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)

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News: 4/24/2006 (PM)

• Inmates Riot At Indiana Prison
• New Rules for Confining the Mentally Ill (New York)
• Jail is given high marks (Ohio)
• More inmates than space (Pennsylvania)
• No Changes to Sex Offender Restriction This Year (Indiana)
• Third officer drawn into jail inquiry (New Zealand)
• Tension in prisons eases (Greece)
• Ex-inmate helps 16 gangsters stop crime (UK)
• Alabama Prisons Population at All-Time High
• Moving ahead on the Lyon County jail project (Minnesota)

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Guard in hot water for Bible belting

A Minnesota corrections officer is reported to have taken the idea of bashing someone over the head with a Bible a bit too literally:

James Lee Sheppard, 56, has been charged with two gross misdemeanors for allegedly swatting a Blue Earth County Jail inmate with the book, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against steel bars on Feb. 8, according to the criminal complaint.

A video shows a guard entering the cell of inmate Jeremy Hansen, 26. The guard then takes Hansen's Bible and strikes him in the side of the face with the book. The two exchange words as the guard walks away, said Mankato Police Officer Allen Schmidt who watched the video.

(Associated Press via Boston.com)

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News: 4/11/2007 (2)

• Report on prison reforms recommends drastic changes (India)
• Hundreds turn out to funeral of prison death father (UK)
• Ex-prison boss packs his bags (South Africa)
• Indonesian Govt To Open Six More Prisons In 2007 (Indonesia)
• Council sponsors prison employment (Italy)
• Jails committee will make recommendation to supervisors (Arizona)
• Fillmore struggles with decision about new jail (Minnesota)
• 6W Community Corrections program seeks funding increase (Minnesota)
• Inmates speak to students (Louisiana)
• 'Reverend Shredder' dies in Sutherlin (Oregon)
• Wardens gather in Pittsburgh for training conference (Pennsylvania)
• Essex County Jail in Lewis to open June 1, maybe (New York)
• Jail delay cost Ulster County nearly $6 million (New York)
• Reduce roadblocks for prisoners (New York) - editorial
• Without drug treatment programs, prisons are just inmate warehouses (Wisconsin) - opinion
• Sentencing is linchpin on prisons (California) - opinion
• Austria’s Five-Star Prison - blog post

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News: 4/8/2007

• Inmate Joins State, Argues for Execution (California)
• Japan's way of judicial killing - Three part series on capital punishment in Japan
• One who has lived to tell the tale - Part two
• 'Killing people won't cut crime; there's no data to prove this' - Part three
• Inmate found hanging in his cell (Ohio)
• Anderson County ponders jail situation (South Carolina)
• County one of 42 looking at new jails (Minnesota)
• Warden hopes state will help build prison (Georgia)
• Call to cut UK prison population
• Home Office rejig a 'missed opportunity' (UK)

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News: 4/5/2007 (2)

• Punitive action in our jails has got to be immediate (UK)
• Call for 'first night' centres in local prisons after suicide figures released (UK)
• The Taunton Gazette - Court program puts local youths in power (Massachusetts)
• Restorative Justice making an impact in county (Wisconsin)
• Rostraver officials hope law will lock out prisons (Pennsylvania)
• Alarms over detainees fail to stir Fort Leavenworth (Kansas)
• Lompoc park, statue dedicated to fallen prison officer (California)
• Locked in, trio of sisters only people to serve as warden's assistant in history of Oak Park Heights prison (Minnesota)
• Crime and Consequence (Canada) - Editorial

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Believer: Sandra Anderson

Minneapolis-StPaul Star-Tribune features a brief profile of Orthodox minister Sandra Anderson.

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