by Ed Lyon
When Senate Bill 132 took effect January 1, 2021, protections promised by the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) were finally guaranteed by law to over 1,000 inmates held by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) who are “transgender, gender-nonconforming, non-binary, …
by Ed Lyon
Around 3 p.m. on March 11, 2019, prisoners at the Maui Community Correctional Center (MCCC) rioted. Some started a fire, some broke fire-suppression sprinklers, while others smashed fixtures.
Outside, police were called in to help restore order and conduct a subsequent investigation to assign …
by Ed Lyon
On February 4, 2021, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) was fined $400,000 by a state agency for placing the staff of its San Quentin State Prison at unnecessary risk of infection, illness and death from COVID-19 with a much-criticized prisoner transfer the …
by Ed Lyon
Whether in a jail or a prison, the sight of a person drawing cards or decorating envelopes and even doing portraits is not uncommon. Art is a major part of prison life, a way of safely expressing one’s self, not to mention a way for …
by Ed Lyon
Having for many years been the largest prison system in the U.S. — now second only to Texas — the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) saw its prisoner count drop below 100,000 for the first time in over three decades in September 2020. …
by Ed Lyon
About 500 Arizona prison staff were arrested between 2015 and 2019, averaging around 100 per year. Drunken driving charges supposedly top the list of charges, which include sexual assault and human trafficking, according to Department of Corrections records reported by KJZZ on October 26, 2020.
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by Ed Lyon
"We are the ones who are supposed to be protecting society from the criminals, not be the criminals,” the commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) said at a September 18, 2020 press conference. “So we will not tolerate bad behavior of any kind. …
by Ed Lyon
A study released September 15, 2020 by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice shows that when it comes to employment and housing having a criminal record in the U.S. makes an enormous difference on the outcomes a person can expect.
According to the …
by Ed Lyon
By December 2020, despite calls to release or parole prisoners at risk of COVID-19 — especially the elderly — the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) had reduced its prisoner count by only about 20,000, or 15%, since the pandemic began nine months earlier.
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by Ed Lyon
The Alaska Police Standards Council (APSC) is charged with decertifying bad cops and preventing them from being rehired as cops elsewhere in the state. It was 37 years ago in 1983 when the APSC decertified Sitka city police Officer Dale Hanson. Through a convoluted chain …
