PETA Backs Buddhist Prisoner’s Fish-Free Campaign in Connecticut
by Mark Wilson
“Clearly fish is meat,” said Jeff Kerr, an attorney for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). “They have thoughts. They have interests. They have a central nervous system. They are not swimming vegetables.”
Connecticut prison officials apparently disagree, at least when it comes to prisoner Howard Cosby.
Cosby, 35, is practicing vegetarianism as part of his Buddhist lifestyle of nonviolence. As such, Cosby requested a vegetarian diet to accommodate his religious practice. Prison officials purportedly granted his request, but serve him fish three times a week.
Like PETA, Cosby recognized that “clearly fish is meat” and therefore, he was not being served his requested vegetarian diet. When Cosby attempted to resolve the issue administratively, prison officials dismissed his complaints, stating that his diet is classified as vegetarian because the Connecticut Department of Corrections (CDOC) does not consider fish to be meat.
So Cosby wrote PETA, asking for their help and they obliged. On September 3, 2013, PETA sent a letter to Scott Erfe, warden of the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Institution, requesting that fish be removed from Cosby’s diet. PETA invoked the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ...
94% Increase in Elderly Prisoners Fuels Medical Care Cost Spike by 52%
by Mark Wilson
According to a report by The Pew Charitable Trust, healthcare costs increased by an average of 52 percent in 42 states between 2001 and 2008 for prisoners. Overall, these states spent $6.5 billion on prisoner health care in 2008, up from $4.2 billion in 2001.
“Health care is consuming a growing share of state budgets, and corrections departments are not immune to this trend,” said Maria Schiff, director of the State Health Care Spending Project, an initiative of Pew and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Researchers analyzed inflation-adjusted correctional health care expenditures collected by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) from 44 participating states. General per-prisoner spending also increased an average of 32 percent in 35 states during the same period, according to the DOJ data.
One major reason for the overall cost increase is the continued growth of the nation’s prison population. During the research period, that population grew by 200,000, or 15 percent, according to the PEW report.
The spike in prisoner medical care costs is due primarily to the comparable spike in the number of aging prisoners. The ...
Oregon Jail Overcrowding Emergency Releases Skyrocket 3,552 Percent
by Mark Wilson
The number of emergency early releases by Oregon’s largest jail system, Multnomah County, has spiked an eye-popping 3,552 percent, up from 25 releases in 2010 to 913 releases in 2012, according to a recent study.
When Multnomah County jails reach 95 percent capacity, jail staff institute emergency releases of “low-level” offenders to accommodate those arrested for more serious crimes. The 228 percent increase from 25 emergency releases in 2010 to 82 in 2011, previously would have been considered significant and troubling. That is, until the 1,013 percent spike from 82 releases in 2011 to 913 in 2012.
Theories abound as to what is fueling the unprecedented jail overcrowding spike. Multnomah County analyst Matt O’Keefe points to: people serving parole and probation violation sanctions; misdemeanor offenders serving bench probation violation sanctions; and increasing delays between arrest and trial. Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill blames a rise in property crimes and a statewide movement to control prison growth by shifting offenders to county jails. The problem will only get worse, warns Underhill, without a county policy change.
As resources have dried up, judges have seen their bench probation caseloads grow ...
Two Oregon Cops Removed for Criminal Conduct
by Mark Wilson
An Oregon State Police (OSP) evidence technician was arrested after an undisclosed amount of money was stolen from the evidence room at the Newport Command Center.
On March 31, 2008, Paula Diane Bell, 32, was hired as one of OSP’s sixteen evidence technicians. She was responsible for handling, storing and disposing of evidence and other property at OSP evidence rooms in Newport, McMinnville and Tillamook, Oregon, according to Lt. Gregg Hastings, an OSP spokesman.
OSP initiated an investigation on June 5, 2013, after an OSP employee discovered that the evidence room at the Newport Command Center had been disturbed and evidence packages had been opened.
Bell was arrested on June 6, 2013 and booked into the Lincoln County Jail on charges of first degree theft and official misconduct.
The Oregon Department of Justice will prosecute the case. OSP is conducting an audit of all of the evidence rooms Bell had access to and will notify other law enforcement agencies of any impact her actions may have had on pending cases, said Hastings.
In an unrelated case, on May 7, 2013, a six-year veteran OSP Trooper pleaded guilty to official misconduct ...
Iowa Juvenile LWOP Prisoner Released to Hospice Care
by Mark Wilson
In what is being described as an “unprecedented” decision, on December 3, 2013, the Iowa Parole Board ordered the release of a terminally ill prisoner who was sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) as a juvenile to hospice,.
Kristina Fetters was 14 years old when she killed her great-aunt, Arlene Klehm, 73, in 1994, by hitting her in the head with an iron skillet and stabbing her at least five times. At 15 years old, she was the youngest person ever sentenced to LWOP in Iowa.
For 18 years, Fetters lived with virtually no hope of ever leaving prison alive. That changed, however, when the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark 2012 ruling in Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (U.S. 2012), holding that juvenile LWOP sentences are unconstitutional.
In addition to thousands of others across the nation, the decision gave Fetters and 37 other Iowa LWOP prisoners renewed hope of a second chance, of a life beyond prison walls.
Sadly, however, Fetters, 33, felt her hopes and dreams die just as quickly as they were born; in September 2013, she was diagnosed with inoperable stage ...
Untreated Drug Offenders Cost Oregon $21.6 Million
by Mark Wilson
Failing to treat substance abuse addictions of nearly half of the highest risk Oregon offenders, released between 2008 and 2011, cost crime victims and the state an estimated $21.6 million, according to an Oregon Secretary of State audit released on August 13, 2013.
Nationally, untreated substance abuse contributes to more than 100,000 deaths annually. In 2007 alone, substance abuse cost taxpayers an estimated $193 billion, according to a report of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Oregon’s share of those expenses totaled about $5.9 billion, according to a 2008 report of the consulting firm, ECONorthwest. In other words, substance abuse cost every Oregonian an estimated $1,600, exceeding the combined economic output of the state’s agricultural, forestry, fishing and hunting industries.
As of December 2012, an estimated 70 percent (9,968) of Oregon’s 14,240 prisoners suffered from some substance abuse problem, according to Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) estimates.
“If you want to really control prison costs, you have to go after the causes that put people in prison in the first place,” said Dwight Holton, former United States Attorney for Oregon.
Prisoners who do not receive substance abuse ...
$10 Million Budgetetd to Oregon Counties for Criminal Justice Reforms
by Mark Wilson
On August 1, 2013, the Oregon legislature passed a sentencing reform bill, designed to shift “low level” offenders from prison to community corrections. With it came a cash infusion of $10 million to counties that fulfill the state’s mission.
Benton County Commissioner Jay Dixon applauds the state grants, noting that Benton County has had a longstanding commitment to community-based supervision and treatment. “We think it’s more effective than imprisonment in a state institution,” said Dixon. “It costs a lot less.”
He is right. During the 2009-2011 biennium, it cost $84.43 a day, or $30,816.95 a year, to confine someone in prison, according to a recent audit of the Oregon Secretary of State. Meanwhile, it costs just $16.08 a day, or $5,869.20 annually, for community supervision of high-risk offenders. That represents an annual per-person savings of $24,947.75. The cost of community supervision of medium-risk offenders falls to just $11.70 a day, or $4,270.50 annually, representing an annual savings of $26,546.45. Low-risk offender community supervision costs drop even more dramatically to just $0.78 a day, or $284.70 annually, translating into an annual savings of $30,532.25.
In hopes of realizing ...
Supreme Court Vacates $3.4 Million Child Porn Restitution
By Mark Wilson
On April 23, 2014, the United States Supreme Court vacated a child pornography victim’s $3.4 million restitution award, finding that the Government failed to prove that defendant’s conduct proximately caused all of the victim’s damages.
In 1994, Congress enacted ...
New York: Burns from Faulty Steam Cooker Net Prisoner $2,500
by Mark Wilson
Last year, the New York Court of Claims awarded a prisoner $2,500 after he suffered burns from a faulty steam cooker. The court found prison officials had negligently failed to fix the cooker despite being aware it ...
Wisconsin Jail’s 2013 Prisoner Fee Revenue Falls $130,000
by Mark Wilson
A litigation-compelled policy change has cut a Wisconsin County’s booking and pay-to- stay fees by $130,000. However, county officials are quickly recouping the revenue from other detainees.
A 1996 Wisconsin law authorizes the state’s 72 counties to impose booking and pay-to-stay fees against any person who is sentenced to the county jail or probation. Wisc. Stat. § 302.372(2)(a). The law also allows fee collection while the person is incarcerated, § 302.372(5), or by filing a legal action after they are released. § 302.372(6).
Pursuant to the statute, the Brown County Board of Supervisors (Board) passed a resolution authorizing the jail to seize up to 25 percent of any funds deposited into a jail detainee’s trust account as payment of the booking and pay-to-stay fees. It also applied the law to non-sentenced detainees, requiring them to seek reimbursement if the charges were dismissed or if they were later found not guilty.
On January 11, 2011, Lamon Barnes was confined in the Brown County Jail, on drug charges. After booking, he was provided “a Financial Disclosure Statement and an inmate notice stating that he would be charged a lock-up fee of ...
