Seattle, Wash. — The state Corrections Department has agreed to pay $740,000 to the family of a state penitentiary inmate who died after his body was ravaged by flesh-eating bacteria, reports The Seattle Times. Ricardo Mejia, 26, died in January 2011. State records show he had complained for weeks about pain and a rash, the newspaper reported.
Sacramento — The private prison company GEO has been awarded a contract to house 260 female prisoners at a facility north of Bakersfield, reports the Los Angeles Times. The four-year contract worth $36 million for the McFarland Community Reentry Facility will house women serving the end of their sentences.
Madison, Wis. — A documentary, Dostoevsky Behind Bars, is about Russian literature taught to state prisoners. The film is making a debut at the Wisconsin Film Festival, reports Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR). “In a small chapel on the campus of the Oakhill Correctional Institution, about 30 inmates gathered one evening in late February to watch the film that documents the class, as well as daily life at this minimum security prison,” WPR reported.
Chicago — Former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. was reportedly punished with solitary confinement for giving legal advice to his fellow inmates, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “An anonymous source told the Sun-Times that Jackson spent four or five days in isolation when a guard ‘took exception’ to Jackson advising other inmates on their rights in prison,” the newspaper reported.
Missouri — State prisoners through the Restorative Justice Garden Program “donated a record 163 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables to local food pantries, shelters, churches, nursing homes and schools this year, shattering last year’s record of 117 tons,” the Columbia Daily Tribune reports. The top three prisons: Northeast Missouri Correctional Center in Bowling Green, more than 30 tons; Boonville Correctional Center, nearly 25 tons; Jefferson City Correctional Center, nearly 24 tons.
Lansing, Mich. — Legislation passed by the Michigan House and was sent to the Senate to allow the Michigan Department of Corrections to issue a “certificate of employability” to a parolee who completes a training course and doesn’t have a significant misconduct record, reports The Associated Press.
Columbus, Ohio — Arthur Tyler, 54, was scheduled to be executed on May 28, reports The Associated Press. Republican Gov. John Kasich rejected his parole and possible release but granted Tyler clemency following the recommendation of mercy by the state parole board, which “cited several statements by Tyler’s co-defendant taking responsibility for the 1983 shooting.”
New York — The state’s highest court upheld a settlement requiring New York City to continue individualized treatment for mental health inmates after they are released from city jails, reports The Associated Press.
New York City — A New York City correction officer was arrested by the FBI and charged with violating the civil rights of Jason Echevarria, a mentally ill inmate, reports The New York Times. Echevarria died after begging for medical help from his cell for hours, the Times reported. The officer, Terrence Pendergrass, was supervising the Rikers Island unit where Echevarria was being held.
Toronto, Canada — Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, 76, the middleweight boxer whose wrongful triple-murder conviction inspired a film starring Denzel Washington and a song by Bob Dylan, died on April 20, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Tennessee — Since the state resumed executions in 2000, nine Death Row inmates have died of natural causes, while six have been executed, reports The Tennessean. Of the 76 inmates on Death Row, 14 are 60 years or older.
Tennessee — Legislators passed a bill last year permitting the state to withhold all information about the drugs it plans to use to in executions. Georgia, Oklahoma and Missouri have enacted similar laws withholding information about the lethal injection drugs, reports The Tennessean.
