January 05, 2009
AZ: Arpaio Gets A TV Series on FOX
"Maricopa County has many times more federal prison condition lawsuits than New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston combined. In September of last year, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care revoked its accreditation of the jails
Sheriff Arpaio runs on the grounds of failure to provide adequate health care for inmates."
January 5, 2009
The Media Equation
A Star Turn for a Sheriff on Fox TV
By DAVID CARR
With his reputation for being tough on crime and his way with a good quote, Joseph M. Arpaio, the sheriff and jailer of Maricopa County in Arizona would seem to be a reality show waiting to happen.
The wait is over. In the last two weeks, the Fox Reality Channel has broadcast “Smile ...You’re Under Arrest,” a prank-fueled effort to bring nonviolent offenders with outstanding warrants in or near Phoenix to justice.
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Posted by lois at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
MI: Sexual Abuse of Women Went Unheeded- 2 of 5 articles and Human Rights Watch Report
SPECIAL REPORT | CHAPTER 1
Sexual assaults on female inmates went unheeded
Detroit Free Press
BY JEFF SEIDEL • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • January 4, 2009
First of five parts
For years, rights groups warned that male guards were sexually assaulting female inmates in Michigan prisons. For years, those warnings went unheeded. Now, state taxpayers may pay a price too. More than 500 women are suing. They stand to collect $50 million so far, with more trials to come. This is their story.
Toni Bunton heard the guard coming down the hallway. He wore cheap cologne, and his breath smelled like cigarettes.
He scuffed his boots against the floor and opened the door to her cell in Scott Correctional Facility, a women's prison in Plymouth Township.
Posted by lois at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)
PA: Rendell Wants No Parole for People Convicted of Repeated Violent Crimes
Rendell Wants No Parole For Repeat Violent Offenders
Last Edited: Sunday, 04 Jan 2009
Governor Ed Rendell
PHILADELPHIA -- Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has put forth his first order of business for 2009. He wants to get rid of parole for repeat violent offenders.
"In 2008, four Pennsylvanians were brutally murdered by men who had served state time for violent crimes and were out on parole at the time," said Governor Rendell. "These murders cry out for changes in how we sentence our violent repeat offenders."
Currently, in the state of Pennsylvania, offenders are given indeterminate sentences, requiring a minimum and maximum time to be served. Gov. Rendell proposes that any adult or juvenile convicted of a violent crime with a deadly weapon would be unable to get out on parole. He has told the General Assembly to start working on this legislation.
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Posted by lois at 09:27 AM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2009
CA: Schwarzenegger's plan would cut number of parolees in half and reduce the prison population by 10% in a year
His proposal would cut the number of parolees in half and reduce the prison population by almost 10% within a year...
Schwarzenegger plan would save nearly $1 billion in prisoner and parolee costs
afurillo@sacbee.com
Published Friday, Jan. 02, 2009
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest budget proposal would reduce by tens of thousands the number of criminals behind bars and under community supervision.
Parole would be eliminated for all nonserious, nonviolent and non-sex offenders. The proposal would cut the parole population by about 65,000 by June 30, 2010, or more than half of the Christmas Eve count of 123,144.
Posted by lois at 10:35 PM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2009
NY State Law requires employers to provide jobseekers with criminal records with anti-discrimination info
In 2008, the first bill drafted by the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy (DRCPP) at the Fortune Society, The Employer Education Act, was passed by the New York State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Paterson. The law:
(1) Requires employers to provide a copy of Article 23-A of the Correction Law—which makes it illegal to automatically deny employment to qualified job seekers with criminal records and provides guidance on how criminal history information can be appropriately and legally considered amidst the hiring process—to job seekers when relying on a criminal background check during the hiring process; and
(2) Requires the conspicuous posting of Article 23-A in the workplace.
After months of working on implementation, including sending letters about the new law to employment law practices, business that produce workplace signage and other businesses in NYS, DRCPP is pleased to report that the Labor Law Compliance Center (LLCC), one of the largest suppliers of Labor Law Posters in the United States, is now contacting all of its NYS customers to advise them to purchase the updated 2009 poster with the requirements specified in the Employer Education Act. According to LLCC's corporate office, they have "thousands of employers in NYS that rely on LLCC to be in compliance."
DRCPP is currently working on a larger education and communications campaign, which will further educate New York State employers, jobseekers and other stakeholders about the Employer Education Act. We look forward to touching base with you when the campaign rolls out in 2009.
The Fortune Society
David Rothenberg center for Public policy
Posted by lois at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)
Helen Suzman, Anti-Apartheid Leader, Dies at 91
"She was also remembered for efforts to ease p[prison conditions for Mr. Mandela and other political captives, ensuring that they were able to receive books."
January 2, 2009
Helen Suzman, Anti-Apartheid Leader, Dies at 91
By ALAN COWELL and CELIA W. DUGGER
NY Times
Helen Suzman, the internationally known anti-apartheid campaigner who befriended the imprisoned Nelson Mandela and offered an often lonely voice for change among South Africa’s white minority, died on Thursday, a family member said.. She was 91.
Her son-in-law, Jeffrey Jowell, said she died peacefully in her Johannesburg home after a brief illness. He did not specify the cause of death.Mrs. Suzman was for many years among the most venerated of white campaigners urging an end to the injustices of racial rule. But, while she challenged apartheid at a time of violent protests among the black majority, she advocated peaceful change and differed sharply with more radical campaigners inside and outside South Africa supportive of economic sanctions to pressure the country’s white rulers toward reform.
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Posted by lois at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2008
Oklahoma's Incarceration Rates--What would it mean to be average
Oklahoma's Incarceration Rates
by: JULIE DELCOUR Associate Editor
Sunday, December 28, 2008
What if Oklahoma's per-capita incarceration rate were average.
Nothing excessive, mind you, just similar to that of states in the
middle of the pack?
The research committee over at the Oklahoma Academy did some
calculations recently and found out the importance of being just
average — what it would mean in terms of people and dollars. These
are the committee's findings: By being average the state would have
6,100 fewer inmates, a number equivalent to the population of
Henryetta, Pauls Valley or Vinita. The Department of Corrections'
annual budget would shrink by an estimated $100 million.
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Posted by lois at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)
