by Matt Clarke
In 2003 and 2004, Texas state Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D) was a consultant for Management & Training Corporation, a private prison firm, and Corplan Corrections, a prison design and development company. Now his son, state Rep. Eddie Lucio III, (D) has signed on to be a ...
To millions of people whose knowledge of crime labs comes from television shows such as CSI, Bones, Crossing Jordan and the venerable Quincy M.E., the forensic experts who work at such labs seem to be infallible scientists who use validated scientific techniques to follow the evidence to the truth, regardless ...
by Matt Clarke
In April 2009, New York passed a statutory amendment that expanded the state’s compassionate release program for terminally ill prisoners. The amendment permitted medical parole for prisoners convicted of certain violent crimes who were physically or cognitively unable to present a threat to society, if they had ...
by Matt Clarke
Cocke County, Tennessee General Sessions Judge John A. Bell, while facing a judicial misconduct complaint, sought to depose Joseph S. Daniel, disciplinary counsel for the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary, in February 2010. Bell also asked to review all complaints filed against Tennessee judges due to delayed ...
by Matt Clarke
Texas Governor Rick Perry caused considerable controversy on Sept. 30, 2009 when he replaced three members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, just two days before the commission’s hearing on a report that an innocent man may have been executed during Perry’s tenure. As a result the ...
by Matt Clarke
Technological innovations and tech-savvy sex offenders, combined with budget cuts, have made it harder for law enforcement authorities to monitor the nation’s estimated 716,750 registered sex offenders (RSOs).
That does not include all RSOs, as some are not required to register and around 100,000 have failed to ...
by Matt Clarke
In February 2010, Ohio Penal Industries (OPI) announced it planned to close several prison industry programs and reduce its prisoner work force from 1,554 to 1,269 due to budget cuts. Previously, OPI stated in December 2009 that it was discontinuing its wood office furniture operation as part ...
by Matt Clarke
On November 12, 2009, Pennsylvania state representative John M. Perzel was charged with 82 counts of theft, conflict of interest, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and hindering apprehension or prosecution as a result of Attorney General Tom Corbett’s long-running investigation into political corruption, nicknamed “Bonusgate.” Perzel, a Republican ...
by Matt Clarke
The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at New York’s Yeshiva University. Since that time the Innocence Project and its partners have been instrumental in securing the release of many of ...
by Matt Clarke
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest for-profit prison company, already spends a significant amount of money courting federal agencies and members of Congress. CCA employs three lobbying firms in Washington D.C., spent about $1 million in lobbying on the federal level in 2009, and has ...
