Alabama — A nonprofit law firm asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the prison system in October after a six-month investigation that revealed corruption, criminal misconduct and abusive behavior among correctional officers at a female institution. The report found that violence, sexual abuse and leadership problems were worse than previously believed. Oakland — Ronald Ross, who was sentenced to 32 years to life for shooting Renardo Williams in 2006, was freed in 2013 and declared innocent after Williams confessed to have falsely identified Ross under pressure from an officer. Ross sued the officer and the city for damages. The suit alleges the city failed to teach officers how to conduct a photo lineup without coercing the witness and respond to evidence pointing to a suspect’s innocence.
Los Angeles — A judge voided Susan Mellen’s murder conviction in October, deeming she received “subpar representation” from her attorney, who did not conduct a thorough investigation of the witness’s credibility. The judge said the trial had hinged on the claim of a single witness, who was revealed a habitual liar. Jurors never learned that the witness’s sister, a Torrance police officer, believed the witness (her sister) was a pathological liar, and that years earlier police had deemed the witness an “unreliable informant.”
Pittsburgh — In October, a federal jury awarded $100,000 in compensatory damages to Joseph Consonery, a former western Pennsylvania jail inmate who claimed officials neglected his dental treatment after he broke a tooth. Consonery sued Washington County and jail employees in 2009, saying they repeatedly ignored his treatment requests during his four-month stay in jail. When his tooth became infected, he wasn’t allowed access to an oral surgeon – which his attorney said would have cost about $1,000 – until he was sent to state prison in June. Jurors declined to award punitive damages.
Springfield, Mo. — Muslim inmate Richard Ray McLendon Jr. is suing the Greene County jail and its program coordinator of religious matters, alleging jailers violated his civil rights by denying him a Quran and a prayer rug and refusing to let him attend Friday prayers, the Springfield News-Leader reported in September.
Los Angeles — The Justice Department announced in September a $435,000 “Smart Prosecution” grant for a pilot program in Los Angeles aimed at keeping first-time offenders arrested for “quality-of-life” crimes out of jail by giving them a chance to make amends. The grant will pay the salaries of two full-time staffers for two years. Chicago, Houston and San Francisco also received similar grants.
Columbus, Ohio — About 100 Ohio prison workers picketed outside Department of Rehabilitation and Correction headquarters in October, claiming that staff shortages and other issues have made prisons more dangerous. The prison workers said bad food from a private vendor, overcrowding and security breaches contributed to unsafe conditions inside 27 state prisons.
New Orleans — Four months after Nathan Brown, who was imprisoned almost 17 years for an attempted rape he didn’t commit, was released from prison, the state was ordered to pay him $330,000; the maximum from its wrongful conviction compensation fund. DNA tests proved that he was not the man who the victim said attacked her outside her apartment in 1997.
San Francisco — California Attorney General Kamala Harris filed a brief Dec. 1 urging the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court ruling that nullified the state’s death penalty law. The lower court ruled executions were uncertain and involved lengthy delays.
Sacramento — Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that prohibits California prisons from forcing women to be sterilized for birth control.
Ventura — Michael Hanline was freed Nov. 24 after more than 30 years in prison for a crime that DNA tests showed he did not commit, Reuters reported. The California Innocence Project worked for 15 years to win the case for Hanline, 69.
Cleveland — Ricky Jackson, 57, was freed Nov. 21 after 39 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Reuters reported. A second man convicted in the case, Wiley Bridgeman, 60, was also freed. A man who testified in the trial recanted his testimony and told authorities he never witnessed the crime.
Bonne Terre, Mo. — Leon Vincent Taylor was executed Nov. 19 for fatally shooting an Independence gas station attendant in 1994. It was the ninth execution in Missouri last year.
