News

What The U.S. Can Learn From Prison Reform Efforts Throughout The World

By Joseph Erbentraut It should come as no surprise that with the worst incarceration rate in the world, the United States has a massive problem on its hands. With roughly 716 of every 100,000 U.S. residents behind bars, the U.S. locks up nearly one-quarter of the entire world’s prison population. Worse yet, when American inmates

Read More »

Prisoners Train Shelter Dogs for Adoption

By Claudia Kawczynska Seven years ago, in May of 2008, Monty’s Home in Southeastern North Carolina received state approval to start its first Pawsitive Partners Prison Program (PPPP), in conjunction with the Pender Correctional Institution, in nearby Burgaw, NC. President and co-founder Barbara Rabb was on an educational mission to use her dog training skills

Read More »

Critics Say New York Prisons Should Educate, Rehabilitate, Even Inspire

By Brian Mann Every year, tens of thousands of inmates cycle through state and federal correctional facilities in the North Country. Almost all of those men will eventually get out of prison. They’ll go home, back to communities and neighborhoods. This morning, we’re looking at the debate over whether our prisons are doing the right

Read More »

McCrory's State Budget Aids Prisons, Education and Veterans

By Paul Woolverton North Carolina can increase its spending without increasing taxes, Gov. Pat McCrory promised when he released his proposed budget for the next two years Thursday. McCrory’s priorities include increased mental health care in the prisons, bigger salaries for nearly 10,000 correctional officers, more money for teachers and education, and a tighter focus

Read More »

Mass Incarceration on Trial

By Scott McLemee The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. It has come down a sliver over the past six years: the all-time peak rate was in 2008, with 754 prisoners per 100,000 population. As of 2013, that figure had fallen to 716, but the U.S. has retained

Read More »

Social Failures Trickle Down To Our Prisons

By Jerry Large Reading a series of Seattle Times articles about “the empty promises of prison labor” made me think how hard it is to get something good from a system that is, at its core, all about failure on multiple levels — of individuals, of families, of government. Reporters Michael J. Berens and Mike

Read More »

Why Is Sweden Closing Its Prisons?

By Dianne Frazee-Walker Sweden is doing something to lower the recidivism rate and forcing prisons to close because they are taking a different approach to crime and punishment. Globally, we need to pay close attention to what Sweden is doing. The sentences are not as long in Sweden, which makes prison authorities realize the work

Read More »

Prison Officials Seeking Ways to Recruit and Retain Guards

By Dianne Frazee-Walker Overcrowding, violence, inhumane treatment, along with inadequate mental and physical healthcare are just a few of the problems facing the American prison system. Correctional officer corruption and poor work conditions have prompted the Texas Department of Justice to institute an incentive to recruit correctional officers. This campaign was initiated because of a

Read More »

Crowded Prisons, Unions, and CA Three Strikes: Why We Can't Just Build More Cages

This video provides a unique overview of California’s prison problem. California’s philosophy is to lock them up and throw away the key. The bulk of California’s prisoners are imprisoned for non-violent drug offenses. The Three Strikes Law and so-called ‘mandatory sentencing’ guidelines are briefly examined. Simply throwing money at the problem — hiring more prison

Read More »
Search
Categories
Categories
Archives
X