by Jayson Hawkins

Recent public outrage over the needless killings of Black men at the hands of police has led to greater scrutiny of the many instances in which people of color die either while being arrested or while in police custody. The patterns of racism, casual violence, arrogance, and ...

by Jayson Hawkins

When facing the harsh reality of incarceration, whether for a few years or several decades, one will soon confront a rather crucial question: “What am I going to do with all this time?”

For many, the answer is to distract themselves with dominoes and television. Others turn ...

by Jayson Hawkins

A violent disturbance was reported inside Georgia’s Ware State Prison in early August 2020. A prisoner reporting from inside the prison on an illegal cellphone cited health issues, three meals a day consisting only of cheese and peanut butter sandwiches, and a lack of electricity as reasons ...

by Jayson Hawkins

Former Vermont prison Superintendent Ed Adams has found himself the subject of repeated media scrutiny over the last few years, and his story is illustrative of the problems that surround prison reform, public records availability, and bridging the often jarring disconnect between societal norms and prison reality.

Adams worked as a guard for well over a decade before rising to become senior superintendent of Vermont’s only female prison in 2013. A few years later, he took over administration of the Southern State Correctional Facility, the state’s second largest prison. In 2016, he earned Department of Corrections manager of the year honors, and all the way through April 2018, his performance evaluations showed an overall assessment of “outstanding,” the highest grade given.

But Adams had been dogged by allegations of sexual harassment while running the women’s prison, and at the Southern State facility he was repeatedly accused of “creating a hostile work environment” through his reported use of sexist language, inappropriate sexual comments, and threats of retaliation toward prison staff, Vermont Digger reported in March 2020.

In September 2018, he was placed on administrative leave, and three months later, he accepted a demotion to probation officer at ...

by Jayson Hawkins

Mass incarceration has long been recognized as a serious and abiding problem in the American social landscape. Historically, mass incarceration has been attributed to a combination of the war on drugs, politically driven harsh sentencing, and the growth of a prison industrial complex. Recently, however, as arrest rates fall and more judges have recognized that draconian sentencing standards are not sustainable, the persistence of mass incarceration as a phenomenon has led analysts to consider the role of prosecutors in the perpetuation of mass incarceration.

Prosecutors are by far the most obscure variable in the criminal justice equation. They enjoy enormous discretion in their decision making, and much of what they do occurs in private meetings. Past efforts to study and quantify the role of prosecutors in the justice process have shed only limited light on how they make decisions, but a recent study published by the Southern California Law Review offers important insight into the decisions prosecutors routinely make and how those decisions could have an outsized impact on incarceration rates.

The study was carried out by Shima Baradaran Baughman at the University of Utah College of Law and Megan S. Wright at Pennsylvania State University. Five-hundred ...

by Jayson Hawkins

A recent audit at an Allegheny county jail revealed a series of shortcomings by a food service contractor tasked with providing meals to prisoners. Florida-based contractor Trinity Services Group was paid $3.5 million to provide three meals a day to prisoners at the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center and Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania. The audits were conducted by the County Controller’s office and examined the year from June 2018 to June 2019. Controller Chelsa Wagner released the audit on July 20, 2020 and noted what she called “several instances of noncompliance” with contract provisions.

Much of the audit’s 34 pages focused on flawed record-keeping and Trinity either over charging for meals or failing to reimburse the county for commissions as stipulated in the contract. The county was overcharged at the Shuman Center, for example, by $8,413, including more than $6,000 for food donated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At the jail, the county was overbilled more than $1,600.

There also is a discrepancy concerning meals from a program called Trinity Take-Out, which allows prisoners to order specialty items like cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches at prices ranging from $12 to $20. Trinity’s contract with the county provides ...

by Jayson Hawkins

California became the first state in the nation to roll back laws that allowed for the collection of fees and fines from people released from prison or jails. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Families Over Fees Act into law in late-September 2020. The law ends the collection of 23 fines and fees imposed on people after being released from the criminal justice system, eliminating over $16 billion in outstanding criminal fee debt, most of which was judged unpayable.

Prior to the bill’s passage, Californians who were enmeshed in the criminal justice system were subject to a variety of fines and fees. The debts accumulated while in prison or jail did not disappear upon release. At least 45 individual fines and fees could be assessed from prisoners, two-thirds of which were administrative fees. The goal of these fees was to recoup some of the cost of the prisoner’s passage through the courts and penal system, and even though the original intent was not to administer further punishment through fees, the effect was decidedly punitive.

The majority of people who pass through the criminal justice system in California and elsewhere are already poor, and even a short stint in ...

by Jayson Hawkins

As the extradition trial of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange continued in London in September 2020, a series of witnesses were brought forth to describe the conditions Assange would face if extradited to the U.S.

Assange is under a 17-count indictment in the U.S. for violations of the Espionage Act and one unsealed count, bringing the total to 18 counts. American Justice Department officials allege that Assange violated the Espionage Act when he published classified documents obtained by Chelsea Manning, who was a U.S. Army soldier at the time.

On September 28, the London court considering Assange’s extradition heard testimony describing prison conditions at the facilities where Assange would likely be held. The testimony revolved around four key issues: 1) the general conditions at the facilities, 2) whether Assange would be able to interact with other prisoners regularly, 3) the standard of medical care available, and 4) what, if any, “special administrative measures” (SAMs) prison officials might impose on Assange that could make his imprisonment worse.

The Court heard from Joel Sickler, a prisoner advocate, and Yancey Ellis, a defense attorney. They both testified that Assange would likely be detained at the Alexandria Detention Center (ADC) until trial, ...

by Jayson Hawkins

An August 2020 wedding in Millinocket, Maine, turned into the state’s largest super spreader event for the coronavirus. Within the next two months, over 170 cases and eight deaths could be traced back to the reception at the Big Moose Inn. The Maine Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that few among the roughly 65 people in attendance had been wearing masks, but over half of the ensuing cases originated with a single person who became infected at the celebration. The unnamed individual then returned to work more than 200 miles away at the York County Jail.

Within two weeks, other staff members and inmates at the jail began to test positive for COVID-19. By October 6, nearly 90 cases tied to the lock-up had been recorded — an incredible number for a jail with only 116 prisoners.

The cramped conditions of incarceration often render social distancing impossible, which has forced facilities to focus on other means of continuing the spread of the coronavirus. Mask wearing ranks at the top of that list, yet a policy reportedly in place at the York County Jail discourages the practice. Media revealed an email to staff saying prisoners ...

by Jayson Hawkins

A series of assaults by a group of prisoners on convicted sex offenders was carried out with the consent and assistance of 10 officers at an unnamed California correctional facility. After an investigation, the prison’s warden determined that the actions of six of the guards involved were egregious enough for them to be fired, yet only four were let go before attorneys for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) halted the proceedings.

The attorneys argued that the allegations against the officers were substantiated only by the testimony of prisoners and that evidence of that sort would not hold up before the State Personnel Board.

A parallel investigation by the state Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which is tasked with overseeing the conduct of corrections department employees, concluded on January 10, 2020 that the evidence in this particular case was adequate to pursue the termination of the six guards identified by the warden. Inspector General Roy Wesley, however, expressed concern that it might set a dangerous precedent when it came to firing officers based solely on the word of prisoners.

Dana Simas, a spokesperson for CDCR, disagreed with the assertion that the department was dismissive ...