Last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo (New York) canceled his innovative plan to offer basic college education programs to state prisoners. The cancellation was the result of vociferous opposition from other New York State lawmakers. Once again, politics trumped common sense. It’s been proven that prison education effectively rehabilitates convicts. This results in reduced recidivism and
Michigan Prison News On August 6, 2013, a jury returned a not-guilty verdict in the trial of Lansing jail guard David Gladstone, who was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery of a prisoner. Although Gladstone was found not guilty, an internal investigation is pending to determine whether he violated any department policies or procedures. Jail
On January 22, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Cunningham v. California, __ S.Ct. __, 2007 WL 135687 (No. 05-6551), holding that California’s determinate sentencing law, which allows CA judges to impose upper-term sentences (i.e., the highest of the three possible sentences which can be imposed for any given offense) on the basis of factors found by the judge rather than by the jury, is unconstitutional. The purpose of this commentary is to concisely explain to prisoners whether or not they have a chance for getting any sentencing relief under Cunningham.
First off, it must be said that Cunningham is still so new that the California Supreme Court has not yet provided any guidance at all as to how this case will actually be interpreted in practice. Also, it’s at least possible that California may set up a procedure to enable prisoners to get Cunningham sentencing relief without having to go to court to get it. In the meantime, though, prisoners who are trying to decide whether or not they are covered by Cunningham should consider the following:
Because Cunningham applies only to California’s sentencing laws, it does not cover prisoners sentenced in other states.
Cunningham only applies where the upper term was based on findings made by the judge rather than by the jury, and where the prisoner was given a specific sentence to the highest of the three possible terms. Therefore, for example, it will not apply to indeterminate sentences such as those for murder (15 to life, 25 to life, etc.); to sentencing enhancements based on facts found by the jury (such as the 20 or 25 years tacked on for using or firing a gun during the crime); or to sentences where the judge imposed the lower or middle term.
In December 2013, Prison Legal News settled a federal lawsuit against Upshur County, Texas, that alleged unconstitutional censorship when PLN’s publications were rejected by jail officials. The suit, filed in October 2012, named the county, Sheriff Anthony Betterton, and Sheriff’s Lt. Jill McCauley as defendants. According to the complaint, the Upshur County jail’s inmate handbook
In a perfect world, prison generally has three purposes: prison acts as a deterrent to instant and repeat crimes, prison punishes the wrongdoer, and prison ideally treats or rehabilitates the wrongdoer so they no longer engage in crime. This article will address these three purposes of prisons and show how the instance of recidivism can
In March 2013, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s dismissal of a pro se habeas petitioner’s claim that his 9-year detention while waiting for the State of California to initiate civil commitment proceedings was unconstitutional.
Just before convicted rapist Bobby Joe Knight’s scheduled release from prison in 2004 after serving a 20-year sentence, the state filed a civil petition against him under California’s Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA), Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code §§ 6600, et seq. The Los Angeles County Superior Court ordered that Knight be held in a secure facility pending trial.
Knight remained in custody, as no effort was made to bring the state’s petition against him to trial. Incredibly, between 2004 and 2009, Knight’s counsel requested (or stipulated to) continuances of the case. Not content with the quality of his representation – being deprived of one’s liberty indefinitely, without due process of law, can be frustrating – Knight repeatedly requested that he be appointed new counsel.
Exasperated, he filed a habeas corpus petition in state court in April 2009, claiming that his lengthy detention was unconstitutional. The petition was denied, and Knight’s counsel and the government agreed to still more continuances.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) recently completed an evaluation of the effects of private prison confinement on offender recidivism. The evaluation assessed the impact of incarceration at the Prairie Correctional Facility (PCF) in Appleton, Minnesota, on recidivism among 3,532 offenders released between 2007 and 2009. The average follow-up period for the offenders in this
Distance learning refers to any type of learning that is conducted via a distance, regardless of how the course materials are conveyed. Many groups can benefit from these sorts of courses. Such programs can make education accessible to immobilized groups, they can help accelerate existing studies, and they can also allow busy professionals to learn
Kansas Prison News
Former Sedgwick County Jail guard David Kendall, 23, was charged with crimes ranging from aggravated sodomy to misdemeanor sexual battery for raping two prisoners and sexually propositioning four others. These prisoners have collectively filed claims totaling over $20 million against Sedgwick County. Kendall posted $500,000 bond and was released from the Sedgwick County Jail with a GPS monitoring system. At an August 30, 2013 hearing, testimony was presented that one of the prisoners accusing Kendall of rape had had consensual sex with him, then fabricated the rape claim to cash in on a civil suit.
Michigan Prison News
Former Michigan Department of Corrections employee Michael Paul Salyers pleaded no contest on August 2, 2013 to a lesser charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct; he was originally charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct of a state prisoner. Police said that since 2006, Salyers had a sexual relationship with a female Michigan state prisoner who has since been released. At the time, Salyers was a mechanic at the now-closed Camp Brighton facility.
Minnesota Prison News
A nurse working for a private medical contractor, Advanced Correctional Healthcare/Diamond Pharmacy Services, was charged with illegally obtaining prescriptions for oxycodone for personal use by using the names of prisoners in her care at the Isanti County Jail. Cara Sue Lindgren was charged with felony fifth-degree drug possession by fraud or deceit on August 9, 2013. An investigation into the wrongdoing at the Isanti County Jail remains ongoing.
Crime is down in the United States, but spending measures included in the $1.1 trillion federal budget passed by Congress in January 2014 will ensure that many law enforcement agencies receive more funding. Insiders give much of the credit for the fiscal year (FY) 2014 funding increases to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, who