By Mark Wilson The Illinois Supreme Court held in September 2013 that a $50 State’s Attorney fee authorized in habeas corpus cases does not apply to non-habeas collateral proceedings. After an Illinois trial court dismissed a post-conviction petition filed by state prisoner Omar Johnson, he submitted a petition for relief from judgment under section 2-1401
On Friday, Dec. 5 Christopher Zoukis discussed the benefits of education for prisoners and its direct effects on reducing recidivism with Canadian radio station Toronto AM 640. Listen to the Interview or view the Transcript below. Christopher Zoukis is an expert in the field of correctional education, he’s been incarcerated for the past eight years
By Chloe Della Costa U.S. college programs for incarcerated students were largely defunded in the ’90s. At the time, this was seemingly great news for “tough on crime” advocates, but this year, a new debate has erupted out of New York state. In February, Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed an initiative to both educate New York’s
By Randy Radic We at Prison Education News are concerned regarding several recent events at FCI Petersburg, the medium-security federal prison in Petersburg, Virginia, where Christopher Zoukis is incarcerated. Due to the importance of this matter, we’ve decided to go public and share what has transpired in the past two months. We do so in
Ian Manuel / Image courtesy www.askthejudge.info By Dianne Frazee-Walker Debbie Baigrie was a stay-at-home mother of two. Ian Manuel was a lost 13-year-old boy raised in a dysfunctional environment, who had already been arrested 16 times. Baigrie is white, and Manuel is black. Today Bairgie and Manuel share an unlikely close relationship with each other.
By Randy Radic We at the Prison Law Blog are on high alert following a series of retaliatory incident reports against Christopher Zoukis, PLB founder, by FCI Petersburg staff. Due to the significant amount of inquiries received, we’ve decided to present the facts of the evolving situation. First Incident Report On October 10, 2014, Mr.
By Justin L. Donohue Image courtesy zimbio.com I wanted to let you know that I really appreciate these messages (Prison News Service). I have learned so much since I started reading them. I also wanted you to know that as of last Friday, I am one of 12 inmates that were able to graduate mid-year
By Prison Legal News Prison Legal News continues its efforts to defend its First Amendment right to communicate with prisoners in the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC). In 1999 the NDOC banned all copies of PLN, claiming the publication constituted “inmate correspondence.” PLN filed suit and was granted a preliminary injunction requiring the delivery of
By Kelsey Cochran One credit shy of receiving a high school diploma, an inmate at Arrendale State Prison for women will soon be the first Georgia Department of Corrections inmate to graduate while incarcerated as part of a collaboration between the GDC and the Mountain Education Center Charter School. Graduation was made possible by new