HOUSTON — The kitchen of the detention center here was bustling as a dozen immigrants boiled beans and grilled hot dogs, preparing lunch for about 900 other detainees. Elsewhere, guards stood sentry and managers took head counts, but the detainees were doing most of the work — mopping bathroom stalls, folding linens, stocking commissary shelves. […]
Fred Grimm: Brutality against mentally ill inmates has become the norm
Dying became Darren Rainey’s revenge. Dying in a scalding prison shower was the perfect act of defiance against his torturers and the institution that abided their cruelties. After all, he wasn’t supposed to die. He was only supposed to suffer the excruciating punishment that guards at Dade Correctional Institution enjoy inflicting on mentally disturbed inmates. […]
End Mass Incarceration Now
By The Editorial Board For more than a decade, researchers across multiple disciplines have been issuing reports on the widespread societal and economic damage caused by America’s now-40-year experiment in locking up vast numbers of its citizens. If there is any remaining disagreement about the destructiveness of this experiment, it mirrors the so-called debate over […]
Behind bars, a brutal and unexplained death
The purported details of Darren Rainey’s last hour are difficult to read. “I can’t take it no more, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again,’’ he screamed over and over, according to a grievance complaint from a fellow inmate, as Rainey was allegedly locked in a shower with the scalding water turned on full blast. […]
Fed. jury awards jailed woman’s estate $975,000
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $975,000 to the estate of a woman who died in a Pinellas County Jail cell. The jury made its decision on Friday in the case of Jennifer DeGraw, 50, who was taken into custody after her husband called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office because she was […]
Lawsuits against Volusia jail’s private medical provider among thousands nationwide
On his third day in the Volusia County Branch Jail, the pain in Doug Knichel’s foot was torturing him. He wound up in a wheelchair in the medical clinic. “They said it was gout,” he would say later. “I had no idea. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know.” It wasn’t gout, and Knichel’s […]
Rep. Castor: Make it quicker for felons to regain voting rights
TAMPA — U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor wants Gov. Rick Scott to make it easier for felons to have their voting rights restored after they have paid their to debt to society. The Democratic congresswoman spoke Monday about the issue, which promises to be a focal point of the 2014 governor’s race that’s pitting Scott, a […]
They Paid Their Debt
OUR OPINION: Restore voting rights to ex-felons Attorney General Eric Holder, who has become the Obama administration’s leading voice on minorities’ civil rights and criminal-justice reforms, recently championed a group that seldom gets the sympathy of law enforcers — convicted felons. During a criminal-justice symposium at Georgetown University last week, Mr. Holder called on 11 […]
Florida Corrections Must Answer to Man Left Blind
(CN) – A man who says inadequate medical treatment in a Florida prison left him permanently blind in one eye may have a civil rights case, the 11th Circuit ruled. The decision notes that Jeffrey Kuhne was in his mid-40s when Florida incarcerated him for a probation violation in June 2008. His sight significantly worsened […]
Florida prison system swamped, even as crime levels reach historic lows
With crime low, Florida is still locking up those who get convicted of crimes for long periods of time. January 31, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ — If you have been accused of committing a crime in Florida, you likely already know that there could be serious consequences. But, you may not be aware of the overwhelming scope […]
Prison Staff Not Held Accountable For Sexual Abuse Of Inmates: Report
Nearly half of prison staff who sexually abused inmates faced no legal consequences, according to a new federal report. The Bureau of Justice Statistics report released this week looked at data from 2009 to 2011 in federal and state prisons, local jails, and other adult facilities. The report found that just 46 percent of cases […]
Family wants answers after inmate’s suicide in state facility near Orlando
As William Walker’s body hung inside a state correctional facility near Orlando on New Year’s Eve, letters that he had written before his death were enroute to his parent’s Port St. Lucie home. Two letters have already arrived and more may be coming. His mom, Suzanne Walker, hasn’t been able to work up the courage […]
Deaf inmates sue Ky. prisons over accommodations
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A pair of deaf and hearing-impaired inmates in Kentucky sued the state, seeking to force the Department of Corrections to provide interpreter services for medical visits, video phones that allow deaf callers to see sign language and other hearing devices. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Frankfort, the inmates […]
Idaho to take back control of privately run state prison
Idaho’s governor says the corrections department will take over operation of the largest privately run prison in the state after more than a decade of mismanagement and other problems at the facility. Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America has contracted with the state to run the prison since it was built in 1997. Taxpayers currently pay […]
Food As Punishment: Giving U.S. Inmates ‘The Loaf’ Persists
In many prisons and jails across the U.S., punishment can come in the form of a bland, brownish lump. Known as nutraloaf, or simply “the loaf,” it’s fed day after day to inmates who throw food or, in some cases, get violent. Even though it meets nutritional guidelines, civil rights activists urge against the use […]
Prison system opens ‘re-entry’ center
HAVANA — The head of Florida’s prison system ran the numbers Tuesday on how a new approach to inmate “re-entry” will save taxpayers money by breaking the cycle of crime and punishment, then said the initiative would be worthwhile even without the fiscal considerations. “It does save money,” Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Crews said […]
Senate Panel Passes Bill Aimed At Helping Florida’s Ex-Inmates Get Free ID Cards
A group of Florida senators unanimously passed a bill Monday that aims to make life easier for ex-inmates upon their release from prison. Upon their release from prison, Altamonte Springs Republican Senator David Simmons says it’s difficult for many inmates to get an ID card. And, he says making it easier would lower recidivism. Under […]
A Battle for Fair Housing Still Raging, But Mostly Forgotten
It’s not something we think about a lot or something that gets reported on often, but once you start digging around some, it’s hard not to see the consequences of our country’s long, sordid history of housing discrimination everywhere racial disparities manifest. The giant wealth gap between black and Latino Americans and white folks. Shorter […]