – SF DA reinstates policy allowing juveniles to be charged as adults
Newly elected San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins reinstated the policy of charging 16- and 17-year-olds as adults for crimes that she called “egregious,” wrote Megan Cassidy in The San Francisco Chronicle. Former District Attorney Chesa Boudin had ended the practice, but Jenkins believes that juvenile prosecution does not allow for proper rehabilitation because such prosecutions … [Read More...]
TEXAS – No immunity for state corrections in veteran’s medical device lawsuit
A state appeals court has denied immunity of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from a lawsuit when it refused to replace a device for Robin Smith, an incarcerated person who relies on the device for relief from a rare and painful condition, according to Bloomberg Law. “Smith, a Marine Corps veteran, lives with loin pain hematuria syndrome, which causes severe abdominal pain, made … [Read More...]
Discrimination persists despite ‘Ban the Box’ laws
Formerly incarcerated people are still facing many obstacles finding employment despite “Ban the Box” laws. After serving almost 20-years of a life sentence, Oakland native Adam Garcia went home in November 2019 to an unfamiliar world of technology. Garcia spoke of the challenges he faced when applying for jobs; he entered a world of LinkedIn and Indeed. Garcia also found a … [Read More...]
California offender records to be sealed under new law – SB 731
By Henry Ortiz Reprinted by permission from Marin Independent Journal If the goal is to make California safer, the state took major step in the right direction last month after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed groundbreaking legislation that gives people who have been arrested or convicted of a crime a genuine chance to turn their lives around. Having spent 18 years living inside our state’s … [Read More...]
Call for repeal of state’s Three Strikes law
California needs to repeal the Three Strikes Law, which has lengthened sentences of more than 33,000 people, including more than 7,400 whose latest conviction was neither serious nor violent, according to an op-ed article in the Los Angeles Times. The authors maintained the best solution is to repeal the law because “keeping people in prison for longer periods has not made us safer.” Adding, … [Read More...]
Ruling: Prosecutors required to follow Three Strikes law
Prosecutors must charge defendants with sentence-lengthening "three-strikes” enhancements, even if they oppose the state’s three strikes law, a California appeals court ruled in June, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. In the 3-0 ruling, Justice John Segal said that California’s 1994 three strikes law “shall be applied in every case” in which a defendant has a past conviction for a serious or … [Read More...]
NC judges overturn outdated law prohibiting parolees from voting
Thousands of North Carolina parolees and probationers may regain their right to vote because of a decision by a split panel of trial judges. If upheld, the decision would restore voting rights to as many as 56,000 people, reported The Associated Press. The panel cited unconstitutional discrimination against Black voters among the reasons for the majority decision. North Carolina … [Read More...]
Oakland Police: Era of federal oversight coming to end
By Clark Gerhartsreiter, Contributing Writer After nearly two decades, federal oversight of the Oakland Police Department (OPD) may come to an end, according to Robert Warshaw, the court appointed independent monitor. Warshaw reported to federal judge William H. Orrick that the OPD was compliant in all but one of the 52 required tasks negotiated in the 2003 settlement … [Read More...]
Congress reexamines crack vs cocaine laws
Congress is again considering eliminating the disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine penalties that has disproportionately impacted Black defendants. The bill passed the House last September with bipartisan support and would apply retroactively if it makes it through the Senate. It is tagged the EQUAL Act, short for Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the … [Read More...]
Author of 1893 parole law remembered
California’s first parole law crafted by state’s first female attorney Thanks to the 1893 parole law, those serving sentences in California’s two prisons were given an incentive to be on their best behavior: release. The new law marked a turning point for the state correctional system, created by the state’s first female attorney. A pioneer in every sense of the word, as well as an agent … [Read More...]
El grupo legal Jailhouse Lawyer 360 pierde su licencia por estafa a prisioneros
Ex-Recluso Estafador Cientos de reclusos en las prisiones estatales de California fueron estafados por un ex convicto quien después de terminar con su libertad condicional, representaba ilegalmente a los prisioneros en sus apelaciones, reportó Life Support Alliance (LSA por sus siglas en ingles) en su boletín de febrero 2022. Anthony David Urbano, fundador del Jailhouse Lawyer 360, se … [Read More...]
Guard convicted of civil rights violations in beating death of prisoner
An Illinois prison guard now faces a possible life sentence after a federal jury found him guilty of multiple civil rights violations leading to the death of a prisoner, according to the Associated Press. In 2018, prison guard Alex Banta, 30, was one of “dozens” of officers at the Western Illinois Correctional Center who responded to a disturbance in one of the housing units. There, they … [Read More...]
Oregon prisoners file class action Covid suit
A federal judge granted class-action status to prisoners suing Oregon state officials over their treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to February article by The Associated Press. Gov. Kate Brown, Oregon Department of Correction Director Colette Peters, and Health Authority Director Patrick Allen were among the state officials named in the suit. Data from the Oregon … [Read More...]
Criminal fines take toll on poor
Criminal fines and fees often help fuel city revenues while harming the poor communities of color they serve, according to Reuters. San Francisco was one of the first cities to confront misappropriated fines and fees by “scrapping all administrative fees in its criminal justice system in 2018,” said Anne Stuhldreher, director of the San Francisco Treasurer’s Financial Justice … [Read More...]
Pharmaceutical companies want to manufacture death drugs in secret-IDAHO
A new bill prohibiting drug supplier transparency on lethal injection drugs has reached the full Idaho Senate. A 5-4 vote pushed the bill to the full Senate by the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee, The Associated Press reported March 14. “If this is an issue we’re going to address, we need to address it now” said Sen. Todd Lakey, committee chairman. Some suppliers are declining to … [Read More...]