The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates 125 stand-alone prisons, 68 satellite prison camps, and has contracts with 13 private prisons. In total, the federal prison system houses 188,722 inmates within five different security levels: minimum, low, medium, high and administrative. BOP institutions are further divided into five regions, which span the United States: Mid-Atlantic Region,
Counter-Terrorism Unit Tasked with Prison Censorship The life of an incarcerated writer is anything but ordinary. While my fellow prisoners are working out on the yard, playing cards, or watching television, I am often at the desk in my cell or in the law library working on my next project. It’s long and hard work,
BOP Attacks Incarcerated Writer Christopher Zoukis, Again By Kamea Zelisko Christopher Zoukis is no stranger to censorship by Federal Bureau of Prisons officials. Those who write from prison often have to contend with interference and retaliation at the hands of prison officials. They are thrown into solitary confinement, transferred to more violent prisons, and have
By Jean Trounstine and Christopher Zoukis It shouldn’t be surprising to hear federal prisoner and prisoner rights advocate Christopher Zoukis, who has written four books and produced countless articles for outlets such as the New York Daily News, Prison Legal News, and the Huffington Post, is under fire once again for his writing activities. Accused
A disturbance at Alaska’s Lemon Creek Correctional Center left a housing unit uninhabitable after prisoners and guards clashed over the prison’s excessive telephone rates, a “smartmouth” guard’s comments on the subject, and other issues. According to prisoners formerly housed in the dorm, on October 9, 2015, between 9 and 10 p.m., prisoner telephone calls were
On November 30, 2014, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced that Ferguson (MO) Police Officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted in connection with Wilson’s fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown on August 9, 2014. The failure of the grand jury to return an indictment was not a surprise to most observers,
On October 25, 2016, the Tenth Circuit remanded a case involving a federal probation violation for resentencing due to the improper admission of hearsay testimony from a probation officer. Tremale Henry was on federal supervised release when he was allegedly involved in two assaults involving dangerous weapons. At his probation revocation hearing, the district court
In March of 2016, President Barack Obama granted Carol Denise Richardson a commutation of the life sentence she received in June 2006 after being convicted on two counts of conspiring to distribute crack cocaine and other drug-related charges. Her long criminal history included two previous felony drug offenses, which brought her a lifetime sentence for
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has taken the unusual step of reversing a prison disciplinary board’s finding that a prisoner was guilty of committing a prohibited act. Timothy W. Austin was a prisoner at an Indiana prison when he was found guilty of attempting to traffic in tobacco. The entire
The study aimed to discover whether guard brutality reported in American prisons had to do with their sadistic natures or the prison environment. The Stanford prison experiment ended after 6 days when guards began to abuse prisoners, and prisoners began to experience mental breakdowns. It was 46 years ago that psychologist Philp Zimbardo conducted one