Correctional Forum

Headlines: National

Angela Davis Presents Paradox of Prison and Democracy [Cornell Daily Sun]

Deadly medical lapses in prison [Los Angeles Times]

Man charged with holding up bank day of prison release for bank robbery [Chicago Tribune]

Thousands Rally in La. to Support Jena 6 [ABC News]

Killer of witness in Phila. murder case sentenced to die [Philadelphia Inquirer]

California screamin'

From the news section of the Drug Policy Alliance's website:

A handful of California politicians are trying to undermine the state's successful treatment-instead-of-incarceration initiative, Proposition 36, in a budget battle that could culminate in a vote at the end of this month.

Republicans in the state Senate have introduced a proposal to end state funding for the program, despite the fact that Prop. 36 has saved taxpayers $1.8 billion and kept tens of thousands of Californians out of prison in just six years. State-contracted research shows the program saves $2.50 for every $1 invested in it.

It seems California Republicans are set on having overcrowded prisons and not saving the taxpayers any money. To read the whole article, go here.

[image by randomgbear via Wikipedia Commons]

The wrong solution to overcrowding

In a recent article for the New York Times, Solomon Moore writes: "Overcrowding has been a problem in prisons for decades, and the country's prison and jail population has never been higher, rising 2.8 percent from July 2005 to July 2006 to reach 2,245,189 ... the prison population will grow by another 192,000 in the next five years." But what are states doing to alleviate the problem?

Those states with the most overcrowded prisons are shipping off their extra inmates to correctional institutions elsewhere. California, Arizona, Hawaii, and Alabama transfer many prisoners to extra beds in Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee. Most of these prisons are run by private companies and cost far more per bed than a publicly run, in-state institution. And guess who's shelling out the dough? But with prison systems at 127 percent of their capacity like Arizona's, what else should the state do? They simply can't build prisons quickly enough to keep up with the steady influx of new inmates.

The Prison Society's suggestion? Don't just move the problem. Solve it!

Arizona has some of the toughest sentencing laws in the country -- laws that keep inmates in the system or keep them coming back for nonviolent parole violations. But what do these harsh sentences really achieve? They do little more than compound already horrendous overcrowding. Such sentencing is supposedly a deterrent, but in states with more flexible sentencing laws, where judges have more discretion and there are more alternatives to incarceration available, crime rates are lower.

Transferring prisoners out-of-state also puts an unhealthy strain on inmates who are trying to rehabilitate within prison walls. Several recidivism studies have found that prisoners who are able to maintain contact with family via telephone calls and visits are less likely to violate parole or re-offend. Placing inmates in institutions hundreds of miles away from home (or in the case of Hawaii, approximately 2,000 out-of-state prisoners, thousands of miles from home) unnecessarily inhibits contact with family.

The frequent shuffling between prisons can also disrupt educational programming for prisoners, which also helps keep prisoners from violating parole upon release. Not only do these transfers disrupt education but also basic medical care. The Times reports: "Moves were found to be inhibiting the ability of inmates to receive health care and draining resources."

To read the article, go here. 

Soved crimes in the cards...

The state of Florida has passed out 85,000 "Cold Case" card decks to prisoners, reminiscent of the "Iraqi Most Wanted" cards distributed to soldiers. There are two decks highlighting 104 individual unsolved criminal cases. Each card has a picture or sketch of a missing person or homicide victim and some details about the case. Some of the cards depict a fugitive.

The cards cost the Attorney General's office $68,000 to print and an additional $13,000 was set aside as reward money for tips resulting in convictions. The maximum reward is $1,000 which prisoners can have deposited in their commissary account. Florida inmates can also buy the playing cards at their commissary and people on the outside can purchase the decks for $3.50 each at www.effectiveplayingcards.com.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Florida Corrections Secretary Jim McDonough plans to make the cards available at retail outlets soon and as crimes are solved, to create new decks.

State hopes crimefighting for inmates is in the cards [Palm Beach Post]

buy the cards for yourself

[image by ccarlstead via flickr]

The prison crisis continues in California

This editorial from the San Fransisco Chronicle comments on the rampant overcrowding in California's State Prison System:

... California still has a long way to go before it resolves the crisis in its prison system. What's more, it is going about dealing with it in the wrong way.

It's certainly not the message that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other lawmakers were hoping to hear from U.S. District Court Judges Thelton Henderson and Lawrence Karlton. In effect the judges rejected the $7.4 billion prison expansion plan devised by lawmakers in Sacramento this spring.

For the full editorial, click here.

The following are some related headlines:
Judges: Calif. Prison Reforms Would Fail [Associated Press]
New Court to Address California Prison Crowding [NY Times]

[image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr]

All right, let him go ... wait!

In a move worthy of the Keystone Cops, a man charged with two homicides was mistakenly released from prison. Dontay Brannon was being held at the Mercer County Correctional Center in New Jersey for a trespassing charge when the homicide charges were filed. Somehow, the officers at the center were unaware of the more serious charges when he was cleared of trespassing. Brannon was captured last Friday in Pennsylvania.

If only our officers could run excitedly in every direction while clutching their hats and taking pratfalls.

Accidentally released NJ inmate captured [AP - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]

New Jersey gets influx of inmates

Cumberland County in southern New Jersey is home to one out of every four inmates in the state prison system, one of the densest inmate populations nationally at nearly 55 inmates per 1,000 residents. That hasn’t stopped New Jersey politicians from planning to ship more than 350 sex offenders to Cumberland County, according to Sen. Stephen Sweeney. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

 “My understanding is that it’s all but a done deal,” said Sweeney, a Democrat who represents Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties. His comments, which he first made in April, set off a storm of outrage. Protestors rallied across the street from the 3,300-inmate, medium-security South Woods State Prison, which Sweeney said could eventually double in size.

Back in the '60s and '70s, Cumberland County was in worse shape financially; the revenue and economic benefits that came with a prison industry were welcomed at the time. Now, lawmakers caution that shipping more prisoners to the area could slow or halt much-needed economic development. George Hayman, the state corrections commissioner, says he hasn't made a decision about where to place the sex offenders, though few in Cumberland County believe him. The NJ DOC says two other prisons are being considered.

South Jersey is wary of prison move

UPDATE!! No halt to sex offender transfer [NJ.com]

[Image of the state of New Jersey in 1826 from Rutgers]

Headlines: National

Prison riot report ready today [Indy Star, Indiana]

How about Salem for prison? Making more room in New Jersey's correctional system. [Bridgeton News, New Jersey]

Man who killed boy gets life in prison: he shot him because he was walking on his yard [Enquirer, Cinn., Ohio]

Camden Riverfront State Prison to close [Press of Atlantic City, New Jersey]