1. FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — An interim commission has begun to examine racial disparities in North Carolina’s criminal justice system after a task force reported that African-Americans and Hispanics are “systematically searched at much higher rates than whites,” reports The Fayetteville Observer.
2. New Hampshire — State officials are seeking to expand New Hampshire’s prison bed capability even though the prison population has fallen by 13 percent since last year, reports Business Insider. Corrections Corporation of America, the GEO Group, Management and Training Corporation, and the Hunt Group/LaSalle Corrections have submitted bids to build and house nearly 3,000 prisoners.
3. Arizo — State prison officials have recently completed one of the first steps required to award a contract to build and operate a private prison by asking private prison companies to submit bids, reports the Arizona Journal. In response, LaSalle Corrections Company submitted a plan and bid to build a 1,000-bed male facility.
4. VACAVILLE — Solano County officials say 95 felons were sent to state prison in the third quarter of last year, reports the Vacaville Reporter. Since realignment began one year ago, there has been a 51 percent reduction in new admissions to state prison. The county only sent 70 new felons to state prison in the past year.
5. MACON, Ga. — The FBI is investigating allegations of prisoners abused by guards at Macon State Prison. In the past 16 months, two guards have pled guilty to federal civil rights and conspiracy charges related to the beating of prisoners, the Huffington Post reports.
6. NEW YORK — A new program that takes private money to improve social outcomes has been put into place by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, reports The Huffington Post. Global investment bank Goldman Sachs will invest $10 million in a program to assist adolescent prisoners released from Riker’s Island. Goldman Sachs will only make money if the program reduces recidivism
7. TEXAS — John Soules Food, Inc. mislabeled thousands of pounds of “meat trimmings” intended for animals and sold it to an East Texas jail, reports The Huffington Post. An investigation showed prisoners ate the pet food. The company has agreed to terms that will pay $392,000 to the federal government to cover the cost of the three-year investigation.
8. Kern County — Since realignment went into effect, the numbers for burglary, larceny and auto thefts are going up, reports the South County Reporter. Law enforcement officials say they are “wondering if it’s a direct result of prison realignment,” the report states.
9. Lincoln, Neb. — A man convicted of first-degree murder in 1956 for killing his wife was freed after another man on Death Row confessed. Darrel Parker spent 14 years in prison. He was paroled in 1970, and received a full pardon in 1991. Parker, now 80, has been offered $500,000 and an apology by State Attorney General Jon Bruning for the wrongful conviction.
10. Cleveland — A man who spent 25 years on Death Row was freed after a judge dismissed the murder charges against him, reports The Associated Press. Michael Keenan, 62, was convicted in the 1988 killing of a man found dead in a brook in a Cleveland park. The judge ruled that the prosecution withheld evidence that could have benefited the defense.
11. LOS ANGELES — Movie star Tim Robbins is giving acting lessons to prisoners doing time at California Rehabilitation Center, Norco. The Actors’ Gang, a theatre company, set up the classes. “They’re asked to do things they’ve never been asked to do in their life – open up emotionally, and put on make-up and costumes, and pretend to be people. It’s weird stuff,” Robbins told CBS TV in Los Angeles.
12. SACRAMENTO — A doctor at California Medical Facility made more than $410,000 in 2011. A nurse at High Desert State Prison made nearly $236,000. A pharmacist at Corcoran State Prison was paid more than $196,000. Of the top 100 highest-paid state employees outside the University of California system, in 2011, 44 worked for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, according to as Associated Press analysis of state payroll data. They were paid an average of nearly $379,000. The top pay went to a Salinas Valley State Prison psychiatrist at $803,271.