- San Quentin—Christopher Wadsworth, former chief psychiatrist at San Quentin, was awarded more than $800,000 in a lawsuit that claimed he was retaliated against after he warned that conditions at the prison would endanger inmates, reports The Sacramento Bee. Wadsworth’s complaint alleged that a change in mental health protocol contributed to an inmate’s suicide in 2014. The lawsuit, filed in 2015, concluded this year when Wadsworth accepted a transfer to Folsom State Prison.
- Oakland—Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) celebrated its 40th anniversary last October. LSPC provides legal advocacy and works to create policies that will assist incarcerated people or returning citizens. “The way that people look at prison right now in this moment is different than how people looked at prison 40 years ago. Having a sold-out event, a room full of people to discuss prison reform, is new,” said Dorsey Nunn, the group’s executive director in an Oakland North interview.
- Washington—The state’s highest court ruled 5-4 that 16- and 17-year-olds convicted of aggravated first-degree murder cannot be sentenced to a minimum term of life without the possibility of release, The Seattle Times reported. “The direction of change in this country is unmistakably and steadily moving toward abandoning the practice of putting child offenders in prison for their entire lives,” wrote Justice Susan Owens in the majority opinion.
- Texas—A new law requires high school students to watch a 16-minute instructional video that opens with flashing lights and dramatic music. It explains how to act when stopped by police officers, USA Today reports.
- USA— An estimated 64,000 persons nationwide died from drug overdose in 2016, mostly from opioids. A new study shows that “increasing naloxone availability, promoting needle exchange, expanding medication-assisted addiction treatment, and increasing psychosocial treatment increased life years and quality-adjusted life years and reduced deaths.” The study concluded that, “No single policy is likely to substantially reduce deaths over 5 to 10 years. Policies that reduce the prescription opioid supply may increase heroin use and reduce quality of life in the short term, but in the long term could generate positive health benefits.”
- USA—Last May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the First Step Act, by a vote of 360 to 59. The bill is working its way through the Senate, with amendments expected by Judiciary Committee Chairman, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). President Donald Trump reportedly approves “modest sentencing reforms as an addition to the First Step Act, The Hill reports. If made into law, the bill implements risk assessments and recidivism reduction programs in federal prisons. It also incentivize some “nonviolent prisoners to reduce their risk of re-offending through earned time credits that can be ‘cashed in’ for placement in prerelease custody,” according to The Hill.
- USA—A Gallup News Service survey shows that the last 10 years, support for the death penalty has been waning. Favoring the death penalty for murder garnered 64 percent, while 30 percent opposed it. In 2018, those figures dropped to 56 and 41 percent respectively. Ten years ago, those who thought the death penalty was imposed too often hovered in the low 20 percent range, while almost half thought it was not imposed enough. Today, those numbers reflect that people think the death penalty is imposed too often as well as the right amount is about 30 percent each, while 37 percent thinks, it’s not imposed enough. 10 years ago, slightly more than half thought the death penalty was imposed fairly, while just under 40 percent said that is was unfairly imposed. Those numbers changed to, 49 percent fairly and 45 percent unfairly today.
