By BitcoDavid Penal systems in all 50 states, as well as the Federal, tend to shuffle inmates around. Bed space, behavior, medical status, drug use, gang affiliation and race are only some of the factors that may go into these decisions. Nevertheless, it is not at all uncommon for inmates to be – suddenly, and
By BitcoDavid The envelope, Please. And the winner of the coveted Wrongie Award goes to the great state of Texas. In the past 25 years, 117 Texans have been exonerated, and Justice Wallace Jefferson of the state’s Supreme Court, wants to know why. According to the NYT, Jefferson is establishing a committee to investigate wrongful
By BitcoDavid Susan Greene of the Colorado Independent reports that the DOJ has begun an investigation into the city of Denver‘s failure to provide ASL interpreters for Deaf inmates. Denver commonly refers to itself as an accessible city, yet it is being cited for repetitive violations of the ADA. In a suit filed by
By BitcoDavid Throughout the United States, Federal judges and prosecutors are proscribing prison for drug-addicted, non-violent offenders in favor of treatment programs and community service. Unofficially known as Drug Courts, this is an effort to avoid overly punitive and destructive sentencing. Moreover, the Justice Department has backed this idea, allowing courts to dismiss charges in
By BitcoDavid According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Sentencing Project, prison sentences for Blacks dropped significantly, from 2000 to 2009. Whites and Hispanics however, have seen an increase in that same period. This change in the makeup of the prison population is most significant among Black women, down 30.7%. Black women who
By BitcoDavid The New York Times reported on February 20th, that attorneys are seeking a Federal appeal for Death row inmate, Augustus Howell. Apparently, all death penalty inmates are to receive one final – Federal – appeal, a Habeas appeal, before the sentence can be carried out. Howell however, never got his because his original attorney
By BitcoDavid The following announcement and the associated PDF embed are courtesy of H.E.A.R.D. Deaf Community members & Allies should submit comments to the FCC by March 25, 2013. On December 28, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to address the long-standing issue of high prison telephone rates. Hearing
Follow Up Letter in NYT About “Drug Courts”
By BitcoDavid On March 2nd, we published a post about Federal judges working to institute Drug Court programs in several states. The Times recently published a follow up letter from an attorney for the Drug Policy Alliance. Here’s that letter as it appeared in the NYT, on March 10th. “Outside Box, U.S. Judges Offer Addicts New
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