News: 5/28/2007

• Court to consider capping prisons (California)
• Senate OKs bill to reduce prison need (Texas)
• Corrections hopes bill will reduce recidivism (Kansas)
• Wanted: More Texas prison guards
• WSJ eyes profit in prison building boom
• Chemical castration program might be expanded (Oregon)
• Private jails lack the staff ethos integral to halting offending (UK)
• Kenya: Prisoners on Deathrow Demand Conjugal Rights
• Concern at prison overcrowding (UK)
• Rehab programmes hosted at jails but no practising social workers (Guyana)
• Inmates Running Prisons Says Watchdog (New Zealand)
• Prison managers given pay rises, says corrections (New Zealand)
• New bill could change how inmates make calls (Ohio)
• Bobblehead doll sends 350 workers fleeing from Washington corrections offices

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 5/25/2007

• Inmate executed for cellmate murder (Ohio)
• California May Soon Spend More on Prisons than Colleges
• Prisons official quits in porn stir (South Carolina)
• Jails at bursting point as numbers hit another all time high (UK)
• UN Project to Improve Prisons And Police in Southern Sudan Wins Grant
• Prisoner yacht refit claims spark investigation (New Zealand)
• Better care for ex-prisoners call (UK)
• Corrections Corp. Expands Oklahoma Prisons
• New Mexico pays more for private prisons, report says
• State will boost capacity at nine prisons to save money (Michigan)
• Legislators eye adding guards, using county jails to ease overcrowding (Maine)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 5/23/2007

• DOC withdraws request to release illegal immigrants (Oklahoma)
• Prisons chief hails execution team secrecy (Missouri)
• Texas short on guards as lawmakers mull new prisons
• Taxpayer to fork out R5.3bn for new jails (South Africa)
• Mafias Control Ecuador Jails
• Jails crisis as prisoner numbers reach new peak (UK)
• Corrections admits corruption widespread (New Zealand)
• Prisons officers to boycott sports day (Trinidad)
• Prisons department to go hi-tech (Tanzania)
• Prison neighbors rally against sex offender plan (New Jersey)
• New tour delves deeper into life at Alcatraz (California)
• Prison Inmates to Work in Industries (Georgia)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 5/22/2007

• In California, prisons' budget to trump colleges'
• Locked Up and Ailing (California)
• Executioners need identity shielded, state says (Missouri)
• Shortage of corrections officers kills jail-space deal (Washington)
• Lack of medical bills dogs prisons (Ohio)
• Jails paying more for inmates' medical expenses (Indiana)
• Corrections' attitude to bribes concerning (New Zealand)
• Not my job to build prisons, says Balfour (UK)
• ‘Speed up new prisons’ (South Africa)
• Prisoner sex ban in WA jails (Australia)
• Trinidad prisons officers on work to rule (Trinidad and Tobago)
• All change at Department of Corrections (New Zealand)
• Prisons to undertake new role (Tanzania)
• A tale of 2 jails, and both unwanted (Pennsylvania)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 5/10/2007 (PM)

• Az prisons chief looks warily at Indiana riot probe (Arizona)
• Ambitious plan for California's prisons released today
• Reporters subpoenaed in Fla. execution
• Judge concerned about state's handling of death penalty case (Wyoming)
• $145K for jail suicide (Florida)
• Unauthorized cell phones in Nevada prisons now a crime
• Jail administrator answers allegations made by inmate (Oklahoma)
• City-County Jail has generated $3.5 million since '02: Maier (Illinois)
• New Otago Corrections Facility opens (New Zealand)
• Obasanjo Seeks Reform for Prison, Police, Judiciary (Nigeria)
• Shocking disclosure at Prison Inquiry (Barbados)
• Prison service ruled out of running Scotland's new jail
• Numbers Crunchers: Data shows programs designed to keep inmates on right path working (Massachusetts)
• County wants state parolees out of Dutchess jail (New York)
• Florida Jail Guard Facing Felony Bribery Charges

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 5/10/2007 (AM)

• Crist ready for executions to resume (Florida)
• DOC alters procedure for lethal injections (Florida)
• Tennessee prisons defend pizza decision
• Former staffers doubt abuse claims (Oregon)
• Official: Mentally ill in Jails Getting Help Faster (Florida)
• Man in early jail release involved in crash (Florida)
• What about Roberto? (California)
• Inmate costs over budget (Illinois)
• US BOP Entitled To End Boot Camp Program
• New prisons not sustainable (New Zealand)
• Judges are told to cut jail terms for thieves (UK)
• Lord Falconer: MoJ will provide 'better outcomes' for justice (UK)
• Conservatives: MoJ proposals an 'insult to victims' (UK)
• Corrections to appeal against order to reinstate prison officer (New Zealand)
• 'Our justice system faces several crises' (South Africa)
• State rescinds deal for private prison (Colorado)
• Behind bars (Nevada)
• Bellevue delays vote on residency for sex offenders (Wisconsin)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 5/4/2007 (AM)

• High court stays scheduled Tuesday execution of Moore (Nebraska)
• Alabama inmate executed
• Cornell Companies (CRN) Announces Contract Award From Arizona Department of Corrections
• Gem County jailers head to District Court (Idaho)
• ICC will stop offering classes to two prisons (Illinois)
• Haiti: Prison Reform and the Rule of Law
• Watchdog criticizes ailing jails (Greece)
• Prisons Officers send SOS (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Rare illness drove tab to $5.1 million (Ohio)
• OC patients to get free surgeries (California)
• Prison bill moves to next House vote (Colorado)
• Small-time recidivists, big costs (North Carolina)
• Charleston facility ready to take more inmates (Maine)
• Measure would affect prison stays (Oregon)
• Sheriff Reverses ICE Opposition (Virginia)
• Jail chief out; sheriff finds replacement (Washington)

Read More...

Summary only...

Opinion

• Prison deal won't do the job (California) - editorial, North County Times
• Will Schwarzenegger's new death chamber actually help inmates? (California) - Sara Cantania, Salon
• Housing, job limits can’t keep predatory sex offenders away (Alabama) - editorial, Tuscaloosa News

Read More...

Summary only...

News:5/1/2007 (PM)

• Prison inmate found hanged (Pennsylvania)
• Senator Tries To Halt Execution (Nebraska)
• Tennessee Governor Resumes Executions Following Review
• TYC abuse lingered after revelation (Texas)
• Patrick aide says state jails overcrowded, conditions a 'travesty' (Massachusetts)
• State prison reform urged (Pennsylvania)
• Ex-warden wins lawsuit against Corrections Department officials (South Carolina)
• Overflowing prisons set to explode (New Zealand)
• Punjab CM wants jails to be schools for reform (India)
• Nigerian Prisons Service and an NGO set up After Care Centre
• La Tuna Celebrates 75th Year (US Federal)
• Jail aims to eliminate ‘blind spots’ (Pennsylvania)
• Home Sweet Home (Florida)
• Former Fayette County prison official must repay $6000 (Pennsylvania)
• Collier sheriff requests 6 percent budget increase (Florida)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 4/30/2007 (AM)

• New Castle riot participants are segregated (Indiana)
• California to expand its packed prisons
• Jailers break up 'disturbance' at Sullivan County Jail (Tennessee)
• Salem priest to face accusers at trial (Oregon)
• Newspaper reports TYC supervisor rebuffed multiple abuse warnings (Texas)
• OMH and DOCS support settlement of prison mental health care lawsuit (New York)
• Oregon State Penitentiary inmate dies
• Corrections workers in stalking law (Washington)
• A prison confession: The rot inside Kenya’s prison walls
• Jails in state to house more inmates (India)
• Judges to rule on justice ministry (UK)
• Sex and drugs rife in UK prisons
• Thousands await executions in US prisons
• Find more savings in prisons (Michigan)
• Palm Bay Killer Far From Execution 20 Years Later (Florida)
• Despite repairs, crowded Downeast Correctional Facility is showing its years (Maine)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 4/27/2007 (AM)

• Miami Inmate's Treatment Questioned (Florida)
• Police say 16 molesters are staying at Garden Grove motels (California)
• Legislature quickly OKs prison plan: Governor expected to sign measure (California)
• Waiting game for SJ prisons (California)
• Geo loses California contract
• Survey shows that five inmates die every day. (Kenya)
• Prisons boss sets up committee to fast- track reforms (Nigeria)
• Freed offenders fail drug tests (Australia)
• Greece prison protest ends
• Jailbirds coughing up less for smokes (Australia)
• 2 inmates escape from Cocke Co. Jail (Tennessee)
• Sheriff to pay $500000 to settle jail suit (Florida)
• Author foresees end of capital punishment (Missouri)
• Prison to Limit Inmates Toilet Paper (Kansas)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 4/25/2007

• Inmate imports suspended by New Castle riot (Indiana)
• Bill to close youth prisons passes committee (California)
• High Court Tosses 3 Death Sentences (Texas)
• Convicted killer of Amarillo couple set to die Thursday (Texas)
• TYC corrections officer arrested on sex charge (Texas)
• No election on possible private prison in Adams Co. (Missouri)
• Vermont prison overhaul proposed
• ACLU asks judge to end LA jail overcrowding (California)
• Crowding brings county jails to a boil (California)
• Young people remanded to adult prisons as Feltham pressures rise (UK)
• Prison guard fights second assault charge (New Zealand)
• Corrections Canada considers halfway house bid
• Sedgwick Co. officials find jail food revolting (Kansas)
• Funding tight at jail (Colorado)
• Downtown jail nixed (Minnesota)
• Local group tours Wapello Co. jail (Indiana)
• This Prison Dentist Yanked More Than a Molar (Washington)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 4/24/2007 (AM)

• Wednesday rally will focus on supporting victims of crime (Michigan)
• Local agencies to honor crime victims (Missouri)
• Study questions first drug dose in executions (California)
• Corrections Officer Says He Didn't Know Girl Was Only 15 (Florida)
• Rep. Waters Introduces Bill That Would Require Federal Prisons To Provide HIV Testing, Treatment and Counseling (US Federal)
• Restorative justice offers unique advantages (Guam)
• Prisoner found hanged in cell (UK)
• Howard League: Optimistic about changes (UK)
• Mum’s the word for pregnant prisoners as volunteers ‘mother’ them (UK)
• Prison plan remains up in the air (North Dakota)
• Union presses prison staffing, safety (New Mexico)
• Officials say bent fence at prison not a security issue (Iowa)
• Utah County Jail Inmates May Be Charged Rent
• Students gain career experience teaching prisoners to train dogs (Indiana)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 4/23/2007 (PM)

• For LA AIDS group prison health is public health (California)
• Diversions Continue Steady Advance (Texas)
• 2 courts deny Ohio killer's request to delay execution
• Bruning will not intervene in execution (Nebraska)
• Mental hospitals vie with prisons for medical staffs (California)
• Where should sex offenders live? (Florida)
• Ex-State Prisons Chief To Be Sentenced For Taking Kickbacks (Florida)
• Former Prisoners Challenge the Legacy of Torture in Chicago Jails (Illinois)
• Prisoner 'segregation' misunderstood - O'Connor (New Zealand)
• Inmates still getting cell phones (New Zealand)
• 2835 Pakistanis in Saudi jails, NA told
• Crime Victims Honored at Ceremony at Capitol (Arizona)
• Officials searching for missing ACI inmate (Rhode Island)
• Good guidelines in the works from the USSC (US Federal)
• South Idaho commissioners consider jail options

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 4/23/2007 (AM)

• Prisons benefit from tough advocate (California)
• Massachussetts to review its prison system after at least 14 inmates confined in error
• Race riot at honor farm; 25 are hurt (California)
• Community awaits justice (Florida)
• Minister: New report clears Corrections over van bashing (New Zealand)
• Mysterious Deaths Mount in High Security Prison (Azerbaijan)
• EDS Helps Her Majesty's Prison Service with offender assessment system (UK)
• Corrections overtime costs rising (New Zealand)
• Dozens of inmates struck by stomach bug (New Zealand)
• Texas COs to Lege: Don't Build New Prisons
• Corrections Committee considers progressive sanctions (Texas)
• Sex Offender Residency Restrictions Getting Another Look (Oklahoma)
• Correcting Corrections: Part 1, Part 2 (Colorado)
• Corrections chief wants to discuss jail with Hinds (Mississippi)
• Most voters favor new prisons (Nevada)
• 5 Camco Jail guards criticize residency policy (New Jersey)

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 4/21/2007 (Weekend)

• Gov. halts work on new death chamber (California)
• Private prisons not on the table: Day (Canada)
• Inmates set to be shackled (New Zealand)
• Tattoo a badge for gangs (Canada)
• Prerelease center celebrates opening of new wing (Montana)
• Pasco to move inmates to other jails (Florida)
• Ex-BMHI building eyed for inmates (Maine)
• Ionia's oldest prison to reopen (Michigan)
• Counselors, new contractor in talks (Illinois)
• Senate approves changes for inmate rehabilitation (Washington)
• July 1 tobacco ban at state prisons delayed (West Virginia)
• State Auditor Report: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 4/19/07 (AM)

• FBI eyeing inmates' suit in beatings, lawyer says (Illinois)
• 2 deaths reported at prison in Licking (Missouri)
• Ex-prison guard gets 20 years for inmate rape (New Hampshire)
• Chambers: State didn't follow law on execution (Nebraska)
• Prison reform poised for OK (Washington)
• Government stalls on proposal to put young criminals in adult prisons (UK)
• Prisons Crisis - How Inmates DiedAt Kuje (Nigeria)
• Experts condemn prison conditions (Switzerland)
• More jails will not solve overcrowding crisis, warns Woolf (UK)
• Prisons' boss reveals de-congestion plans (Botswana)
• Prisons chief Dennehy leaving post (Massachusetts)
• Another Local Prison Closing (Michigan)
• Medical Bills Mount for County Jails (Nebraska)
• New corrections officers graduate from academy (New Jersey)
• Books Through Bars (Connecticut)

H/T to Corrections Connection

Read More...

Summary only...

Opinion: 4/18/2007

• Don't kill prison reform (California) - editorial, San Francisco Chronicle
• Capital times at SCOTUS - Douglas A. Berman, Sentencing Law and Policy
• Our View: Safety comes first inside jails (California)

Read More...

Summary only...

Opinion: 4/16/2007

• Death no more: It's time to end capital punishment (Texas) - editorial, Dallas Morning News
• A death penalty slowdown, but not in Texas (Texas) - editorial, Dallas Morning News
• Capital punishment should continue (Texas) - Mike Hashimoto, Dallas Morning News
• A Thrill Killing Ten Years Later (New Jersey) - Ben Barlyn, Corrections Sentencing
• Supreme Court Preview: The Death Penalty in Texas - analysis from Ana M. Otero, Associate Professor of Law, Texas Southern University on ACS Blog
• Make way for the prison inmates (California) Todd Spitzer, Orange County Register

Tip o' the hat to Grits for Breakfast and Sentencing Law and Policy for some of the links above.

Read More...

Summary only...

News: 4/13/2007 (PM)

• State builds new death chamber: Lawmakers accuse governor of hiding San Quentin Project (California)
• Judges given leeway to assess mental function (California)
• Denying bail to illegal immigrants could strain jails (Arizona)
• California settles First Amendment lawsuit with Prison Legal News
• Gregg County Jailer Faces Possessing Prohibited Substances Charge (Texas)
• Corrections officer charged with giving inmate a hand cuff key (New Jersey)
• NWFP govt asked to implement Borstal Act (Pakistan)
• The Weaknesses of Inmates' Rehabilitation System (Botswana)
• Judge won't bite on inmates' mosquito lawsuit (Colorado)

Read More...

Summary only...