September 02, 2010
AZ: "Marcia Powell's Death Unavenged: County Attorney Passes on Prosecuting Prison Staff" with comments from Donna Hamm and Peggy Plews
Marcia Powell's Death Unavenged: County Attorney Passes on Prosecuting Prison Staff
By Stephen Lemons, Wed., Sep. 1 2010 @ 8:09AM
Feathered Bastard
Sadly, Marcia Powell may never get justice
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has chosen not to prosecute Arizona Department of Corrections staff in the death of inmate Marcia Powell.
Powell, 48, died May 20, 2009, after being kept in a human cage in Goodyear's Perryville Prison for at least four hours in the blazing Arizona sun. This, despite a prison policy limiting such outside confinement to a maximum of two hours.
The county medical examiner found the cause of death to be due to complications from heat exposure. Her core body temperature upon examination was 108 degrees Fahrenheit. She suffered burns and blisters all over her body.
Witnesses say she was repeatedly denied water by corrections officers, though the c.o.'s deny this. The weather the day she collapsed from the heat (May 19 -- she died in the early morning hours of May 20) arched just above a 107 degree high.
According to a 3,000 page report released by the ADC, she pleaded to be taken back inside, but was ignored. Similarly, she was not allowed to use the restroom. When she was found unconscious, her body was covered with excrement from soiling herself.
Powell, who was serving a 27-month sentence for prostitution, actually expired after being transported to West Valley Hospital, where acting ADC Director Charles Ryan made the decision to have her life support suspended.
Posted by lois at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)
August 31, 2010
Prison Without Walls (The Atlantic Monthly)
Prison Without Walls
Incarceration in America is a failure by almost any measure. But what if the prisons could be turned inside out, with convicts released into society under constant electronic surveillance? Radical though it may seem, early experiments suggest that such a science-fiction scenario might cut crime, reduce costs, and even prove more just.
By Graeme Wood
Atlantic Monthly September 2010
Continue reading "Prison Without Walls (The Atlantic Monthly)"
Posted by lois at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)
MI: How to close prisons and still not save money
Melot: Prison costs loom over Michigan
Prisoner releases haven't altered budgetary trends
August 31, 2010
Is Michigan doomed to a $2 billion per year Corrections Department?
Readers may be aware of the Granholm administration's push to reduce the prison population in the state. This should, in theory, help the state control costs, since housing a felon in a prison can run you $20,000 to $30,000 per year.
The funny thing is, smaller prisons aren't leading to smaller budgets.
Continue reading "MI: How to close prisons and still not save money"
Posted by lois at 06:36 PM | Comments (0)
People who have been incarcerated face big debt challenges after prison & burdened by paying off large bills
Ex-offenders face big debt challenges after prison
Life after prison is often burdened by paying off large bills
By Erica Sandberg
Creditcards.com
August 31, 2010
Even after leaving prison, most ex-offenders still carry a ball and chain: debt.
About 650,000 prisoners walk out the jailhouse doors each year. Most owe money to a variety of creditors, and their offender status limits their means to repay. If you or a loved one needs to rebuild after incarceration, know your options and get the necessary help. With guidance and perseverance, you can deal with that debt.
Posted by lois at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2010
CO: Canon City Opens 316 "high security" 24 hour a day lock down cages
Prisoners, Security, Cells, High Security, Department of Corrections
CANON CITY, COLO. -- A new high security prison in Canon City is preparing to open its doors to problem prisoners, and officials said the new facility is long overdue.
The Centennial Correctional Facility is located in east Canon City.
The facility was approved by legislature in 2002, but several lawsuits and budget cuts delayed construction until 2007.
Wednesday the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) held a dedication ceremony for the new facility.
For prisoners the Centennial Correctional Facility is the end of the line.
"This is a 24 hour-a-day lock down. We have a five level security classifications system. This is level five which is the highest level," Ari Zavaras, Executive Director of the DOC, said.
Officials said prisoners who are problems at other facilities will end up in single cells at the Centennial Correctional Facility.
"Individuals that come into this setting do what we call in the system earn their way into this facility. It's by their behavior as opposed to what their crime was,” Zavaras said.
The facility has 948 high security beds in three towers. But because they are so expensive to run, only one tower will open in September.
Zavaras said to operate one tower costs a little over $10 million. Each tower holds 316 high security beds and the one that is opening will be filled to capacity almost immediately.
“We've had a backup in our high security beds, so we'll be able to get some of those individuals who are backed into facilities right now into this facility and start the programming," Zavaras said.
Attorney General John Suthers said the need for this facility goes back to 2001.
"Make no mistake about it, anyone who knows this business knows that adequate high security beds are absolutely essential to the proper and safe functioning of an effective Department of Corrections,” Suthers said.
Officials said the goal of the Centennial Correctional Facility is to teach problem prisoners better behavior and prepare them to return to society as a contributing member.
The Centennial Correctional Facility will officially open Sept. 1.They will accept 15 prisoners a day until capacity is reached.
http://www.coloradoconnection.com/news/story.aspx?id=502222
Posted by lois at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2010
NH: Lack of money for treatment means prisoners can stay in prison for a year waiting for programs
Inmates' treatment bottleneck means delays in release
By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief
Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010
CONCORD – State prison inmates trying to earn parole, many of them with alcohol and drug abuse backgrounds, face a shortage of treatment programs they need to attend as a condition of being set free.
Alan Coburn, a member of the Adult Parole Board, told a committee studying parole issues yesterday that because treatment options are few, many inmates ready for release remain behind bars for up to a year while they wait their turn.
Posted by lois at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)
NY: Ithaca school board balks at buying-from-prisons policy. State purchasing policy requirement removed
"Board member Eldred Harris said he could not square the concept of benefiting financially from the prison system with a requirement to purchase goods from correctional facilities when those within the prison system are evidence of school districts' failures. 'The causal link I see is that schools fail students of color disproportionately,' and the rate of failure of students of color corresponds with African-Americans' disproportionate incarceration rate, Harris said. Once imprisoned, the state utilizes prisoners' labor for almost no pay, and then forces school districts and municipalities to purchase the products they make, he said."
Ithaca school board balks at buying-from-prisons policy
State purchasing policy requirement removed
Ithaca Journal
By Liz Lawyer
August 25, 2010
A line in the Ithaca City School District's purchasing policy was causing a moral dilemma for some board of education members -- so they took it out, despite a state law requiring it remain in.
Posted by lois at 08:31 PM | Comments (0)
