by Matt Clarke
On March 7, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in which it questioned the constitutionality of a Maricopa County, Arizona jail policy that requires male pretrial detainees who have not been convicted of a crime to wear pink underwear. The appellate court did ...
Colorado County Jail Refuses to Accept Cities’ Prisoners
By Matt Clarke
A spat over how many prisoners the county jail in Adams County, Colorado will accept went public when five chiefs of police for cities in Adams County called a press conference to criticize the sheriff. They said he was ...
by Matt Clarke
In 2009, former Harris County, Texas state district judge Woodrow “Woody” Densen was caught on surveillance video keying a neighbor’s car, causing significant damage. The video received widespread media coverage. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief and agreed to pay a $1,500 fine ...
by Matt Clarke
Studies have shown that the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among adult prisoners is more than seven times higher than among non-incarcerated adults.
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a person suffers a disruption of brain function due to an injury – such as an impact from ...
by Matt Clarke
The prospects for cost savings in the operation of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), now the nation’s largest state prison system, seemed optimistic in 2011 when the state made the unprecedented decision to close a prison. The closure of the 1,000-bed Central Unit in Sugarland ...
by Matt Clarke
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice has released the most recent in a series of statistical reports on state prosecutors.
The report covers 2,330 prosecutors’ offices serving judicial districts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Other than D.C., ...
by Matt Clarke
The deaths of five prisoners in 18 months might pass without notice in a large jail system, but that many deaths at the 270-bed Portage County jail, located about 30 miles southeast of Cleveland, Ohio, raised red flags.
An investigation by the Cleveland Plain Dealer revealed that ...
by Matt Clarke
Against the backdrop of the recent hunger strike involving thousands of prisoners in California, the death last year of an Illinois jail prisoner who died after refusing to eat or drink is especially poignant.
Lyvita Gomes, 52, died in January 2012 following a 15-day hunger strike that ...
by Matt Clarke
Misconduct by employees in the Harris County jail system in Houston, Texas remains persistent and problematic.
A Houston Chronicle review of employee disciplinary actions from 2008 through 2010 found there was an average of 67 disciplinary cases annually, totaling more than 200 during the three-year period.
In ...
by Matt Clarke
In December 2011, the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice released a report on employment and expenditures by federal, state and local governments for police, jails, prisons, courts and lawyers. The information covered the period from FY 1982 through FY 2007 with data ...
