Prison News | Prison Conditions & Corruption

• 3 Arrested in South Carolina Prison Contraband Operation
  
  Contraband valued at $35,000 was confiscated when the South Carolina Department of Corrections busted a smuggling operation...[more]
  U.S. News, Friday, January 10, 2020
  
  
• Shocking photo shows prisoners rammed in an overcrowded cell at troubled jail where three were killed in gang clashes between inmates
  
  Shocking photos show prisoners rammed in an overcrowded cell at a troubled jail where three inmates died in gang clashes and from which two escaped last week....[more]
  dailymail.co.uk, Tuesday, January 7, 2020
  
  
• Inmate Lawsuit: Guards Stood by or Helped Facilitate Attack
  
  CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A black West Virginia inmate says in a federal lawsuit that he was attacked by a member of the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood while state prison guards either did nothing or helped facilitate the assault....[more]
  US News, Monday, January 6, 2020
  
  
• Missouri man gets 8 years in prison for aiding ISIS leader
  
  A Missouri man accused of supplying money and armed forces tools to a now-deceased ISIS leader in Syria has been sentenced to eight years leisurely bars — after which he shall be deported to his native Bosnia....[more]
  headlinezpro.com, Friday, November 15, 2019
  
  
• Woman pleads guilty to passing contraband to inmate
  
  COVINGTON COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) - A woman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment for passing contraband to a Covington County Jail inmate. ...[more]
  wsfa.com, Sunday, November 3, 2019
  
  
• NY attorney sentenced to 1 month in prison for paying $75K to have daughter's ACT answers fixed
  
  BOSTON — Gordon Caplan, a prominent New York attorney, was sentenced Thursday in Boston federal court to one month in prison for paying $75,000 to have someone correct answers on his daughter's ACT test to inflate her score....[more]
  USA Today, Thursday, October 3, 2019
  
  
• US resumes death penalty: morally unacceptable
  
  Last week, the US government announced it will resume use of capital punishment after a 16-year hiatus and has set execution dates for five convicted murderers. This is a response to President Donald Trump’s call for tougher penalties on violent crimes....[more]
  The New Times | Rwanda, Monday, July 29, 2019
  
  
• County approves $31 million for women’s prison expansion
  
  Bucks County commissioners awarded eight contracts to six companies at its July 24 meeting to expand the Women’s Correctional Facility addressing over-crowding concerns....[more]
  Bucks County Courier Times, Friday, July 26, 2019
  
  
• West Virginia officials investigating 2 inmate assaults at regional jail
  
  CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Authorities have begun an investigation into two inmate-on-inmate assaults at a regional jail in West Virginia....[more]
  www.wtap.com, Monday, July 8, 2019
  
  
• Commissioner says Alabama prison system culture must change
  
  Much has been reported about the scarcity of staff, overcrowding, and crumbling physical conditions in Alabama’s prisons....[more]
  AL.com, Monday, May 27, 2019
  
  
• Brooklyn prison: Power and heat failure sparks protest
  
  Protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn, chanted: "Where is the heat"?...[more]
  BBC News, Sunday, March 3, 2019
  
  
• Overflow Barracks, but No New Prison, in Evers Budget
  
  MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers doesn't plan to build any new prisons to accommodate Wisconsin's burgeoning inmate population. Evers released his budget Thursday. The spending plan doesn't call for building a new facility, or replacing the aging prison in Green Bay....[more]
  US News, Thursday, February 28, 2019
  
  
• Ex-Chicago police officer who killed Laquan McDonald attacked in prison, wife says
  
  Jason Van Dyke was kept in isolation in Illinois after being convicted in the black teenager's murder...[more]
  NBC News, Thursday, February 14, 2019
  
  
• The Future Of Prison Reform In Florida
  
  Attempts to reform the way criminals are sentenced and how much time they spend behind bars have made...[more]
  WLRN Miami | Sout Florida, Sunday, February 10, 2019
  
  
• Shakeup in Alaska Prisons Targets “Overuse” of Solitary Confinement -- Reports Find Widespread Isolation and Neglect; Corrections Chief Resigns
  
  Alaska’s prison system is “broken” according to Governor Bill Walker following a damning review of the Department of Corrections, including its overuse of solitary confinement and a recommendation for the practice to be used “sparingly and appropriately.”...[more]
  Solitary Watch, Wednesday, November 25, 2015
  
  
• New York City settles inmate death lawsuits for $5.3M
  
  NEW YORK - New York City has agreed to pay $5.3 million to the families of two inmates who died at its troubled Rikers Island jail complex, a city official said on Tuesday....[more]
  Jamestown Sun, Thursday, November 19, 2015
  
  
• Jailhouse suicides, heavy use of solitary confinement led to prison shakeup
  
  Alaska’s governor has replaced his top corrections official after an investigation into the state prison system uncovered a slew of serious problems ranging from inadequate treatment of suicidal inmates to widespread use of solitary confinement....[more]
  Ktuu.com, Tuesday, November 17, 2015
  
  
• ? Rikers Is Reforming Solitary Confinement—With More Solitary Confinement? How did Enhanced Supervision Housing units become one of the mayor’s “solutions”?
  
  ? In July, David* was told he was being moved to a new unit. He was taken from a general-population unit on Rikers to one of the recently opened Enhanced Supervision Housing units (ESHU) at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center. The unit was a stark difference from general population: In ESHU you get seven hours out-of-cell time a day; in general population, you’re entitled to 14 hours minimum out-of-cell time, as mandated by the Board of Correction’s standards....[more]
  The Nation, Tuesday, November 10, 2015
  
  
• Photos Of 1960s U.S. Prison System Attempt To Show That Inmates Are Us
  
  "I was never afraid of the men," photographer Danny Lyon said of his time spent with Texas prisoners. "I liked them. And I had many friends inside the system that would stand up for me, dangerous men. Anyway, in my heart of hearts I felt I was doing something good for the men, and most of them knew it."...[more]
  Huffington Post, Friday, November 6, 2015
  
  
• More than a decade after release, they all come back -- SILVESTRE SEGOVIA HAD VOWED THAT HE WOULD NEVER RETURN TO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.
  
  Languishing in the vast Texas prison system's solitary confinement wings for more than a decade had exacted a heavy emotional toll. And there was so much to discover about a new world that confronted him on a much-anticipated exit that chilly morning, Nov. 15, 2002. A loyal girlfriend waited 255 miles away....[more]
  USA Today, Tuesday, November 3, 2015
  
  
• In 10 States, Children Can Be Punished With Indefinite Solitary Confinement
  
  Isolation can permanently change the teenage brain, neuroscientists have found. Animal studies have shown that the pruning of synapses that occurs during adolescence -- a process that allows kids to grow out of behaviors like impulsiveness -- doesn't happen normally in long-term isolation. This means that solitary may, in fact, increase recidivism. When kids are not punished with isolation, they are less likely to act out, some states have found....[more]
  Huffington Post, Monday, November 2, 2015
  
  
• Why 4 Boys In South Carolina Have Been Shackled In Solitary Confinement For 6 Weeks
  
  A thirty minute drive from Spring Valley High School, where Officer Ben Fields slammed and dragged a teenage girl out of her desk, several young boys have been shackled and locked in solitary confinement for close to six weeks with little to no human contact....[more]
  ThinkProgress, Thursday, October 29, 2015
  
  
• A Play That Confronts the Horror of Solitary Confinement
  
  On a recent Thursday evening, a small crowd gathered in a sweaty upstairs room in a Lutheran church in Bed Stuy for “Mariposa and the Saint,” a short play composed entirely from the text of letters written by a woman named Sara (Mariposa) Fonseca while she was serving a fifteen-month sentence in solitary confinement. The letters were written to an artist and activist named Julia Steele Allen, who also, by Fonseca’s request, plays Mariposa in the production. ...[more]
  New Yorker, Monday, October 19, 2015
  
  
• Curtailing solitary confinement
  
  IN THE AREA of prison reform, perhaps no method of incarceration has been more controversial than solitary confinement. Prisoner rights advocates have long argued that solitary confinement — the segregation of individual prisoners in small cells for up to 23 hours a day — is inhumane. Correctional officers, meanwhile, have seen solitary confinement as an important tool for disciplining unruly or dangerous inmates....[more]
  Boston Globe, Friday, October 9, 2015
  
  
• Americans protest human rights violations in US prisons
  
  A group of protesters have condemned human rights violations and illegal activities that frequently take place in prisons across the United States.

  The protesters gathered near the Rikers facility in New York City on Saturday and called for reform....[more]

  Press.Tv, Friday, November 7, 2014
  
  
• The Shake-Up at Rikers Island
  
  Violence and corruption became entrenched at New York City’s Rikers Island jail because officers who ignored or even condoned that culture were moved steadily up the ladder into management....[more]
  New York Times, Tuesday, November 4, 2014
  
  
• $2.25 Million Settlement for Family of Rikers Inmate Who Died in Hot Cell
  
  The family of a homeless veteran who died this year in a searing hot cell at the Rikers Island jail complex will receive $2.25 million from the City of New York in a settlement the comptroller’s office announced on Friday....[more]
  New York Times, Saturday, November 1, 2014
  
  
• Issue 11 aims to prevent jail overcrowding for female inmates
  
  Portage County Sheriff David Doak said the jail began to see a spike in its female population about two years ago. Doak attributes the rise in female inmates to drug use and said Portage County isn’t the only jail having trouble with overcrowding....[more]
  U-Wire, Friday, October 31, 2014
  
  
• New York sued over so-called owed time in solitary
  
  A class action lawsuit filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court says inmates are unduly placed in 23-hour confinement for breaking jailhouse rules in previous detentions, sometimes years earlier. For example, if an inmate is sentenced to a month in solitary confinement but is released or transferred before completing it, he can be forced to serve the remaining time during his next incarceration....[more]
  Associated Press, Thursday, October 30, 2014
  
  
• 3 New York City Correction Officials to Step Down Amid Scrutiny of Rikers
  
  In a major shake-up at the New York City Correction Department, three high-ranking officials, including the top uniformed officer, are stepping down amid mounting criticism over the handling of violence and corruption at Rikers Island....[more]
  New York Times, Wednesday, October 29, 2014