Sacramento — California prison officials plan to build a mental health unit for condemned inmates at San Quentin State Prison. This is in response to a federal court order that mentally ill inmates on Death Row lack proper treatment, according to court documents, The Associated Press reports.
Sacramento — Arts programs will be boosted by $2.5 million in 14 state prisons, the California Arts Council and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told The Associated Press. Among the programs there will be several that help inmates express themselves through acting.
San Francisco — San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi says he will lower phone charges for detainees in the city’s jail. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a 15-minute call within the county costs $4.45 and a call elsewhere in California $13.35.
Denver—Colorado will no longer place mentally ill inmates in solitary confinement, The Associated Press reports. A new law prohibits (with some exceptions) prison officials from placing inmates with serious mental illness in long-term solitary confinement.
Lincoln—Nebraska inmates are saving the state $28,000 a year by growing their own produce, The Associated Press reports. They cultivate tomato, pepper, onion, radish, sweet corn and potato plants in their 20-acre vegetable garden. Corrections officials say they might expand the program to other state prisons.
Dallas — Johnnie Lindsey, 61, spent 26 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. He was exonerated in 2008. Lindsey was awarded $2.2 million for his wrongful conviction, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Michigan — A report by The Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency revealed that 60 percent of 17-year-olds charged as adults had nonviolent offenses and 58 percent had no prior juvenile record. The report arrives in the midst of a public debate about how much the state spends on corrections and whether the state’s get-tough approach to juvenile crime is working, reports The Detroit News.
Ohio —The number of identified gang-involved inmates in Ohio is declining. As of January, 8,171 inmates were identified as members of a prison gang or “security threat group,” according to a Correctional Institution Inspection Committee report. This is down about 13 percent since 2012. Prison officials attributed this drop-off to “more stringent profiling criteria and diligence of staff at all levels,” Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokesman Scott Flowers told The News Messenger.
Erie, Pa. —It will cost the Pennsylvania department of Corrections $250,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the daughter of an inmate killed by his cellmate in 2012, according to The Erie Times-News. Carla Davis-Vining said corrections officials made a grievous error by placing the cellmate with paranoid schizophrenia in the same cell with her father.
Harrisburg, Pa. —The state has instituted a hiring freeze at Pennsylvania’s prisons to save money, and the corrections officers’ union said that such a step increases the safety risks for a skeleton prison workforce if it drags on for much longer. The hiring freeze is solely to save money, and it is the first step in dealing with tight finances resulting from the state’s growing budget shortfall, The Associate Press reports.
Chattanooga, Tenn. — A new Tennessee law helps jobs applicants with a criminal past to gain employment. The Tennessee Negligent Hiring and Retention law allows employers to hire an ex-offender who has received a “certificate of employability” after paying his or her debt to society. In return, employers would be protected from liability suits if the ex-offender with a violent past assaults a fellow co-worker.
Montgomery, Ala. — Two advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against the Alabama prison system, claiming the state is failing to provide basic medical and mental health care to inmates. The lawsuit alleges that medical and mental health conditions have gone untreated. One inmate had a foot amputated because of untreated gangrene and another died from prostate cancer despite tests identifying rising cancer-marker levels, according to the lawsuit.
Louisiana — Gov. Bobby Jindal is reportedly considering a veto of legislation to reduce the state’s nation-leading incarceration rate. Some say it goes the furthest of any bill passed by the Louisiana Legislature during its recent session. The legislation reduces the minimum amount of time violent offenders must serve — from 85 to 75 percent of their sentence — before becoming parole eligible. The legislation also requires only a majority vote from the parole board, rather than a unanimous one, reports nola.com.
Tallahassee, Fla. — Florida state officials have agreed to sell off four closed prisons as part of a series of land deals that will bring in more than $27 million to the state’s environmental land-buying program. Gov. Rick Scott and three members of the state Cabinet unanimously approved the sale of more than 1,500 acres spread throughout Central and South Florida. The four prisons were shuttered during a round of prison consolidations and budget cuts that happened shortly after Scott came into office, The Associated Press reports.
Boston — The highest court in Massachusetts has ruled that lifetime community parole supervision for sex offenders is unconstitutional, finding that only judges can impose additional jail time on offenders who have completed their original sentence. Currently, the state Parole Board can sentence sex offenders to additional terms of incarceration if they violate the terms of what is called community parole supervision for life. The Supreme Judicial Court said that the current law violates the state Constitution, The Associated Press reports.
Washington, D.C. — In an effort to provide employment, training and support services to successfully re-integrate formerly incarcerated adults and youth involved in the juvenile justice system into their communities, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the award of $74 million in grants to 37 community service organizations. Grantees are expected to provide a range of services that includes case management, mentoring, education and training that leads to industry-recognized credentials, a U.S. Department of Labor press release states.
New York — Settlement for five men wrongly convicted in the Central Park jogger case is “prudent” 25 years later. The five settled for a reported $40 million. The city’s comptroller signed off on a settlement with the so-called Central Park Five, who were wrongly jailed for a sensational 1989 crime that led to what critics called a racially charged rush to judgment. All five of the men, who were teenagers when they were arrested, were exonerated in the rape and assault of a woman. They all served lengthy prison terms after being convicted in jury trials of charges ranging from sexual abuse to attempted murder, reports the Los Angeles Times.
