by Chad Marks
Ford Foundation President Darren Walker published a blog titled, “In Defense of Nuance” in the fall of 2019. A larger portion of the missive supported the building of four smaller detention centers to replace the infamous Rikers Island Jail. Many subsequently pushed back, including hundreds of Ford Fellows, criminal justice reform activists, public health advocates, grassroots organizations, and others.
The Rikers jail has for years been plagued with deplorable conditions and riddled with violence from staff and prisoners alike. Unjust detentions also have been part of the jail’s makeup.
New York City has long been planning to shut it down for good. Part of that plan is to build four smaller jails throughout the city. This proposal does not sit well with many people.
Activist groups have voiced opposition, saying building more lockups for New York City will only contribute to the mass incarceration problem facing our nation as a whole. More jails and prisons are not the solution, according to those disputing Walker.
One of the biggest grassroots organizations objecting to the city’s plans, No New Jails, has pushed back Walker’s support for the new jails. More jails means more people of color will be subject ...
by Chad Marks
An October 8, 2019, order from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin dismissed for procedural violations a lawsuit brought by prisoners at the state’s Prairie Du Chien Correctional Institution.
Filed on July 18, 2019, by Nicasio Cuevas Quiles III and nine fellow prisoners at the medium-security facility, the suit sought $15 million in damages for alleged exposure to asbestos, radium, lead and black mold, as well as contaminated water and unsanitary living conditions, all in violation of plaintiffs’ Eighth Amendment rights.
The order by Judge William M. Conley dismissed the case without prejudice, giving plaintiffs specific instructions on how they could amend or refile the case to meet procedural deficiencies that killed it.
For example, Conley found that the suit lists claims that broadly fall into three categories alleging (a) discrimination, (b) unlawful confinement conditions or (c) inadequate health care. To avoid running afoul of federal procedural rules that prevent mixing different claims in one suit, he recommended that plaintiffs file three separate lawsuits.
Conley also found that the suit failed to allege sufficient facts to support all of its legal claims. And it failed to allege a set of facts common to ...
by Chad Marks
A commission that was legislatively mandated recommended in an October 2019 report that New Jersey improve re-entry services for those leaving prison. The Reentry Services Commission outlined 100 steps to aid in a successful reentry. Those steps targeted addiction treatment, opportunities for training, employment and improved health care, among many others.
The Commission was tasked with considering the psychological profile of prisoners, housing, employment, education, training, addiction and substance abuse treatment, medical and mental health treatment, access to legal assistance and other issues related to the failures and successes associated with reentry.
What the Commission found was that the prison population reflects deep social problems of race, poverty and the failure of social institutions to provide a way that would reduce the rates of incarceration. New Jersey has the highest racial disparity in state prisons in the nation. Individuals in the state who are Black are 12 times more likely than Whites to be incarcerated and Latinos six times more likely.
But how to fix the problem is at the top of New Jersey’s list.
With over 75 percent of parolees at the national level being rearrested within five years of release, the commission looked at ways ...
by Chad Marks
On February 24, 2020 lawyers filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Dante Taylor’s estate after he was found dead in his prison cell at Wende Correctional Facility.
The lawsuit alleges that prison guards beat Taylor until he was unconscious. Shortly afterward, Taylor committed suicide. Court filings say the suicide was a direct result of the beating.
Taylor was 21 years old when he entered the New York prison system — and 22 when he left in a body bag. Taylor had a past filled with mental health issues in conjunction with suicide attempts. He had been sentenced to a life term at a young age, causing him documented bouts of depression, according to court records filed in the case.
On October 7, 2017 Taylor had his second negative reaction in two days after smoking synthetic marijuana, commonly referred to as K-2. A group of guards responded to Taylor’s cell where they beat him beyond recognition. Once the beating had stopped, he was hog tied and thrown down a flight of stairs face first, court papers say.
Taylor was seen at the infirmary at Wende prison after the brutal beat-down by guards. He was eventually transferred to ...
by Chad Marks
Kevin Younger was a prisoner at the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center (MRDCC) when he was viciously assaulted by prison guards. The beating was in retaliation for an assault on one of the guards. Richard Hanna, Jemiah Green, and Kwasi Ramsey were part of a “goon squad,” which assaulted prisoners, according to Hanna.
After hearing evidence, a jury awarded Younger $700,000 on February 3, 2020.
On September 29, 2013, Younger witnessed a fight between two prisoners and a guard in which the guard was seriously hurt. Although Younger was simply a witness, he was moved to another housing unit. According to Court records, between 6:40 and 7 a.m. Ramsey, Green, and Hanna entered 51-year-old Younger’s cell and threw him from the top bunk to the concrete floor. Once on the floor, the three beat Younger on his head, face, and body with handcuffs, radios and metal keys. They also slammed his head against the toilet bowl, all while verbally berating him.
When the guards left the cell, Younger was left bloody, with serious, and permanent injuries.
Four other prisoners were beaten in the same manner by the goon squad in relation for the same incident.
Realizing ...
by Chad Marks
William Garrison was 16 years old when he was arrested and eventually convicted of first-degree murder. He would spend the next 44 years of his life behind bars.
On April 13, 2020, Garrison’s cellmate called for help after Garrison was gasping for air. Macomb Correctional Facility staff ...
by Chad Marks
On December 12, 2019, the Board of Supervisors of Mississippi’s Issaquena County granted an eleventh-hour reprieve to the Issaquena County Regional Jail just five days before it was set to close and over 300 prisoners were to be moved. The Mayersville jail is the county’s largest employer, ...
by Chad Marks
The family of Morgan Bluehorse, who committed suicide in solitary confinement at the age of 29, will receive $500,000 from the Washington state Department of Corrections, in a settlement reached November 13.
Bluehorse was a 29-year-old man when he found himself in an isolation cell at Airway ...
by Chad Marks
U.S. District Court Judge Loretta A. Preska has ordered the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and Community Supervision (DOCCS) to pay up in a victim of contempt case.
Amy Jane Agnew, an attorney representing Anthony Medina a prisoner who is blind, filed a complaint ...
by Chad Marks
Mark A. Jaconski was arrested on June 17, 2015, for outstanding traffic warrants and taken to Mercy Hospital for a “fit for confinement” determination. Hospital officials made that determination and Jaconski was transported to the Lincoln County Jail in Missouri.
No mental health screening was done of ...
