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Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People’s Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time, by James Kilgore (The New Press, 2015). 272 pages, $17.95 (paperback)

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Reviews

Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People’s Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time, by James Kilgore (The New Press, 2015). 272 pages, $17.95 (paperback) by Russ Immarigeon Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People’s Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time, by James Kilgore (The New Press, …

New York: Burns from Faulty Steam Cooker Net Prisoner $2,500

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Workplace Injury, Injury -- Misc.

New York: Burns from Faulty Steam Cooker Net Prisoner $2,500 by Mark Wilson New York: Burns from Faulty Steam Cooker Net Prisoner $2,500 by Mark Wilson Last year, the New York Court of Claims awarded a prisoner $2,500 after he suffered burns from a faulty steam cooker. The court found …

Pennsylvania: $65,000 Settlement for Brain Injury Caused by Guard’s Excessive Force

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Brain Injury, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Pennsylvania: $65,000 Settlement for Brain Injury Caused by Guard’s Excessive Force by David Reutter Pennsylvania: $65,000 Settlement for Brain Injury Caused by Guard’s Excessive Force by David Reutter Pennsylvania’s Erie County Prison (ECP) agreed to pay $65,000 to settle a federal lawsuit claiming a guard used excessive force on a …

Texas Leads the Nation in Both Executions and Exonerations

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Wrongful Conviction, Death Penalty/Death Row

Texas Leads the Nation in Both Executions and Exonerations by Matthew Clarke Texas Leads the Nation in Both Executions and Exonerations by Matt Clarke Texas has long been notorious for applying the death penalty, executing more prisoners than any other state. Between 1976 and September 1, 2015, Texas carried out …

CCA Prison in Ohio Loses BOP Contract

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut

CCA Prison in Ohio Loses BOP Contract by CCA Prison in Ohio Loses BOP Contract The privately-owned Northeast Ohio Correctional Center (NOCC) in Youngstown no longer holds prisoners for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) after the federal agency declined to renew its contract with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). According …

PLN Prevails in Censorship Suit against Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Sexually Explicit Materials, Mail Regulations, Censorship

PLN Prevails in Censorship Suit against Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office by Gary Hunter PLN Prevails in Censorship Suit against Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office by Gary Hunter In March 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted summary judgment in favor of Prison Legal News (PLN) against …

Mississippi Indictments Illustrate Prison Phone Corruption

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Telephone Rates

Mississippi Indictments Illustrate Prison Phone Corruption by Derek Gilna Mississippi Indictments Illustrate Prison Phone Corruption by Derek Gilna Two Mississippi businessmen, Irb Benjamin, 69, and Sam Waggoner, 61, face federal charges in connection with a scheme in which kickbacks were paid to former Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) Commissioner Christopher …

Closed Colorado Prison Converted into Homeless Program

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Prison Reform

Closed Colorado Prison Converted into Homeless Program by David Reutter Closed Colorado Prison Converted into Homeless Program by David Reutter Nearly two years after it opened on September 3, 2013, supporters of Fort Lyon, a former Colorado prison-turned-homeless facility, say it’s too soon to call the program administered by the …

DC Circuit Denies Appeal of Order to Release Force-Feeding Videos

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Hunger Strikes, Military Prisons

DC Circuit Denies Appeal of Order to Release Force-Feeding Videos by Derek Gilna DC Circuit Denies Appeal of Order to Release Force-Feeding Videos by Derek Gilna Abu Wa’el (Jihad) Dhiab was imprisoned at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba when he went on a hunger strike. Authorities then …

California: Private Medical Provider can be Liable for ADA Violations; Class-action Suit Settles

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: California Forensic Medical Group, Private Contractors, Americans with Disabilities Act

California: Private Medical Provider can be Liable for ADA Violations; Class-action Suit Settles by David Reutter California: Private Medical Provider can be Liable for ADA Violations; Class-action Suit Settles by David M. Reutter A California federal district court held in September 2014 that a jail’s private medical provider may be …

Two Kentucky Jail Guards Face Charges in Prisoner’s Death

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death)

Two Kentucky Jail Guards Face Charges in Prisoner’s Death by David Reutter Two Kentucky Jail Guards Face Charges in Prisoner’s Death by David Reutter A special prosecutor has been appointed to try a first-degree manslaughter case against two Kentucky jail guards indicted in the 2013 beating death of a 54-year-old …

Inside the Small California Town with a Lot of Prisons, but Not Much Opportunity

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Cost of Prison Systems, Rural Prisons

Inside the Small California Town with a Lot of Prisons, but Not Much Opportunity by Matt Tinoco Inside the Small California Town with a Lot of Prisons, but Not Much Opportunity by Matt Tinoco Adelanto, California is a small high desert town just a two-hour drive northeast of Los Angeles, but …

North Carolina Guard Gets Three Months for Killing Prisoner

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death)

North Carolina Guard Gets Three Months for Killing Prisoner by Christopher Zoukis North Carolina Guard Gets Three Months for Killing Prisoner by Christopher Zoukis A North Carolina guard was ordered to serve three months in jail after being found guilty of beating to death a prisoner who had been arrested …

HRDC and 93 Organizations Ask EPA to Consider Prisoners in Environmental Justice Plan

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Environmental Law, National Environmental Policy Act

HRDC and 93 Organizations Ask EPA to Consider Prisoners in Environmental Justice Plan by HRDC and 93 Organizations Ask EPA to Consider Prisoners in Environmental Justice Plan The Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), PLN’s parent non-profit organization, submitted a public comment to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July …

Cell Phones Confiscated from Prisoners Given to Charities

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Prisoner Property, Cell Phone Access

Cell Phones Confiscated from Prisoners Given to Charities by Christopher Zoukis Cell Phones Confiscated from Prisoners Given to Charities by Christopher Zoukis Thousands of cell phones seized from prisoners nationwide have been donated to charitable causes, including domestic violence programs and Cell Phones for Soldiers. Cell phones are considered contraband …

Ninth Circuit Finds Forfeited Assets Satisfy Restitution Order; Eleventh Circuit Disagrees

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Restitution, Forfeiture

Ninth Circuit Finds Forfeited Assets Satisfy Restitution Order; Eleventh Circuit Disagrees by Derek Gilna Ninth Circuit Finds Forfeited Assets Satisfy Restitution Order; Eleventh Circuit Disagrees by Derek Gilna Greg Carter served a 70-month federal prison sentence for defrauding U.S. airlines with phony tickets, along with several co-defendants. As part of …

$36 Million Awarded to Two Men Wrongfully Convicted of Rape, Murder

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Wrongful Conviction

$36 Million Awarded to Two Men Wrongfully Convicted of Rape, Murder by David Reutter $36 Million Awarded to Two Men Wrongfully Convicted of Rape, Murder by David Reutter A New York federal jury awarded $36 million to two of three former prisoners wrongfully convicted in the 1984 rape and murder …

$1.2 Million Award for Failure to Treat New York Prisoner’s Rectal Bleeding

Article • September 25, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: Cancer, Failure to Treat

$1.2 Million Award for Failure to Treat New York Prisoner’s Rectal Bleeding by David Reutter $1.2 Million Award for Failure to Treat New York Prisoner’s Rectal Bleeding by David Reutter A New York Court of Claims awarded $1.2 million to a former prisoner who was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer …

Article on prison food, Aramark quotes PLN

In-the-News Article • September 25, 2015

Article on prison food, Aramark quotes PLN Sept. 25, 2015 Articles with PLN Quotes Vice.com What It&rsquo;s Like to Eat Some of the Worst Prison Food in America BY&nbsp; STEPHEN KATZ September 25, 2015&nbsp;/&nbsp;12:00 pm As a former teenage delinquent whose&nbsp;Hollywood Knights-style relationship with the law got me well-acquainted with …

Palmer v. Ecorse Police Department, MI, Protection Order, Defendant's Cell Phone, 2015

Brief • September 25, 2015

Palmer v. Ecorse Police Department, MI, Protection Order, Defendant's Cell Phone, 2015 2:14-cv-12247-GAD-DRG Doc # 47 Filed 09/25/15 Pg 1 of 2 Pg ID 162 EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION EMANUEL PALMER, Plaintiff, Case No. 2:14-cv-12247 -vs- Hon. Gershwin A. Drain Magistrate David R. Grand ECORSE POLICE DEPARTMENT, RYAN …