by Matt Clarke
A succession of laws, cumulating in the most generous compensation package for wrongly convicted prisoners in the nation, has left Texas exonerees stuck at different levels of compensation depending on when they were proven innocent. Consequently, some earlier exonerees now claim they should receive compensation at the ...
by Matt Clarke
When Republican Texas State Representative Debbie Riddle scheduled her “Riddle Executive Leadership Summit” at the Lanier Theological Library in August 2011, the agenda mentioned several “esteemed discussion leaders,” a buffet reception and special gifts for large campaign donors. According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, those ...
by Matt Clarke
On October 10, 2011, 14-year-old Jordan Adams was found unconscious on the floor of his isolation cell at the Granbury Regional Juvenile Justice Center (GRJJC) in Granbury, Texas. A sheet was wrapped around his neck. He died six days later at the Cook Children’s Medical Center in ...
by Matt Clarke
On April 13, 2011, a Washington state Court of Appeals held that money paid to Class II prison workers counted as “wages” for purposes of calculating time-loss compensation.
James B. Hill, a former Washington state prisoner, was injured while performing a Class II prison job for which ...
by Matt Clarke
In 2007, when Texas became the last state in the nation to let prisoners make phone calls on a regular basis, the limit on phone usage was 120 minutes a month. [See: PLN, Nov. 2007, p.11]. Two years later the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ) responded ...
by Matt Clarke
When 17-year-old Justin Fawcett admitted to having consensual sex with a 14-year-old student at the same high school he attended in West Bloomfield, Michigan, he probably never thought that that youthful dalliance would lead to his death, but it did.
Justin and three other teens who separately ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 6, 2011, the Better Government Association (BGA) and the Center on Wrongful Convictions (CWC) at Northwestern University School of Law released a joint report on the cost of wrongful convictions. The report, which examined 85 wrongful convictions in Illinois since the advent of modern DNA ...
By Matt Clarke
Since 1980, American Medical Association (AMA) policy has stated that it is a clear violation of medical ethics for physicians to participate in executions. The policy, which was last updated in 2005, contains a broad definition of "participation" which includes "consulting with or supervising lethal injection personnel." ...
by Matt Clarke
On January 21, 2011, a U.S. District Court held that state prisoners in Arkansas have no First Amendment right to less expensive phone rates, a decision that was subsequently affirmed by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Arkansas state prisoners Winston Holloway and Joseph Breault filed a ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 9, 2011, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that executives with the Phoenix New Times, an alternative weekly publication, could sue a special prosecutor who arranged for their late-night arrests after the New Times criticized Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew P. ...
