1. Huntsville, Texas – The fi rst woman executed in the U.S. in nearly three years and a graduate student are the latest persons put to death in Texas. Kimberly McCarthy, 52, was executed June 26. She became the 500th person put to death by Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Former Texas Tech graduate student Vaughn Ross, 41, was executed July 18. Ross’ execution was the 10th this year in Texas, the nation’s most active capital punishment state.
2. Norco – California Rehabilitation Center warden Cynthia Tampkins ordered a halt to feeding of feral cats, and then reversed the order after 3,700 people reportedly signed a petition of opposition to the action. “Unfortunately, some individuals in the public have expressed their outrage at the removal of the feeders,” Tampkins said in a memo. “I understand their concerns and empathize with their views. It was never my intention to appear unsympathetic or uncaring.”
3. Devore – San Bernardino County is planning to train county prisoners to battle wild- fi res. With California’s prison realignment plan, many offenders are receiving longer sentences in the county jail “and are good candidates for this program,” said Sheriff John McMahon. Los Angeles initiated a similar inmate program last year.
4. Sacramento – The state Senate has confi rmed Gov. Jerry Brown’s appointment of Dr. Jeffrey Beard, 66, as secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The vote was 23-6. Beard has been acting secretary since December 2012.
5. St. Mary, Ky. – This central Kentucky community is bracing for the loss of 166 jobs and free inmate work performed for the county with the shutdown of the Marion Adjustment Center, the state’s last private prison. The state failed to renew its contract with the Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America. Offi cials estimate the change will save $1.5 million to $2.5 million per year by housing inmates in existing state facilities, jails and halfway houses.
6. Nashville, Tenn. – A private prison company has announced it has renewed its contract with California for three more years. The contract states that Corrections Corporation of America will provide up to 8,244 beds for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in facilities currently housing 7,450 California inmates.
7. Stockton – Thirty-eight youth in the Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility have received high school diplomas or GED certifi cates on June 28. They join 51 youth in the Ventura Youth Correctional in Camarillo who received diplomas and GEDs on June 14. “These students show that youth can rebound from mistakes in their lives and take steps to build a more successful life,” said Division of Juvenile Justice Director Michael Minor. “Education is a key part of that foundation.”
8. Rome, N.Y. – About half of this city’s Ward Two residents are prisoners, thanks to a change in counting population for legislative representation. “Although they can’t vote, counting them in the population is important for our state aid and other things like that,” said Mayor Joseph Fusco.
9. Raleigh, N.C. – North Carolina offi cials are mulling what to do about capital punishment after the repeal of the Racial Justice Act. Four years ago, the state repealed the act that allowed condemned prisoners to challenge their sentence based on racial bias statistics. If a judge agreed, a prisoner could be resentenced to life imprisonment. States that have abolished the death penalty in recent years were more politically receptive or had strong minority voices in state government, said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Rep. Paul Stam, R-Apex, said North Carolina opinion favors capital punishment. He predicted legal challenges to lethal injection executions would be resolved within months, not years.
10. Sacramento – Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed two wardens. Alexander Maurice Gonzales, 57, of La Quinta, was appointed warden at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison, where he has served as acting warden since 2011. Amy Miller, 39, of Brawley, was appointed warden at California State Prison, Centinela, where she has served as acting warden since 2012. She was chief deputy warden in 2012 and associate warden from 2010 to 2012. Each position pays $130,668.
11. Folsom – Fifteen women prisoners have graduated from the California Prison Industry Authority’s Career Technical Education Pre-Apprenticeship Program. The residents of the Folsom Women’s Facility were awarded certifi cates on July 11. “The best thing you can do for yourselves is go out there, make better lives for yourselves and not come back (to prison),” CalPIA General Manager Chuck Pattillo told the graduates.
12. Bucks County, Pa. – PrimeCare Medical of Harrisburg has been awarded a three-year $11.7 million contract to provide healthcare services to more than 1,100 offenders, reports PhillyBurb.com.
13. New York, NY – A Manhattan federal district court judge criticized the New York Police Department’s stop-andfrisk practices, saying they were based on the “misjudgment of suspicions,” reports the New York Times. The remarks punctuated more than two months of testimony and fi ve hours of summations, which presented civil rights lawyers’ and the city’s lawyers’ dueling interpretations of the witnesses’ testimonies.
