February 06, 2010
MA: R.I.P. Ray Gauthier August 31, 1948 - January 22, 2010
R.I.P. Ray Gauthier August 31, 1948 - January 22, 2010
(On January 22 our friend Ray died on 8 North, the Department of Correction's hospital unit at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain. The Shattuck is a Department of Public Health facility. Hundreds of us have stories about conditions there.)
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An Open Letter to Governor Deval Patrick
(I have chosen this forum for a letter to the Governor as his own website states any mail to him is screened by his assistants and referred to the appropriate department for response. Which in Honest English means the Governor would NEVER see my letter)
Dear Governor Patrick,
Let me introduce myself to you. I am Carmen Gauthier, a “Highest Honors” graduate with a bachelor’s degree in social services. I am a ten year veteran of the Texas Department of Children’s Protective Services. I have never been arrested nor incarcerated in my life. Though I am a practicing pagan, I believe in and strive daily to practice the Christians’ “Golden Rule.” I am also the wife of the late, Raymond Gauthier, con number W45176.
Continue reading "MA: R.I.P. Ray Gauthier August 31, 1948 - January 22, 2010"
Posted by lois at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)
Washington Post Editorial "Va. legislators should embrace bills to protect juveniles in prison"
Editorial: Va. legislators should embrace bills to protect juveniles in prison
Washington Post
Friday, February 5, 2010
THERE IS NO safer political bet than supporting legislation to protect children from harm. That bet is tougher when the children in question are juvenile offenders, but it is no less worthy. Virginia lawmakers should muster the courage to endorse two bills that would enhance protections for juvenile offenders.
Posted by lois at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2010
Warning: tranquilizers necessary before reading. Penn State receives 1.27 million grant to study end of life care for prisoners.
Posted on February 3, 2010 4:56 AM
Penn State researchers receive money for new prison study
By Laura Nichols Email
Penn State Collegian Staff Writer
Penn State researchers making end-of-life care for prison inmates are the focus of a $1.27 million grant.
Researchers are using the National Institute of Nursing Research grant to develop a comprehensive toolkit of tailored resources for end-of-life care in prisons, assistant professor of nursing Susan Loeb wrote in an e-mail.
Leaders of the program plan to apply study findings at six different prisons state-wide in an attempt to improve care for inmates reaching the end of their lives, wrote Loeb, the principal investigator for the study.
Posted by lois at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)
Speaking to L.A. lawyers, Justice Kennedy blasts the prison guard union calling its influence in passing three strikes "sick"
Justice Kennedy laments the state of prisons in California, U.S.
Speaking to L.A. lawyers, the Supreme Court jurist blasts the prison guard union's influence, calling it 'sick' but sidesteps questions about the ruling he wrote last month on campaign spending.
By Carol J. Williams
February 4, 2010
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy criticized California sentencing policies and crowded prisons Wednesday night, calling the influence that unionized prison guards had in passing the three-strikes law "sick."
Posted by lois at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2010
Obama budget includes $527.5M for Justice Dept. Justice Dept. projects increase of 7000 more prisoners by 2011
President Obama unveiled a multitrillion-dollar spending plan that would boost the deficit to a record-breaking $1.56 trillion.
2011 budget gives federal prisons $528M
Proposed increases in the 2011 budget for Justice Department programs:
Feb 4-2010
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — As states cut their budgets by closing prisons and diverting some offenders to probation and treatment programs, the federal government is proposing to dramatically ramp up its detention operations.
The Obama administration's $3.8 trillion 2011 budget proposal calls for a $527.5 million infusion for the federal Bureau of Prisons and judicial security — $227 million more than the proposed increase to Justice's national security program. The boost would bring the total Bureau of Prisons budget to $6.8 billion.
Posted by lois at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2010
Youth prison system under pressure- proposed Senate bill would require states to track use of restraints in juvenile detention
"A bill before the U.S. Senate would require states to track the use of restraints in juvenile detention, which some states do voluntarily."The research tells us unequivocally" restraint "can result in a child's death," says Tara Andrews of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, which is lobbying for the bill's passage."
Youth prison system under pressure
February 3, 2010
By Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Three years after a 15-year-old boy died in restraints, the youth prison where he was pinned to the floor is set to be closed.
The shuttering of Tryon Boys Residential Center is due to budget gaps that plague states across the USA — but also is a sign of the intense pressure on New York to improve its deeply troubled juvenile detention system.
Posted by lois at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2010
NY: Jim Crow Policing
Op-Ed Columnist
Jim Crow Policing
By BOB HERBERT
Published: New York Times. February 1, 2010
The New York City Police Department needs to be restrained. The nonstop humiliation of young black and Hispanic New Yorkers, including children, by police officers who feel no obligation to treat them fairly or with any respect at all is an abomination. That many of the officers engaged in the mistreatment are black or Latino themselves is shameful.
Statistics will be out shortly about the total number of people who were stopped and frisked by the police in 2009. We already have the data for the first three-quarters of the year, and they are staggering. During that period, more than 450,000 people were stopped by the cops, an increase of 13 percent over the same period in 2008.
Continue reading "NY: Jim Crow Policing"
Posted by lois at 10:57 PM | Comments (0)
2nd National Prisoner's Families Conference, Feb 25 & 26th in Orlando, FL
For info go to the URL below
2nd National Prisoner's Families Conference, Feb 25 & 26th in Orlando, FL
http://solutionsforelpaso.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/conference-listing-of-workshops.pdf
Posted by lois at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2010
California WatchBlog Probe examines whether Chino inmates were locked in cages for days
California WatchBlog
Probe examines whether Chino inmates were locked in cages for days
January 12, 2010 | Michael Montgomery
The Office of the Inspector General is probing allegations that inmates at the California Institution for Men in Chino have been locked in outdoor, cage-like enclosures for extended periods, possibly days.
OIG investigators are assessing recent claims that inmates at the prison’s reception center were held in steel-and-wire pens and exposed to extreme conditions. “It’s not an investigation, but we are conducting a preliminary review,” said Laura Hill, special adviser to Inspector General David Shaw.
Posted by lois at 08:06 PM | Comments (0)
