prison

Stories 581 - 600 | << Prev   Next >>

American Detainees Faced Gitmo Treatment Inside US

Isolation, sensory deprivation nearly drove one insane

(Newser) - An American detainee held in a US military brig was driven nearly insane by months of punishing isolation and sensory deprivation, documents obtained by the AP show. The Bush administration labeled two citizens and a US resident “enemy combatants” and held them for years without criminal charges at military...

Holy Mackerel! Fish Cans Grease Prison Black Market

Smoking ban leads to fishy dealings at federal prisons

(Newser) - Stacks of macks have replaced packs of smokes in the underground economies of federal prisons, the Wall Street Journal reports. Inmates, barred from using cash, use cans of mackerel from the prison commissary for everything from gambling to buying hooch to paying for legal papers. The going rate for a...

Alcatraz Garden Blooms Despite Years of Neglect

Once cared for by prisoners, plants still thrive on 'The Rock'

(Newser) - The hardened inmates on San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island had tough neighbors who endure to this day: sun-kissed geraniums, snapdragons, gazanias, and roses. Thanks to an ambitious restoration project, “The Rock” is blooming, the Sacramento Bee reports. After work began 5 years ago, gardeners discovered 145 plant varieties that...

Kremlin Foe Denied Bid for Parole
Kremlin Foe Denied Bid
for Parole
Aug 22, 2008 10:40 AM CDT

Kremlin Foe Denied Bid for Parole

Oil tycoon, Putin opponent remains in Siberian prison

(Newser) - A Russian court has rejected Mikhail Khodorkovsky's request for parole on Friday, ordering the jailed oil tycoon to serve out the remainder of his sentence in a ruling his lawyer called politically motivated. Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos oil company and once Russia's richest man, was sentenced to 8...

Navy Accuses Sailors of Abusing Detainees

Six guards in Iraq face charges

(Newser) - The US Navy will court-martial six sailors who are charged with abusing detainees at a US prison camp in Iraq, Reuters reports. The sailors are accused of beating prisoners and confining them in an unventilated room with pepper spray, a Navy statement says.

Advocates Work to Get Ex-Cons in Voting Booths

New laws make tens of thousands eligible to vote again

(Newser) - Grass-roots activists in states across the country are working to register an unusual bloc of potential voters: former felons. While nearly all states limit the right of convicted criminals to vote, most offer avenues back to the voting booth in varying degrees, the Washington Post reports. In the potential swing...

Facebook, MySpace Offer Prime Evidence

Profiles, photos can haunt defendants, help prosecutors

(Newser) - Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have offered crime-solving help to detectives and become a resource for employers vetting job applicants. Now the sites are proving fruitful for prosecutors, who have used damaging Internet photos of defendants to cast doubt on their character during sentencing hearings and argue for...

In Japan, Jailhouse Chic Rules Fashion

Aprons, bags made by convicts are hot sellers this season

(Newser) - Japan's fashion-forward set is flocking to a line made by an unlikely group—prison inmates. Aprons, bags, and pouches emblazoned with the character for "jail" inside a circle are selling out just as quickly as inmates at a juvenile prison in Hokkaido can make them, the AP reports. "...

Ex-Inmates Say Russia Keeps 'Torture Prisons'

Prisoners speak out after 4 were allegedly killed this spring

(Newser) - Overcrowding and disease are comparatively minor problems for inmates in Russia's alleged "torture prisons," where convicts are said to suffer regular beatings. Officials insist that they probe all complaints, but NPR has yielded harrowing stories from ex-inmates after four were reportedly clubbed to death this spring. "God...

Dogs Fetch Contraband Cell Phones in Jails

Md., Va. among states using canines to bust crooks' outside contact

(Newser) - Dogs, it turns out, can sniff out more than just bombs and drugs. Authorities in Maryland and Virginia have canines rooting out cell phones, described by one official as "perhaps the worst type of contraband" in today's prisons. The increasingly tiny devices are easy to smuggle in, the Washington ...

Israel to Proceed Directly to Jail
Israel to Proceed Directly to Jail
UPDATED
Jul 3, 2008 1:50 PM CDT

Israel to Proceed Directly to Jail

Fugitive banker loses $500K bail, could get 10 years tacked on 20-year sentence

(Newser) - A federal judge in New York ordered white-collar fugitive Samuel Israel to start serving his 20-year fraud sentence immediately, the Wall Street Journal reports, and ruled that his $500,000 bail be forfeited. "My hope is it will be applied to the resources taxpayers incurred to find Mr. Israel,...

Felon Fans Fluster Cyrus
 Felon Fans 
 Fluster Cyrus 
Jun 20, 2008 10:50 AM CDT

Felon Fans Fluster Cyrus

Prisoners love her 'nude' shoot

(Newser) - Miley Cyrus has a new crop of fans: prisoners. The tween queen’s topless pose in Vanity Fair has made its way through the penitentiary postal service, and now a disgusted Cyrus is being bombarded with letters from the clink, Hollyscoop reports. Prisoners are posting her risque photos on their...

Taliban Jailbreak Frees 1,200
 Taliban Jailbreak Frees 1,200 
Jun 13, 2008 11:02 PM CDT

Taliban Jailbreak Frees 1,200

Inmates spill into streets after suicide blast at Kandahar prison

(Newser) - Taliban fighters blasted into Kandahar's main prison last night and freed about 1,200 inmates, including 350 Taliban, the New York Times reports. Prisoners, including Taliban leaders, quickly flooded the streets and scattered into nearby villages. “It is very dangerous for security," a Kandahar politician said. "They...

Pentagon to Build Giant Prison in Afghanistan

New Bagram complex marks intention to hold prisoners abroad for years to come

(Newser) - The Pentagon is planning to build a huge new detention complex in Afghanistan, reports the New York Times, acknowledging that the US expects to hold prisoners there for many years to come. The 40-acre, $60-million facility at Bagram Air Force Base will replace the existing makeshift prison in a converted...

Imprisoned Moms Are Keeping Kids
 Imprisoned Moms Are Keeping Kids
May 10, 2008 7:23 PM CDT

Imprisoned Moms Are Keeping Kids

More states allow convicted mothers to raise their children

(Newser) - More states are imprisoning babies, and moms couldn't be happier: Prisons nationwide are allowing incarcerated mothers to keep their little ones, the AP reports. Opponents of the practice say the kids may be traumatized, but one researcher found that “the outcomes are promising, if the prison nursery programs have...

Saddam Feared AIDS During Captivity
Saddam Feared AIDS During Captivity
May 6, 2008 12:47 AM CDT

Saddam Feared AIDS During Captivity

Prison diary reveals horror of 'young people's diseases'

(Newser) - Saddam Hussein worried about catching AIDS and other venereal diseases during his US captivity, the Daily Mail reports. He even told guards not to dry their clothes on his laundry line. "I explained to them that they are young and they could have young people's diseases," Saddam wrote...

Thriller Inmates Do Live Shows
 Thriller Inmates Do Live Shows 
Apr 28, 2008 12:44 PM CDT

Thriller Inmates Do Live Shows

Audience watches numbers from platform above grounds

(Newser) - Inmates at a Philippines prison who made it big on YouTube dancing to Thriller are now a live attraction, Reuters reports. Hundreds of viewers each month stand on platforms around the jail's exercise grounds to watch prisoners dance to songs like Queen’s Radio Ga Ga and Bonnie Tyler’s ...

Times Reporter Recounts Time Jailed in Zimbabwe

Journalist was detained by Mugabe regime for reporting on election

(Newser) - On April 3, Barry Bearak was arrested in Harare on charges of "committing journalism" and locked in a Zimbabwean prison. The New York Times reporter now tells the story of his imprisonment, which involved four days of negotiating the murky legal system with the help of one of the...

Man Granted Retrial After 26 Years Behind Bars

Confession of actual gunman finally released after his death

(Newser) - Alton Logan tasted freedom yesterday for the first time in 26 years after being granted a new trial, reports the Chicago Tribune. The Illinois man was locked up in 1982 for killing a security guard. Another man confessed to the killings but his attorneys, prevented from coming forward by attorney-client...

Hedge Fund Fraud Gets 20 Years

Samuel Israel denied leniency in $400M investor 'ponzi scheme'

(Newser) - The founder of defunct hedge fund Bayou Group was given a 20-year prison term today for bilking investors out of more than $400 million, Bloomberg reports. Samuel Israel must also pay $300 million in restitution for masterminding a “ponzi scheme” in which investment returns were paid with new investors’...

Stories 581 - 600 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser