1) HAMPDEN, Maine — The state is diverting first-time offenders who operate vehicles under the influence of toxicants from jail to an alternative sentencing program cleaning up schools. The Bangor Daily News reports the program saves the state money and includes alcohol and substance abuse training with licensed counselors.
2) WASHINGTON — A 14 percent decrease in state psychiatric hospital beds have led to emergency rooms, jails and prisons being flooded with the mentally ill, according to a report by the Treatment Advocacy Center. A Los Angeles Times story said the report recommends that mentally ill should have better access to inpatient treatment, and supports community treatment facilities rather than institutionalization for the mentally ill.
3) HOUSTON, Texas — A Death Row inmate was found dead on the floor in his cell, according to Texas prison officials. Selwyn Davis, 30, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2007 for the stabbing of a 57-year-old woman during a burglary. He did not yet have an execution date.
4) GAFFNEY, S.C. — State officials are giving Cherokee County until Oct. 16 to fix multiple problems in its overcrowded jail. The jail has the capacity to house 150 prisoners. On Aug. 1, it had 232 inmates. Officials said there are 20 areas where the jail does not comply with state standards, according to a report by the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg.
5) WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia jail switched from using a shatterproof glass to separate inmates and visitors to a video system. The video system provides a more convenient, safer, cheaper alternative to in-person visits, said proponents of the system.
6) ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice has come out against mandatory minimum sentencing, reports The Associated Press. “We need to be open to new ideas rather than just put them away in prison as long as you can,” said Chief Justice Carol Hunstein. “If you put someone in the prison system, you effectively have harmed their ability to get work, and you probably have harmed them socially, as far as coming out and being a productive citizen.”
7) Shelby County, Tenn. — County officials say they will move their juvenile defense system into the office in charge of defending adults because of ineffective lawyers for children, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The move is anticipated to require 10 to 12 lawyers for the estimated 11,000 juvenile cases annually.
8) HARRISBURG, Pa. — State officials say a new law will save millions of taxpayer dollars by improving parole procedures. The new system calls for more parole interviews, reducing delays with electronics, and implementing more rehabilitative programs for parolees in halfway houses, reports the Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau.
9) HOUSTON, Texas — The Board of Pardons and Parole reports that 31 percent of offenders were approved for parole from Sept 1, 2010 to Aug. 31, 2011. This represents 24,342 parole grants. The approval rate is six percentage points higher than it was 10 years ago. At the same time, the number of parole revocations decreased from a high of 11,374 in 2004 to 6,381 in 2011.
10) LOS ANGELES — The sheriff’s department is requesting that the Board of Supervisors approve sending 512 prisoners to Kern County at a cost of about $75 million in contracts through 2017. The inmates would be housed at the Taft Community Correctional Facility, located about 40 miles southwest of Bakersfield. The cost to house a prisoner at Taft is $60.55 per day. The cost in Los Angeles County is $112.84 per day
11) SACRAMENTO — One year into the state’s realignment plan, 15,000 offenders were diverted from state prison to county jail, according to the Sacramento Bee. The report says 23,000 inmates are under the supervision of county probation officers instead of state parole agents. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that county probation departments appear to supervise offenders better than state parole agencies because county probationers are less likely to become fugitives than are state parolees.
12) SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — An inmate who killed a guard during an abortive prison escape attempt has been executed. Eric Robert, 50, was the first South Dakota inmate to die under the state’s new single-drug lethal injection method, and only the 17th person to be executed in the state or Dakota Territory since 1877.
13) AUSTIN, Texas – Despite arguing he was mentally incompetent, a man convicted of raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl is the 10th person executed by Texas this year. Jonathan Green, 44, was the 31st person executed in the United States this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
