by Kevin W. Bliss
At the same time the federal government is once again opening Pell Grants to prisoners, some have been left scrambling in Washington by closure of the State Reformatory (WSR) – which hosted the state’s primary college program behind bars.
The Second Chance Pell grant program will ...
by Kevin W. Bliss
On November 9, 2022, an Iowa teenager convicted of murdering a man she claimed repeatedly raped her was recaptured, five days after her escaped from the Fresh Start Women’s Center (FSWC) in Polk County, Iowa. Peiper Lewis, 18, was recaptured after walking out and then cutting ...
by Kevin W. Bliss
California’s Monterey County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD) was under the spotlight in October 2022, when two “Jane Doe” lawsuits were filed accusing now-retired Undersheriff John Mineau of sexually harassing a pair of co-workers. But the agency has been embroiled in ethical issues at least since ex-Sheriff Steve ...
by Kevin W. Bliss
On October 11, 2022, the U.S.Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of California prisoner’s suit alleging he was assaulted because a guard labeled him a “snitch.” The ruling represents a reversal of the Court’s previous judgment in the case, which found that damages ...
by Kevin W. Bliss
On December 8, 2022, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) released a summary of the Public Scoping Meeting held in Whitesburg, Kentucky, regarding its proposed bid to build a $500 million federal prison on top of a former coal mining site in Letcher County.
The meeting, ...
by Kevin W. Bliss
The Iowa Ombudsman Office (IOO) released its Annual Report on December 15, 2022, calling out the state Department of Corrections (DOC) for unfairly addressing several difficulties it faces, including the abuse of K2 by prisoners.
Like many states, Iowa has struggled with the synthetic drug, which ...
by Kevin W. Bliss
When the Virginia House of Delegates’ Public Safety Subcommittee adjourned its meeting on January 19, 2023, it failed to advance several proposals for cutting prison and jail canteen costs, as well as one providing access to free communications for all state prisoners.
Virginia Delegate Irene Shin ...
by Kevin W. Bliss
On February 28, 2022, Candice “Cody” Vanburen became the fourth person to die in just six weeks at the Santa Rita Jail (SRJ) in California’s Alameda County. Now prisoner rights advocates fault the county’s Board of Supervisors for refusing to hold the office of Sheriff Yesenia ...
by Kevin W. Bliss
The California Mandela Act –
Assembly Bill (A.B.) 2632 – passed with an overwhelming majority of votes from state legislators in August 2022, limiting the use of solitary confinement in prisons, jails and immigration detention centers in the state. But it was vetoed by Gov. Gavin ...
by Kevin Bliss and David M. Reutter
On July 14, 2022, in a case on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit agreed that a “result opposite” was dictated to the opinion it had issued in a malicious prosecution case the year ...
