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North Carolina Prisons Add Technology to Rehabilitation Toolbox

Edovo tablets deliver an array of educational and life skills programming, also offer prisoners incentives in the form of rewards points for hitting milestones. There are more than 37,000 inmates in 55 prison facilities in North Carolina. Each year, more than 20,000 inmates are released. In fact, 98% of the entire country’s inmates will be released

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Report: How Private Prison Companies Exercise Influence Over Public Officials

An October 2016 report released by In the Public Interest (ITPI), a research and policy group that opposes the privatization of government services, details the millions of dollars spent by for-profit prison companies to influence public officials. The report tracks political expenditures by private prison firms, including Corrections Corporation of America (CCA, now known as

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Prison Shakespeare Programs Have Dramatic Impact on Inmates

Former inmate Dameion Brown in costume as Othello for the Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2016 performance of the play. Brown became involved in the company’s Shakespeare for Social Justice program while in prison. (Photo courtesy Marin Shakespeare Company archives) Prison might be the last place you would expect to see a great performance of Shakespeare. But

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AG Sessions Maps How Feds Will Fight Violent Crime, Drugs

In a March 15 session with law enforcement officials in Richmond, Virginia, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions outlined the administration’s plans to combat what he described as the beginning of an increase in the nation’s rate of violent crime. Breaking sharply from the Obama administration’s stand, Sessions said he plans to bring back aggressive federal

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Maryland Focuses on Crime Prevention and Re-entry Programs

600,000 individuals will be released and returned to their communities this year — more than 8,000 of them in Baltimore. Maryland has increased its efforts to focus on crime prevention and rehabilitation programs for offenders as a way to reduce recidivism and reliance on the prison-industrial complex. It is of increasing importance and necessity crime-reduction

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Atlanta Federal Prison Inmates Freely Come and Go

In the late ’60s and early ’70s, late-night talk show host and comedian Dick Cavett used to tell stories about his none-too-bright cousin Norman. How dumb was Norman? Well, in one of a long series of failures, Norman set out to become a zookeeper, but couldn’t make a success of it. Why not? Because –

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BOP Settlement May Bring Florida Prison Women Workers $20 Million

In one of the largest-ever employment sex discrimination class-action settlements, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and 524 current and former female workers at the nation’s largest federal prison complex for males have ended a lawsuit launched in 2013. The agreement could bring class members as much as $20 million in total awards. The female

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Folsom Prison Programs Improve Lives Inside and Outside its Walls

Programming at California’s second-oldest prison takes a holistic approach to rehabilitating — from puppies to addiction assistance. Johnny Cash may have talked about time “draggin’ on” at Folsom Prison in his ’60s-era hit song, but times at California’s second-oldest prison have changed. Folsom State Prison first opened in 1880 and has come the distance from

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Grassley Prods Silent BOP on Remedies for Wrong Release Dates

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) is demanding answers from the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on why it hasn’t acted on recommendations made last May by the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general to reduce incorrect incarceration release dates. First, a little history: Jermaine Hickman, convicted in 2007 of bank robbery, was supposed to

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Two young adults working on an electronics project in a lab setting, focusing on circuit design.

Nearly Half of Prisoners Lack Access to Vocational Training

In the ongoing discussion of prison reform, mass incarceration, and reducing recidivism, vocational programs are often overlooked in favor of formal educational courses and other activities and programming. Maybe it is assumed that most incarcerated individuals have access to, and participate in, vocational training and prison jobs. At least, that’s what popular TV shows and

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