By Christopher Zoukis The Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PLRA”), Pub. L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321, is a group of statutory provisions — codified in scattered sections of Title 18, 28, and 42 of the United States Code — designed to impose strict conditions on court filings by incarcerated persons, especially those filling
There’s little doubt that the criminal justice system in the United States is in need of reform. Much greater than population or crime rate growth are the number of people behind bars and the costs associated with keeping them locked up. Even small and inexpensive programs can have profound results in terms of lowering the
A 42-year-old model citizen has an incredible attitude while sitting in a Mexican jail after being arrested for smuggling 12-pounds of marijuana. Yanira Maldonado, resident of Goodyear, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, says she “has nothing to hide.” Photo courtesy kmbc.com
Maldonado and her husband, Gary, were returning from her aunt’s funeral in Mexico when the bus they were traveling in was stopped at a military checkpoint 90 miles from the U.S. border. Mexican federales ordered all passengers out of the vehicle and searched the bus.
Maldonado’s nightmare began when 12-pounds of pot was found neatly packaged and taped under seat 39 where she was sitting. Maldonado automatically became a prime suspect for attempting to smuggle the parcels and was arrested on the spot.
The Mormon woman raising seven children was initially shocked, but now she is calming down and believing she will be found innocent and be able to return home. Anna Soto, one of Maldonado’s daughters, knows her mother would never be guilty of smuggling drugs and anxiously wants her to return home where she belongs.
The Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment” includes a bar to the use of “excessive force” by prison officials against prisoners. Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1, 8 (1992). When a prisoner makes an Eighth Amendment claim of excessive force, courts consider two elements: (1) the objective severity of the prisoner’s injuries from
Rapid REPAT, a little known federally funded program is making headlines in the state of Rhode Island not for its success, but for its failure to be utilized by the state. The Rapid REPAT (Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer) program was initiated by the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for
On May 17, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the crack cocaine sentencing reforms set forth in the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) — lowering the crack-to-powder cocaine ratio from 100:1 to 18:1 — must be applied to all federal prisoners sentenced before the 2010 enactment of the law.
In an effort to maintain control over and enhance accountability amongst their unwilling clients, prison systems employ the use of disciplinary policies. These disciplinary policies consist of lists of violations that are usually coded and grouped with like charges and sanctions. The severity of the infraction is usually matched to the severity of the sanctions,
As prisons across the United States continue to experience overpopulation, there has been increasing concern among taxpayers regarding the ultimate costs of incarcerating so many individuals. Critics point to unsustainable incarceration numbers, huge costs, and static crime rates as reasons why the criminal justice system needs to be seriously reformed. A vocal minority of experts
Disciplinary infractions are a fact of life for inmates incarcerated within the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Simply put, those incarcerated in federal prison will likely have to defend against incident reports at some point during their incarceration. Learning how to defend against disciplinary action is not something that should be done after an incident report
By Dianne Frazee-Walker Tom Clements was the Colorado Corrections Chief that was gunned down and killed by suspect Evan Ebel on March 14, 2013. Ebel was the parolee who prompted the Colorado parole director to create a new policy that would reduce the response time for ankle bracelet tampering alerts after he allegedly removed his