December 31, 2016 USA: Massachussets unlawfully isolates mentally ill inmates News Mental health United States One inmate, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, became so distraught after months in the prison’s isolation unit that he began talking to himself and counting compulsively. Another, who suffers from schizoaffective disorder, declined so much in isolation that he smeared himself with feces.
December 29, 2016 USA : prison population shrinks to smallest in a decade News United States Efforts to cut number of nonviolent offenders contributed to roughly 2% drop in 2015. The U.S. prison population in 2015 fell to the lowest level since 2005, fueled in part by the federal push to reduce the number of nonviolent drug offenders behind bars and state policies aimed at shorter sentence…
December 28, 2016 USA : prisons basically ignore the Americans with Disabilities Act News United States Prisons across the U.S. routinely flout the Americans With Disabilities Act, subjecting thousands of inmates with physical and mental health problems to painful and sometimes humiliating conditions, according to watchdog groups, inmates, corrections officials, and a former Justice Department offici…
December 28, 2016 USA : 6 inmates in a Tennessee prison escaped through a broken toilet News United States Six inmates escaped from a Tennessee jail through a broken toilet early Christmas morning, the Cocke County Sheriff’s Office told KOMO News. The police are still searching for one of the inmates. The other five were captured shortly after they escaped.
December 23, 2016 USA : Wilson County man who spent 31 years in prison not recommended for exoneration News United States A Wilson County man who served 31 years in prison on a rape and burglary conviction before DNA evidence cleared him of the crime was not recommended for exoneration by the Tennessee Board of Parole on Tuesday.
December 16, 2016 USA : a prison class in African religion attracts students beyond its walls News Religion United States In many ways, the class that met here Tuesday night could be in any university in the United States. There were desks arranged in a circle to facilitate discussion. There were student presentations based on dense readings. And there was the faint buzzing from the fluorescent lights overhead.
December 15, 2016 USA : This is what field trips to prison are like News United States When an execution is scheduled at Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., a select group of witnesses is invited to attend.
December 15, 2016 USA : Quarter of inmates could have been spared prison without risk News United States Study of 1.5 million prisoners finds that drug treatment, community service, probation or fines would have served as more effective sentences for many.
December 15, 2016 USA : How to cut the prison population, save $18 billion a year and keep America safe News United States A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice concludes that “unnecessary incarceration” — imprisoning people for low-level offenses and keeping them there for years — is ruining hundreds of thousands of lives, wasting billions of dollars and having little effect on public safety.
December 15, 2016 USA : more prisoners die of old age behind bars News Health United States As the number of older prisoners soars, more inmates are dying in prison of diseases that afflict the elderly, new data from the Department of Justice show. A total of 3,483 inmates died in state prisons and 444 in federal prisons in 2014, the highest numbers on record since the bureau started coun…
December 12, 2016 USA : Welcome to Stewart Detention Center, the Black Hole of America's Immigration System News United States Stewart, one of the most remote immigration detention centers in the country. Stewart has become an essential moneymaker for the area. In 2012, it provided 20 percent of the county’s revenue, money generated from the roughly 1,700 beds that are filled with men waiting to find out whether they’ll be…
December 6, 2016 USA : the stain of racism in New York’s prisons News United States New Yorkers are grimly familiar with state prison horror stories featuring guards who beat and torture inmates, knowing that their union will shield them from punishment and that district attorneys in towns dominated by prisons will look the other way.
December 6, 2016 USA : The world's growing debt problem is just like the US prison system News United States Bill Gross, the legendary investor, thinks that America has two imprisonment problems.The first, is the literal incarceration rate in the US. The second is the trap of ever-growing debt that has ensnared the US and global economies
December 5, 2016 USA : the link between race and solitary confinement News Discipline United States Men of color are overrepresented in isolation, while whites are typically underrepresented. Stark disparities in prisoners’ treatment are embedded into criminal-justice systems at the city, county, state, and federal levels, and have disproportionate, negative effects on men of color.
December 4, 2016 USA : for Blacks facing parole in New York State, signs of a broken system News United States Jaimie Davenport and Billy Cassell had their first hearings before the New York State Board of Parole earlier this year. Both were serving a maximum of six years on a burglary conviction, Mr. Cassell for breaking into storage units, Mr. Davenport for stealing cellphones. The men are in their 30s an…
December 3, 2016 USA : Trump’s win gives stocks in private prison companies a reprieve News United States As terrific as Donald J. Trump has been for the stock market, he has been absolutely spectacular for a troubled niche: companies that run for-profit prisons and immigration detention centers for states and the federal government.
December 3, 2016 USA : the scourge of racial bias in New York State’s prisons News United States A New York Times investigation draws on nearly 60,000 disciplinary cases from state prisons and interviews with inmates to explore the system’s inequities and the ripple effect they can have. The racism can be felt from the moment black inmates enter New York’s upstate prisons. They describe being…
November 28, 2016 UK : one prison suicide every three days in England and Wales News Suicide United States Penal reform groups warn of mental health epidemic, with prison suicide rate 10 times higher than among general population. More than 100 people have killed themselves in prisons in England and Wales so far this year, according to penal reform groups, prompting warnings of a mental health epidemic…
November 27, 2016 États-Unis : l'industrie des prisons dopée par Trump News United States Sorry, this article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version
November 25, 2016 USA : mothers in prison News United States The women’s wing of the jail here exhales sadness. The inmates, wearing identical orange uniforms, ache as they undergo withdrawal from drugs, as they eye one another suspiciously, and as they while away the days stripped of freedom, dignity, privacy and, most painful of all, their children.
November 22, 2016 Etats-Unis : Chicago veut durcir les peines de prison News United States Sorry, this article is not available in English. You can consult the French version.
November 21, 2016 Etats-Unis : Pour les plus anciens détenus américains en cellule d’isolement, le combat continue News Discipline United States Sorry, this article is not available in English. You can consult the French version.
November 21, 2016 USA: shadow prison immigrant detention in the South News United States As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to deport up to 3 million people, an investigation of immigrant detention centers in the South has found that detainees are routinely denied their due process rights and frequently endure inhumane conditions in isolated facilities that have little oversight…
November 19, 2016 USA : study suggests Illinois women's prison disciplines inmates too harshly News Women Discipline Violence United States Inmates at Illinois’ major women’s prison have been called “crazy” and “worthless” by corrections officers, are sometimes placed in an unpadded open-bar “crisis cage” and receive harsher discipline than men for similar offenses, a study released Friday says.
