prisoners

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Women Lawyers Sue to Stop Masturbating Inmates

Even pizza didn't get them to stop

(Newser) - Public masturbation is so rampant in Chicago's Cook County Jail that officials offered inmates pizza to stop, a federal lawsuit claims. Hundreds of female public defenders and law clerks working at the jail and other lockups have had to endure "on an almost daily basis" inmates who "...

Images Show Scale of N. Korea's 'Crime Against Humanity'

These aren't the camps where political prisoners are sent—but they're still said to be extreme

(Newser) - While the rest of the world worries about Kim Jong Un's volatility on the nuclear front, experts and human rights activists tell the Washington Post that regular North Koreans are already living out a nightmare in the form of "unyielding gulag systems." They're now talking about...

A Big Harvey Donation, From an Unexpected Source

More than 6,600 prisoners in Texas donated almost $54K

(Newser) - As Americans open their wallets to help victims of a recent rash of tragedies—beginning with Hurricane Harvey—a big donation comes from a group that managed the feat despite not having wallets to open. The Dallas News last week reported that more than 6,600 Texas inmates donated $53,...

Inmates in Harvey-Hit Prison Call Conditions 'Obscene'

Despite water, power problems, FCI Beaumont isn't evacuating prisoners

(Newser) - The federal prison in Beaumont, Texas, refused to evacuate its prisoners Thursday despite concerns about the city's supply of power and running water in the wake of Harvey, saying it had enough food and water to weather the storm, the Houston Chronicle reports. But that's not the story...

12 Inmates Escape From Alabama Jail
12 Inmates Escape
From Alabama Jail
Jul 31, 2017 12:03 AM CDT

12 Inmates Escape From Alabama Jail

8 were recaptured within hours

(Newser) - A dozen inmates broke out of the Walker County Jail in Alabama Sunday evening, but they weren't all on the loose for long: Authorities say eight of the men had been recaptured by 10:42pm, about four hours after they escaped, AL.com reports. Police, who asked area residents...

The Inmate Who Upended the US Prison System
From 'Politicized
Prisoner' to
Inmate Hero
LONGFORM
Apr 18, 2017 7:28 PM CDT

From 'Politicized Prisoner' to Inmate Hero

NPR details the story of Martin Sostre, whose prison activism is legendary

(Newser) - Reporter Joseph Shapiro first met Martin Sostre after New York's governor granted the inmate clemency in 1976. The prisoner's story sparked a lifelong interest in prison activism for Shapiro, who documents for NPR his search for the long-disappeared Sostre. Shapiro dives into the early life of the self-described...

These Inmates Had One Job ... and Hid It in Prison Ceiling

Ohio prisoners tasked with recycling PCs used them to store porn, drug-making advice

(Newser) - In what sounds like a combo of The Shawshank Redemption and Hackers, two inmates at an Ohio prison were busted for repurposing PCs meant to be taken apart for recycling purposes, then stashing the DIY devices in a prison ceiling, the BBC reports. Even though the hidden handiwork was discovered...

Delaware Inmates Blame Trump for Hostage-Taking

'We know that the institution is going to change for the worse'

(Newser) - Authorities negotiated into the evening Wednesday for the release of the last two of four corrections department workers taken hostage by inmates at a Delaware prison, the AP reports. Earlier in the day, inmates at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna reached out to the News Journal in...

40+ Years in Solitary: 'Ask Me in 20 Years' How Freedom Feels

Albert Woodfox of 'Angola 3' was in isolation more than any other inmate in US history

(Newser) - Albert Woodfox, the last of the famous "Angola Three," was released from prison last February after pleading no contest to manslaughter in the 1972 killing of prison guard Brent Miller. In a piece for the New Yorker , Rachel Aviv offers some insight into the "reserved" and "...

6 Things an Analysis of Prison Tattoos Found

'Economist' study of clink ink offers fascinating revelations

(Newser) - Located a half-mile from the Los Angeles County prison known as the Twin Towers lies Homeboy Industries , one of the country's largest gang-rehab groups. One of the duties Homeboy has assumed to help ex-gang members and inmates re-enter society is a seemingly quirky but often necessary one: erasing their...

1 Inmate Sought After Toilet Escape
1 Inmate Sought
After Toilet Escape
Dec 27, 2016 1:29 AM CST

1 Inmate Sought After Toilet Escape

6 prisoners broke out on Christmas Day

(Newser) - Six Tennessee inmates who decided they didn't want to spend Christmas in jail broke out early Sunday by pulling a leaky toilet from a wall. Police say five of the inmates who escaped from the Cocke County Jail Annex in Newport were recaptured, but one, 54-year-old David Wayne Frazier,...

Man Mistakenly Released From Prison Pleads to Stay Out

Clerical error let Rene Lima-Marin out, and he says new life he started should keep him out

(Newser) - A convicted Colorado robber who was sent back to prison after being mistakenly released decades before serving out his 98-year sentence asked a judge Wednesday to set him free again, arguing it would be unfair for him to remain imprisoned after he started a family, got a steady job, and...

Prisoners Who Tore Down Ark. Blight Fear Toxic Exposure

'They sold us on a dream'

(Newser) - It was supposed to be a win-win for everyone involved in Pine Bluff's Mulligan Road project: The Arkansas city would get rid of abandoned houses that were an eyesore, while the inmates and parolees who tore down those eyesores would receive valuable job training and other perks. But as...

He Left Prison With a $120 Debit Card. Then Came the Fees

JPMorgan Chase agrees to $447K settlement

(Newser) - That prisoners get gouged by private companies is not new news, but a class-action suit has brought a bit of relief. Bloomberg reports that JPMorgan Chase on Monday agreed to pay $446,822 to ex-cons who were released from federal prison with a pre-paid, non-refillable debit card in hand—only...

Inmates Are Dying of Heroin Withdrawal in Jail

Deaths that advocates say are preventable

(Newser) - In the days following her 18-year-old daughter's first arrest on heroin charges, Stephanie Moyer took solace in thinking she would be safe in jail until she got into a treatment program. But Victoria "Tori" Herr sounded disoriented on a call home three days later. She feared she was...

12 Freed Gitmo Inmates Linked to US Deaths

Sources say former detainees have killed at least 6 in Afghanistan

(Newser) - Information about former Guantanamo Bay detainees who returned to militancy is very slowly leaking out—and it will give ammunition to those fighting to keep the detention center open. Sources tell the Washington Post that around 12 released Gitmo prisoners—all of them freed during the George W. Bush administration—...

SCOTUS Nixes White Jury's Death Penalty for Black Man

29 years after Timothy Foster's sentence, court finds prosecutors kept blacks off jury for racial reasons

(Newser) - In a ruling Vox says "could have a big impact on racism in the justice system," the Supreme Court on Tuesday tossed a death sentence rendered almost 30 years ago against a Georgia black man, voting 7-1 that state prosecutors kept African-Americans off the jury that convicted him,...

2 Inmates Were Put in Solitary Together. One Came Out

The practice of 'double celling' is shockingly common

(Newser) - It seems like some sort of oxymoron: two inmates together in solitary confinement. But as a joint investigation by NPR and the Marshall Project found, "double celling" is anything but an anomaly: They cite a 2014 Federal Bureau of Prisons report in asserting that "over 80% of the...

We Should Cap Prison Sentences at 20 Years
We Should Cap Prison Sentences at 20 Years
OPINION
Jan 13, 2016 10:15 AM CST

We Should Cap Prison Sentences at 20 Years

Or at least assess all inmates at that point, argues writer

(Newser) - With talk of reforming the criminal justice system gaining steam, a writer at Democracy makes the case for a controversial idea: maximum sentences of 20 years for nearly all prisoners. Lots of attention has been paid to the long mandatory sentences doled out to nonviolent drug offenders, but Marc Mauer...

Harvard Debate Champs Lose to Team of Prisoners

Maximum-security inmates beat Ivy League's best

(Newser) - Next up, a debate with the parole board? The Ivy League's finest debate team was defeated by a team of prisoners from a maximum-security prison in New York state. The three-man Eastern New York Correctional Facility team was declared the winner on Sept. 18 after debating for an hour...

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