We are so excited to hear about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s new prison education plan to keep New Yorkers away from the revolving door known as America’s prison system. As widely reported by media this week, this forward-thinking governor announced a major policy proposal in a Harlem church last week and reiterated his comments
A Pennsylvania appellate court has unanimously ruled against a state law that bans people with a wide range of criminal convictions from ever working in a nursing home or other long-term or elder care facilities. On Dec. 30, a seven-judge panel of a Pennsylvania appellate court on Dec. 30 ruled as unconstitutional a state law
In December 2012, the Michigan legislature passed a law that would allow up to 250 retired state prison guards to come back to work on a part-time basis and still receive their pension benefits. The bill’s goal was to reduce overtime by current Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) prison guards, afford the prison system enough
In case there was ever any doubt, yet another groundbreaking study confirms our staunch belief that education is the key to reducing recidivism in America. A report by The RAND Corporation, a respected research think-tank on public policy, sheds some interesting light on the grim reality of the failings of the United States prison system.
During my down time over the holiday season, I created a wish list for Santa that would make 2016 a pretty amazing year in many different ways.
As a longtime advocate for prison education and related justice issues, I’ve had plenty of time during my nine years of incarceration at FCC Petersburg in Virginia, to explore what topics are most pressing in America today.
Christmas came early for some prisoners this past Friday when President Obama commuted the sentences of 94 prisoners, nearly all of whom were incarcerated for drug-related offenses. It brings the total of commutations to 184 during his presidency—bested only by Lyndon B. Johnson’s 226. We must remember, however, that these commutations are largely symbolic in
It’s hard not to read the first paragraph of this article and not think it’s the script for a lost episode of Monty Python: “A total of 5,843 inmates in Saudi prisons, including a number sentenced to death, are preparing for the two-week midterm examination period scheduled to start next Sunday.” But beyond the bizarre
By Christopher Zoukis A recent investigation of the country’s largest women’s correctional facility has revealed levels of corruption and inhumanity that don’t simply border on the illegal, but have placed individuals working there firmly into the category of criminals themselves. Through a telling new series of articles, Julie Brown of the Miami Herald has revealed
Well this is one for the books, apiary books, to be specific. Inmates at several New Zealand prisons are being given training in a surprising area: beekeeping. Apiculture is now being taught to youths at Hawkes’ Bay Regional Prison through a correspondence course at Lincoln University as well as Auckland South Corrections Facility. Honey is