The planned Utah prison will be inspired by the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility in San Diego, shown above. Photo: KMD/HMC Architects Instagram Major changes are afoot in Utah’s criminal justice system as part of the state’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative. Approved in March 2015, the initiative is part of a series of changes approved by Gov.
The promise of safe, humane, and less costly prisons has been used for decades by the private prison industry to sell its products. As prison populations skyrocketed, local, state and federal governments became convinced that financing and building more and more correctional facilities was the way to go. So did investors, who picked up municipal
Every person accused of a crime has the right to a trial by jury. That right is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and is available to anyone charged with a serious criminal offense. But the number of jury trials is dwindling, replaced by plea bargains. “‘12 Angry Men’ is more a cultural concept than a
According to Department of Justice statistics released on May 2, 24% of federal inmates were born outside the U.S., and over half of them have received a final deportation order. In announcing a new DOJ report, Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared illegal aliens who commit further crimes in this country “are a threat to public
By Christopher Zoukis
Across the U.S. fully 43% of adults read at a grade 8 level or lower — 29% can only read at an eighth grade level, and 14% can only grasp material at a fifth grade level or lower. Throughout the country, thousands of adults are functionally illiterate, which has a huge negative impact on their day-to-day lives. Early childhood is a crucial time to set the right path for literacy. An interest in reading is often determined as early as first grade, with fourth-grade reading levels being an indicator of future success. Research shows that children who struggle to read in first grade are 88% more likely to struggle in grade four. And those who struggle in fourth grade are four times more likely to drop out of school.
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has dealt a blow to the constitutional rights of imprisoned writers. On December 11, 2012, after serving a lengthy sentence for arson-related crimes in connection with environmental activism, Daniel McGowan was released to the Brooklyn House Residential Reentry Center (RRC) to serve the remainder of his sentence.
As the 31 states that practice capital punishment struggle to find the chemicals necessary to execute condemned prisoners, in at least one state the prisoners themselves are successfully bringing in large quantities of drugs, which they sometimes use to commit suicide – to cheat the metaphorical hangman’s noose. This is both ironic and troubling. California’s
In an effort to stem the school-to-prison pipeline and to keep kids in school, the Choice Bus was rolled out to help students understand their options in life and how their decisions can affect their futures. The Choice Bus is an initiative of the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation, a national nonprofit created in 2007 to
Federal inmates get random urine tests for signs of use of drugs like heroin, cocaine or marijuana. But in the alcohol and drug rehabilitation web newsletter The Fix, former federal inmate turned-writer Seth Ferranti, who served time for an LSD offense, argues the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has yet to come to grips with the
Proposed reforms to the Florida DOC include reducing harsh penalties on youth offenders. Following the launch of a new goal plan for the Florida Department of Corrections, big changes should be arriving in the beleaguered system, with several new pieces of legislation introduced and new budgetary items requested. All of the proposed changes are meant