News

DOJ Rolls Back Obama Program Aimed at Fixing Police Problems

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Sept. 15 that, effective immediately, it is making significant changes in a program launched six years ago to investigate and issue reports of problems in some local police agencies. The Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance (CRI-TA), part of DOJ’s Office of Community Policing Services, was launched

Read More »

Bill to Improve Conditions for Female Inmates

Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and three co-sponsors have introduced S. 1524, the “Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act,” meant to improve the treatment of female federal inmates who are the primary caretakers of children. The bill, proposed on July 11, would require the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to create a new office to determine prisoners’

Read More »

Milwaukee Jail Under Fire for Deaths, Civil Rights Abuses

By Christopher Zoukis At least four people, including a newborn, have died in Wisconsin’s Milwaukee County Jail since April 2016. The facility, run by Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr., houses about 950 detainees daily. The string of deaths has raised concerns about conditions at the jail, including whether adequate medical care is being provided. The

Read More »

DOJ Investigates Possible Prisoners’ Rights Violations in Alabama

The Alabama prison system has been targeted in numerous lawsuits claiming denial of inmate rights. The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a statewide probe on whether conditions in Alabama’s 14 prisons for men violate the rights of inmates. The investigation is under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons

Read More »

Ending the criminalization of being pregnant in prison

It reads like a headline from the 19th century: “Shackling of Pregnant Prisoners Could Soon End in New York.” But this headline appeared just two short weeks ago. It remains a standard practice in many prisons across the country (in 28 states, to be exact ) for women to be handcuffed while pregnant, during labor, and post-partum.

Read More »

Controlling the Narrative

Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post and Ryan J. Reilly of the Huffington Post made headlines after being confronted, assaulted, and arrested without justification in Ferguson, Missouri.  At almost the same time, a television crew from Al Jazeera America watched helplessly as SWAT teams lobbed tear gas at them.  The Al Jazeera crew was filming a

Read More »
Search
Categories
Categories
Archives