What I Learned from a (Deaf) Baseball Player – From Lipreading Mom

I’m reblogging this awesome article, as written by Shanna Groves of Lipreading Mom. It’s the story of early baseball legend William Hoy. Many of us baseball fans have heard of Hoy, but few may have known that he was Deaf. Hoy went by the nickname ‘Dummy.’ I shudder when I write that name because in

More News from HEARD

We wanted to let you all know a group of RIT students is working on an independent study project that focuses on Deaf Defendant/Prisoner Rights at the county jail and local prisons.  This project is being led by Attorney-Professors Michael Stein & Jennifer Gravitz.   The group will focus on finding and documenting info on

An Inmate Letter from Utah – Courtesy of HEARD

This is one of four Inmate Letters I received from HEARD, in my inbox last night. I will be posting them today, as I get them converted and redacted. We need to redact all inmate letters to protect the safety of these brave individuals who speak out against an unfair and unjust system. Although I

Kids Behind Bars – from Prisonmovement’s Weblog

This is a reblog from Prisonmovement’s Weblog. They did an excellent job in writing this piece. I should mention as well, that they’ve reformatted their site recently, and it looks awesome. As I’ve said before, I very much enjoy their work and consider it an honor to call myself a colleague. Before the other boys

Plea For Help From Law Enforcement

Over the years, I have known some dirty cops. I’ve known some sadistic cops. I’ve even known some outright evil cops. What’s rarely mentioned however is that I’ve also known an equal number of honest, hardworking and dedicated cops who truly wanted to serve the communities in which they lived and worked. I’ve actually interfaced

From CBS News – Deaf Captive Held For SS Checks

This story was covered by CBS News, and brought to my attention by Marsha Graham. Held captive by a neighbor, he was beaten, starved and forced to sign over his Social Security checks. The checks were valued at about 600 dollars a month. “He was physically abused. No scars, but the body was being beaten,”

Prison Not Always A Downer – Visiting Days

All we hear are the bad, the ugly and depressing times in prison, and true, it is so. But there are happy times, that even the guards will sometimes put on a smile. I have been a visitor to prisons in Florida, North Carolina and California. Visiting days are essentially all the same – full

Crises Management, Harris County Jail and Mental Health

In this morning’s Houston Chronicle (Friday, Sept 7, 2012, B8), the editor describes an innovative and humane program that has been implemented by the Harris County Jail. The editor reports that the Harris County Jail has become a “de facto mental hospital” as “almost 25% of its inmates, many of them non-violent, suffer from mental