Inmates fly mobile phones, drugs and porn into jail - via drone

6-18-17 National:

While large companies like Amazon test drone delivery systems, inmates in jails across the country are already using the devices to receive their own aerial shipments: smuggled contraband.

Documents obtained from the Justice Department by USA TODAY through a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered more than a dozen attempts to transport contraband - including mobile phones, drugs and porn - into federal prisons in the past five years. State facilities have also reported similar incidents.

Experts say current anti-drone technologies fail to protect jails against the unmanned aerial devices that transport dangerous items, including firearms, which are almost impossible to sneak in via traditional prison smuggling methods.

"Civilian drones are becoming more inexpensive, easy to operate and powerful. A growing number of criminals seem to be recognizing their potential value as tools for bad deeds," said Troy Rule, a drone legislation advocate and Arizona State University law professor.

While smuggling contraband into prison through any method violates federal law, no statute currently bars drones from flying near correctional facilities. ..Continue..

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Is it time to modify traditional treatment programs in America's correctional facilities?

11-18-16 National:

Offenders who suffer from mental health and substance abuse disorders do not respond well to traditional alternative sentence programming

The federally ordered massive closure of mental health institutions and movement to de-institutionalize the system in the 1970s ultimately resulted in a disservice to the mentally ill incarcerated and fracture of the correctional system.

Recent statistics reflect about 56 percent of the incarcerated population suffers from mental health disorders. Further, 68 percent of the incarcerated population at the local jail level have substance abuse disorders. Among the incarcerated population in both state and jail facilities, about 75 percent have co-occurring mental health and addiction disorders. This equates to nearly seven million Americans who are under correctional or other justice system supervision (e.g. probation or parole).



From a treatment perspective, the arrest and subsequent crisis thereafter actually hold the potential of having a positive outcome in an arrestee’s life. Because an arrest is such a significant and typically shocking experience for the offender, it can be difficult to deny substance abuse or the effects of a criminal lifestyle. An arrest may open the door for an individual to voluntarily seek and find substance abuse and mental health treatment.

Alternatives to incarceration

For an arrested individual, the pretrial services stage may offer treatment as a part of court proceedings. Diversion to treatment can occur at several points before incarceration. Unfortunately, not all jurisdictions have established programs for those who are substance addicted. This can be a big disservice for an arrested individual.

It appears that treatment through diversion or alternative sentencing options remain a low priority in some criminal justice systems across the U.S. Even though it may reduce jail populations, outside of formal drug court or diversion programs, programming access is still limited. For those jurisdictions that offer alternative sentencing options, a common condition upon release from custody is a mandatory participation in some form of treatment which is then monitored through a pre-trial or probation department.

Co-occurring complications

Many incarcerated individuals with co-occurring addiction and mental illness don’t respond well to traditional interventions. The co-occurring problems are too complex and require a more specific level of individualized care and treatment which may require a multi-faceted approach.

Defendants can sometimes experience significant cognitive and emotional disruptions as a result of their arrest which can make them difficult to engage with. This disruption can influence a counselor’s ability to get the defendant’s willing collaboration for treatment. For others, the arrest is so stressful and destabilizing that the disposition of their case leaves them less receptive to treatment options, and sometimes the incident of arrest can serve as exceptional motivation to participate in an alternative sentencing program.

Collaborative and effective

On many levels, the modern justice system offers broad based, collaborative, holistic interventions along with the appropriate justice supervision. In many communities, program resources include public health features in addition to treatment of addiction and mental health services. The offered resources can even fall under the umbrella of the Federal Affordable Care Act and align with requirements for mental health treatment and medical services under the insurance plans. ..Continued.. by Melissa Mann: is recently retired from the field of law enforcement. Her experience spanned 18 years which included assignments in Corrections, Community Policing, Dispatch Communications and Search and Rescue. Melissa holds a BS in Criminal Justice and MA in Psychology with emphasis in studies on the psychological process of law enforcement officers. She holds a deep passion for researching and writing about the lifestyle of police and corrections work and the far reaching psychological effects on the officer and their world. For comments or inquiries, please contact: melissa.mann@correctionsone.com

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Private prison stocks are soaring after Donald Trump's election

11-10-16 National:

Stocks of private prison companies are soaring the morning after the election of Donald Trump as the next US president.

Corrections Corporations of America was up close to 40% as of 9:49 a.m. ET. GEO Group, another prison provider, was up around 20%.

President Barack Obama and the Department of Justice announced in August that the federal government would stop using private facilities.

Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent, supported those measures as well.

"The for-profit prison industry (CXW, GEO) were likely to face negative headlines and persistent contract uncertainty under a Clinton White House, but we expect a Trump administration to be more supportive given its focus on immigration and crime," Compass Point said in a note. ..Source.. by Bob Bryan

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Justice Dept.: “Half of Sexual Abuse Claims in American Prisons Involve Guards”

9-7-16 National:

(GS) The new Bureau of Justice Statistics report documented more than 8,763 allegations of prisoner sexual victimization between 2009 and 2011, which they say is an 11 percent increase over the number of allegations documented in a report covering 2007-08.

The study found 49 percent of the unwanted sexual misconduct or harassment involved prison staff as perpetrators, in acts ranging from verbal sexual harassment to the most serious nonconsensual sexual penetration.

Allen Beck, a Justice Department statistician and the study’s co-author told ABC News the increased reporting may not necessarily a reflection of an actual increase in the incidence of sexual victimization, but could in part be attributed to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (2003), which is being implemented across the country after final regulations for the act were issued in May 2012.

“It’s reasonable to believe that some of the increase may be related to the greater attention being paid to the issues as well as the better recording and reporting procedures to us,” Beck said.

The Act forces prisons to comply with standards geared toward reducing the incidence of rape and sexual victimization, a key component being the provision of multiple channels for inmates to report abuse, including the option to contact an outside entity. Facilities will also be audited for compliance with the legislation.

Previously, finding the appropriate channels to report abuse could be considered more daunting for inmates, especially if they had to be made intra-institutionally to someone working within the prison’s chain of command.

Bradley W. Brockmann, executive director of The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights at Brown University told ABC News that although the study showed there was a rise in the number of reports of sexual abuse, those cases represented a minute fraction of the “extraordinary sexual victimization that goes on daily.”

“The biggest challenge here is that prisons are closed doors,” said Brockmann, who is also a civil rights attorney. “What happens behind those walls generally stays behind them. For somebody to speak out takes immense courage.”

Brockmann said that often when prisoners do speak out, they fear retaliation from the correctional officers.

“Ultimately unless there are witnesses — which is rare — it’s going to come down to the word of the prisoner versus officer,” he said.

This aligns with the study’s findings, which revealed that only 10 percent of sexual abuse claims were investigated and substantiated by officials, the rest being dismissed as “unfounded” or “unsubstantiated.”

Of those substantiated cases, 84 percent of female staff-on-inmate sexual contact “appeared to be willing,” compared with 37 percent of cases allegedly perpetrated by male staff, despite clear laws prohibiting any form of sexual contact between inmates and staff.

Brockmann, attributes some of those numbers to “the extraordinary vulnerability of particularly female prisoners, a disproportionate number of whom have also been victims of sexual, emotional physical abuse since childhood.

“It doesn’t take a lot of coercion to result in what might appear to be consensual act, even though no sex behind bars between staff and inmate can be consensual,” he said.

Of the fewer cases in which the sexual abuse claims against correctional officers were found to be substantiated, more than three-quarters of those officers were fired or resigned, while 45 percent were referred for prosecution and only 1 percent were actually convicted of a crime.

The survey did not break down figures between inmates of different sexual orientations, although Beck said that previous surveys on non-heterosexual and gender nonconforming inmates had revealed much higher rates of sexual victimization.

The study comes the same week as reports of a Justice Department investigation into allegations of rampant sexual abuse at Alabama’s Tutwiler Prison, where inmates were said to “universally fear for their safety” and officers allegedly forced women to engage in sex acts just to obtain basic sanitary supplies.

Brockmann said that shedding light upon and reducing sexual abuse and harassment in prisons like these remains a challenge across the country.

“We know there are hundreds of thousands of more cases out there,” he said.

“That slight increase in reporting I hope is a harbinger of things to come, that there are more individuals who feel safe or more mechanisms to report abuse and avoid retaliation.

“What will make a difference is when we see a few tens of thousands of cases reported,” he said. “That will show something.”

The reports, Sexual Victimization Reported by Adult Correctional Authorities, 2009?11 (NCJ 243904), and Survey of Sexual Violence in Adult Correctional Facilities, 2009?11 – Statistical Tables (NCJ 244227), were written by Allen J. Beck, Ramona R. Rantala and Jessica Rexroat of BJS.

The reports, related documents and additional information about BJS’s statistical publications and programs can be found on the BJS website. ..Source.. by thinkaboutnow

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You’ve Got Mail: The promise of cyber communication in prisons and the need for regulation

1-22-16 National:

Communication Options Behind Bars:
As with most aspects of life, communications options for incarcerated people are in flux due to technological changes. For practical, political, and technical reasons, communications methods have evolved more slowly in prison than in the outside world, but change is nonetheless here. New technologies such as video visitation and electronic messaging have the potential to improve quality of life for incarcerated people and help correctional administrators effectively run secure facilities. Yet the promise of these new services is often tempered by a relentless focus on turning incarcerated people and their families into revenue streams for both private and public coffers.

The lucrative market for prison-based telephone service has received substantial attention since 2012, when the Federal Communications Commission reinvigorated a long-stagnant regulatory proceeding concerning rates and business practices in the ICS market. Although the focus of the FCC proceeding has thus far been on telephone service, ICS is not just limited to voice calls — there are emerging technologies with which a growing number of prisons and jails are experimenting.

At the outset, a word about terminology is necessary. News coverage of electronic messaging in correctional facilities often refers to the service as “email for prisons.” Although using the term “email” is a convenient shorthand, it is not accurate. Electronic messaging services allow free-world users to send (and sometimes receive) written communication electronically, but that’s about the end of the similarities between traditional email and prison-based services. Some differences are obviously related to security — e.g., messages often must be reviewed before they are delivered to the recipient, attachments are limited or prohibited, and sometimes new users must be approved before they can communicate with an incarcerated user. There are also important technical differences that impact the growth and use of this new technology: traditional email is based on a standardized architecture that promotes interoperability and competition among providers, whereas electronic messaging uses proprietary stand-alone systems. Some important differences are as follows: ..Continued.. Prison Policy Initiative report by Stephen Raher

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Is There a Need for Internet Access in Prisons?

7-29-15 National:

Without access to the internet, convicts released from their prison sentence find it hard to integrate themselves back to a community that continued to exist without them. Their participation in the civilian community is put in jeopardy because they are made so unaware of changes in the world.

Deprived of the online world, these prisoners are held back to relatively older methods of communication, like snail mail. Out of all the states, only four allow some form of limited internet access, a striking statistic. A large number of people argue that internet access counts as a basic human necessity, much like food and water, and the denial of it is a rejection of human rights.

This argument was only made stronger when a certain prisoner named Michael Santos, who finished his 25 year prison sentence three years ago, said that individuals from the outside should have access to firsthand account of life inside prison itself. Without access to the internet, prisoners are completely shunned from the “outside world”, denying them even merely an exposure to it online. Not only does this disrupt chances for proper rehabilitation when they are released, it also silences them in any worldwide conversation that they should be part of.

Denying their voice allows the world to forget they exist. As Santos recounts his experiences in prison life, he tells of a band of prison guards who brutally abuse prisoners. Although he and many other inmates witnessed these direct denials of human rights, the issue remains under-reported. Abuse of power by prison guards themselves involves 2.2 million incarcerated persons, and even half of sexual abuse claims in these American prisons were placed against the prison guards.

It is interesting to see how the pattern of removal of access to modern technology is an act intended to abuse by dictatorship. Without the internet, the voice given by social media is disrupted, leaving no connection for countless opinions to be shared.

It is, however, a point to be discussed whether prisoners should be given the same capacity to report abuse cases as the civilian population. Although this remains a ground for debate, it is important to notice how prisoners who illegally get access to internet use this voice. As Tech Behind Bars went over hundreds of social media accounts owned by prisoners through prohibited possession of cellphones, it was found that their online activity is simply meant to reflect prison life or the prisoner themselves. Still, these cellphone bans are followed to reduce risk of sex offenders and gang activity.

Ultimately, although incarcerated, prisoners are still offered a freedom of speech. Whether the internet is a fundamental human right is a tricky ground to stand on at the moment, but the fact remains clear. Denying prisoners to even a censored version of current affairs negates their ability to survive in a world that has continued without them and disallows them to cope with life in imprisonment.

The “revolving door” aspect, where prisoners find themselves back in prison within three years after their release, is only being strengthened because of their lack of education and skills. Without the ability to handle computers and the proper understanding of the internet, they are left unemployed and more likely to find themselves back in prison. We must understand that the right to the use of the internet allows them to learn and grow. This continuing degradation of prisoners is a crisis that must be faced because it does not only hurt them, but the entire society as a whole. ..Source.. by An experienced criminal defense attorney Kenneth Padowitz, P.A.

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U.S. PRISON POPULATION TRENDS: BROAD VARIATION AMONG STATES IN RECENT YEARS

4-9-15 National:

While the number of people in prison in the United States has stabilized in recent years, incarceration trends among the states have varied significantly. Two-thirds of states (34) have experienced at least a modest decline since 1999, while one-third (16) have had continued rises in their prison populations.

Nine states have produced double-digit declines during this period, led by New Jersey (29% since 1999), New York (27% since 1999), and California (22% since 2006, though partly offset by increasing jail use). These prison population reductions have come about through a mix of changes in policy and practice designed to reduce admissions to prison and lengths of stay. Recent analyses have shown that these substantial reductions have had no adverse effect on public safety.

The overall pace of change, though, is quite modest given the scale of incarceration. The total U.S. prison population declined by 2.4% since 2009. Five of the states with rising prison populations have experienced double-digit increases, led by Arkansas, with a 17% rise
since 2008. While sharing in the national crime drop, these states have resisted the trend toward decarceration. ..Continued.. by The Sentencing Project

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'A disposable population'

3-31-15 National:

How prison employees get away with sexually assaulting inmates

Barbara tried to push James Johnson away, “but he would just act like she was playing with him,” according to Sergeant Brandee Thomas' report from July 2011. Barbara said Johnson bruised her legs when he had sexual intercourse with her and gave her 10 tablets of hydrocodone, promising at least 10 more and an ice cream cake for her birthday two days later.

He had been touching her since May of that year, penetrating her vagina with his fingers and rubbing her clitoris. He kept her quiet by threatening to tell her fiance and making presents of prescription drugs and candy — even asking her friend Tina and others to make sure she stayed silent.

“[H]e would get mad if I wouldn't let him,” Barbara said in a written statement. “Then when I would he would finger me real hard in the lower bathroom” of her cell block at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women in Shelby County.

Johnson, a former KCIW guard, confessed to some of the crimes, and a confidential informant provided recordings of Johnson discussing others. He eventually pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three inmates, including Barbara, and felony drug trafficking. But under the terms of the plea agreement — which the prosecutor would not discuss with Renegade Press — he'll avoid any jail time and the most severe charges will be dismissed if he follows the rules during his seven-year probation.

Efforts to reach Johnson were unsuccessful, and Barbara declined to comment on the details of her abuse. Renegade Press omitted Barbara's last name to protect her anonymity.

Johnson could have faced a felony rape charge and been required to register as a sex offender, but his charges were watered down. Paul Wright, founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center in Lake Worth, Fl., said light charges and “sweetheart deals” are the nationwide standard for prosecuting prison employees who are accused of sexually abusing inmates.

Wright has been advocating prison reform for 25 years, suing prisons for public records and publishing reports on the darkest truths of the United States prison industrial complex. The last anthology he co-wrote in 2008 preceded investigations by national media outlets into the corporations that profit from privately-run prisons. ..Continued.. by Chris Cotelesse

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Identity Theft, Tax Fraud Snares Prisoners

3-14-15 National:

Corrections employees in several states face federal prosecutions

A raft of federal prosecutions has uncovered tax-fraud schemes involving the theft of Social Security numbers of U.S. prisoners, in many cases by corrections employees.

Last year alone, federal courts meted out prison sentences to an Alabama bail bondsman, two former Alabama corrections employees, a Florida corrections officer and a Georgia man, who were convicted separately of stealing the identities of more than 1,200 prisoners and claiming more than $6.5 million in tax refunds under the inmates’ names.

In January, a Kentucky judge sentenced a local corrections officer to three years in prison for filching prisoner information to open up credit-card accounts with Capital One, Barclays Bank and Victoria’s Secret.

Scores of prisoners also have been prosecuted in recent years for preparing false tax returns from behind bars to generate refunds, using their own and other inmates’ Social Security numbers.

A report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, released last year, found that false returns filed with prisoners’ Social Security numbers had surged to about 137,000 in 2012 from 37,000 five years earlier. Refunds claimed in the false returns in 2012 amounted to about $1 billion; the Internal Revenue Service prevented all but about $70 million from leaving the Treasury, the report said.

The report doesn’t separate false returns filed by prisoners from returns filed by third parties using prisoner information, but the IRS said identity theft is prevalent. “Frequently, inmates are also victims of identity theft, which can lead to an overstatement of fraudulent returns filed by prisoners,” the agency said in a response to the September report.

The Senate Finance Committee discussed the report and other types of tax fraud at a hearing Thursday in Washington.

Alexis Roldan discovered his identity theft soon after his release in 2011 from a Rhode Island prison, where he served an 18-month sentence for drug crimes. A financial coach told Mr. Roldan that his credit report revealed several thousand dollars in unpaid medical, energy and insurance bills. “They got me pretty good,” said Mr. Roldan, a father of four who works at a restaurant in Providence.

Identity theft can make it even harder for ex-convicts, who already face hurdles getting a job or housing, to support themselves as they try to re-enter society, social workers say. ..Continued.. by Joe Palazzolo

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Death Without Parole

3-10-15 Nevada:

First: Nevada Receives low Marks in Inmate Rehabilitation While Denying Human Rights

Third in a Series Exposing Nevada’s Negligent Prison System and Parole Board

A Public Slate Exclusive

The first two articles in this series exposed a failed branch of the department of correctional facilities in Nevada. Lack of intelligent and just decisions by the parole board forced inmates whose sentences had concluded the date dictated by the court system to remain incarcerated beyond their release dates. This inaction is inhumane and also results in tens of millions of dollars in expenditures paid for by Nevada taxpayers. The worst consequence has not been discussed until now.

Mercedes Maharis, who provided much of the information for these articles, continues to fight for the human rights of those who have unfairly and immorally received prolonged sentences in Nevada’s state prisons. As I write this she is attempting to work with the legislature to reverse unfair treatment of a group which is singled out by the parole board.

There is little doubt that the title sex offender immediately attaches a stigma to the individual and conjures horrid images of unspeakable acts. This is where it begins. The reality is that sex offenses have a wide range of degree and content. The tragedy occurs when they die while incarcerated without receiving basic human rights.

Nevada is one of many states which fails to differentiate between those who commit crimes of intent with those who have mental problems. Statistics are unavailable or simply obscured by the prison system revealing the number of inmates convicted of sexual offenses who have died in a mysterious fashion while incarcerated. Without proper mental treatment, they can come in mentally ill and leave mentally ill to offend again without understanding why they offended in the first place. The system continues a culture of punishment, too often of death, not a culture of rehabilitation. An eye for an eye and a tooth.

California has released its own statistics, and its records are expected to be indicative of prisons across the nation. California’s inmate percentage of sexual offenders is estimated to be 15 percent. This relatively small percentage of the general population accounts for 30 percent of homicides inside prison walls.

California began releasing information defining the identities and crimes of those who were murdered while serving their sentences in the general population in 2007. In that year 23 out of 78 deaths were convicted sex offenders. California designated special areas for confinement of those who were considered vulnerable to attacks by other inmates. This only appeared to clearly define those who were subsequently murdered.

Prison officials defended the statistics by diverting the attention of authorities to overcrowded prisons. Lower level criminals remained in jails, while violent prisoners and sex offenders dominated the prison population.

Nevada has no separate facilities in its correctional system for sex offenders. At present Idaho and Iowa are the only two states who have addressed the problem seriously. Both states offer programs to identify the root cause of sexual crimes and present solutions for rehabilitation and therefore diminishing recidivism percentages.

Between 2007 and 2014, Nevada State Prisons witnessed 316 deaths of the total inmate population. The number of deaths of sex offenders was 103, or one-third of the total number. Yet sex offenders comprise less than one-fifth, (19.5 percent), of the total prison population in Nevada.

During that same time period a disproportionate number of first time sex offenders died compared to those with prior convictions. 68 first time sex offenders were murdered or died from natural causes; 35 deaths had prior convictions. The question arises; were those with prior convictions more able to protect themselves?

This situation is the direct result of Parole Board inefficiency and the stigmata they have placed upon any and all sex offenders. The Board expressed little concern for the conduct or physical condition of these specific inmates who rightfully expected to be released after completion of their court ordered sentences.

With a lack of programs directed at first time sex offenders, Nevada’s recidivism rate is nearly 25 percent; Iowa’s is under four percent. Sex offenders have been forced to seek parole multiple times; too many denied until death, which was a sentence that the judge or judge and jury did not give to them. One inmate appeared before the parole board 32 times.

Static-99R is intended to be an actuarial tool to aid interviewers in a parole hearing for sex offenders. Here is a list of its considerations.

Prior sexual offenses
Prior sentencing dates
Any convictions for non-contact sex offenses
Current convictions for non-sexual violence
Prior convictions for non-sexual violence
Unrelated victims
Stranger victims
Male victims
Young
Single

The final instruction states: “The Static-99 is administered in an interview setting by probation/parole officers, correctional case managers, as well as mental health professionals.”

The truth is that there are parole board hearings with only two members of the parole board in attendance, and low risk to re-offend sex offenders have been denied parole multiple times.

When constitutional rights are violated there should be a public uproar. These individuals are intentionally subjected to incarceration far beyond the intent of the court system.

Nevada’s legislature is in session this year. Proposals have been offered which would change our state’s present failed parole system. There is no way to predict what action Nevada’s legislators will take; if any. It is paramount that each person reading this expose contact their representatives and demand fair treatment for these forgotten men. ..Source.. For the Public Slate: James Turnage

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North Carolina: Hundreds of Federal Prisoners Legally Innocent, Some Still Incarcerated

2-15-15 North Carolina:

Following a 2011 federal appellate court ruling, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) initially tried to delay the release of federal prisoners who were wrongly convicted in North Carolina. The government later announced that it would halt such tactics, but has continued to oppose challenges filed by some offenders who are legally innocent.

The DOJ’s actions followed a review of prosecutions in three federal courts in North Carolina. DOJ spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said “many more” cases could surface when all of the state’s federal court cases are examined.

The prisoners were convicted of possessing firearms in what the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held was a misapplication of the sentencing criteria, a circumstance unique to North Carolina due to the state’s system of “structured sentencing.” Adopted by the state legislature in 1993, the system mandates that the maximum prison term for any given crime is based on the offender’s criminal record. As a result, sentences for even minor crimes can extend for years if a defendant has numerous prior offenses.

Federal law provides that anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison is considered a felon, and thereby prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition. However, that provision of federal law, as imposed by North Carolina federal courts, conflicted with the state’s structured sentencing.

For example, an offender convicted of a minor crime in a North Carolina state court – writing a bad check, for example – would be considered a felon under federal law if his or her prior record was serious enough to warrant a prison sentence longer than a year. Federal courts proceeded under the notion that if one person convicted of writing a bad check was considered a felon, then all offenders convicted of writing bad checks were felons ... even if a defendant’s record warranted a sentence of less than one year under the state’s structured sentencing system.

For example, an offender convicted of a minor crime in a North Carolina state court – writing a bad check, for example – would be considered a felon under federal law if his or her prior record was serious enough to warrant a prison sentence longer than a year. Federal courts proceeded under the notion that if one person convicted of writing a bad check was considered a felon, then all offenders convicted of writing bad checks were felons ... even if a defendant’s record warranted a sentence of less than one year under the state’s structured sentencing system. Consequently, offenders found in possession of a firearm were charged with violating federal law even if their prior state offenses should not have been considered felonies.

The Fourth Circuit held in August 2011, in United States v. Simmons, 649 F.3d 237 (4th Cir. 2011) (en banc), that federal courts had been misapplying the law. Only those offenders who could have actually faced a prison sentence of longer than a year, the appellate court held, should be considered felons under federal law. As a result, scores of federal defendants should not have been prosecuted for being felons in possession of a firearm, because they didn’t meet the legal definition of “felon” at the time they were charged. ..Continued.. by Derek Gilna

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The case for Internet access in prisons

2-15-15 National:

As the Internet becomes an inescapable part of our daily lives, it becomes increasingly harder to imagine life without it. For the hundreds of thousands of convicts released from prison every year, though, this is an ongoing struggle: The astonishing pace of technology can make the adjustment back to civilian life all that more difficult.

As a recent Newsweek report points out, the majority of prisoners are still relying on older forms of communication like snail mail to keep up with the outside world, as only four states “permitted some Internet access to inmates, though in all cases it was limited.” Newsweek’s Max Kutner continues, “In Kansas, only minimum-security inmates had access. In Louisiana, the Internet was only available to inmates within 45 days of release and for the purpose of job searches.” This lack of technology in prisons unfairly denies inmates basic life skills, creating yet another barrier to exiting the system by encouraging recidivism.

While Kansas, Louisiana, Hawaii, and Connecticut are experimenting with restricted online access, when will we finally define Internet access as a basic human necessity, one on par with food, water, and medicine?

There’s a solid case to be made for letting convicts have more exposure to the Internet. Denying them this resource not only preempts any chance for rehabilitation to the free world, but also denies them a voice in a worldwide conversation that seems largely ready to forget they exist. As Michael Santos — who finished a 25-year prison sentence in 2012 – wrote for the Daily Dot, “Since the system takes up such an enormous amount of taxpayer resources, taxpayers should have access to firsthand, real-time information about prison and prison life.”

As an example, Santos tells the story of a gang of prison guards he and other inmates witnessed brutally abuse prisoners. Abuse of power by prison guards is a massively under-reported issue, one that concerns 2.2 million incarcerated persons. In fact, half of the sexual abuse claims in American prisons were levied against the prison guards meant to prevent such behavior. In Florida, where Santos served his sentence, investigators are trying to uncover how 364 people died behind bars, the highest number for any state ever.

Such an investigation might not even be necessary if prisoners were allowed basic access to modern technology. That “the Internet as liberator” storyline should sound familiar: It has been used to discuss the connection between social media and freedom from abuse by dictatorships. The role Twitter and Facebook have played in giving voice to the voiceless was a well-documented aspect of the Arab Spring and has even reached the streets of Manhattan, N.Y. and Ferguson, Mo., which protesters took the streets to remind us that #BlackLivesMatter.

While those might seem like understandable precautions, it’s worth considering how prisoners use the illicit Internet access they do get through the 3,000 cellphones that have been confiscated since 2012. As part of their incredible Tech Behind Bars series, Fusion poured over hundreds of social media accounts actively managed by prisoners on such devices, the most interesting of all being AcieBandage, a Vine account kept by an anonymous inmate. (While the account has been suspended, some of the Vines — like the one below — have been saved on YouTube.). Most prisoner activity is innocuous and meant to give a snapshot of prison life or the prisoner themselves. According to a 2012 report from California, however, prison officials justified the ban on cellphones due to concerns about the threat of sex offenders and gang activity. ..Continued.. by Ben Branstetter, The Daily Dot

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Ohio prison system liable for injuries of rapist, 80, who fell out of top bunk, court rules

2-15-15 Ohio:

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is liable for the injuries of an 80-year-old inmate who fell out of his top bunk, a state court says.

A ruling by Ohio Court of Claims magistrate earlier this month says the state prison system knew the risks and shouldn't have assigned inmate Roy Buchanan to a top bunk.

The order does not rule on amount of monetary damages, which would be determined in a separate proceeding, the Ohio Supreme Court's news service said.

Buchanan's complaint said he lost his balance and fell out of his bunk onto the concrete floor of the dorm where he lived at the Hocking Correctional Facility in December 2012.

The magistrate noted that Buchanan had back problems and a hernia, and his ability to climb in and out of an upper bunk was substantially limited.

Buchanan, now 82, was imprisoned in 2005 for rape. He was sentenced to between 15 and 151 years in prison after he was convicted of repeatedly molesting a girl from 1991 and 1996. ..Source.. by Cleveland.com

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The U.S. has more jails than colleges. Here’s a map of where those prisoners live.

1-8-2015 National:

There were 2.3 million prisoners in the U.S. as of the 2010 Census. It's often been remarked that our national incarceration rate of 707 adults per every 100,000 residents is the highest in the world, by a huge margin.

We tend to focus less on where we're putting all those people. But the 2010 Census tallied the location of every adult and juvenile prisoner in the United States. If we were to put them all on a map, this is what they would look like (see pic).

The map shows the raw number of prisoners in each U.S. county as of the 2010 Census. Much of the discussion of regional prison population only centers around inmates in our 1,800 state and federal correctional facilities. But at any given time, hundreds of thousands more individuals are locked up in the nation's 3,200 local and county jails. This map includes these individuals as well. ..Continued.. by WP Christopher Ingraham

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A look at the problem of rape in US prisons, jails and juvenile detention centers

1-4-2015 National:

Inmate advocates worry that a proposal to reduce the financial penalties for states that don't comply with a 2003 federal law aimed at eliminating rape behind bars will severally damage it.

The measure failed this fall. Its sponsor, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, vows to re-introduce it in the new GOP-controlled Congress.

Cornyn said the funds include grants for worthy programs — such as ones that support rape and domestic violence victims — and that the law should be more narrowly tailored to affect money that goes to prison construction, operations and administration.

Supporters of the measure acknowledge the change would essentially eliminate the financial penalties, since little — if any — federal grant money is used for prison construction, daily operations and administration.

Those costs are typically handled by local government budgets.

A LONG-IGNORED PROBLEM: PRISON RAPE

Inmate advocates had lobbied for years for policymakers and lawmakers to address the problem of prison rape. Federal statistics show about 216,000 adult and juvenile inmates are sexually assaulted each year, compared to 238,000 in the overall U.S.

More than half of all sexual assaults behind bars are committed by prison staffers, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and more than half of those employee-on-inmate assaults are committed by women.

Among the most vulnerable populations are the mentally ill, juveniles and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inmates.

ATTITUDES BEGIN TO CHANGE IN THE 1990s

By the mid-1990s, more than half of the states passed laws defining staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct as a criminal offense.

And in 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal prison officials in Terre Haute, Indiana, failed to take reasonable measures to protect a transgender woman who was repeatedly raped after she was sent to live with the general male population.

A UNANIMOUS VICTORY

Prison rape survivors, inmate advocacy groups and evangelical organizations lobbied Congress to pass a law that aimed to end sexual assault behind bars. In 2003, Congress unanimously passed it.

The law's requirements ranged from increased training of staff about sex abuse policies to screening new inmates to determine if they're likely to commit sexual assault or to be assaulted.

If states opt out of the law or don't comply, they stand to lose 5 percent of federal funds they get for prison operations.

$110 MILLION, AND CHANGE

In all, states have spent more than $110 million in state and federal funds to implement the law. By last fall, every state was supposed to certify that it had instituted dozens of the standards.

So far, New Jersey and New Hampshire say they are compliant with the law's requirements, and 43 states and the District of Columbia are working toward that goal. All states have made some improvements to follow the law.

Pennsylvania developed a web-based incident reporting program, and is working to improve prosecution strategies to ensure that rapists are brought to justice. Colorado and Oregon, for example, are using software to help track sexual assault reports.

SOME STATES OPT OUT, CITING COST, AUTONOMY

Texas, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Nebraska, Utah and Idaho have opted out, arguing that it's too costly to implement requirements that they say don't give them the flexibility to administer their facilities the way they see fit.

Texas, for example, says a requirement to prevent guards from seeing inmates of the opposite sex naked in the showers or during strip searches wouldn't work because 40 percent of the correctional officer workforce is female.

TOO EARLY TO SAY IF LAW IS WORKING

Federal surveys show the nation's rate of sexual victimization behind bars has remained steady for at least 7 years, with nearly 1 in 10 adult inmates reporting attacks. The rate is the same for juveniles, although that has improved slightly since 2008. ..Source.. by REBECCA BOONE

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U.S. CORRECTIONAL POPULATION DECLINED BY LESS THAN 1 PERCENT FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR

12-20-2014 Washington DC:

WASHINGTON – The number of persons under adult correctional supervision fell by 41,500 persons during 2013, dropping to 6.89 million by yearend, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The decline in the correctional population (down 0.6 percent) was less than 1 percent for the second consecutive year.

By yearend 2013, the number of persons under adult correctional supervision was the smallest number observed since 2003. About 7 in 10 offenders under adult correctional supervision were supervised in the community on probation (3.91 million) or parole (853,200) at yearend 2013, compared to about 3 in 10 incarcerated in state and federal prisons (1.57 million) or local jails (731,200).

The entire drop in the correctional population during 2013 was due to a decline in the number of probationers (down 32,100) and persons held in local jails (down 13,300). The parole population (up 2,100) and prison population (up 4,300) increased, partially offsetting the overall decline in the total correctional population.

While the U.S prison population increased during 2013, the number of inmates under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons decreased (down 0.9 percent or 1,900) for the first time since 1980. The growth in the U.S. prison population was attributed to the increase in the number of inmates under the jurisdiction of state prisons (up 0.5 percent or 6,300).

About 1 in 35 adults in the United States (or 2.8 percent of the adult resident population) was under some form of correctional supervision at yearend 2013. This rate was unchanged from 2012, when it dropped to the lowest rate observed since 1997. About 1 in 51 adults was on probation or parole at yearend 2013, compared to 1 in 110 incarcerated in prisons or local jails.

The population-based correctional supervision rate (the number of persons under adult correctional supervision per 100,000 U.S. adult residents) declined to 2,830 persons per 100,000 adults at yearend 2013, from 2,870 per 100,000 at yearend 2012. Since 2007, the correctional supervision rate has declined more rapidly than the number of persons under adult correctional supervision, but half of the decrease in this rate came from the increase in the size of the U.S. adult resident population.

The composition of the correctional population remained unchanged between 2010 and 2013. Probationers (57 percent) accounted for the majority of the correctional population, and prisoners made up almost a quarter (23 percent) of the population. Parolees (12 percent) and jail inmates (11 percent) made up slightly more than a tenth each of the total population.

In 2013, females accounted for almost 25 percent of the probation population, up from about 22 percent in 2000. They made up 14 percent of the jail population in 2013, up from about 11 percent in 2000. The percentage of females on parole or incarcerated in state or federal prisons remained unchanged between 2000 and 2013. Since 2010, the female jail population has been the fastest growing correctional population, increasing by an average annual rate of 3.4 percent. ..Source.. by BJS Press Release

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For-Profit Prison Companies Have A Worrying Plan For Boosting Profits

11-21-2014 National:

For-profit prison companies are exploiting "new markets" to compensate for the recent decrease in America's prison population, according to the report released by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

Psychiatric facilities in particular could bring in major cash for private prison companies. These state facilities typically include a number of "forensic" cases, meaning patients ended up in a psych facility because they committed a crime.

For-profit prison operators also stand to gain from a type of confinement known as civil commitment, which confines sex offenders after their prison sentences if they're likely to abuse somebody again.

Both of these prison alternatives could be more lucrative for for-profit prison companies than running an actual prison. From the report:

Unlike prisons, from which over 90% of those incarcerated are eventually released, mental health hospitals and civil commitment centers represent the potential for lifetime confinement, which spells long-term, guaranteed profits for private corporations.

While there's definitely a need for forensic psych units, it can be problematic if they're run by for-profit companies.

Just like for-profit prisons have an incentive to keep people locked up in prison, they may also be inclined to keep patients committed on psych wards long after it's necessary, as a recent paper published by the University of Texas pointed out.

Currently, though, there is only one private prison company taking advantage of the profits to be made from psych facilities and civil commitment, according to the AFSC report.

GEO Care, which was recently acquired by Correct Care Solutions, runs five psychiatric hospitals in Florida, South Carolina, and Texas. GEO also runs America's only privatized civil commitment center, which is in Florida, according to the AFSC report. ..Source.. by Erin Fuchs

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States Are Prioritizing Prisons Over Education, Budgets Show

10-31-2014 National:

If state budget trends reflect the country's policy priorities, then the U.S. currently values prisoners over children, a new report suggests.

A report released this week by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that the growth of state spending on prisons in recent years has far outpaced the growth of spending on education. After adjusting for inflation, state general fund spending on prison-related expenses increased over 140 percent between 1986 and 2013. During the same period, state spending on K-12 education increased only 69 percent, while higher education saw an increase of less than six percent.

State spending on corrections has exploded in recent years, as incarceration rates have more than tripled in a majority of states in the past few decades. The report says that the likelihood that an offender will be incarcerated has gone up across the board for all major crimes. At the same time, increases in education spending have not kept pace. In fact, since 2008, spending on education has actually declined in a majority of states in the wake of the Great Recession.

According to the brief, rates of violent crime and property crime have actually fallen over the years, even while incarceration rates have risen. Therefore, it appears that states' more aggressive incarceration policies are behind the higher prison rates.

Michael Mitchell, a co-author of the report and a policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, suggested that education spending could actually help lower incarceration rates. “When you look at prisoners, people who get sent to prison and their educational levels, [the levels are] typically much lower than individuals who are not sent to prison," he told The Huffington Post. “Being a high school dropout dramatically increases your likelihood of being sent to prison.”

“Spending so many dollars locking up so many people, those are dollars that inevitably cannot be used to provide pre-K slots … or financial aid for those who want to go to college,” Mitchell added.

The report suggests that states' spending practices are ultimately harming their economies, while not making the states especially safer. The authors ultimately conclude that if “states were still spending the same amount on corrections as they did in the mid-1980s, adjusted for inflation, they would have about $28 billion more available each year for education and other productive investments.”

“The types of investments to help people out of poverty and break that school-to-prison pipeline are investments in early education, helping youth stay in school and getting them college campuses,” said Mitchell. ..Source.. by Rebecca Klein

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Federal judge dismisses Nebraska inmate lawsuit, saying prisoners not entitled to minimum wage

10-30-2014 Nebraska:

OMAHA, Nebraska — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a Nebraska prisoner who argued that he should be making minimum wage for his work behind bars.

Stephen Cavanaugh, 23, sued several state prison officials earlier this year, saying that over the past year, he has been assigned to work as a food server, window washer and a prison yard maintenance worker, with his work time varying between six hours and eight hours a day for between five and seven days a week. Cavanaugh, who represented himself in the lawsuit, said he was paid between $1.21 and $2.25 a day for the work.

His lawsuit said he should have been paid minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and asked a federal judge to award him at least $3,400 in wages he should have earned, plus $350 for his legal costs.

"Cavanaugh continues to be employed on the yard crew and is still paid less than minimum wage," he wrote in his complaint. "Therefore, the amount of actual damages continues to rise."

But U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp dismissed the lawsuit Wednesday, saying that while state law sets minimum wage at $7.25 an hour, another state law specifically allows the prison system director to make rules governing the hours prisoners work and how much they're paid.

The judge also noted that language in state law regarding prisoners contemplates the possibility that some inmates will not earn minimum wage. The language says that "inmates earning at least minimum wage" may have their wages withheld to be deposited in a state victim compensation fund.

"Clearly, if Nebraska's legislators intended that all prisoners earn minimum wage, this language would not have been necessary," Smith Camp wrote in her order.

Cavanaugh was sentenced last year to at least six years in prison after being found guilty of two counts of attempted first-degree assault and two counts of use of deadly weapon. Police say Cavanaugh threatened two Grand Island men with a hatchet in July 2012. One of the men had a protection order against Cavanaugh at the time.

Corrections department spokesman James Foster declined comment on the ruling and Cavanaugh could not immediately be reached by phone for comment. ..Source.. by MARGERY A. BECK

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Suzio attacks prison credits program, Bartolomeo critical of 'violent pedophile' source

10-30-2014 Connecticut:

CHESHIRE — Standing in front of the Cheshire Correctional Institution Wednesday afternoon, two Republicans again called for the governor and state Department of Correction to suspend the risk reduction earned credit program and investigate alleged flaws.

Len Suzio, a former state senator hoping to regain the 13th District seat, said the “system is being manipulated.”

Standing beside him was state Sen. Joe Markley, R-Southington, who said the program needs to be reevaluated.

Both Republicans have vocally opposed the prison credit program since it was approved in 2011. Under the program, inmates can earn credits toward early release through good behavior and participating in anti-recidivism activities.

They said they had heard from inmates and correction officers who described problems with the implementation.

Markley and Suzio said they visited Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers last Friday to speak with one inmate and handed out two letters they received from an inmate and a former inmate outlining concerns.

Suzio said he has spoken to several prison guards who believe the program is ineffective. On Wednesday, Suzio and Markley said they couldn’t reveal their sources.

But Suzio’s opponent Democratic state Sen. Dante Bartolomeo said she had obtained information on the inmate Suzio and Markley met with in Somers, calling him “a violent pedophile.” While she said she also believes the prison credit program is flawed, Bartolomeo voiced concerns that two Republican candidates were consulting with an inmate with that kind of record.

Karen Martucci, acting director of the DOC external affairs division, said the inmate Suzio and Markley interviewed “has an extensive criminal history record totaling over 30 arrests and most recently incarcerated for his third parole violation based on repetitive lies and manipulative tactics, proven as failure to comply with parole conditions while under supervision in the community.”

He’s also a registered sex offender, accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old in 1989 when he was 17, according to the DOC. A year earlier, the man was charged with risk of injury to a minor for physically abusing two boys, ages 3 and 7. The inmate’s recent criminal history includes several counts of larceny, forgery, burglary and threatening.

Suzio said the inmate’s past is irrelevant because the focus of their interview with him was to determine if the risk reduction earned credit program is flawed or not. What the inmate is saying may or may not be true, he said, but the state should investigate. Both Suzio and Markley said Wednesday they thought the inmate they interviewed was credible.

Many of his recent crimes are petty as well, Suzio said. “If Dante wants to ignore the facts because she thinks this program is working fine, God bless her. But I’m on a mission to expose it for all the failings it’s got,” he said.

Markley said he didn’t know the inmate was listed on the state’s Sex Offender Registry at the time of the interview. But the information the inmate provided “I thought was very credible and believable,” he said. “I wasn’t there to judge his soul.”

For example, Suzio and Markley said, inmates can earn credits for signing up for a class, even if they aren’t able to take the class because of a waiting list.

“By waiting in line, they’re getting credits,” Suzio said.

By following an Offender Accountability Plan established by prison officials, inmates may earn up to five days a month off their sentences. Suzio and Markley said they were told by prison sources that inmates are encouraged not to follow through with the plan so they can continue to earn credits. They said that, according to what they’ve been told, inmates are no longer eligible to receive credits if they finish their plan.

Also, they were told that programs that inmates take part in to earn credits have been shortened from months to weeks. By providing shortened programming, “It’s not going to give you the same experience,” Markley said.

Suzio said the DOC and state officials are allowing the risk reduction earned credit program to be abused to reduce prison population and save money. In speaking with prison guards, Suzio said, “they told me they don’t consider it to be a safe program for the public.”

Mike Lawlor, the criminal justice adviser to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said an investigation isn’t necessary because the program has proven successful.

“It’s not like we don’t know what’s going on,” Lawlor said. “We know what’s going on, and we know it’s working.”

Crime rates are at their lowest in four decades, and fewer people are being released early since Malloy took office in 2011, he said.

From 2008 to 2010, under the Rell administration, 25,205 inmates were released early. With Malloy in office between 2011 and 2013, 22,720 inmates have been released early. In that same time frame, there have been about 45,000 fewer arrests.

In 2013, the first full year the program was in effect, Lawlor said, the violent crime rate dropped by more than 10 percent. That Suzio is using information from a sex offender “absolutely affects his credibility,” Bartolomeo said. “This is the sort of person that Suzio has as his advisor.”

Suzio questioned how Bartolomeo was able to obtain information about the inmate he interviewed since he didn’t reveal any names.

“My question is whose side is she on?” Suzio said of Bartolomeo. “It seems like she’s joining Mike Lawlor in the cover-up of this program.”

Markley’s opponent for the 16th District Senate seat, Chris Robertson of the Working Families Party, said he also opposed the program in its current form. ..Source.. by Andrew Ragali Record-Journal staff

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