Prison News | Correctional Policy & Decision-Making

• Inmate Imprisoned for Assault, Weapons Counts on the Run
  
  LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The hunt is on for an inmate who walked away from a low-level corrections center where he was serving up to 10 years for weapons and assault counts — including assault on a police officer... [ more ]
  US News, Thursday, January 9, 2020
  
  
• Calls for prison reform in Mississippi after inmate murders and escapes
  
  Over the last 10 days, five inmates were killed in different Mississippi state prisons. At one troubled site called Parchman Farm, two violent inmates escaped last week, but have since been caught. Mark Strassman reports on the situation in Parchman Farm and the claims that gangs, not the guards, run the facility.... [ more ]
  Yahoo News, Tuesday, January 7, 2020
  
  
• Colorado agrees to pay inmate $500,000 for alleged prison beating
  
  DenverColorado has agreed to pay $500,000 to a convicted murderer serving a life sentence who allegedly suffered a prison beating at the hands of a guard, an incident a federal jury initially awarded him a record $6 million over. The award was rescinded in a second trial.... [ more ]
  Denver Post, Monday, January 6, 2020
  
  
• British death row inmate could be freed after 33 years as lawyers reveal new evidence 'that proves his innocence'
  
  A British man, who has spent 33 years imprisoned in the US – 10 of them on death row – could be freed after judges agreed to hear an appeal that lawyers claim will prove his innocence.... [ more ]
  independent.co.uk, Saturday, January 4, 2020
  
  
• Inmate convicted in deadly prison breakout attempt moves to US prison
  
  ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — The man sentenced to death in the killings of four workers during an attempted escape from a North Carolina prison has been transferred to a federal prison in Kentucky because of safety concerns.... [ more ]
  Corrections One, Wednesday, January 1, 2020
  
  
• Jesse Wegman: Will Florida kill an innocent man?
  
  For more than three decades, James Dailey, a Vietnam War veteran, has been sitting on Florida’s death row, condemned to die for the brutal 1985 murder of a teenager named Shelly Boggio.... [ more ]
  The Register Guard, Tuesday, December 31, 2019
  
  
• Epstein jail guards decline plea deal
  
  Federal prosecutors offered a plea deal to two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein on the night of his death, but the officers have declined the offer, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.... [ more ]
  wusa9.com, Saturday, November 16, 2019
  
  
• Texas Appeals Court Blocks Inmate's Execution
  
  HOUSTON - Texas' top criminal appeals court on Friday halted the scheduled execution of inmate Rodney Reed, whose conviction is being questioned by new evidence that his supporters say raises serious doubt about his guilt. ... [ more ]
  voanews.com, Friday, November 15, 2019
  
  
• Ex-judges, families of murder victims, call for halt to U.S. federal death penalty
  
  (Reuters) - The relatives of murder victims, along with former judges and corrections officials, asked President Donald Trump and his attorney general on Tuesday to halt federal executions, at least for now, citing concerns about how the penalty is carried out. ... [ more ]
  reuters.com, Wednesday, November 13, 2019
  
  
• California�s criminal police officers include 20 convicted of murder
  
  The most heinous crimes on the state’s list of convicted cops are some of the most notorious: 20 former officers turned up with murder convictions, from a hot-tub drowning to a jail-cell beating.... [ more ]
  ocregister.com, Sunday, November 10, 2019
  
  
• 'They're human beings': Prison reform examined at Auburn panel discussion
  
  AUBURN — Speakers at a prison reform panel in Auburn Saturday emphasized that inmates are human beings and said they deserve respect and dignity.... [ more ]
  auburnpub.com, Saturday, November 2, 2019
  
  
• Indiana woman who killed boyfriend during sex game freed on parole
  
  An Indiana woman convicted of fatally stabbing her boyfriend 39 times during a sex game was reportedly released on parole after 18 years in prison Tuesday.... [ more ]
  foxnews.com, Wednesday, August 28, 2019
  
  
• US Government to Resume Executions After Nearly 2 Decades
  
  The Federal Bureau of Prisons is set to resume capital punishment after a 16-year hiatus, with plans for the coming months to execute five death row inmates convicted of murder, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.... [ more ]
  Voice of America - English, Thursday, July 25, 2019
  
  
• Prosecutors seek 15-year prison term for ex-athletic trainer
  
  HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Federal prosecutors compared a 79-year-old ex-high school athletic trainer in Montana to another high-profile pedophile defendant, Larry Nassar, in seeking the maximum penalty after he admitted coercing high school boys into sexual abuse over decades.... [ more ]
  kulr8.com, Wednesday, July 24, 2019
  
  
• �El Chapo� to serve time in U.S. high-security prison
  
  The Mexican is serving a life sentence in the state of Colorado. Gúzman was considered the most powerful drug baron in the world.... [ more ]
  The Washington Newsday, Tuesday, July 23, 2019
  
  
• A Massachusetts police department asked would-be criminals to 'hold off' during heat wave. They listened
  
  As a brutal heat wave smothered parts of the Northeast in 100-plus degree heat, a police department in Massachusetts asked potential criminals to chill out. ... [ more ]
  USA Today, Monday, July 22, 2019
  
  
• Lawyers for dead inmate announce intent to file $5 million claim
  
  The family of the inmate who died of pneumonia while in custody at the Coconino County jail served a notice of $5 million claim against the county earlier this week.... [ more ]
  azdailysun.com, Sunday, July 21, 2019
  
  
• Arizona urges court not to impose more fines in inmate suit
  
  PHOENIX — The state of Arizona is urging a judge not to impose another round of contempt-of-court fines in a lawsuit over health care for prisoners after the state has been accused of failing to document its noncompliance with a settlement that requires improvements to inmate care.... [ more ]
  www.abqjournal.com, Wednesday, July 17, 2019
  
  
• Arrested corrections officer said he �didn�t care� about checking on inmates, affidavit says
  
  A corrections officer was arrested Saturday after he lied about checking on inmates in the Travis County Correctional Complex at Del Valle, telling investigators he just “didn’t care” about doing his regular checks, his affidavit says.... [ more ]
  www.statesman.com, Saturday, July 13, 2019
  
  
• Arizona Prisons Lift Ban On Book About Mass Incarceration
  
  Corrections officials in Arizona are now allowing inmates to read a book criticizing the U.S. criminal justice system after initially pulling it from prisons over "unauthorized content," a state corrections official tells NPR.... [ more ]
  Valley Public Radio Home, Friday, June 21, 2019
  
  
• Patterson transferred to Waupun prison
  
  WAUPUN, WI (WSAU) -- Jake Patterson has been sent to a southeast Wisconsin prison to begin his life sentence for two counts of homicide and kidnapping.... [ more ]
  WSAU.com, Saturday, June 1, 2019
  
  
• N Carolina transgender inmate to transfer to women�s prison
  
  RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Prison officials in North Carolina are honoring the wishes of a transgender inmate and transferring her to a women’s prison.... [ more ]
  KTAR News, Friday, May 24, 2019
  
  
• Michigan's seriously ill inmates can be released early under new law
  
  LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed laws letting Michigan release seriously ill and incapacitated prisoners early by having them treated at nursing homes or hospitals instead.... [ more ]
  Detroit Free Press, Thursday, May 23, 2019
  
  
• 3 Native American Inmates Win Right to Long Hair in Texas
  
  BEEVILLE, TEXAS (AP) — Three male Native American inmates in Texas will be allowed to grow their hair long as an expression of their religious beliefs after winning a lawsuit against the state prison system.... [ more ]
  US News, Tuesday, March 19, 2019
  
  
• After sexual assault at Florida teen prison, state awards firm $16M deal
  
  The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice signed a $16 million contract last month with a private youth prison company facing a string of troubles in the last year, including official findings of “substantial evidence” of child abuse by its staff.... [ more ]
  Florida Phoenix, Tuesday, March 19, 2019
  
  
• He spent 39 years in prison for a double murder he didn't commit. Now, he's getting $21 million
  
  (CNN)Craig Coley never should have spent 39 years in prison. On this, everyone seems to agree. They also concur the 71-year-old should spend the rest of his life as a wealthy man.... [ more ]
  CNN, Monday, February 25, 2019
  
  
• Alabama Gov. Ivey unveils proposal to build new prisons
  
  MONTGOMERY, ALA.

  Saying Alabama needs a solution to its ongoing prison crisis,... [ more ]

  The Telegraph, Tuesday, February 12, 2019
  
  
• How Voters, Not Politicians, Are Reforming California's Harsh Sentencing Laws
  
  California voters approved a sweeping change to sentencing on Tuesday by passing Proposition 47 and knocking most drug possession and "petty theft" charges down from felonies to a misdemeanors. Only months earlier, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed similar, and more modest, changes to California's sentencing laws, claiming that the state's plan to "realign" convicts from state prisons to county jails required more time to fully take effect.... [ more ]
  Reason Online, Sunday, November 9, 2014
  
  
• California Begins Dismantling the Prison Industrial Complex
  
  The tough on crime period of the 1980s led to the passage of a flurry of laws that made many nonviolent crimes punishable by prison sentences. Over the next 20 years, the incarceration rate increased exponentially, and the number of people in the prison system has swelled to more than 2 million in the United States. California led the way for incarceration, with one of the largest prison populations in the country.... [ more ]
  Care2, Sunday, November 9, 2014
  
  
• You May Have Missed It, but There Was an Election Debate on Criminal Justice Reform
  
  It is no secret that the United States prison population surpasses that of any other nation, that the country has very harsh sentencing laws for minor offenses, and that, as many argue, the inherent racial bias in the system is powerful and detrimental to society.... [ more ]
  New York Times, Thursday, November 6, 2014