The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has taken the bold step of finding a new cause of action that would allow indigent criminal defendants to prospectively sue a county for failing to adequately fund and operate a public defender’s office. The right to the assistance of competent counsel in criminal prosecutions is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment
The Federal Bureau of Prisons should improve its analysis of skyrocketing health care costs for federal prisons, the Government Accountability Organization (GAO) says in a recently released report. The report indicated costs rose about 36% on a per-capita basis between 2009 to 2016. GAO urged BOP to identify the main causes and to evaluate the
They may look hard to figure out for most, but a whole lot of raised dots are translating to new opportunities for a group of female inmates in New Hampshire. The state’s Department of Education has joined up with the New Hampshire Department of Corrections to teach a handful of female prisoners how to transcribe learning and
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has reversed a jury verdict in favor of two police officers who allegedly battered and unlawfully arrested a woman for filming their arrest of a juvenile. The incident took place on March 8, 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland. Makia Smith testified at trial that when she
As government authorities come to grips with the massive and costly incarceration problem in the United States, efforts to find alternatives to expensive prison and jail sentences are underway. Pretrial diversion, an old favorite, is once again gaining popularity across the country in conjunction with bail reform efforts. [See: PLN, June 2017, p.30; May 2017,
Qadir Shabazz, aka Deangelo Moore, aka Deangelo Muhammad, a 41-year-old Atlanta man, was convicted in January 2016 of charges related to a fraudulent scheme that sold false hope to prisoners and stole millions from the U.S. government. Shabazz opened a “charity” called Indigent Inmate in 2009, and he and his employees mailed brochures and applications
Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and three co-sponsors have introduced S. 1524, the “Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act,” meant to improve the treatment of female federal inmates who are the primary caretakers of children. The bill, proposed on July 11, would require the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to create a new office to determine prisoners’
PEP WAS ONE OF THE FIRST ANIMAL THERAPY DOGS USED IN A PRISON SETTING. IN THE 1920S, INMATES AT EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY LEARNED THE CARE AND TRAINING OF PETS AS PART OF THEIR REHABILITATION. CREDIT: EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY. It’s the 1920s, and Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary is both the biggest and the most expensive public
In a deposition taken in a federal lawsuit challenging the lack of legal representation for children in deportation hearings, a longtime immigration judge caused the Justice Department to distance itself from his claim that he had “taught immigration law literally to 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds” well enough to ensure “a fair hearing.” He repeated that claim
The Ohio State Highway Patrol, which investigates all manner of crimes in Ohio, launched an investigation in November 2016 into the use of stolen credit card numbers to fund commissary accounts in the state prison system. Three prisoners and a woman who lives in Cincinnati may be behind the scheme. According to court documents, over