The State of Utah is starting to feel the strain from harsh sentencing laws targeting sex offenders that it passed in recent years. While most states are enjoying a decline in prison populations in the last decade, Utah’s counts are rising, as sex crime offenders fill up 42 percent more beds than they did 10
By Chris Zoukis For the third year in row, the number of prisoners who died in America’s prisons and jails rose. Some 4,446 prisoners died in 2013, a two percent increase over 2012, continuing an upward trend, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Suicide remains the
By Chris Zoukis Prison officials at the medium security California State Prison, Solano have offered little explanation for their apparently lackadaisical investigation into the gruesome murder and disembowelment of a 24 year old man whose body was not found stuffed in a trash can until nearly 15 hours after prisoners in his cellblock were locked
By Chris Zoukis On Sept. 20, 2016 the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York upheld the conviction of state prisoner Aaron Isaiah Young for violating prison rules. Young allegedly refused prison guard orders, and assaulted staff. During the altercation, multiple guards responded, and Young allegedly refused to comply with prison guard orders
I hope this post finds all of you well. Today I have an administrative note to share concerning the future of the Prison Law Blog. As part of my vision for the future, a future which includes a new entity called Zoukis Prisoner Resources, the Prison Law Blog will be undergoing a transformation in the
By Chris Zoukis The population of America’s jails at mid-year 2014 remained steady at approximately three-quarters or a million prisoners, at 744,600 men, women, and children. This number represents a 1.8 percent increase from 2013 levels, but is still lower than the 2008 high of 785,500 persons, according to a June 2015 report from the
By Chris Zoukis On Sept. 22, 2016 the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York upheld the conviction of state prisoner Jason Gano for violating prison rules. Gano allegedly set off a metal detector in the prison, prompting a pat-down search which revealed razor blades hidden in his coat. Gano was charged with
By Chris Zoukis A challenge to the newly passed “International Megan’s Law” has been tossed out of court by Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs alleged that the International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes through Advanced Notification of
Declining prison populations may eventually help alleviate the effects of overcrowding. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) reported last month that during Fiscal Year 2016 — which closed at the end of September — the number of federal inmates in its facilities declined for the third consecutive year. The 192,170 inmates in BOP facilities as
Allowing supervised access to the internet could help with rehabilitation and reduce recidivism. Internet and computer access dominates most people’s lives to a major degree in many countries around the world. More than 45 percent of the world population has an internet connection at home — that’s fast approaching 4 billion people. In the United