06/06/2021.
More than half of Arizona’s state prison system fully vaccinated Nearly 26,000 inmates, or 71% of the prison population, have received both doses, officials said in a press release. COVID-19 vaccines are offered to inmates at state and private prison facilities by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. The department has received 44,880 doses from the Arizona Department of Health Services and has administered 44,452 first and second dose vaccines at ten state prison complexes, according to the release. — KtarNews

05/05/2021.
San Quentin residents mingle for the first time in over a year
For the first time in almost 14 months, San Quentin State Prison’s main recreational yard opened to all residents from all housing units. It was the first time prisoners from different buildings were allowed to mingle freely. “It’s wonderful to see everyone out there at the same time” said Dion DeMerrill. “It’s been over a year”. San Quentin had been the site of one of the biggest outbreaks in the country, infecting almost every prisoner and killing 28, according to CDCR’s website. All San Quentin’s housing units - North, South and West Blocks, plus H-Unit - had been completely separated since Mar. 18, 2020. — Prison journalism project

21/05/2021.
Attorneys raise questions about medical parole after 2 people returned to prison
Rodriguez was unconscious and intubated while being treated for COVID-19. The 57-year-old Rodriguez eventually started feeling better and moved into his brother’s home in Fairhaven, while he continued to receive medical treatment. But in April, Rodriguez was arrested without warning and sent back to prison. The reason for the arrest? His health had improved. The state’s medical parole law — sometimes called compassionate release law — has been the subject of debate and several court rulings since it was adopted three years ago. Legislation has been filed to exempt those charged with first-degree murder from seeking medical parole. Earlier this week the State Supreme judicial Court issued two rulings saying that the Department of Correction needs to act quickly on medical parole petitions and can not limit a prisoners ability to resubmit a medical parole request. — WBUR news

02/03/2021.
As COVID-19 vaccine eligibility expands, there’s still no plan to vaccinate Florida prison inmates
Florida is one of four states where prison inmates and/or staff have not been made eligible for the vaccine. “Let’s be frank. This isn’t an issue in which we can’t do something. It’s an issue in which we’re choosing not to do something. And we believe that we can do better”, said Neil Volz, deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC). In New York on Monday, a judge ordered the state to offer vaccines to every prisoner, saying, “there is no acceptable excuse for this deliberate exclusion” of the population. “There have been more than twice the amount of people who have died from COVID-19 in Florida prisons, than the entire amount of people that has been executed, legally executed, by the State of Florida since 1976” said Desmond Meade, president of FRRC.— ABC action news

01/03/2021.
Alabama to begin vaccinating prison inmates
The Alabama prison system, which ranks sixth in the country for COVID-19 deaths, announced Thursday that it will begin vaccinating inmates after previously only making vaccine available to prison officers and staff. The Alabama Department of Corrections announced that on April 12 it will begin vaccinating inmates who want to receive the vaccine. The prison system estimated that it will initially have 6,000 – 7,000 doses available to begin inoculating inmates. There are more than 17,000 inmates in state prisons. — The News Tribune

19/03/2021.
California jail, prison inmates now eligible for coronavirus vaccine
Inmates in California jails and prisons — regardless of age or health — will be eligible for the coronavirus vaccine under updated guidelines released this week by the state Department of Public Health. — Daily breeze

01/03/2021.
Reuters investigation: lamentable medical care in jails and prisons exposed during pandemic
As this disease swept around the globe, the focus was on identifying and protecting “vulnerable populations”, including those in jails and prisons. COVID put the national spotlight on these populations and the need to prevent needless deaths in facilities where adequate health care is lacking in the best of times. — Prison legal news

04/03/2021.
Education in prison: remote learning during Covid-19 has failed students
“Even before COVID, young people who were incarcerated had a number of educational challenges,” Nina Salomon, the program director at the Council of State Governments Justice Center, tells Teen Vogue. “These students often come into the system already behind educationally, and then they fall further behind because they don’t have access to rigorous curriculum or support while in custody.” — Teen Vogue

22/02/2021.
Only 35% of NC prison staff willing to take vaccine
The remaining employees, about 65 percent of detention staff, don’t want the COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccination is currently optional for correctional staff. — North Carolina health news

17/02/2021.
Lawsuit on Covid prison releases shows many DOC workers refusing vaccine
A year into the pandemic, the legal wrangling continues over releasing Massachusetts prisoners to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus behind bars. Though the state has started vaccinating prisoners and correctional staff, the numbers show that many are refusing the vaccine and advocates say more needs to be done to stem the spread of the virus now. — Wbur news

15/02/2021.
Associated Press finds federal executions were likely Covid superspreader events
In the ten days after the December 10, 2020 execution of Brandon Bernard, 70% of prisoners on federal death row and hundreds of others incarcerated in the Terre Haute Correctional Complex where the executions took place tested positive for COVID-19. — Death penalty information center

10/02/2021.
State officials expect 45% of Oregon prison staff to refuse a Covid-19 vaccine
Oregon Department of Corrections staff are responsible for all but one Covid-19 outbreak in state prisons, according to the department’s infectious disease doctor. Why won’t corrections officers wear masks? “I don’t know: COVID rebellion, confusion, politicization, orneriness.” — Willamette Week

10/02/2021.
In Connecticut’s state prison system, vaccinations begin
After much debate, the Connecticut Department of Correction staff issued the first wave of vaccinations for eligible groups of staff and inmates on Feb. 1. — Yale daily news

05/02/2021.
Of Louisiana state prison inmates now eligible for Covid vaccine, 85% have opted in
Since Louisiana prisoners over 70 became eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, about 85% of them have accepted the offer, leaving corrections officials optimistic that large swaths of the state prison population will follow suit. — The Advocate

04/02/2021.
New York under fire for vaccinating prison staff, not inmates
People in the corrections system have been eligible to get the Covid-19 vaccine for the past month — so long as they are personnel. — Courthouse News Service

03/02/2021.
Massachusetts inmates can get prison time reduced if they get the COVID vaccine
The state Department of Corrections offered extra “earned good time” to prisoners who receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine being offered in state prisons, Commissioner Carol A. Mici wrote in a Jan. 28 memo. — Mass live

21/01/2021.
Covid-19 : conditions for workers and prisoners are “terrifying”, says nurse at Tampa Bay prison
A part of him hopes that things will change; that he’ll walk into his nursing unit and he’ll get the news that COVID-19 vaccines are on the way or that he will have access to proper sanitary supplies and hot running water will flow from the broken faucet in the treatment room. But on every shift it’s the same thing: unsanitary conditions and health risks for himself, the inmates and everyone who works there. — Creative Loafing

21/01/2021.
Covid-19 : on surviving —and leaving— prison during a pandemic
Across the country, what prisons have done right—and very wrong—to control the pandemic could point the way to a more just justice system. One that’s better for inmates like Triplett, who watched the news, wondering how long it would take COVID-19 to reach inside La Vista’s walls. — Popular Science

21/01/2021.
Covid-19 : North Carolina prisons give COVID-19 vaccine to inmates and staff “Science has thrown us a lifeline”. The vaccinations will be offered to prison healthcare workers, staff working in COVID-positive housing units, those who work with infected inmates, and inmates age 75 or older. The next in line will be inmates aged 65 and older based on availability. — CBSNews

13/01/2021.
N.J. prison with worst COVID-19 outbreak in the country set to get vaccine next week
The news of the vaccine comes as the Burlington County facility continues to endure the worst coronavirus prison outbreak in the country. In total, more than half of the inmates at the facility have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. — Nj

08/01/2021.
New York’s prison transfers increased Covid-19 risk for sick, elderly men
A new lawsuit accuses state officials of “deliberate indifference” for prison transfers that defy public health recommendations. — The Intercept

17/09/2021. White House Offers Clemency for Drug Offenders on Home Confinement, but Advocates Say Plan Will Still Send Thousands Back to Prison
The federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) released more than 20,000 inmates on home confinement last year under pandemic legislation called the CARES Act, but since then, it’s been an open question of if and when they would have to return to prison after the pandemic ends. The New York Times first reported last month that the Biden administration, under pressure from advocates, was considering offering clemency to nonviolent federal drug offenders released to home confinement with four years or less remaining on their sentences. Lawmakers, advocacy groups, and families of incarcerated people have been pressing the Biden administration for months to not send offenders on home confinement back to federal prison, saying it would be unnecessarily cruel to people who’ve been home for nearly a year or more without incident. However, while advocates applauded the news of the administration’s clemency effort, they say the White House’s plan still leaves behind thousands of those on home confinement, all of whom were already vetted for release by the BOP. — Reason

29/07/2021. Using algorithms to determine sentencing may reduce length of prison sentences
American prisons and jails currently hold more than 2 million people—many of them jailed while awaiting trial or serving extremely long prison sentences. New research by Professor Christopher Slobogin indicates that a risk-prediction algorithm could help reduce those numbers. “Research shows that measures like decriminalization and elimination of mandatory minimum sentences barely made a dent in the incarceration rate”, Slobogin said. An ideal algorithm would indicate the probability that a given individual would commit a serious crime during a given time period, in the absence of a particular intervention. In newly published research, Slobogin explained that by making criminal punishment decisions more transparent, algorithms could force long overdue reexamination of the purposes and goals of the criminal justice system. Using algorithms to decide the fate of a human life is controversial. Critics claim that algorithms are not effective in identifying who will offend and who will be responsive to rehabilitative efforts. Critics also argue that algorithms can be racially biased, dehumanizing and antithetical to the principles of criminal justice. — Phys org

20/06/2021.
Two Guantanamo detainees cleared for release as Biden moves to close prison ahead of 9/11, reports say
Two Guantanamo Bay prisoners held for nearly 20 years without charge have been approved for release as the Biden administration quietly moves to close the infamous facility before the 20th anniversary of 11 September, according to reports. The decision to release two Yemeni citizens, first reported by The New York Times, comes a day after Russian president Vladimir Putin criticized the United States’ human rights record for maintaining secret CIA prisons and Guantanamo Bay without any standing in international or US law. “Going back to the human rights record, the Guantanamo prison is still operating. It doesn’t even start to resemble what is stipulated in the international law or in the US legislation. And yet it exists” Mr Putin told reporters after his meeting with Joe Biden in Geneva. The previous detainee released from Guantánamo Bay was by the Trump administration when it repatriated a confessed Qaeda terrorist to Saudi Arabia in May 2018. Another 17 prisoners, who have hearings scheduled for this year, are held as “law of war detainees”, as noted in the Times coverage, who are prisoners of war declared by the United States after the 9/11 terror attacks. Hearings had been delayed throughout 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. — The independent

06/06/2021. Editorial: There’s no going back on sentencing and prison reform “The virus changed everything. Because it spread so quickly behind jail and prison walls but could not be contained there, state and county justice officials took extraordinary steps to reduce the number of people locked up.” The Los Angeles Times published an editorial questioning the after-Covid-19 era, and a possible reform of the penitentiary system in the USA. — Los Angeles Times

01/06/2021. Sen. Warren investigation exposes broken prison accreditation system Progressive criminal justice reform has been slow to make it into the political mainstream, but one area where it is getting increased traction is around the use of private prisons. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and 2020 presidential candidate, recently opened an investigation into the American Correctional Association (ACA), the nation’s biggest accreditor of prisons, and its relationship with three of the largest private prison companies in the U.S The results of this investigation were published by Sen. Warren’s office in December 2020. It revealed ACA operations to be riddled with conflicts of interest and ineffective at ensuring prisons met the minimum requirements necessary to create a safe and humane environment. The flaws in the ACA accreditation system undermine any positive impact an independent auditing group could possibly have. Conflicts of interest coupled with an empty audit process result in what the Warren report calls the “rubber-stamping of dangerous facilities and the waste of millions of taxpayer dollars”. The report concludes that the only real alternative is to end the federal and state reliance on ACA accreditation and stop outsourcing oversight to the prison industry itself. — Prison Legal News

20/05/2021.
Florida’s “secret” formulas to calculate release dates may be trapping people in prison
In Florida, the Department of Corrections calculates release dates by using a computer program called the Offender Based Information System (OBIS) or by hand. According to attorneys for the state’s Department of Corrections, when employees calculate a person’s release date manually, no written guidelines are provided. Moreover, the formulas programmed into OBIS remains hidden from public scrutiny. In 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a lawsuit in Leon County to obtain detailed information about how the DOC calculates release dates for the roughly 80,000 people held in state prisons. But rather than make those formulas public, America’s third-largest state prison system has been fighting to ensure it remains secret. — The Appeal

26/04/2021.
Slamming the courthouse door: 25 years of evidence for repealing Prison Litigation Reform Act
Twenty-five years ago today, in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The “PLRA,” as it is often called, makes it much harder for incarcerated people to file and win federal civil rights lawsuits. For two-and-a-half decades, the legislation has created a double standard that limits incarcerated people’s access to the courts at all stages. — Prison Policy Initiative

16/04/2021.
State legislatures, members of Congress, and national newspapers push for an end to prison gerrymandering in 2021
The Editorial Board of The New York Times called on states and the federal government to end prison gerrymandering, the practice of drawing legislative districts around large prisons and counting the people inside as legitimate constituents. As the Editorial Board remarked, this practice “makes no sense, because virtually everyone who goes to prison comes from somewhere else, and almost all will return there after being released. The result is one of the more persistent and pernicious distortions in the redistricting process”. — Prison Policy Initiative

05/04/2021.
Unless Biden acts, thousands could go back to federal prison
Unless the Biden administration intervenes, thousands of federal prisoners released on home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic may be sent back to prison. On January 15, President Trump’s Department of Justice issued a legal memo that requires that people in federal custody on home confinement, because of the pandemic and who would not otherwise qualify, return to prison once the health emergency is over. — The Appeal

01/04/2021.
New York state passes the nation’s strongest anti-solitary legislation
the New York governor signed into law the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, which will considerably restrict the practice in the state by limiting the time incarcerated people can be housed in isolation and prohibiting it altogether for vulnerable populations. The law will take full effect in one year. TeAna Taylor, policy and communications associate with the Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) campaign, lauded the passing of the HALT Solitary Act as “a great first step” in advancing further decarceration. “Solitary confinement is torture. What hopes do we have as progressives if we can’t end torture?” she asked. — Solitary Watch

31/03/2021.
State legislature moves forward with prison gerrymandering bill
The Connecticut General Assembly’s Government Administration and Elections Committee approved legislation to abolish prison gerrymandering on Wednesday. The legislation now awaits a vote in the state Senate. “Prison gerrymandering diminishes the political power of urban communities and discriminates against black and brown voters by denying them the constitutional guarantee of one person one vote,” Natasha Brunstein said at the hearing. — Yale Daily News

13/02/2021
Illinois prison deaths would require family notification as part of sweeping criminal justice reform
Illinois prisons and jails will soon be required to notify families when their incarcerated loved ones die. ABC7 Chicago

02/02/2021
After years of ignoring abuse at a women’s prison, department of corrections suspends nearly three dozen employees
How does something horrific become an epidemic? Well, if you ignore any problem long enough, it’s pretty much guaranteed to get worse. Techdirt

11/09/2021. Why is Guantanamo Bay prison still open 20 years after 9/11? With the departure of American troops from Afghanistan, rights advocates see an opportunity for President Joe Biden to fulfill his 2020 political pledge to close the prison. Others say the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, some of whose new leaders are former Guantanamo prisoners, creates a new obstacle. “The fact that the prison remains open 20 years later is because of US partisan politics and, unfortunately, the prisoners there are hostages to that politics,” said Ramzi Kassem, a professor at the City University of New York School of Law who represents al-Alwi and another detainee still being held without charge at Guantanamo. — Aljazeera

09/09/2021.
Connecticut Closes Second Prison Amid Significant Drop In State Prisoners Radgowski Correctional Center in Connecticut will close by the end of the year. The Montville prison is one of three correctional facilities that were prepared for closure in the state’s two year budget, which was approved over the summer. The decision to close the prisons comes after a significant drop in the state’s incarcerated population, with more than 3,200 inmates released over the last two years. The 108 Radgowski inmates and 110 staff will be moved to other facilities. — WHCU

04/04/2021.
US shuts once-secret Guantanamo prison unit, moves prisoners
A once-secret unit within the Guantanamo Bay detention center that had fallen into disrepair has been closed and the prisoners moved to another facility on the American base in Cuba, the U.S. military said Sunday. Miami-based Southern Command, which oversees the detention center at the southeastern edge of Cuba, did not say how many prisoners were moved. Officials have previously said about 14 men were held in Camp 7. There are 40 prisoners at Guantanamo. President Joe Biden has said he intends to close Guantanamo, but that would require approval from Congress to move some prisoners to the U.S. for trial or imprisonment. — AP news

23/03/2021.
An Oklahoma prison will close as the federal government moves away from using private facilities
The Biden Administration’s move away from the use of private prisons will shutter a facility in the western Oklahoma town of Hinton that houses federal inmates. Since the late 1990s, the Bureau of Prisons has used private facilities to help ease pressure on overcrowded federal prisons. But the bureau has seen a decline in federal prison populations over the past several years that has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. — Readfrontier

10/03/2021.
Regions’ decision to sever link with private prison company ‘a win’ for Alabama activists
Alabama’s largest bank has taken a financial stand against private prisons, a decision made for racial equity reasons after executives held a meeting with a local Black Lives Matter chapter and other activists to “receive feedback on the issue of private prisons,” according to a statement. — Citizen Times

12/02/2021.
Biden launches review of Guantanamo prison, aims to close it before leaving office
President Joe Biden’s aides have launched a formal review of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, reviving the Obama-era goal of closing the controversial facility with the aim of doing so before he leaves office, the White House said on Friday. — Reuters

29/01/2021.
Biden and prison reforms: a soft target?
Putting a stop to private prison contracts does little to address dire conditions for inmates, especially during a pandemic. Reform groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) praised Biden for pulling the plug on private prison contracts but argued that it fell short of his campaign promise. Ultimately, what is missing from the order may be as telling as what it contains. — Al Jazeera

27/01/2021.
U.S. private prison revenue under pressure from new Biden rules
CoreCivic and the GEO Group, two of the largest U.S. private prison companies, could lose as much as a quarter of their revenue, about $1 billion a year between them, under new limits on the sector from President Joe Biden. — Reuters

17/09/2021. Prison reform advocate calls solitary confinement revenge
A longtime prison reform advocate asked a federal judge on Thursday to move him out of solitary confinement, claiming the punitive treatment violates his Constitutional rights. A longtime prison reform advocate asked a federal judge on Thursday to move him out of solitary confinement, claiming the punitive treatment violates his Constitutional rights. In a letter to The Associated Press, Friedmann said he suspects he is being punished “due to my long-standing advocacy on behalf of Tennessee prisoners and my adversarial relationship with corrections officials.” — Daily Mail

26/03/2021.
Lawmakers are “horrified” and calling for action on Illinois prison abuse
Lawmakers and advocates are calling for outside oversight of the Illinois Department of Corrections after a WBEZ investigation revealed a pattern of alleged beatings by guards in an area of Western Illinois Correctional Center where there was no video camera coverage. The investigation documented nine people who separately accused a group of officers of beating them in the same area. Prison records show staff were aware of a blind spot that lacked cameras and of repeated accusations of violence, but the violence persisted until guards allegedly beat a prisoner named Larry Earvin to death in that same location. In a written statement Lindsey Hess, a Department of Corrections spokesperson said the alleged blind spot is now covered by video surveillance. The Department of Corrections insists security camera footage from inside prisons does not, by law, have to be shared with the public and has often resisted requests for camera footage. State Rep. Kam Buckner said that IDOC has a “sordid history” that can’t be ignored. “We must be clear that this is America and losing your freedom should not amount to losing your civil rights”, Buckner said. “There is a clear need for accountability, transparency, and operational changes to be made immediately throughout our corrections system.”. — WBEZ Chicago

07/06/2021.
South Carolina juvenile prison workers walk out in protest
About two dozen correctional officers and teachers at South Carolina’s beleaguered juvenile justice agency joined an impromptu walkout Friday, protesting what they describe as low staffing, poor pay and mismanagement. The protesters said conditions have worsened in recent years. Low pay and morale have contributed to high turnover, the workers said, leaving remaining employees to work 24- to 36-hour shifts without breaks. The agency is so short-staffed that neither children nor employees are safe, protesters said, with growing incidents of violence between youths and youth attacks on staff members. Shealy, a longtime agency volunteer, described its decline from a place where top leaders knew the names of individual children there to a setting where children are locked up without receiving any rehabilitative services. “Kids used to come out of here with a trade” Shealy said. “Kids don’t come out of here with anything now except how to become a better criminal”. — Juvenile Justice information exchange

01/02/2021.
Pennsylvania correctional emergency response teams face new scrutiny in “noose” controversy
A Correctional Emergency Response Team, also known as CERT, is under investigation for allegedly placing a noose on the bunk of a Black prisoner, Aaron Tyson, at State Correctional Institution Houtzdale, in Pennsylvania. — Prison legal news

05/02/2021
A Virginia prison held a man in solitary confinement for over 600 days
Virginia’s Department of Corrections has recently settled two lawsuits over its use of solitary confinement—a practice lawmakers are moving closer to abolishing. Within two months in solitary confinement at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison, Tyquine Lee began to speak in numbers. He signed his name with a series of random letters. The Appeal

02/02/2021
After years of ignoring abuse at a women’s prison, department of corrections suspends nearly three dozen employees
How does something horrific become an epidemic? Well, if you ignore any problem long enough, it’s pretty much guaranteed to get worse. Techdirt

16/11/2021. Trans woman left severely injured after being placed in male prison, lawsuit claims
A new lawsuit filed against the San Diego Sheriff’s Department claims a transgender woman was left severely injured after being placed in a male prison. Plaintiff Kristina Frost was supposed to be a ‘book and release’ defendant, according to the lawsuit filed in US District Court earlier this month, meaning she had been accused of a minor crime and should not have been in custody for an extended period of time. She was allegedly wearing women’s clothing at the time of her arrest, with her DMV records and drivers’ license identifying her as a woman, however, the lawsuit claims that ‘Despite this, deputies repeatedly misgendered Ms. Frost, both in person and in official reports documenting the assault giving rise to this case.’ After arriving at the Men’s Central Jail on November 25, 2020, Frost was moved from a holding cell to another cell which already held three men. She is said to have kept to herself and eventually fell asleep, but she woke up when one of the men started beating her. According to the lawsuit, cited by The San Diego Tribune, the man beat Frost so severely that her jaw was left fractured. A deputy or deputies are also accused of watching the assault and failing to immediately try to stop the attack, with Frost left in custody for more than 12 hours without receiving medical attention. After she was released, Frost was reportedly found to have two fractures in her jaw which required two surgeries. She had her mouth wired shut and is yet to fully recover, the lawsuit said. — Unilad

13/10/2021. Amid chaos at Rikers, women and transgender people to be transferred
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced that women and transgender people held at the Rikers Island jail complex will be transferred to two state prisons 40 miles north of New York City, in the latest effort to stem a crisis that has engulfed the correction system. The move, which begins Monday, is intended to address an ongoing staffing shortage — roughly one in three jailers are not showing for work — by allowing the city to post guards from the women’s units in other, more chaotic parts of the complex. It comes as pressure builds on state and federal officials to step in as the city struggles to restore order in Rikers, its largest jail compound, which has fallen into a state of danger and despair. The transfers might allow women who have not received medical and mental health care at Rikers amid a shutdown of such services during the pandemic to access that care in the state prisons. But it also could make it more difficult for the detainees — a majority of whom are awaiting trial — to attend court hearings and meet with lawyers and family members who will now be at least an hour’s drive away from Manhattan. — The New York Times

17/09/2021. The Justice Department will reportedly review federal prison policies for trans inmate
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will reportedly review the treatment of transgender inmates within the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), they announced this week. This comes after a trans inmate has been ordered to be rehoused by the Transgender Executive Council within the bureau. There are as many as 1,200 transgender inmates within the federal jail system. The department has not officially confirmed such a review is beginning. The BOP’s Transgender Executive Council was first formed in 2016 and consists of about 10 BOP employees, including two psychologists, a psychiatrist, and prison designation experts. They consider issues affecting trans inmates and on “rare” instances direct the BOP to make changes. — LGBTQ Nation

30/06/2021.
New Jersey to house prison inmates based on gender ID following lawsuit
New Jersey’s prison system is about to begin housing inmates based on gender identity. The new policy goes into effect July 1, and stems from a lawsuit filed in 2019 by a transgender woman who said she was forced to live in men’s prisons for a year and a half. Under the new policy, transgender, intersex and nonbinary people in state prisons will have greater protections from harassment, be allowed to shower separately from other inmates and have the right to appeal housing decisions. — News 12

29/05/2021.
“Cut my throat, but don’t cut my beard“: Sikh immigrant, 64, forced to shave in Arizona prison
A 64-year-old Sikh immigrant who was forced to shave his beard in an Arizona prison has called on the US Justice Department to investigate it as an infringement of religious freedoms. It alleges that on 25 August 2020, the ADCRR officials forcibly shaved his religiously mandated beard without giving him the opportunity to object, even as they were long aware of Singh’s limited English proficiency and the fact that his native language is Punjabi. According to the complaint, at one point during his ordeal, Singh said “cut my throat, but don’t cut my beard!” But he was eventually handcuffed and his beard was cut. “The DOJ should take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the ADCRR adopts a clear, easy-to-follow religious accommodation process in connection with its facial hair policies and that these and other key policies and documents are translated for prisoners with limited English proficiency” it demanded. — Independent

21/05/2021.
North Carolina’s clemency process is a “black box”, advocates say In April, Governor Roy Cooper signed an executive order, which created an advisory board to review the sentences of those charged as children in criminal court. However, even with the recent creation of the review board focused on juvenile sentencing, it has been difficult for advocates of reform to learn more about how and whether Cooper plans to use his clemency power, and what that process might look like. “The governor has enormous power to immediately reduce some of the disparities in the criminal justice system” Jamie Lau, a professor of law, said. “The quickest way to address them is not through a task force, not through new legislation, but through taking action through your clemency power”. — The Appeal

12/05/2021.
Time might be running out for NJ’s only prison for women
New Jersey corrections officials are considering the replacement of the state’s only prison for female inmates, a lockup plagued by harassment and sexual assault for decades and now suffering with power outages for the last four days. One senator during a budget hearing Tuesday urged corrections officials to do something “sooner than soon” as she called the conditions for the women imprisoned there “a mess”. — NJ spotlight

12/05/2021.
People leaving prison in Michigan still face hurdles to getting an ID
Last year, MDOC launched an initiative with the Secretary of State that’s aimed at preventing the hurdles that Felton experienced. Recognizing that getting an ID is one of the biggest obstacles for formerly incarcerated individuals, the two departments started a program to get people a driver’s license or state ID and also register them to vote upon their parole. But more than six months in, the program is off to a slow start. From October through March, the department provided IDs to 1,253 people, about a third of all people paroled in that time frame. “If they don’t send us out here prepared with that basic necessity, then you set us up for failure” said Felton, who lives in Detroit. — Detroit free press

05/05/2021.
Prisons and jails will separate millions of mothers from their children in 2021
Over half (58%) of all women in U.S. prisons are mothers, as are 80% of women in jails, including many who are incarcerated awaiting trial simply because they can’t afford bail. Most of these women are incarcerated for non-violent offenses. Most are also the primary caretakers of their children, meaning that punishing them with incarceration tears their children away from a vital source of support. And these numbers don’t cover the many women who will become mothers while locked up this year: An estimated 58,000 people every year are pregnant when they enter local jails or prisons. — Prison Policy Initiative

01/05/2021.
76K CA inmates could be released early as state tries to trim prison population
With little notice, California is increasing early release credits for 76,000 inmates starting Saturday. More than 63,000 inmates convicted of violent crimes will be eligible for good behavior credits that shorten their sentences by one-third instead of the one-fifth that had been in place since 2017. The changes were approved this week by the state Office of Administrative Law, with little public notice. They were submitted and approved within a three-week span as emergency regulations. “The goal is to increase incentives for the incarcerated population to practice good behavior and follow the rules while serving their time, and participate in rehabilitative and educational programs, which will lead to safer prisons” department spokeswoman Dana Simas said in a statement.. — ABC 7 news

27/04/2021.
The White House just made a landmark declaration on the rights of trans people in prison
The U.S. Justice Department declared last week that failing to protect incarcerated trans people from sexual assault and depriving them of adequate medical care, including transition-related care, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, 21% of trans women have been incarcerated at some point in their lives. Nearly half — or 47% — of Black trans women have been incarcerated, which the organization says is driven by “disproportionate poverty, homelessness, discrimination, participation in street economies, and in some cases, law enforcement bias”. — Them

22/04/2021.
U.S. Supreme Court spurns limits on life sentences for juveniles
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for states to impose sentences of life in prison without parole on juvenile offenders, ruling against a Mississippi man convicted of killing his grandfather at age 15 in a case testing the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling, authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, marked the end of the court’s recent run of decisions that put limits on life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders. The court has moved rightward with a 6-3 conservative majority after the addition since 2017 of three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump. Juvenile life sentences without the possibility of parole have come under heavy scrutiny in recent years as part of a larger debate over criminal justice and sentencing reform in the United States. Of the 50 states, 25 have banned such sentences, with Maryland becoming the latest to do so earlier this month.— Reuters

06/04/2021.
“Men Are Coming“: 255 california prison inmates have requested transfer to women’s prisons since January
Since January, 261 California prison inmates have requested transfers to prisons aligning with their gender identity, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told the Daily Caller News Foundation tuesday. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed S.B. 132 into law in January, a bill that requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to ask every individual entering the department’s custody to specify their pronouns, their gender identity, and whether they identify as transgender, nonbinary, or intersex. — Daily Caller

08/03/2021.
Transgender woman sues prison after allegedly being raped by cellmate in male prison A transgender woman imprisoned at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson is suing the state prison system after allegedly being raped and sexually violated twice at the all-male facility in early 2020. — Michigan live

02/03/2021.
Visualizing the unequal treatment of LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system LGBTQ people are overrepresented at every stage of our criminal justice system, from juvenile justice to parole. — Prison policy initiative

22/02/2021.
Recidivism rates for Black men in the US prison system are higher than all other groups
If one objective of the judicial system is to rehabilitate criminals and help them successfully reenter society, it is failing Black men at a greater rate than any other group. — The Millennial Source

13/02/2021.
Arizona’s prison population declines by 11% during pandemic
The number of inmates in Arizona’s prisons has declined 11% since the start of pandemic, reflecting a slowdown in the state’s court system that has held far fewer criminal jury trials over the last year as it took steps to prevent the coronavirus from spreading at courthouses. - Ktar news

10/02/2021.
New York city has people on parole in jails at rates not seen since the early pandemic Despite calls to reduce incarcerated populations, the number of people being detained for minor parole violations has been rising. - The Appeal

03/02/2021.
Parole boards approved fewer releases in 2020 than in 2019, despite the raging pandemic
Instead of releasing more people to the safety of their homes, parole boards in many states held fewer hearings and granted fewer approvals during the ongoing, deadly pandemic. - Prison Policy

18/01/2021.
If Biden wants to end death penalty, he must also end death by incarceration
Death-by-incarceration sentences include life without parole sentences (LWOP), life with the possibility of parole (LWP) and virtual life sentences where a person is not expected to live beyond the life of their prison sentence. According to the Sentencing Project, more people are serving death-by-incarceration sentences today than the total number of people in prison in the 1970s. - Truthout

15/01/2021.
Hundreds of black people are in prison for life even though some jurors thought they were innocent
White supremacists devised Louisiana’s split-jury rule during an 1898 constitutional convention, hoping to make it easier to convict Black people. The Supreme Court will soon weigh whether to help people still serving split-jury sentences. - Mother Jones

18/07/2021. Detroit’s prison population will soon be stuck living next to a toxic site
Three years ago, Ra, a world-renowned environmental justice organizer, lay shackled to a hospital bed. It was there, facing the prospect of giving birth in a women’s correctional facility outside Detroit, that she learned a new jail was being built to incarcerate her son’s generation, too. This time it would sit in the shadow of the largest trash incinerator in Michigan, and one of the largest in the country. For three decades, Detroit Renewable Power had burned 3,000 tons of trash every day, emitting dangerous levels of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead into the atmosphere, contaminating surrounding neighborhoods. After being released, Ra and her colleagues succeeded in getting the incinerator shut down in 2019. The closure doesn’t completely eliminate the environmental threat, however: Studies have shown that contaminants emitted during waste incineration have the ability to infiltrate surrounding soil and groundwater, with impacts that persist for years even after a site is closed. Now, Detroit officials say a new jail complex is needed to address safety concerns in the city’s aging jails, as well as save on maintenance costs. But the city’s plan to construct the Wayne County Criminal Justice Center across the street from the old Detroit Renewable Power incinerator will force up to 2,400 incarcerated people to live in close proximity to the facility’s toxic legacy. “Living in Detroit has given me a deep understanding that fights against the prison system and police are also fights against poverty and pollution,” Ra told Grist. — Truth out

10/05/2021.
Prolonged power outage at N.J. women’s prison causing tensions to run high
The power has been out in a unit at New Jersey’s women’s prison leaving the prisoners without heat or air conditioning, hot water or a working kitchen, according to multiple parents and advocates who have been receiving reports of the outage. “It’s sad. It is a feeling of hopelessness” one mother, who asked not be identified out of fear for her daughter’s safety, told NJ Advance Media. “We are just asking for proper treatment while they are doing time”. — NJ Advance Media

23/03/2021.
It’s all about the incentives: Why a call home from a jail in New York State can cost 7 times more than the same call from the state’s prisons
New York State passed progressive legislation requiring contracts between state prisons and private phone companies to be negotiated “for the lowest price to the consumer,” and prohibiting the department of corrections from accepting commissions on phone calls. New York’s legislation, however, does not apply to county and city jails, meaning counties are free to choose the phone company that charges the most and kicks the most revenue back to the jail. — Prison Policy Initiative

22/03/2021.
Inmates on hunger strike protesting Arizona prison conditions
Arizona inmates in a maximum security unit at the Eyman state prison in Florence say they are holding a hunger strike in protest of unsanitary conditions. “They’re not asking to be released because of COVID and the fact that they can’t escape that. They’re not asking for conjugal visits or anything like that (…) They’re just asking for clean food and clean clothes.” — KJZZ

23/02/2021.
‘It’s a system in crisis’: long shifts and high turnover rate plague Florida prison guards
“The morale is getting badder and badder, and the officers are getting madder and madder.” Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Mark Inch has been making the rounds in Tallahassee to pitch lawmakers on a plan to spend more than $26 million to shorten prison guards’ regular daily work shifts. — Creative Loafing Tampa

20/02/2021.
Unprepared for Covid, Texas women’s prison was equally unprepared for Uri
FMC Carswell is the country’s only federal medical prison for women. The majority of women there have serious medical issues that cannot be treated at other prisons. Over the past year, the prison has been hard hit by COVID-19. When Uri hit, Wrice was still feeling physically weakened and exhausted from the virus. Then, she had to contend with the havoc that the storm wreaked on the prison’s utilities. — Truthout

15/02/2021.
The many ways Muslim prisoners are denied religious rights in prison
Rick, an African American and Muslim prisoner, was in a correctional facility in a Midwestern state when he tried to obtain a Quran for worship. His request to the officer in charge was denied. But when he was told the price for it, he was shocked — it was far more than he could afford, and, significantly, was two to three times more expensive than a Bible. — Vox

28/04/2021. Georgetown announces new college degree program with a maximum-security prison
Georgetown University recently announced it would expand its non-degree prison education program to include one that can lead to a college degree. It is an expansion of the partnership it has with Patuxent Institution, a state maximum-security prison in Maryland, that houses convicted murderers and armed robbers, among other criminals. “Our goal is to provide the same rigorous, demanding courses of study inside of the prison that make a Georgetown education world-class” Josh Miller, director of education with the Jesuit university’s Prison and Justice Initiative, said in the news release. — The College Fix

27/03/2021.
Prison Renaissance program at San Quentin uses art to end cycles of incarceration Prison Renaissance aims to use art and community to end cycles of incarceration. They want to create more proximity between the general public and incarcerated people. The program provides a platform for incarcerated artists and writers to build personal and professional connections with people outside of prison and in their field. — abc7 news

21/03/2021.
Prison laborers are paid pennies to maintain the prisons they’re incarcerated in According to a representative for the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, incarcerated workers can earn 16 to 65 cents per hour at Corcraft, or up to $1.30 per hour in bonus pay for working dangerous and unsanitary jobs such as removing asbestos, mold and bird feces. — Truth out

01/02/2021.
Arizona pays prisoners pennies on the dollar to fight fires, all in the name of saving money
When historic wildfires burned through Arizona in June 2020, two out of three of the firefighters who brought the blazes under control were state prisoners who were paid just pennies on the dollar to do the same job as well-paid professional firefighters working right next to them. Prison Legal News

22/02/2021.
Connecticut lawmakers want to try again to make prison phone calls completely free
Advocates are optimistic about a new round of legislation to curb predatory phone rates in the state — and pressure is mounting in Washington. — The Intercept

15/02/2021.
Just let people have cellphones in prison
In all federal and state prisons and jails, personal cellphones are classified as contraband—illegal for incarcerated people to possess. Due to COVID-19, in-person visitation has been halted in most prisons and jails since last March. These rigid policies isolate incarcerated people and weaken their ties to friends and family. - Slate

12/02/2021.
The cost of calling my mom from prison
For incarcerated people like me, access to communications comes at a steep price. - The New York times

12/09/2021.
Rising rate of prison suicides
NBC News and the Marshall Project reported on the steadily rising rate of prison suicides, and the severe toll that the pandemic has taken on mental health within American prisons and jails. Between 2001 and 2018 the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported an 85 percent increase in suicides. On September 10th, National Suicide Prevention Day, Unlock The Box will be held a vigil on Twitter to “to honor those “who died by suicide both in and out of solitary confinement.” — Solidarity Watch

06/07/2021.
Kids in Colorado’s juvenile detention centers don’t always get needed medication, advocates say
When Angelina Burke entered the Platte Valley Youth Services Center in Greeley last month, she had been steadily taking a litany of psychiatric medications. But when Burke came to the juvenile detention center, the staff took her off most of her meds entirely, she said, causing the teen to go through serious withdrawal, her mental health plummeting. Burke’s case exemplifies what juvenile justice workers say has been a consistent problem over the years in Colorado’s Division of Youth Services. Teens will enter detention facilities and sometimes be yanked off their meds abruptly as they wait to see a state psychiatrist, they say. Meanwhile, courts have been reluctant — or unable — to force the state’s hand. — Denver post

10/05/2021.
Alternative to prison to be allowed in Washington for some who have mental illness
Under the new Mental Health Sentencing Alternative, judges will have the option to sentence a person to community supervision and treatment in lieu of prison. The program will be open to individuals who are convicted of a felony crime that is not a serious violent offense or a sex offense. The opinion of the person’s victim would be considered. Washington already offers sentencing alternatives for certain drug offenders and certain sex offenders. — KUOW

12/02/2021.
How the Affordable Care Act can keep people out of prison
Many former inmates struggle with mental health and substance use disorders. Appropriate treatment for these illnesses can be what stands between successfully reintegrating into society and returning to a life of crime – and ultimately back to prison. - The conversation

11/02/2021.
At San Quentin, the response to Covid-19 brings more isolation and suffering to people with mental illness
The Covid-19 crisis at San Quentin that infected three-quarters of the prisoner population and killed 28, as well as a correctional officer, changed how prison officials provide treatment to prisoners experiencing mental illness. - Solitary watch

03/02/2021.
Decarceration — and support on the outside — is the answer, not therapy behind bars
A new report finds little evidence supporting the idea that building new prisons for women will lead to better outcomes, even with gender-responsive and trauma-informed programming. - Prison Policy Initiative

21/01/2021.
As COVID-19 ups the stakes, advocates say prison food needs an overhaul
A new report shines a light on the low-quality food served to 2.3 million people behind bars in the U.S. Healthier food is possible—and on the agenda in some prisons. - Civil Eats

23/10/2021. Prison chief: Mississippi preps for 1st execution since 2012
Mississippi prison employees will conduct once-a-week rehearsals as the state prepares for its first execution since 2012, Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain says. Cain told The Associated Press on Friday that the rehearsals for a lethal injection are usually done once a month at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, following a protocol that’s about 20 pages long. The Mississippi Supreme on Thursday set a Nov. 17 execution date for David Neal Cox, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to killing his wife, Kim, in 2010 in the northern Mississippi town of Shannon. Cox withdrew his appeals and once filed court papers calling himself “worthy of death.” Mississippi has not had an execution since 2012, and it had six that year. — San Fransisco Chronicle

28/05/2021.
Arizona ‘refurbishes’ its gas chamber to prepare for executions, documents reveal
The state of Arizona is preparing to kill death row inmates using hydrogen cyanide, the same lethal gas that was deployed at Auschwitz. Over the past few months the Republican-controlled state has moved aggressively to restart its deeply flawed execution system. The death penalty has been in abeyance in Arizona for seven years following the gruesomely botched lethal injection of Joseph Wood in 2014. The Guardian’s documents, obtained through public records requests, show that officials have also gone to considerable lengths to revive the state’s mothballed gas chamber, housed at ASPC-Florence. A series of tests were conducted last August to appraise its “operability”. In its current rush to restart executions, Arizona has selected two inmates as likely candidates to go first out of a current death row population of 115 people. Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said: “You have to wonder what Arizona was thinking in believing that in 2021 it is acceptable to execute people in a gas chamber with cyanide gas. Did they have anybody study the history of the Holocaust?”. — The Guardian

22/05/2021.
Prison system tells Supreme Court: SC’s electric chair is ready for go
After 10 years and two weeks of downtime, South Carolina’s electric chair is once more ready to perform its duty. Under the old law, a death row inmate had two choices: death by electrocution or death by lethal injection. The law said if an inmate wanted to die by lethal injection, the state could not force him to die by electrocution.For years, since the state prison system said it could not obtain lethal drugs to carry out an execution, inmates chose lethal injection as their preferred way to die — knowing that the state could not force them to die by electrocution.But the General Assembly has now eliminated that loophole. Lawmakers say the change in the law now allows the prison system to kill death row inmates by electrocution, even if they prefer lethal injection. South Carolina’s last execution was in May 2011. — The State

05/02/2021
Virginia poised to become first state in the south to abolish the death penalty
The Virginia Senate voted on Wednesday to end the state’s practice of carrying out the death penalty for individuals charged with committing capital crimes. Truthout