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 Here’s the story. A train had pulled into the station in a Brooklyn, N.Y. subway in late January, and the usual throng of waiting passengers pushed and jostled to get on board. A 55-year-old man, was one such passenger, as were two teenage girls. Apparently, one or both of the girls pushed past
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 Michelle Alexander has written a book that has received mention on these venerable virtual pages – The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. She recently wrote an OpEd for the NYT, on the propensity of police officers and other law enforcement to lie on the stand in regards to
By BitcoDavid Truthout reports today, that the infamous supermax, Tamms, is officially closed. The solitary confinement maximum security facility in Illinois closed on January 4th. DeafInPrison.com would like to thank Solitary Watch for alerting us to the story. “There is not a single man left behind. The era of the notorious Tamms supermax prison is
You Have the Right to an Attorney… FAIL!
By BitcoDavid Back in 1963, the SCOTUS ruled that you have a right to an attorney regardless of your ability to pay for one. The ruling was unanimous – one of the few unanimous rulings in the history of the Court. That’s how important the Justices viewed this particular Constitutional right. A half a century
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