Nebraska – Many prisoners of whom are baby boomers—are aging and requiring more medical attention, igniting a debate on whether elderly inmates should be released on parole, reports ABC News. Proponents of their parole point to statistics that show that as people age, their likelihood of posing a risk to society decreases. But, opponents argue that releasing inmates early puts the public safety at risk.
New Haven, Michigan – The state prison system is expanding efforts to provide vocational training and teach community college courses to inmates nearing parole, reports Detroit Free-Press. By doing so, the state will join a pilot project that aims to resurrect publicly supported postsecondary education in prisons nationwide. About two decades ago, the federal government cut Pell Grant funding to inmates, effectively ending access to postsecondary education for a large number of prisoners, according to the report.
Cleveland, Ohio – Fourteen Amish prisoners will no longer be required to attend the high school equivalency classes required of other inmates who lack high school diplomas, reports officials from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Boston, Mass. – In an effort to improve the roughly 60 percent recidivism rate among Massachusetts inmates released from custody in 2005, a special commission exploring criminal justice reform may recommend a protocol to send inmates from a state prison to a house of correction before release and to use alternatives to incarceration, reports the State House News Service.
Concord, New Hampshire. – After a consultant’s report raised serious security concerns about proposals to construct a privately-operated prison campus and questioned whether the proposals from the private companies addressed the state’s needs, New Hampshire officials decided against the building plans, reports The Associated Press. The proposals sought to create a men’s prison, women’s prison and a prison that would house both men and women on the same campus, but the firm hired to evaluate the proposals said the plans raise “significant issues” about the compliance with the design, construction and operation requirements outlined by the state.
Illinois – A Justice Department report found the state has one of the highest rates of sexual assault against juvenile offenders in the U.S, reports the Chicago Tribune. Six juvenile facilities were part of a survey in which 15 percent of the participants reported being victimized by staff or other offenders.
Santa Clara County, Ca.– County jail officials say there is a need to restrict greeting cards and letters to detainees in order to prevent drug smuggling and for other security reasons, reports the Mercury News. The jail mail restrictions are the first in the Bay Area and the fifth in the state.
Springfield, Ill. – A female prison guard at Danville Correction Center in Illinois was assaulted early Thursday morning by an inmate, who lured the guard into a laundry area, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle. An employees’ union told the Chronicle that overcrowding in the state’s prison system, which has resulted in inmates sleeping in penitentiary gymnasiums, contributed to the assault.
Ohio—Twenty-four prisons are cutting back electricity use during peak periods, leading the ACLU to claim this endangers inmates and staff during hot weather. The move has saved the state prison system about $1.4 million since 2010, according to state officials.
San Francisco—a class action case filed 19 years ago, challenging California’s adult parole revocation process was terminated by a federal judge who agreed the State has made great strides in transforming the system.
Baltimore, Maryland—An appeals court issued a ruling that a five-year mandatory penalty, no-parole sentence for some convicted felons who are subsequently caught with a gun is unconstitutional, reports The Baltimore Sun.
Dallas, Georgia—A federal report found a backlog of sexual abuse claim investigations, resulting in the suspension of lead investigators, reports the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange.
Kansas—The state’s prison system is currently at full capacity. Nevertheless, prison officials say they need to make room for 2,100 more offenders in the next decade, reports The Wichita Eagle.
Sacramento—Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to change from a three-drug execution method to a single drug will delay the resumption of executions for at least one year and possibly several years, reports Marinscope Community Newspapers.
Starke, Florida— On Aug 6, John Errol Ferguson, 65, was executed for killing eight people in Miami-Dade County in the 1970s. His lawyers had claimed he was too mentally ill to be put to death, reports The Associated Press.
Huntsville, Texas—On July 31, Douglas Feldman, 55, was executed for the road-rage killing of two truck-drivers in the Dallas area in 1998. Feldman was the 11th person executed this year in Texas and the third in July, reports The Associated Press.
Atmore, Alabama—On July 25, Andrew Lackey, 29 was executed for killing an elderly man on Halloween night in 2005. Lackey, who dropped all appeals, was the first person executed in Alabama since 2011, reports The Associated Press.
