Prisoner Free Exercise Cases Are Plentiful This Week

Professor Howard Friedman has posted this week's prisoner free exercise cases on his blog, Religion Clause.

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Babies Behind Bars

Amanda Evans of WCIA News in Champaign (Illinois) reports on a new program at the Decatur women's prison. The star of this show is Mason, son of inmate Tami Cain:

He's the first baby born behind bars and he'll stay with mom until she walks free.

"I have an overwhelming urge to completely change my life and not come back here."

Tami Cain has been here for three months on drug charges. She fits the strict criteria to keep her baby because this is her first time in prison and she's set to go home in less than two years.

Those behind the live in nursery say it's giving these inmates the motivation to be good moms and good citizens.

Warden Mary Kepler says, "It gives them responsibility there isn't somebody else that's going to take the baby and look after it."

Baby Mason doesn't know he's in prison. He just knows he's with mom and Tami wants to keep it that way.

"The road that I was on was not the right one and I was gonna end up here over and over again. I've completely changed and having him helped even more."

For those who worry about babies in prison, the Illinois Department of c=Corrections says it reduces the number of re-offenders and helps the children stop the cycle.

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News 5/11/2007 (AM)

• Commissioners inspect jail (Michigan)
• More than 400 immigrants fill state prisons (Oklahoma)
• Two instructors assaulted at youth center (Illinois)
• 27 lifers released (India)
• Prison Health Care Plan Looking Strong (Canada)
• New ministry is hit by jails crisis on its first day (UK)
• Prison worker gets cancer care award (UK)
• Prisoner Custody Officers will escort prisoners to and from courts (UK)
• DA: Don't free violent inmates (South Africa)
• Manufacturing firm saves itself £500000 by employing prisoners (UK)
• Brooklyn House of Detention Two Parts Jail, One Part Residential (New York)

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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

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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)

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News: 5/8/2007 (AM)

• Death Chamber: Double The Cost (California)
• TYC reform legislation moves to conference committee (Texas)
• A new approach to help young offenders (California) - part 2
• Assembly set to vote on bills affecting the hiring of felons (Wisconsin)
• Prison warden resigns (Pennsylvania)
• Home Office prepares for split (UK)
• Man 'with brain' gets chance to use it (New Zealand)
• Archive Will Document Life In NI Prisons (UK)
• Commissioners hear report about STAR program court (Texas)
• Cornell 'positioned for growth' after flat quarter
• Consultant: Lee jail population increased in 2006 (Florida)
• On Navajo Nation, dwindling jail space, poor conditions prompt calls for change
• Township: Prison population of 2000 should not be expanded (Pennsylvania)
• IRCC one of two prisons which will no longer be served by ICC teachers (Illinois)
• Candidates share views on alternative sentencing (Kentucky)
• Playboy spread reignites Pennsylvania prison debate
• How bad is jail? See for yourself (Wisconsin)
• Interview with a Corrections Officer at a Jail Similar to Where Paris Hilton Will Do Time (California)

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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)

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News: 5/2/2007 (AM)

• A plea for help for Coalinga prison (California)
• Inmate who had seizures dies in lockup (Illinois)
• Short notice triggered riot (Indiana)
• Bill to alleviate local jail overcrowding clears House (Texas)
• State drops surgeon used for lethal injection (Missouri)
• Wanted: Indispensable, Disposable Workers (Colorado)
• Teen sex offender bill goes to governor’s desk (Arizona)
• Sweeney says sex offenders are coming to South Woods (New Jersey)
• Board named to consider sex offender residency in Green Bay (Wisconsin)
• Jails awash with drugs, says Opposition (Australia)
• Guards back in jail (Canada)
• McDowell orders inquiry into prisoner's call to radio show (Ireland)
• Women's prison will get day in court (Canada)
• Package lobbed over wall ignited jailhouse melee (Canada)
• Prisoners Could Get More Credit for Good Behavior (Kansas)
• Guards armed with new riot gear (Pennsylvania)
• Jail expansion still top council priority (South Carolina)
• Prison closer to getting water (Mississippi)
• Sing Sing, dance, dance (New York)

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News: 4/28/2007 (Weekend)

• Inmates Sent To Other Prisons After Riot (Indiana)
• Prisons to stop accepting inmates soon (Oklahoma)
• Details of the prison reform plan approved by lawmakers (California)
• Corrections officer faces drug charge (Vermont)
• Activists fight jails' solitary cell rules (Florida)
• Corrections Officer Disciplined After Letting Wrong Man out of Jail (Illinois)
• County renews re-entry efforts (Pennsylvania)
• Survivors (not victims) of crime share struggles at special forum (Canada)
• Lack of funding blamed for prison shortfall (UK)
• Prison authorities discover cocaine in prison (Ghana)
• Rohee outlines areas for improvement at Mazaruni Prisons (Guyana)
• Jail inmates can now study to become Degree holder (India)
• Internet voice for inmates (Australia)
• Tax fraud rife in jails (Australia)
• Bill would reduce jail crush (Colorado)
• Yalies join national movement to pass Books through Bars (Connecticut)

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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

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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

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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

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News: 4/17/2007 (AM)

• Some skeptical of removing misdemeanors from TYC purview (Texas)
• Prison experts meet with lawmakers today in effort to control growth (Nevada)
• US probing County Jail Medical care, use of force reviewed (Illinois)
• Butler County Jail must address suicide, mentally ill (Ohio)
• Ex-chief justice home office fear (UK)
• Prison defends under fire staff (UK)
• Reaction to Krugersdorp gang violence incident (South Africa)
• RSA attack survivor asks for right to sue Corrections (New Zealand)
• Ukrainian Greek Catholics Officially Cooperate with State in Prison Ministry
• Iran’s notorious prison gets new chief
• Hinds: Over 2000 prisons posts coming (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Prison dealing with sewer leak (Nevada)

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News: 4/12/2007 (2)

• Overcrowded prisons 'costing UK taxpayer £5 million a month' (UK)
• Supreme Court to prison exec: Find 'missing' convict (Philippines)
• Corrections Department accused of 'con air' operation (New Zealand)
• Troubleshooter Is New Davao Prisons chief (Philippines)
• Senate approves more money for prisons (Oklahoma)
• Corrections budget sees big growth (Montana)
• Judge hears arguments in prison lawsuit (Wyoming)
• Appeal attempts to give inmates more legal help (Alabama)
• Suburbs weigh in on sex offender ordinance (Wisconsin)
• Efficiency costs corrections program (Kansas)
• More funds sought for youths (Illinois)
• Allegheny County Jail trying to curb contraband fishing (Pennsylvania)

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News: 4/12/2007 (1)

• Man Executed in Slaying of Girl (Texas)
• Wrongfully Convicted Men Win Settlement (Illinois)
• Bill overhauling TYC is endorsed (Texas)
• Bills to keep misdemeanor offenders out of Texas juvenile prisons
• Inside youth prisons, scores of female guards violated boys (Texas)
• Behavior didn't trigger red flags (Utah)
• Correction officer sentenced for heroin smuggling (New York)
• Inmate mistakenly released by Metro Corrections (Kentucky)
• Escapee recaptured after 23 years (Alabama)
• Escapee captured in Garden City (Indiana)
• Sheriff vows to punish rogue Georgia officials (Georgia)

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News: 4/10/2007

• Judge Urges 13th Dallas DNA Exoneration (Texas)
• Study: Most Alaska felons re-offend
• Assembly bill wants federal government to fund imprisoned illegal immigrants (California)
• Corrections denies claims by prison guards (New Zealand)
• 100 escape from Indonesian jail
• Disease outbreak taking a toll in city prisons (Indonesia)
• Prisons of Passion (US)
• Commission, sheriff at odds over county jail (New Mexico)
• Governors call for fewer jailings, not more jails (UK)
• Corrections construction is endorsed (North Dakota)
• Jail crowding difficult to fix (West Virginia)
• Danville Correctional Center jobs reportedly won't be cut (Illinois)
• Commissioners Want To Save On Water At Jail (Ohio)
• State politicians should have handled prison problems (California) - editorial
• An opportunity to expand civil rights - opinion
• Do more to hasten reforms in prisons (Kenya) - editorial

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News: 4/6/2007

• Mother Sues Youth Detention Center For Son's Suicide (Illinois)
• TYC Roundup (Texas)
• Talks over prison conditions resume in June (Mississippi)
• Prison doc arraigned in Brooklyn court (New York)
• Lingle plans to spend $2.6 million repairing prisons (Hawaii)
• Young offenders turn criminals in Lebanon prisons
• Jail security winning war (Australia)
• Washington state prisoner receives liver transplant
• Dorothy Nash Holmes Resigns From Department of Corrections (Nevada)

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