December 16, 2012

Snitching! 1 in 8 fed inmates tattles for reduction

It's hard to get your mind around this statistic, but apparently 1 in 8 federal convicts get their sentences reduced for snitching on each other. If they don't have anything worth snitching about, obviously it's worth their while to dream something up. But what to do about it? Prosecutors insist they'd never make a case if we eliminate use of snitches. Activists insist on eliminating the use of snitches. Middle ground seems to be to insist on taped recordings of the private conversations if they're to be used--but that opens yet another can of worms. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/14/jailhouse-informants-for-sale/1762013/
December 15, 2012

Prison Diets: Budget vs. Health

Should prisons be required to offer healthful options? How about vegetarian options for those who have lifetime commitments to meatless lives? A court in Missouri has recently turned down a vegetarian's request to have meatless servings at Buzz Westfall Justice Center. Diabetes and obesity and high blood pressure is creating a prison population that needs extra medical care; prisons need the money to upgrade food choices, period. http://molawyersmedia.com/blog/2012/12/07/vegetarian-inmate-loses-battle-over-meals-in-jail/?goback=%2Egde_106893_member_195162948
December 8, 2012

Word Play over Solitary: Bradley Manning

James Averhart, Chief Warrant Officer IV, who as commander of the Quantico brig determined conditions of confinement, kept Pvt. Bradley Manning naked for 7 days, and in solitary confinement despite recomendations from doctors to release him He insists that the regulation gives him to authority to decide whether to relax confinement standards--even though the regulation says a prisoner "shall" be released if the medicos say so. Averhart argued that the word "shall" did not introduce a specific timeline for ending the confinement. "[T]he order is vague - it does say 'shall,' it does not say 'right now' or 'immediately,' sir - it still gives me the opportunity to evaluate," he said. http://peoplesworld.org/hearing-highlights-controversy-over-bradley-manning-jail-conditions/
December 6, 2012

780 days solitary–no threat, violence

Leroy Peoples is suing the state of New York. He was left in solitary confinement for 780 days--for misbehaving: no violence, no security threat. The New York Civil Liberties is helping with the suit: http://www.nyclu.org/news/nyclu-lawsuit-challenges-new-york-states-use-of-solitary-confinement
December 5, 2012

Tx. Senator and Union boss agree: close some prisons

I'm not sure how often in Texas politics that we've had this confluence: Sen. Whitmire and Lance Lowry, president of Texas chapter of the union with prison staff, agree that we need to close 2 more prisons. Doing so will help ensure the safety and security of not only inmates but the guards. Texas prison staffing is down 2700 officers this year. http://www.texastribune.org/texas-dept-criminal-justice/texas-department-of-criminal-justice/whitmire-employee-union-urge-prison-closures/
December 5, 2012

The Atlantic Joins Wash Post: Phone Rates!

Two major journalistic inquiries into the exorbitant prison phone rates has uncovered that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has sat on the problem for 3500 days. That's some sitting, because a judge sent them the problem to resolve. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/12/stupid-and-unjust-the-highway-robbery-of-prison-phone-rates/265859/?goback=%2Egde_65622_member_192474479
November 28, 2012

Got Change for a Call? Or $25?

It's about stealing from the poor again; telephone companies are charging so much for inmate phone calls that even the FCC is noticing. No, really. And the New Yourk Times is reporting the outrage. I suppose a $17 phone call that lasts under 15 minutes depletes a commissary account pretty fast. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/opinion/a-needless-charge-for-prison-families.html?_r=0
November 25, 2012

Moral Responsibilites

As a society, we have a moral obligation to safeguard the members of our society by maintaining a system that separates the worst among us so that other citizens are not injured; we also have a moral obligation not to injure those separated, not to reduce them to non-humans. How we balance these obligations defines us as a society, as a nation. When international human rights groups point to our prison system as 'barbaric,' we need to examine our laws, our oversight of the system. And we have to act on what we learn.
November 20, 2012

Majority of jail prisoners awaiting trial; wait coerces pleas

The Pretrial Justice Institute has just released new statistics on the people we are keeping in our tax-funded jails; 61% are sitting there, waiting for a day in court. And while they sit, they grow tired and discouraged. So they are more likely to accept guilty pleas and spent unnecessary time in our jails and tax-funded prisons. See the original report at
November 18, 2012

Pinal County Jail makes list of 10 worst immigrant detention centers

Detained immigrants have even fewer rights then U.S. inmates in jails and prisons. Detension centers are supposed to non-punitive administrative holding centers for individuals undergoing immigration proceedings. The reality, though, is harsher than that. Much harsher. Detention Watch Netwrk just released a report citing 10 facilites with "sexual assault, substandard medical care, lack of due process and abysmal living conditions." Not surprisingly, Arizona's Pinal County jail is one of the 10. http://www.examiner.com/article/pinal-county-jail-makes-list-of-10-worst-immigrant-detention-centers
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