by Casey J. Bastian
Following a series of complaints resulting from the parole of 329 Virginia state prisoners in 2020, a whistleblower released several emails sent between members of the Virginia Parole Board (“VPB”) employees. The leaked emails were clearly intended to discredit the Parole Board, and likely the entire ...
by Casey J. Bastian
A major driver of mass incarceration is the abusive rate at which life sentences are imposed, as a report from the Sentencing Project examines. Referred to as “death by incarceration,” long-term sentences have become the lifeblood of America’s hyper-incarceration rates.
One of every seven prisoners is ...
by Casey Bastian
On February 25, 2021, the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) settled an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by a former guard, who alleged he was a victim of anti-Muslim bias from his mostly White co-workers on the correctional staff Parnall Correctional Facility (PCF), a minimum-security prison in Jackson ...
by Casey Bastian
The story of Archie Williams shocks and inspires. A Black man spent 36 years in a Louisiana prison for the rape and stabbing of a White woman before his 2019 release. There was just one problem: Williams was innocent.
Despite this experience, Williams has maintained a warm ...
by Casey Bastian
Very few criminal offenses in America allow for a sentence of death. Nevertheless, too many people are dying in jails and prisons while serving a sentence or simply waiting for the process to slowly grind its way to a resolution. Oftentimes people can’t make bail for even ...
by Casey J. Bastian
In 2004, former FBI agent Richard Beasley first met Jon D. Ponder when he was arresting Ponder for bank robbery. Beasley recalled that Ponder was “angry, scared, frustrated and anxious about his future.” Ponder found himself in a small jail cell in Las Vegas looking at ...
by Casey Bastian
Anyone who has any experience with a jail or prison knows that they are like small islands. Overcrowded, dysfunctional, and violent. Too frequently, prisoner rights violations, abusive behavior of guards and other related injustices occur daily.
These facts do not make it into the public sphere in ...
