Inmates incarcerated within the Federal Bureau of Prisons have access to a number of religious programs at their local prison facility. While religious service offerings depend on locality and security level, all federal prisoners in general population status can expect to have access to a Religious Services Department where they can explore and strengthen their
By Lois Davis If California is serious about reducing its prison population, one crucial component will have to be reducing recidivism. Currently, a lot of the state’s inmates are men and women who’ve been in prison more than once. They get out, they have little training or education, they can’t get jobs, and, in many
By Allie Bidwell Prison inmates who receive general education or vocational training are far less likely to return to prison and significantly more likely to find employment after their release, according to a new report from a nonprofit global policy think tank. Researchers at the RAND Corporation found through an analysis of past studies, released
By Dianne Frazee-Walker
“Adios diablo, may you burn for 1,000 years, just like you were sentenced,” read a Blog posted in a Cleveland newspaper after Ariel Castro received a life sentence for kidnapping and torturing three woman for a decade in his Cleveland home.
There is probably no sentence stringent enough to match the heinous crimes Castro committed.
After plea-bargaining for life in prison as opposed to the death penalty, Castro decided to take his own life by hanging himself in his prison cell.
Dramatic circumstances surrounding Castro’s conviction cause one to speculate;
Would this have happened if Castro was on suicide watch instead of protective custody?
What would have brought justice for the three victims Castro tormented for 10 years?
One of the victims, 30-year-old Michelle Knight, who was kidnapped at the age of 20, sobbingly bore witness during her testimony stating death would have been “so much easier” for her captor.
Fate would have it that Castro was still in control of his victim’s emotions when he made the final decision about his punishment.
But did he have the final say?
The Federal Bureau of Prisons has decided to deny compassionate release to Lynne F. Stewart, a polarizing defense attorney who represented reviled clients like mafia hitman Salvatore Gravano and terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.*1 Ms. Stewart was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2010 after the United States Court of Appeals for the
After the state of New Hampshire hired a consulting group last year to help evaluate bid proposals for the “construction, operation and potential privatization” of the state’s entire prison system, it was determined that all of the bids “had deficiencies from an operational standpoint,” according to a report issued by New Hampshire’s Department of Corrections
David Nagel
Education programs in prison have a massive impact on recidivism. Based on a new meta-analysis, “inmates who participated in correctional education programs had 43 percent lower odds of returning to prison than inmates who did not.” The study also set out to find whether technology-led instruction among inmates could cut down on recidivism as well as teacher-led instruction. The results were positive.
By John E. Dannenberg
A three-judge federal court tightened the noose around the neck of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in April 2013 when it issued a lengthy order denying a motion by state officials to delay or modify the court’s prison population reduction order that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2011. See: Brown v. Plata, 131 S.Ct. 1910 (2011) [PLN, July 2011, p.1]. The court also denied the CDCR’s request to end the federal receivership over the state’s prison mental health care. The sockdolager came when the court threatened the CDCR and California Governor Jerry Brown with contempt if they did not follow the court’s directives after decades of litigation.
On April 5, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence K. Karlton issued a 68-page order in Coleman v. Brown, U.S.D.C. (E.D. Cal.), Case No. CIV S 90-520 LKK/JFM (PC) – the 23-year-old case that resulted in a special master being appointed by the court to oversee mental health care in CDCR facilities – denying the defendants’ motion to “terminate all relief in this action, vacate the Court’s judgment and orders and dismiss the case.”
Judge Karlton first noted that the state is currently under an order to reduce its prison population to 137.5% of design capacity by the end of 2013. He said he could not entertain a motion to terminate the relief ordered by the three-judge court or to vacate the population reduction order. Nor could he modify the prison population reduction order, as the defendants asked, because the state had not reached the required population cap. Judge Karlton therefore turned to the defendants’ motion to terminate mental health care oversight.
Despite adding more treatment facilities and staff, the court noted that the CDCR was still deficient in providing care for some 32,000 mentally ill prisoners. Against the state’s protestation that it had spent more than $1 billion on new facilities and devoted $400 million a year to treatment for mentally ill prisoners, court-appointed experts reported that the CDCR continues to have major problems – including a suicide rate that worsened in 2012 to 24 per 100,000 population, far exceeding the national state prison average of 16 suicides per 100,000 population. [See: PLN, April 2013, p.22].
By Alex Friedmann
The New York state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYDOCCS) has settled a federal lawsuit filed by Prison Legal News that challenged the censorship of PLN’s monthly publication, books and correspondence at New York prisons statewide.
PLN claimed in its complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on October 11, 2011, that the NYDOCCS had an “unconstitutional policy of prohibiting inmates from receiving any and all books, magazines, letters and postcards distributed by Plaintiff, including letters from Plaintiff’s attorney…,” which “deprives Plaintiff, as well as its subscribers, of important First Amendment rights and serves no neutral, legitimate penological purpose.”
PLN argued that beginning in 2009, the NYDOCCS had placed its publication on a list of “disapproved vendors” because PLN accepts payments for subscription and book orders in the form of postage stamps, and publishes advertisements for alternative prison phone services, both of which are against NYDOCCS policy. PLN editor Paul Wright called these justifications “pretextual.” [See: PLN, Nov. 2011, p.12].
PLN filed suit as a last resort after repeatedly contacting the NYDOCCS and requesting that state prison officials stop their unconstitutional censorship of PLN’s publications and books. Those requests were ignored or denied.
On January 27, 2012, less than four months after PLN’s lawsuit was filed, the NYDOCCS issued a memo to all state prison superintendents. The memo stated that while PLN and other publications accept stamps as payment and include ads for services that violate NYDOCCS policy, “Rather than barring the introduction of these publications altogether or attempting to redact or remove all such objectionable advertisements from each publication, correctional facilities are to include, along with each publication,” a notice warning prisoners that they are subject to disciplinary action if they violate NYDOCCS rules related to postage stamps and phone services.
By Dianne Frazee-Walker The Center for Legal Studies (CLS), founded by an attorney in 1980, is a 33-year-old nationwide legal education company that provides Live Lecture, Online, DVD, and Text-Only flexible curriculums for inmates or the public. Upon finishing a course students earn a certificate of completion from one of 150+ participating accredited colleges and