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News in Brief
Article • February 1, 2023 • from PLN February, 2023
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: WHNT in Huntsville reported on December 16, 2022, that a Morgan County Jail detainee was charged with assaulting a guard. Ashley Nicole Taymon, 36, had gotten into an altercation at the Community Corrections Office five days earlier and was taken to a hospital. There she …
News in Brief
Article • April 1, 2021 • from PLN April, 2021
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: Two Alabama jail guards were arrested in just two months for allegedly smuggling cellphones to inmates. In February 2021, 27-year-old D’Mario Jones was fired and charged with two counts of promoting prison contraband at the Lee County Detention Center in Opelika where he worked. According …
Prisoners in Kenya and New Zealand, Unlike Counterparts in U.S., Win Right to Vote
Article • April 2, 2018 • from PLN April, 2018
Filed under: Voting
Prisoners in Kenya and New Zealand, Unlike Counterparts in U.S., Win Right to Vote by Derek Gilna by Derek Gilna In August 2017, prisoners at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in Kenya, along with other prisoners in the African nation, were allowed to vote in presidential elections for the first …
New Zealand Court Decision: Voting Ban Violates Human Rights of Prisoners
Article • December 5, 2017 • from PLN December, 2017
Filed under: Voting, Voting Rights Act
New Zealand Court Decision: Voting Ban Violates Human Rights of Prisoners by Monte McCoin by Monte McCoin On May 26, 2017, the Court of Appeal of New Zealand issued a decision in the case of Attorney General v. Taylor, which upheld High Court Justice Paul Heath’s July 25, 2015 determination …
News in Brief
Article • April 1, 2017 • from PLN April, 2017
News in Brief by Alabama: In November 2016 the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office received a faxed court order for the release of state prisoner Bobby Campbell, so of course they released him. As it turned out, however, the order was fake. “Right now we are unsure about the real source of …
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 …
News in Brief
Article • March 10, 2017 • from PLN March, 2017
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by California: For each of the last five years, members of the Golden State Warriors basketball team have visited San Quentin State Prison. Superstars Kevin Durant and Draymond Green sat among the prisoners and observed from the sidelines as members of the Warriors front office staff played …
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 …
New Study Debunks Common Beliefs of Children of Incarcerated Parents
Article • September 6, 2016
Filed under: Statistics/Trends, Collateral consequences of prison, Family, Fathers in Prison, Mothers in Prison, Children of Prisoners
New Study Debunks Common Beliefs of Children of Incarcerated Parents by Christopher Zoukis by Christopher Zoukis A study released by the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, and in conjunction with the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, debunks commonly cited statistics concerning children with incarcerated …
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 • February 29, 2016 • from PLN March, 2016
Filed under: News, News in Brief
News in Brief by Arizona: On December 3, 2015, Brama Koroma walked into a Westwood bar wearing a black-and-white striped Maricopa County jail uniform that he had purchased online. Krystina Smith was at the bar and thought it was a delayed Halloween costume. “He was acting normal,” she said. Phoenix …
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 …
News in Brief
Article • December 1, 2015 • from PLN December, 2015
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by California: On May 13, 2015, attorneys for Carlos Carasquilla and his wife filed a $15 million lawsuit against Tulare County alleging that guards opened a cell door to allow and encourage Carasquilla’s fellow prisoners to viciously beat him. Carasquilla had been jailed on a warrant for …
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 …
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 …
News in Brief
Article • August 7, 2014 • from PLN August, 2014
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by News in Brief Alabama: As previously reported in PLN, former Clay County jail administrator Jeffrey “Scott” Cotney filed a lawsuit alleging defamation, slander, libel and other claims related to accusations that he had used his position at the jail to sexually abuse prisoners. [See: PLN, March …
Entire Texas Prison System Locked Down to Search for Phones; Prison Cell Phone Problem is Pandemic
Article • March 15, 2009 • from PLN March, 2009
Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Guard Misconduct, Prison/Common Area Searches, Criminal Prosecution, Lockdowns, Telephone Access, Death Row, State Legislation
Entire Texas Prison System Locked Down to Search for Phones; Prison Cell Phone Problem is Pandemic by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On October 20, 2008, Texas Governor Rick Perry placed all 112 prisons and 155,000 prisoners in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) on lockdown to search for …
New Zealand Prisoners Building Copiers for Canon
Article • December 15, 2008 • from PLN December, 2008
Filed under: Work, Prison Industries, Prison Labor, Prisoners-International
New Zealand Prisoners Building Copiers for Canon by New Zealand prisoners will soon begin working on photocopiers at two prisons. According to New Zealand Department of Corrections (NZDOC) Minister Phil Goff, Canon New Zealand (CNZ) will initially employ a total of 15 prisoners at Rimutaka Prison and Auckland region Women’s …
New Zealand Court of Appeals Upholds Prisoner's Conditions-of-Confinement Award
Article • October 15, 2005
Filed under: Totality of Conditions, Prisoners-International, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement
New Zealand Court of Appeals Upholds Prisoner's Conditions-of-Confinement Award by On September 11, 2005, the New Zealand Court of Appeals upheld and increased the award of compensation to a prisoner for having been held in unlawful conditions of confinement. Christopher Taunoa, a New Zealand prisoner who is serving a life …