1. Oklahoma (News On 6) – A new report shows Oklahoma County Jail populations are the lowest since the 1990s. The new restoration center and diversion hub are two reasons for the decreased incarceration numbers. The city police has also increased their cite and release practices. “All of those things together, along with the behavioral care center and new jail, are going to give us so many more options on diverting people away from incarceration and into treatment and accountability programs, like drug court, ReMerge for women, and TEEM, said executive director of the Criminal Justice Advisory Council Timothy Tardibono. However the city’s planning commission has denied the request for property zoning.
2. Missouri (Associated Press) – A Missouri man was executed for murdering a woman even after her family and the prosecutor objected. Marcellus Williams’s attorney noted bias in the jury selection and the handling of evidence in the case. “The family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live,” said the petition to halt his execution. However, Governor Mike Parson ® of the state said the case “languished for decades, re-victimizing Ms. Gayle’s family over and over.” NAACP President Derrick Johnson noted that the execution was another lynching of an innocent Black man.
3. Alabama (Associated Press) – A judge terminated 38 of the 44 provisional oversights on a women’s prison after nine years. “I am thankful for the men and women who are dedicated to our mission,” said John Hamm, a commissioner with Alabama Department of Corrections. Situations at the Julia Tutwiler Prions in Wetumpka were known violations of the ban on cruel and unusual punishment calling the state officials “deliberately indifferent” to the dilemmas; however the department of corrections disputed the allegations in both cases.
4. Georgia (The New York Times) – A new report presented civil rights violations at a jail complex in Fulton County. The violence by residents and staff, the unhealthy living conditions, and lack of staff contributed to the “deliberate indifference to the risks of harms,” according to an NPR article. This report comes after the federal supervision of the jail system between 2006 and 2015. “These are fixable opportunities, and so that’s what our plan is,” said Sheriff Patrick Labat of Fulton County. Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general spoke a a press conference saying “Detention in the Fulton County jail has amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who died as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility.”
5. North Carolina (Associated Press) – Governor Roy Cooper granted two pardons and six commutations in his last days in office. Of the six people serving lengthy sentences, five were murder convictions. “Ensuring careful review of cases while taking executive clemency action is a responsibility I take seriously,” Cooper said in a news release. “All of these individuals are deserving of clemency and we will continue to work to protect our communities and improve the fairness of our criminal justice system.”
6. Pennsylvania (The New York Times) – Investigators uncovered harassment of employees, and substandard healthcare at one of the country’s busiest medium-security transport hubs, run by the federal Bureau of Prisons. “We observed multiple examples of obscene and sexually graphic graffiti, degrading certain employees, in employee-only-access areas,” wrote the investigators in the report. The report also uncovered violations of policy and standard medical practices including patients taken off antidepressants without a doctor’s consultation, noted the report. “The omission violated bureau guidelines and put them at risk for depression and self-harm,” the article said. The bureau’s director Colette S. Peters noted changing from a standard lockup to a transfer hub has major impacts on staff positions at the facility, but the matter is being investigated.
7. New York (The New York Times) – A New York Judge gave Department of Correction leaders an order demanding a plan of receivership for the violent and dangerous jails, according to the report. Attorney Alan Howard Scheiner, a lawyer for the department noted the progress over the past year saying there were decreased numbers of violence and better communication. However, Judge Laura Taylor Swain said something needs to be done and gave them 45 days to come up with a vision of receivership because lives of staff and residents “continue to be in danger.” Assistant U.S. attorney Jeffrey Kenneth Powell backed the call noting the long history the city has of not following through. “Court orders must mean something, and they must be followed,” he said. “This department has not followed them for nine years.”
