OKLAHOMA-Sixteen of the 46 California prisoners housed at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Oklahoma were hospitalized after a riot broke out recently, Lt. Ralph Jackson of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported. The facility’s medical staff checked out 30 prisoners while the CDCR sent a team of special agents to investigate the incident. As of Oct. 12, eight inmates remain hospitalized, and three inmates were in critical condition.
SACRAMENTO- At least nine California mayors are trying to get money for what they call the “brewing public safety crisis” of Gov. Jerry Brown’s realignment plan. The mayors expressed fears that the plan will boost police cost and other public safety elements.
Sacramento’s Mayor Kevin Johnson and Los Angeles’ Antonio Villaraigosa called the program “political malpractice” and asked Brown to implement an “immediate guaranteed funding stream for city-related realignment cost.” The June state budget provision that reallocated $130 million in vehicle taxes from cities to counties will help pay for the realignment plan, according to Brown.
SAN FRANCISCO- San Francisco is proposing a plan for hiring ex-felons similar to a program in Monterey County. San Francisco’s program is aimed at giving tax incentives to businesses that hire these ex-convicts, whereas Monterey’s program does not. Loyanne Flinn of Monterey County’s Workforce Investment Board suggests, “If we don’t help them find a legal way to make a living, they’re likely to go back doing the illegal way which gets them back in trouble and creates issues for our community.”
WASCO–Michael Thomas Graham was found dead in his cell at the Wasco State Prison Reception Center Oct. 10. The 50-year-old inmate was described as being beaten to death, according to an autopsy conducted by the Kern County Coroner’s Office. The District Attorney’s Office reporting it is investigating and the suspect is Graham’s cellmate. Graham was sentenced in San Luis Obispo County to two years for failure to register as a sex offender. He was an actor in the “Austin Powers” film.
SACRAMENTO- Sheriff Scott Jones and Chief Probation Officer Don Meyer argued over how to spend $6 million in the new AB 109 “realignment” plan. Meyer said he wants to spend the money on programs such as mental health treatment. He would hold off on spending the money on additional space in county jails.
The Community Corrections Partnership Committee voted to spend the $6 million to reopen the Roger Bauman Facility at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, which holds an additional 275 beds. The Board of Supervisors was scheduled to consider the issue Nov 1.
BOSTON – A new trial has been ordered for a man sentenced to death for killing three people in+ Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 2010. A federal judge ruled that Gary Sampson was denied his constitutional right to have his sentence set by an impartial jury.
MEXICO CITY – Mexican President Filipe Calderon has accused the United States of dumping a record number of criminals at the border to save money.
