North America
North America
United States
The state is hammering out its budget. And lawmakers are having a sharp disagreement with the governor’s office over one of Michigan’s biggest price tags – the corrections budget. Both sides agree rehabilitation and lowering recidivism is the way to go. But they can’t agree on how much money to spend…
Source — Michigan Radio
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North America
Health
Suicide
Canada
The number of inmates in federal prisons who intentionally harm themselves has more than tripled over the past decade, spiking again last year, prompting Canada’s correctional investigator to call for changes to ensure such prisoners are treated as patients who require medical care.
Source — The Globe and Mail
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United States: a wrongfully incarcerated artist discusses prison at the Brooklyn Public Library
News
Culture
North America
United States
From May 23 to 25, Sherrill Roland will be on-site, hoping to facilitate more open dialogues about the US criminal justice system.
Source — Hyperallergic
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North America
Discipline
Canada
Canada’s prison agency is close to establishing new rules that would prohibit the placement of vulnerable people in solitary confinement and increase the time segregated inmates can spend out of cells.
Source — The Globe and Mail
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Canada: number of prison workers suffering from PTSD much higher than official stats, union says
News
North America
Health
Canada
Approximately 1 in 20 employees at federal penitentiaries have been diagnosed with stress injuries
Source — CBC News
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North America
Discipline
Canada
Ontario’s prisons adviser has laid out a plan that would catapult the province’s prison system from a national laggard to one of the most progressive in the world by placing hard limits on the use of solitary confinement and prohibiting the segregation of vulnerable prisoner populations.
Source — The Globe and Mail
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North America
Justice
Canada
Elimination of some minimum mandatory sentences and reform of bail system will be under review
Source — CBC News
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North America
Death penalty
United States
Utah will execute three inmates by firing squad for the first time since the method was reinstated in 2015 by Gov. Gary Herbert.
Source — Heatstreet
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North America
United States
Incarcerated people in Connecticut may soon be able to take Yale College courses for academic credit as part of the Yale Prison Education Initiative.
Source — Yale News
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North America
United States
A decline in the number of federal prosecutions and in the severity of sentences for drug-related crime in recent years has resulted in a significant drop in the federal prison population, according to statistics from the Judiciary, the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC), and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
Source — _ United States Courts
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North America
Death penalty
United States
Jack Jones and Marcel Williams administered lethal injections after death penalty carried out on fellow convict Ledell Lee last week
Source — The Independant
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North America
Justice
United States
Every day and night, former Louisiana prosecutor A.M. Stroud thinks about Glenn Ford, the man he wrongfully sent to prison for almost half of his life and who would have been executed by the state had he not been exonerated 30 years after his conviction.
Source — The Advocate
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North America
United States
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise to close the notoriously overcrowded and brutal Riker’s Island jail made national news last month, but less famous policymakers all over the country struggle with jail overcrowding on a regular basis (see, for example, Kansas, Indiana and Upstate New York).
Source — The Washington Post
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United States: fourth Arkansas execution in eight days prompts questions about inmate’s movements
News
North America
Death penalty
United States
Arkansas executed a death-row inmate late Thursday in the state’s fourth lethal injection in eight days, concluding a frantic execution schedule officials said was necessary to carry out death sentences before one of their drugs expired.
Source — The Washington Post
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North America
Women
Health
United States
Three inmates who claim they were sexually abused by a physician at the state women’s prison have filed a federal lawsuit against the doctor and two other medical staffers.
Source — The Oregonian
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North America
United States
The money cities generate from bail bonds and conviction fines and fees is not enough to be relied upon.
Source — USA Today
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North America
Discipline
Canada
Ontario is facing a $600-million lawsuit on behalf of thousands of mentally ill inmates who have served time in solitary confinement since 1985, yet another addition to a glut of litigation currently facing governments in the country over their handling of prisoners in isolation.
Source — The Globe and Mail
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North America
United States
As California prison officials shift toward inmate programs centered on rehabilitation and education, they are evaluating new regulations for awarding time credits for good behavior and reaching milestones.
Source — Los Angeles Times
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North America
Canada
Ombudsman’s probe was launched after inmate Adam Capay was held in segregation for 4 years
Source — CBC News
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United States: prisons and jails are forcing inmates to pay a small fortune just to see a doctor
News
North America
Health
United States
The fees are designed to discourage inmates from seeking care, which could have dangerous consequences.
Source — Huffpost
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North America
Discipline
United States
As a teenager, Adam Brulotte relished the attention he received from getting into fights at parties. When he was 18 years old, he was arrested for burglary and aggravated assault after punching a man and breaking his jaw in seven places.
Source — Frontline
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North America
Women
United States
For five years, inmates haven’t even had the opportunity to obtain high school equivalency diplomas at the Lackawanna County Prison in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The GED program was scrapped during a county budgeting crisis in 2012 and has yet to be reinstated.
Source — Huffpost
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