Childbirth is sacred in most cultures. But for many female prisoners in the U.S., the process can be cruel and degrading. According to a March 1, 2006, report by the human rights group Amnesty International U.S.A., 23 state prison systems and the federal Bureau of Prisons expressly allow the shackling …
On May 26, 2006, the executive director of Indiana's Criminal Justice Institute was fired for misallocating $417,000 in grant money earmarked for a program to help the children of prisoners.
Heather Bolejack, 31, allegedly funneled the money to a family friend who intended to use the lucre for personal pursuits …
The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) has implemented 5 of 13 recommendations made in an October 2003 report that criticized its Prison Industries Program (PIP), according to a May 2006 follow-up report. In its original report the South Carolina General Assemblys Legislative Audit Council (LAC) chided the SCDC for …
The City of Boston, Massachusetts, has agreed to pay $3.2 million to a man who spent 10 ½ years in prison for a rape he did not commit. The March 2006 settlement is believed to be the largest of its kind in state history.
Neil Millers nightmare began on November …
In mid-April 2006, seven Georgia prison guards were indicted by a Tantall County jury in connection with beatings of prisoners at the Rogers State Prison in Reidsville.
As previously reported [see PLN, April 2006, p.1], Rogers is a cesspool of violence and corruption. Handcuffed prisoners at the facility are routinely …
The Sheriff of Clinch County, Georgia, has agreed to end a decades-long practice of charging pretrial detainees for room and board and to return $27,000 to those who paid the fees over a 4-year period. Also pursuant to the agreement, signed by U.S. District Court Judge Hugh Lawson on April …
On February 17, 2006, the U.S. District Court for the Middle district of Florida awarded $150.00 to a federal prisoner who contracted food poisoning while imprisoned at FCC Coleman-Low.
On April 23, 2002, prisoners eating breakfast in the chow hall were served ham that had been stored overnight in a …
On April 21, 2006, the Arkansas Board of Corrections approved a new policy designed to keep mentally ill prisoners out of sensory-deprived environments like the Varner Supermax Unit in Lincoln County. The Board also renewed the prison systems contract with Correctional Medical Services (CMS).
The new supermax policy was implemented …
The events of June 21, 2006, were so outrageous they seemed impossible (except, of course, to the regular readers of Prison Legal News). That day, two people were killed and a third was wounded when a prison guard at the Federal Detention Center in Tallahassee, Florida, opened fire on federal …
In April 2006 a Texas prisoner was sentenced to 40 years in prison for possessing a contraband cell phone--8 years more than the 32-year sentence he was already serving for auto theft.
The sentence, the longest anyone has received since the Texas legislature made possession of a cell phone in …
