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News in Brief

Article • August 4, 2018 • from PLN August, 2018

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alaska: An internal investigation was launched by the Alaska Department of Corrections after five female prisoners at the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River overdosed on an unknown substance over a two-day period. DOC spokeswoman Megan Edge said four of the prisoners were transported to …

In the Public Interest - An Examination of Private Financing for Correctional and Immigration Detention Facilities, 2018

Publication • June 1, 2018

Filed under: Sexual Assault, Staff-Staff Assault, Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Prison Industries, Workplace Injury, Work Conditions/Safety, Prison Gangs, Staffing, Security Systems, Guard Brutality/Beatings

In the Public Interest - An Examination of Private Financing for Correctional and Immigration Detention Facilities, 2018 An examination of private financing for correctional and immigration detention facilities Report · In the Public Interest · June 2018 While governments have traditionally used municipal bonds to finance the construction of correctional …

Institute for Criminal Policy Research - World Prison Population List, 2018

Publication • January 1, 2018

Filed under: Statistics/Trends

Institute for Criminal Policy Research - World Prison Population List, 2018 World Prison Population List twelfth edition Roy Walmsley Introduction This twelfth edition of the World Prison Population List gives details of the number of prisoners held in 223 prison systems in independent countries and dependent territories. It shows the …

News in Brief

Article • June 9, 2017 • from PLN June, 2017

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arizona: On January 19, 2017, Estrella Jail guard Roy Eugene Ramey III was fired by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Ramey, who had been arrested in September 2016, was placed on administrative leave pending disposition of charges that he engaged in sexual activity with a female …

Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World, by Baz Dreisinger

Article • May 5, 2017 • from PLN May, 2017

Filed under: Private Prisons, Commentary/Reviews, International

Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World, by Baz Dreisinger by Matthew Clarke book review by Matt Clarke Incarceration Nations by Baz Dreisinger (Other Press, 2016). 325 pages, $19.00 (hardcover). When John Jay College of Criminal Justice Professor Baz Dreisinger began her two-year pilgrimage to prisons …

News in Brief

Article • May 5, 2017 • from PLN May, 2017

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by News in Brief Argentina: Ten years ago, Gabriel Herrera was serving time for fraud and robbery when he murdered his then-wife, Veronica Castro, during a conjugal visit. On January 5, 2017, Herrera killed his current girlfriend, Andrea Neri, 19, in a similar fashion during a visit …

Australia, New Zealand and UK Have Higher Proportion of Prisoners in Private Prisons

Article • March 10, 2017 • from PLN March, 2017

Filed under: Private Prisons, Statistics/Trends

Australia, New Zealand and UK Have Higher Proportion of Prisoners in Private Prisons by History will remember the United States as the first country in the world to privatize its prisons and jails; the modern era of prison privatization began when Corrections Corporation of America (now known as CoreCivic) was …

Australia Uses Recidivism-Based Performance Contract at Private Prison

Article • February 7, 2017 • from PLN February, 2017

Filed under: Private Prisons, Gender Discrimination -- Women, Prison Reform, Overcrowding, Rehabilitation/Recidivism

Australia Uses Recidivism-Based Performance Contract at Private Prison by Currently a third of all Australian women prisoners return to prison following their release, but a new pilot program initiated by the government in the state of Western Australia hopes to change those recidivism rates. According to a November 28, 2016 …

News in Brief

Article • February 7, 2017 • from PLN February, 2017

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Afghanistan: On August 8, 2016, Robert Langdon, a 44-year-old Australian security contractor, became the last Western prisoner to leave an Afghan prison filled with Al Qaeda and Taliban members. U.S. lawyer Kimberly Motley took Langdon’s case pro bono in 2013 and worked diligently to secure his …

News in Brief

Article • January 10, 2017 • from PLN January, 2017

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arkansas: Michael Graff, 29, was fired following his arrest on charges of sexually assaulting a prisoner. The former Pulaski County jail deputy received a termination letter from Sheriff Doc Holladay which referred to Graff’s arrest as a violation of the Sheriff’s Office’s standards of conduct. A …

News in Brief

Article • December 7, 2016 • from PLN December, 2016

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: St. Clair Correctional Facility guard Deandre Price resigned just after his July 5, 2016 arrest for possession of a controlled substance and promoting contraband within a state correctional facility. Price was caught with drugs and other contraband as he reported for work; Alabama Department of …

News in Brief

Article • September 30, 2016 • from PLN October, 2016

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arizona: The U.S. Department of Justice declared April 24 to 30, 2016 to be the inaugural National Reentry Week in an effort to recognize the plight of the more than 600,000 prisoners who are released annually from federal and state prisons, plus 11.4 million others who …

News in Brief

Article • September 2, 2016 • from PLN September, 2016

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: U.S. Attorney George L. Beck, Jr. called Chris Miles, the former assistant police chief for the town of Tallassee, Alabama, a “maverick” when Miles was sentenced on March 25, 2016 for beating a suspect during an interrogation, making false statements to the FBI and selling …

News in Brief

Article • August 2, 2016 • from PLN August, 2016

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arkansas: Two guards were placed on paid leave after they shot and killed prisoner Christopher Wilson during an April 7, 2016 escape attempt from the Varner Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction. According to DOC spokesperson Solomon Graves, “Officers gave [Wilson] a demand to cease …

News in Brief

Article • July 6, 2016 • from PLN July, 2016

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Federal and state officials raided the Sumter County Jail on March 8, 2016 as part of an investigation into the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department. The search led a grand jury to recommend the impeachment of Sheriff Tyrone Clark and issue an indictment against him the …

News in Brief

Article • May 5, 2016 • from PLN May, 2016

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Australia: An anal-retentive prisoner in the supermax unit at the Goulburn Jail claimed for 12 days that a metal object detected inside his body was a fragment of a surgical instrument, but his claims were proven false when his bowels finally moved on February 24, 2016 …

News in Brief

Article • December 31, 2015 • from PLN January, 2016

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Former Dale County jail prisoner Trawick Redding, Jr. filed a federal lawsuit on July 28, 2015 claiming guards Zeneth Glenn and Ryan Mittlebach tortured and assaulted him, and inflicted cruel and unusual punishment, by using a large Burmese python to intimidate him during his jail …

Prison: America’s Most Vile Export?

Article • October 28, 2015

Filed under: Prison Reform, Statistics/Trends, Cost of Prison Systems, Conditions of Confinement, Lockdowns, Prisoners-International, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Prison: America’s Most Vile Export? by Baz Dreisinger Prison: America’s Most Vile Export? The U.S. incarceration problem is now the world’s to solve. by Baz Dreisinger Behind the bars of a prison in Brazil, the federal agent on duty sidled up to me. “You’re getting a good report, yes?” he …

Report Says Prison Privatization Expanding Internationally

Article • October 16, 2015

Filed under: Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, G4S/Group 4, International, Immigration

Report Says Prison Privatization Expanding Internationally by Joe Watson A recent report from The Sentencing Project, based in Washington, D.C., concludes that the mass-privatization of American prisons has encouraged, not deterred, many countries—including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Brazil—to hand over the responsibility of its prisoners to for-profit companies. …

News In Brief

Article • September 24, 2015 • from PLN October, 2015

Filed under: News in Brief

News In Brief by Alabama: On April 9, 2013, Kenneth Wayne Patton was arrested on a domestic violence charge. When he arrived at the Etowah County Jail, he informed guards that he used to be employed at the St. Clair Correctional Facility and should be put in protective custody. Despite …