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Criminal Law

The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

News, commentary and analysis on prisons: government proposals with the aim of stemming overcrowding and recidivism; inmate living conditions and changing demographics; sentencing issues.
By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Post Frequency: 39.6/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2012 at 11:20:01

IL: Marchers on 3-day, 31-mile walk to protest immigration prison

Posted on April 01, 2012
Marchers on 3-day, 31-mile walk to protest immigration prison By Lauren FitzPatrick Sun-Times Media http://www.suntimes.com/news/11638904-418/marchers-on-3-day-31-mile-walk-to-protest-immigration-prison.html April 1, 2012 2:32AM Manning a megaphone, Angela Marrufo led the chanting...

TX: County, private lockups sit empty, drain money as Texas prisoners dwindle

Posted on April 01, 2012
""The problem is, there just aren't enough prisoners to go around anymore," said House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, R-Richardson." County, private lockups sit empty, drain money as Texas prisoners dwindle By Mike Ward AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Saturday, March 31, 2012...

MA: More Suicides in Solitary Plague Massachusetts Prisons

Posted on March 31, 2012
More Suicides in Solitary Plague Massachusetts Prisons March 30, 2012 by James Ridgeway and Jean Casella Solitary Watch http://solitarywatch.com/author/jamesridgewayandjeancasella/ Five years ago, the Boston Globe did a comprehensive exposé on what it called the ?Prison Suicide Crisis? in Massachusetts...

MA-H2853/S.677 A Bill To Tackle Racial Profiling and Stand Your Ground in MA and---The Good and The Bad

Posted on March 31, 2012
On February 7, 2012, there was a hearing in the Joint Judiciary Committee on S 661 and H 1568 - An act relative to civil rights and public safety. This is a "Stand Your Ground" bill for Massachusetts-- basically the...

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Virginia plans changes in prisoner isolation process. Harold W. Clarke, director of the Department of Corrections-?There is no such thing as solitary confinement ? nowhere in the country,? he said. ?That went out the window a long time ago.?"

Posted on March 31, 2012
"Still, Harold W. Clarke, director of the Department of Corrections, said ?segregation? is not ?solitary confinement? ? a practice that was once associated with inmates being stuck in a dark hole. ?There is no such thing as solitary confinement ?...

From the Prison Policy Initiative: Trayvon Martin, Fear of Crime and Mass Incarceration

Posted on March 30, 2012
Trayvon Martin, Fear of Crime and Mass Incarceration The recent killing of unarmed African-American 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida by a leader of a Community Watch program is sparking an overdue discussion about race, crime and Florida's "stand your ground"...

MA: Lois Ahrens: Jail building boom continues

Posted on March 30, 2012
Lois Ahrens: Jail building boom continues By Daily Hampshire Gazette Created 03/30/2012 NORTHAMPTON - In 2007, when Sheriff Michael Ashe of Hampden County opened his new jail for women in Chicopee, he apparently knew he would need 56 additional cells...

Need to Know (on PBS) Texas Justice and an excellent essay by Essayist Thomas Giovanni of the Brennan Center for Justice

Posted on March 30, 2012
Need to Know (on PBS) Texas Justice and an excellent essay by Essayist Thomas Giovanni of the Brennan Center for Justice While it?s known for its high number of executions, Texas is taking the lead on an innovative treatment plan...

Love of music sparks interest in prisons-?In This Timeless Time: Living and Dying on Death Row in America ? by Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian

Posted on March 29, 2012
Love of music sparks interest in prisons By MARCENE ROBINSON Published: March 29, 2012 University of Buffalo Reporter Bruce Jackson?s interests in prison culture began, surprisingly, with his love for music. A blues singer and guitarist, Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor...

Detention Is No Holiday By Edwidge Danticat

Posted on March 29, 2012
Detention Is No Holiday By EDWIDGE DANTICAT March 27, 2012 NY Times Miami LAMAR SMITH, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is presiding over a hearing Wednesday on new guidelines for immigration detention that were issued last month and...

IN: Suit vs Correctional Medical Services re death of schizophrenic inmate

Posted on March 28, 2012
Parents of Late Schizophrenic Win Appeal By JOSEPH CELENTINO http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/03/27/45038.htm CHICAGO (CN) - The 7th Circuit revived some of the claims of parents who blamed Indiana prison officials and medical staff for the death of their 21-year-old schizophrenic son, who...

"A Women's Prison Expands in Chicopee. Do women who commit minor offenses need more jail room--or less jailing?"

Posted on March 28, 2012
A Women's Prison Expands in Chicopee Do women who commit minor offenses need more jail room--or less jailing? Thursday, March 29, 2012 By Maureen Turner Valley Advocate (Northampton, MA) This spring, the Hampden County Sheriff's Department will break ground on...

"Out of Jail, and Into a Job" by Tina Rosenberg

Posted on March 28, 2012
Out of Jail, and Into a Job By TINA ROSENBERG March 28, 2012 NY Times About two months ago, Angel Padilla was walking near Madison Square Garden when the driver of a linen service truck started shouting and waving at...

MA: Strike out ?three strikes? law

Posted on March 27, 2012
Strike out ?three strikes? law AS I SEE IT March 27, 2012 By Edward P. Ryan Jr. Worcester Telegram & Gazette Massachusetts prisons are overloaded and the prisons in Central Massachusetts are among the biggest offenders. The medium-security prison at....

Excellent Interview with Grace Bauer: A mother takes on the juvenile prison system

Posted on March 27, 2012
A mother takes on the juvenile prison system--interview with Grace Bauer. (The State We Are In- Dutch Radio) Feb. 17, 2012 When Grace Bauer?s son was just thirteen years old, he was sent to a juvenile prison in Louisiana, and...

Mandatory minimum sentencing through a judge?s eyes by Nancy Gertner

Posted on March 26, 2012
Mandatory minimum sentencing through a judge?s eyes Published: 12:33 pm Thu, March 22, 2012 By Nancy Gertner --Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Every U.S. judge knows what it is like to sentence a defendant to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment that...

MA Master Plan for construction of 2-3 new regional purpose-built prisons of approx. 200 -300 beds each

Posted on March 26, 2012
MA Corrections Master Plan- Final Report. December 2011 (I suppose building these new prisons for aging and dying prisoners will come from the $550 million dollar bond just issued.) Typically, sub-acute care facilities are similar to assisted-living environments with limited...

NY Times Editorial: Dementia Behind Bars

Posted on March 26, 2012
Editorial: Dementia Behind Bars Published: March 25, 2012 NY Times The get-tough-on-crime and mandatory sentencing policies that swept America beginning in the 1970s did more than drive up the inmate population and prison costs. They also ensured that inmates who...

More God, Less Crime- Baylor University and The Templeton Press. A compitetion -video or essays

Posted on March 26, 2012
More God, Less Crime For more details go to: http://moregodlesscrime.com/mglc-prize/ Since it was first published in 2011 More God, Less Crime has helped to foster a national debate about how faith-based approaches are making a difference and what future collaborations...

MA: Backlog follows parole overhaul. Inmates not told of rulings to release. 58 % drop in releases since Wall became chairman.

Posted on March 26, 2012
"Prisoner advocates say the delays, coupled with stricter standards for releasing other inmates on parole, have contributed heavily to a 58 percent drop in the number of inmates who are released under parole supervision - from 1,028 in 2010 to...

"Stand Your Ground" Law proposed in MA (The Bill and two articles including one from Paul Krugman on ALEC and Stand Your Ground)

Posted on March 26, 2012
If you don't think "Stand Your Ground" can happen in Massachusetts....think of three strikes! On February 7, 2012 there was a hearing in the Joint Judiciary Committee on S 661 and H 1568 - An Act relative to civil rights...

San Fransico: The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement: A Public Forum to Support the California Prisoner Hunger Strike--April 6, 2012

Posted on March 25, 2012
The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement: A Public Forum to Support the California Prisoner Hunger Strike Friday, April 6, 2012, 6pm - 8pm UC Hastings College of the Law Louis B. Mayer Lounge 198 McAllister Street San Francisco (San Francisco)...

NY: Court of Appeals in Unanimous Decision: Judges Can?t Demand Cash-Only Bail

Posted on March 25, 2012
?I?m not much in favor of money bail, period,? said Jerome E. McElroy, the executive director of the New York City Criminal Justice Agency, a nonprofit organization that provides pretrial release services. ?I would be in favor of presenting the...

MA: Prisoners' Legal Services Victory! Prisoners to receive $5-a-day fee money back next month

Posted on March 24, 2012
Inmates to receive $5-a-day fee money back next month By Curt Brown South Coast Today March 23, 2012 DARTMOUTH ? More than two years after the state's high court struck down the practice of charging inmates at the Bristol County...

ALEC behind the Stand Your Ground Law

Posted on March 23, 2012
I just knew it had to be ALEC in league with the NRA.... Exposed: The Corporations Behind the Law That May Let Trayvon Martin's Killer Go Free 03/23/2012 12:46 pm By Suzanne Merkelson It's been widely reported today that the...

News from Decarcerate PA: Two events- March 30th and April 5th in Philadelphia

Posted on March 23, 2012
Join Decarcerate PA on Friday, March 30th to celebrate our campaign, and on Thursday, April 5th for a march to demand that Pennsylvania build communities, not prisons!...

CA: Prisoners call upon United Nations to investigate solitary confinement - & link to the petition to the UN

Posted on March 21, 2012
From: http://www.centerforhumanrights.org/ California holds more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other state in the United States or any other nation on earth. The treatment of these prisoners is barbaric and numerous experts agree amounts to torture...

VA: Legislators asks for federal probe of use of solitary in Va. prisons

Posted on March 21, 2012
Legislators asks for federal probe of use of solitary in Va. prisons By Anita Kumar 3-20-12 Washington Post A trio of Virginia legislators is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the state?s use of solitary confinement in prisons,...

US: U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Alleges Torture of Gay Immigrant "Detainees" in ICE Prisons

Posted on March 21, 2012
Torture of Gay Immigration Prisoners Alleged By ADAM KLASFELD Courthouse News- March 21, 2012 http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/03/21/44868.htm MANHATTAN (CN) - After criticism from the United Nations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it is "taking action to investigate" reports that 16 gay...

CA- ACLU: Counties focus on jail expansion, not reduction in the number of prisoners

Posted on March 21, 2012
ACLU: Counties focus on jail expansion, not inmate reduction March 21, 2012 New report analyzes how counties intend to use state money received for ?realignment? of prison population. By RYAN GABRIELSON / California Watch California counties receiving an influx of...

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