March 11, 2010
MA: Patient’s death at Bridgewater is ruled homicide
Patient’s death after scuffle is ruled homicide
By Jonathan Saltzman and Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | March 10, 2010
The death of a psychiatric patient who scuffled with correction officers at Bridgewater State Hospital in May has been ruled a homicide, according to a death certificate that found 23-year-old Joshua Messier had suffered “blunt impact of head and compression of chest’’ while being restrained by guards.
The homicide ruling, by the state medical examiner’s office, differs from the description offered by prison officials last spring. Spokeswoman Diane Wiffin said then, “There is no indication that there was any excessive force at this time.’’
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Posted by lois at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2010
The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste By Michelle Alexander
The New Jim Crow:
How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste
By Michelle Alexander- March 8, 2010
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175215/tomgram%3A_michelle_alexander%2C_the_age_of_obama_as_a_racial_nightmare/
Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its 44th president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's "triumph over race." Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America.
Posted by lois at 10:40 PM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2010
MA: Some at Bristol jail got boost in pension. Sheriff’s hires gained windfall
Some at Bristol jail got boost in pension
Sheriff’s hires gained windfall
By Andrea Estes
Boston Globe Staff / March 9, 2010
ed as a part-time, on-call pharmacist for the New Bedford Board of Health, making $2,200 a year.
Then, in 2001, he took a $77,000-a-year pharmacist job in the office of Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. After working exactly three years - public retirees’ pensions are based on their top three years’ salary - Tweedie retired, boosting his pension from $1,171 a year to $46,781.
Tweedie said he was not aware, when he took the job, that it would increase his pension dramatically.
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Posted by lois at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)
MS:State triples spending on prisons while doubling amount spent on schools
"Meanwhile, the House last week killed a bill that could have cut the sentences of some drug offenders in half, pared the prison population by 1,000 inmates and saved the Mississippi Department of Corrections $8 million through 2013."
Education, prisons top budget battles
Debate becoming even more intense as resources dwindle
Molly Parker
March 8, 2010
The state has tripled spending on prisons in the last 15 years while doubling the amount spent on school children, according to a document circulated at the Capitol.
The figures were highlighted in the budget battle that concluded last week with the passing of an $82 million patch-up plan for fiscal 2010.
The weeks-long showdown that preceded the vote was cast as a fight between quality education and public safety.
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Posted by lois at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
MI: Business joins fight to right-size prisons
Business joins fight to right-size prisons
Posted: March 8, 2010
Detroit Free Press
Business leaders have taken a lead role in efforts to reform Michigan's oversized prison system. Legislators should pay attention.
Lansing can't resolve its long-term budget crisis without right-sizing the Department of Corrections. Nor can a state that spends more on prisons than higher education compete in a 21st Century economy.
The Detroit Regional Chamber deserves credit for creating a detailed plan to reduce corrections costs as part of an overall effort to restructure state government. For the first time, the Chamber will devote a session on prison issues and spending at this year's Mackinac Policy Conference.
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Posted by lois at 08:29 PM | Comments (0)
FL: Lawmakers to consider: Is it time to close the Dozier School for Boys?
Lawmakers to consider: Is it time to close the Dozier School for Boys?
By Ben Montgomery, Waveney Ann Moore and John Frank, Times Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
TALLAHASSEE — Florida's oldest reform school has survived a century of failure and scandal. Now lawmakers once again are confronted with an uncomfortable question: Is it time to shut the place down?
At the start of another legislative session, Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna is again struggling to keep kids safe. The school notorious for decades-old abuse has failed its state evaluation two years in a row. In the past five years, the Times has learned, boys have been beaten by guards, denied medical care and prevented from reporting abuse. The school has employed a mentally challenged man, a man who came to work high on cocaine and a man who broke his wife's shoulder. The Department of Juvenile Justice last year forced out its sixth superintendent in eight years.
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Posted by lois at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2010
Woman charged in breast milk assault on jailer
Woman charged in breast milk assault on jailer
March 7, 2010
OWENSBORO, Ky.—A woman in jail for public intoxication was accused of assaulting a jailer by squirting breast milk at her. WYMT-TV reported that a 31-year-old woman was arrested Thursday on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication. But as she was changing into an inmate uniform, she squirted breast milk into the face of a female deputy who was with her.
The woman now faces a felony charge of third degree assault on a police officer. Her bond was set at $10,000.
http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2010/03/07/woman_charged_in_breast_milk_assault_on_jailer/?s_campaign=8315
Posted by lois at 08:46 PM | Comments (0)
Behind Bars II: Substance Abuse and America’s Prison Population: 1.5 million meet the DSM IV medical criteria for substance abuse or addiction, and another 458,000, while not meeting the strict DSM IV criteria, had histories of substance abuse
Behind Bars II: Substance Abuse and America’s Prison Population
Source: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
http://www.casacolumbia.org/articlefiles/575-report2010behindbars2.pdf
From press release:
Of the 2.3 million inmates crowding our nations prisons and jails, 1.5 million meet the DSM IV medical criteria for substance abuse or addiction, and another 458,000, while not meeting the strict DSM IV criteria, had histories of substance abuse; were under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of their crime; committed their offense to get money to buy drugs; were incarcerated for an alcohol or drug law violation; or shared some combination of these characteristics, according to Behind Bars II: Substance Abuse and America’s Prison Population. Combined these two groups constitute 85 percent of the U.S. prison population.
Posted by lois at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)
March 06, 2010
Most House Republicans Vote to Let Schoolchildren Be Held Down, Tied Up, and Put in Solitary Confinement
Most House Republicans Vote to Let Schoolchildren Be Held Down, Tied Up, and Put in Solitary Confinement
By James Ridgeway and Jean Casella | March 5, 2010
Solitary Watch
On Wednesday afternoon, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 4247, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (now being called the Keeping All Students Safe Act), by a vote of 242-153. In the final vote count, 238 Democrats and just 24 Republicans voted for the bill, while 8 Democrats and 145 Republicans voted against it.
Posted by lois at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)
March 05, 2010
Alarmist NY Times Story Could Hurt Efforts To Reduce Overcrowded Prisons
Alarmist NY Times Story Could Hurt Efforts To Reduce Overcrowded Prisons
Jill Harris, Managing Director for Public Policy, Drug Policy Alliance
Posted: March 5, 2010 02:35 PM
Huffington Post
Today the New York Times has several articles describing the effects of budget cuts in various states. On the front page is a story about Arizona's effort to save money by shutting roadside rest stops, angering people in that state. Inside, on the front page of the National section, is a story about protests in California over cuts to education. Yet back on the front page is an alarmist article that will set back efforts to close budget gaps other than by cutting services, with the headline: "Safety is Issue as Budget Cuts Free Prisoners." The article talks of a "backlash" that has been unleashed in states that have tried to cut costs by reducing their prison populations. But in fact the article doesn't really describe any such backlash - no elected officials being confronted by frightened and angry constituents, no hordes of fed-up citizens marching in the streets, no stirring among the denizens of talk radio. Instead, the article itself seems designed to create and fuel such a backlash, by focusing on a convicted child molester who was released from a prison in Michigan.
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Posted by lois at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Utah Anti-Abortion Bill Citing ‘Reckless Act’ Is Withdrawn
Utah Anti-Abortion Bill Citing ‘Reckless Act’ Is Withdrawn
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: March 4, 2010
NY Times
DENVER — A sweeping anti-abortion statute in Utah that would have allowed up to life in prison for a woman whose fetus died from her intentional or reckless behavior was withdrawn by its sponsor on Thursday and will be revised to be narrower in scope.
The original bill, which was sent to Gov. Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, for his consideration — and set off a firestorm of anxiety and criticism from abortion rights and women’s advocacy groups around the country — now goes back to the Legislature, neither signed nor vetoed.
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Posted by lois at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)
For Jamie Scott, an $11 Robbery in Mississippi May Carry a Death Sentence
(Wexford is the private "health care" provider.) "Wexford refuses to fill critical medical positions. Wexford refuses to grant off-site visits for seriously ill inmates. Wexford refuses to renew critical prescription medicine for inmates. And, according to those who worked for the company, and some who still do, the company’s insistence on the bottom line over the care of its charges causes inmates to suffer, sometimes with lasting, even fatal, results. The investigation prompted hearings on prison health care in the New Mexico state legislature, and in December 2006, after just two years with Wexford, Governor Bill Richardson ordered the New Mexico Corrections Department to find a new health care provider. "
"According to information compiled by the Private Corrections Working Group, Wexford’s record includes lawsuits by prisoners and current or former employees in at least four states, as well as allegations involving racial discrimination and improper gifts to public officials. "
See link to Solitary Watch below.
http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/
info on the campaign to free the Scott sisters
For Jamie Scott, an $11 Robbery in Mississippi May Carry a Death Sentence
Continue reading "For Jamie Scott, an $11 Robbery in Mississippi May Carry a Death Sentence"
Posted by lois at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)
