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Articles by Matthew Clarke

Benefits of Allowing Prisoners to Raise Babies Born in Prison

Programs that allow pregnant prisoners to keep their babies and raise them in prison appear to have benefits for both the babies and their mothers.

According to a recent report, two-thirds of the over 200,000 women incarcerated nationwide have children under the age of 18. About 2,000 prisoners give birth ...

Louisiana Parish Saddled With Large Jail, Large Costs

Before he pleaded guilty to taking bribes and illegally spending around $150,000 of his campaign money, resulting in a 46-month federal prison sentence in 2013, former Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana Sheriff Jiff Hingle may have started his parish on a road to financial ruin. The instrument of that potential ruin is ...

Music Publishers Sue Companies Providing Mixtapes for Prisoners

In early 2015, UMG Recordings, Capitol Records, Universal Music Corp. and several other record labels and music producers filed a federal lawsuit against companies that provide mixtapes to prisoners in at least 40 states. The suit claimed that mixtapes contained in “care packages” purchased from the companies by prisoners or ...

Report Finds Most California Counties Out of Compliance with New Pregnant Prisoner Anti-Shackling Law

A report released in February 2014 by Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) found most California county jails were out-of-compliance with a 2012 law limiting the use of restraints on pregnant prisoners.

LSPC helped enact a 2012 law, California Penal Code (CPC) §3407, restricting the use of restraints on ...

"Major Use of Force" Incidents on the Increase in Texas Prisons

According to statistics released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), the number of "major use of force" incidents climb sharply from 6,071 in 2005 to 7,151 in 2013, an increase of 17%.

TDCJ officials claim that the fluctuations in the numbers are random and not tied to any ...

Louisiana Jail Prisoner Pleads Guilty Just Before Jury Acquits

On April 2, 2014, Terrell Harris, a prisoner at the Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans, Louisiana, pleaded guilty to a felony obscenity charge for masturbating in a cell minutes before a jury returned an acquittal on the charge. He received a ten-year prison sentence in a plea bargain that ...

Ohio Prison Industry Profits Increasing

According to a report released by the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, the profits for Ohio Penal Industries (OPI) increased to $7.8 million in fiscal year (FY) 2013, the fourth straight year of increasing profitability. OPI operates 21 programs at 14 prisons throughout the state.

In 2009, OPI had a record ...

ACLU Report: Women Uniquely Harmed by Solitary Confinement

In April 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a report on the use of solitary confinement for women prisoners in the United States. The report concluded that while solitary was an extreme punishment that should not be used on anyone unless lesser measures have failed and the prisoner ...

$1,000 Jury Award in Texas Prisoner’s Excessive Use of Force Suit

On August 18, 2014, a Texas federal jury awarded a state prisoner $1,000 on his claim of excessive use of force by a prison guard. Enforcement of that judgment, however, would prove difficult.

Florencio Hernandez was incarcerated at the Stiles Unit in Beaumont, Texas when he became involved in a ...

Sacramento County Settles Former Jail Prisoner’s Lawsuits for $3,800

In February 2015, Sacramento County, California agreed to settle three pro se federal civil rights actions filed by a former Sacramento County jail prisoner alleging theft of his mail, opening of his legal mail outside his presence and failure to provide at least three hours of out-of-cell recreation time per ...