14 Sep 2015

Modern Debtors Prison: Alabama Jailing Residents Over Tickets

According to a federal class action lawsuit filed in Alabama this month, the city of Alexander is incarcerating people who are unable to pay court fees and fines in a modern-day debtors prison. The suit argues the practice not only constitutes false imprisonment, but also violates inmates’ Fourth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the Constitution.

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14 Sep 2015

Questionable Medical Care Turns Short Jail Stays Into Death Sentences

When Jesse Jacobs reported to the Galveston County Jail to serve a 30-day sentence for a DUI, he did so knowing that if everything went well, he would be out in 12 to 15 days. Six days later, he was dead. Jacobs was one of the nearly 1000 people who die each year in America’s jails, according to statistics released by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. Like Jacobs, four in every ten of these people die in their first seven days in jail.

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11 Sep 2015

Formerly Incarcerated Black Youth Face Extremely High Mortality Rates in Chicago

Young black men detained in Cook County, Chicago, face a higher mortality rate than the general population of the county, according to a bulletin published by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) as part of their “Northeastern Juvenile Project.”

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10 Sep 2015

Lawsuit: Inmate’s Skull Fracture Ignored For Days By Advanced Correctional Healthcare

A new lawsuit alleges for-profit inmate medical contractor Advanced Correctional Healthcare (ACH) and jail officials violated state laws and the Constitution in their substandard delivery of healthcare to an inmate suffering from serious conditions related to a traumatic brain injury. The inmate alleges his critical prescriptions were withheld and altered, and an injury to his head was left untreated for days until he developed paralysis on the right side of his body.

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05 Sep 2015

Lawsuit: NYPD Retaliated Against Whistleblower Cop For Exposing Illegal Quotas

Adhyl Polanco, an NYPD officer who spoke out publicly against the department’s use of illegal quotas for summonses and arrests, filed a lawsuit in federal court this week alleging his superiors discriminated and retaliated against him based on his race and speech. According to Polanco’s lawsuit, the NYPD was threatening officers with “termination and negative employment actions, such as low performance evaluations and punitive postings,” to force them to meet Stop & Frisk and arrest quotas.

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03 Sep 2015

Report: US Jails And Prisons Ill Equipped For Global Warming

A new study published by the Columbia Law School Sabin Center for Climate Change Law found US jails and prisons grossly unfit for dealing with rising temperatures, which place inmate and staff health at risk. The study urged policy makers and administrators to begin taking steps to prepare for heat waves associated with climate change.

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02 Sep 2015

California Agrees To Restrict Use of Long-Term Solitary Confinement

California has agreed to restrict the use of long-term solitary confinement in a settlement agreement filed in federal court this week. Restrictions are expected to reduce the number of inmates in isolation, cap the number of continuous years an inmate can spend in solitary confinement to five, and establish measures by which inmates can more easily achieve release back to general population.

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01 Sep 2015

776 People Killed By Police So Far in 2015, 161 Of Them Unarmed

So far in 2015, U.S. police killed 776 people, 161 of whom were completely unarmed at the time of their death. The data was compiled by The Guardian for a project called “The Counted,” a continuously updated, interactive database of police killings in the United States.

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01 Sep 2015

Corrections Corporation of America Acquires Re-Entry Facilities As Private Prison Industry Pursues New Business

On Monday, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) announced it acquired four residential re-entry facilities from another private contractor for $13.5 million. According to a company press release, the re-entry facilities each have about 600 beds and were leased by Community Education Centers, Inc. (CEC) to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and the Philadelphia Prison System.

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31 Aug 2015

Tennessee Department of Corrections Struggles To Keep The Lid On Prison Crisis

The Tennessee Department of Corrections is threatening and intimidating corrections officers speaking out against dangerous work conditions, according to a letter [PDF] published on August 27 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. The organization asked the DOC to clearly state it will not seek to silence or retaliate against employees for their speech.

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