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Coronavirus has jail lawyers worried about safety
During a meeting of prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and court staff last week, a representative from the Seattle City Attorney’s Office warned that attorneys there were struggling with “moral issues” amid the ongoing spread of COVID-19. Chief among their concerns: coming to and going from the downtown jail. One of the courtrooms for Seattle Municipal Court is inside the jail, and prosecutors were becoming increasingly worried about their daily visits there and being c
It’s ‘Racial’: Illinois Prison Banned Books on Black History and Empowerment From Inmate Program
Some 3 out of every 4 inmates in Illinois prisons are black, yet, an Illinois prison banned an inmate education program from using books discussing black history or empowerment due to their “racial” content. Now, prison officials are apologizing and pledging to overhaul their review system, according to the Chicago Tribune, but not before officials at Danville Correctional Center had removed some 200 books from a prison library and banned for use in the education program “sev
Federal prison officials get bonuses as staffing shortages, management problems persist
WASHINGTON – The federal prison system paid $1.6 million in bonuses to its top executives and wardens during the past two years despite chronic staffing shortages and sharp critiques of prison management leveled by Congress, according to records obtained by USA TODAY. The payments – the latest in a series of annual awards – ranged from $5,400 to $23,800 per official. The largest sums went to the agency’s leadership team, including $20,399 to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' acting
Inmate advocates press Maryland to scrap book restrictions
BALTIMORE (AP) — Advocates for Maryland’s prisoners are pressing the mid-Atlantic state to scrap “senseless and harsh” regulations they say restrict the ability of inmates to access books and violates their constitutional rights. As part of a new effort to block inmate access to Suboxone, a drug sold in thin strips that are easily concealed inside envelopes, prisoners in Maryland can now only order books from two vendors that the American Civil Liberties Union says offers onl
9 plead guilty in Maryland prison conspiracy
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Maryland authorities say nine people, including a former correctional officer, have pleaded guilty for their roles in a bribery conspiracy at a state prison. State prosecutor Emmet Davitt announced the guilty pleas Thursday in the case at the Jessup Correctional Institution. Prosecutors say inmate Tyrone Johnson arranged for his sons Travis and Marquis Johnson to pay former correctional officer Warren Wright bribes for Wright to smuggle narcotics inside
Private prison company moves annual conference to Trump-owned golf resort
A private prison company has moved its annual conference to a golf resort owned by Donald Trump in an apparent bid to show its desire to align with the US President. Until this year, the GEO Group held its conference at venues near its Boca Raton headquarters, a city on the southeastern coast of Florida. But this year the company, which owns and manages about 140 prison and detention centres, gathered for the four-day event at the luxurious Trump National Doral Golf Club in M
Ex-inmate Susan Burton goes back to prison to lead out women she left behind
Susan Burton took the bus home from prison six times, with "a buck-fifty left in my pocket," she said, no ID and her worldly possessions in a box. In the two decades since her last Greyhound lap, Burton and her Watts based group, A New Way of Life Reentry Project, have thrown a lifeline to around 1,000 other women to interrupt the incarceration cycle that held her for 20 years. The project operates homes to help women leaving prison get back on their feet. Her memoir, release
Jay-Z & Meek Mill Announces Docuseries on Flaws in Criminal Justice System
In the first weeks as a free man, rapper Meek Mill announced he is working with his mentor, advocate and now executive producer, Jay-Z, on six-part Amazon docuseries, Deadline reports. Set for a 2019 release, the series will use Mill's personal experiences in prison and excessive legal battle to probe the deeper, engrained flaws of the U.S. criminal justice system. The rapper, born Robert Rihmeek Williams was incarcerated in November for violating probation from a prior convi
