by Ed Lyon
It is, or should be, fairly common knowledge that most prisoners are disadvantaged, impoverished, often have substance abuse addictions or mental health issues, and have made poor life choices.
It would seem that this population has enough problems and thus should not be exploited. Alas, that has ...
by Ed Lyon
San Francisco, California mayor London N. Breed has unique views regarding people who have become caught up in the criminal justice system. Her views extend to the families of prisoners and pretrial detainees, too.
Breed, unlike many U.S. politicians, grew up in public housing. Further, her knowledge ...
by Ed Lyon
Vermont state prisoner Jeffrey-Michael Brandt won a correspondence claim through a Stipulation and Agreement of Dismissal (SAD) in a lawsuit filed in state court against the Vermont Department of Corrections (VDOC). The SAD allowed Brandt to correspond by mail with prisoners in states other than Vermont.
The ...
by Ed Lyon
While media attention tends to focus on the use of DNA evidence to free wrongly convicted prisoners – the Innocence Project counts 365 such exonerations since the first in 1989 – far more DNA samples are collected from convicted offenders held in all 50 states and by ...
by Ed Lyon
As of May 2019, a new policy at the Jackson County Detention Center in Missouri requires female attorneys to remove any brassieres with metal underwires before passing through a metal detector in order to gain access to the jail for client meetings. The bra may not then ...
by Ed Lyon
For those who have been residing on the moon or perhaps Mars, Michael Avenatti, 48, is a high-profile attorney who has, until recently, represented clients like Stormy Daniels, a noted porn actress who claims to have had an extramarital relationship with President Donald Trump. Avenatti has ...
by Ed Lyon
On October 2, 2016, Amanda Bridges was housed in an administrative segregation cell at Maine’s York County jail, serving a six-month sentence for violating her probation.
Jailer Jonathan Carpenter entered her cell and began to kiss her until he heard someone in the hallway, so he left. ...
by Ed Lyon
Study after study has shown that children of incarcerated parents often suffer, sometimes catastrophically. Children with an incarcerated parent have higher incarceration rates as adults themselves than children who never had a parent behind bars.
Some states are taking action to try to circumvent that vicious ...
by Ed Lyon
Nicholas Ayers was a pretrial detainee at the Jackson County Detention Center in Missouri in 2015 and 2016. On January 1, 2016, a water pipe to Ayers’ cell broke so the water to his cell was cut off. A feature of plumbing unique to jails and prisons, ...
by Ed Lyon
In 2018, almost half of California’s 50 prison escapees walked away from early-release programs where they were finishing their sentences – more than double the number of “walkaways” in 2014, the first year the programs were established. While the number represents only a tiny fraction of ...
