prisons

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Report: Prison Forces Pregnant Inmates Into Early Labor

3 prisoners at Arizona's Perryville facility claim that forced inductions are prison policy

(Newser) - Three female inmates have lobbed an eyebrow-raising accusation against the Arizona prison where they're incarcerated. The three women say that when they were pregnant at the Perryville facility outside of Phoenix, they had labor induced against their will, and medical records seen by the Arizona Republic confirm that all...

It's Time to Push Back Against the 'Inhumanity' in Our Prisons
Don't Ignore the Suffering
in America's Prisons
OPINION
Sep 11, 2022 5:00 PM CDT

Don't Ignore the Suffering in America's Prisons

Writing for 'Philly Inquirer,' Cheryl Smith slams 'soul-chilling inhumanity' toward incarcerated

(Newser) - The Eighth and 14th Amendments are meant to prevent cruel and unusual punishment, as well as discrimination and unequal treatment—including for the incarcerated. But that's not what's being applied in America's prisons, Cheryl Smith writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer , where she lays out the "soul-chilling...

Inmates Struggle to Pay for Prison Stay After Release

Suit battles Connecticut law that bills prisoners $249 per day

(Newser) - Two decades after her release from prison, Teresa Beatty feels she is still being punished. When her mother died two years ago, the state of Connecticut put a lien on the Stamford home she and her siblings inherited. It said she owed $83,762 for her 2½-year imprisonment for...

US Keeps Over 40K in Solitary: Report

States pass or take up legislation to limit the practice

(Newser) - American prisons are holding tens of thousands of inmates in solitary confinement—a practice much of the world calls a human rights violation and the United Nations considers torture. Between 41,000 and 48,000 men and women were being kept for an average of 22 hours a day, for...

Alabama's Plan for $400M in COVID Relief Proves Contentious

Jerry Nadler asks Treasury to block plan to build 3 prisons, renovate 4 others

(Newser) - Alabama lawmakers plan to use almost 20% of the state's federal pandemic relief money to build three new prisons and renovate four others. Lawmakers in the state, which has the highest COVID-19 death rate in the country, initiated a special session Monday to discuss the $1.3 billion plan,...

NY Governor Makes Move on 'Out of Control' Rikers Island

Kathy Hochul signs new legislation, releases 191 prisoners to relieve overcrowding

(Newser) - Update: State lawmakers who'd lobbied New York's governor to address the overcrowding crisis at Rikers Island have seen results. Per CBS , Kathy Hochul on Friday signed the Less Is More Act and ordered 191 inmates, most with technical parole violations, to be released from the beleaguered prison complex....

One 'Vulnerable Community' Isn't Prepared for Rising Temps

They're a particular threat for our incarcerated population

(Newser) - A heat index—meaning how hot it feels—of 103 can cause heat stroke. In a piece for Fast Company , Kristin Toussaint explains that a 2014 study out of Texas found the heat index in Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) facilities could hit 149 degrees. "They’re built...

Cell Check Missed Beheaded Inmate: IG Reports

Guards instead reported both California prisoners were alive

(Newser) - It must have taken hours to decapitate and dissect the body of Luis Romero in his cell at California's Corcoran State Prison. But the guards, who were supposed to be checking the cells, didn't see anything. In fact, they reported that everyone was fine, according to two reports...

Navalny May Be in a 'Situation of a Slow Death'

So says Amnesty International

(Newser) - Amnesty International is weighing in on Alexei Navalny's prison conditions, and it isn't pulling punches. "We have to do more," said Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard on Wednesday. "[They] have already attempted to kill him, they are now detaining him, and imposing prison conditions,...

NY Puts Kibosh on 'Inhumane' Prison Policy

New law will bar solitary confinement for more than 15 days in a row

(Newser) - A prison policy labeled by many as "torture," "inhumane," and "counterproductive" is ending in New York state. On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the HALT Act , a measure that bars the use of solitary confinement for more than 15 days in a row...

He Survived 18 Years in Solitary Confinement
He Survived
18 Years in 
Solitary 
Confinement
OPINION
Mar 25, 2021 12:30 PM CDT

He Survived 18 Years in Solitary Confinement

Ian Manuel pleads for end to juvenile solitary confinement

(Newser) - Ian Manuel had just finished seventh grade when he shot a woman in the face during a robbery. It was "the act of a 13-year-old in crisis," Manuel writes in a New York Times op-ed, adding that the "cruel and unusual punishment" that followed did not fit...

1 in 5 US Prisoners Has Had COVID-19
Prison Infections
Hit a New High
Dec 18, 2020 4:35 PM CST

Prison Infections Hit a New High

Infections among inmates have to be addressed before the pandemic can end, expert says

(Newser) - One in every five state and federal prisoners in the US has tested positive for the coronavirus, a rate more than four times as high as the general population. In some states, more than half of prisoners have been infected, according to data collected by the AP and the Marshall...

4 Guards Face Prison After Inmate's Beating

Alabama corrections officers are charged

(Newser) - Four former corrections officers have been charged in the 2018 beating of an inmate in Alabama. A male prisoner was taken down by officers at the Bibb Correctional Facility in Brent, Ala., on Sept. 12, 2018, after running out of his cell. Jordan Thomas, Kevin Blaylock, and Sgt. Keith Finch...

Next Possible Epicenter for Virus: America's Prisons

Correctional facilities 'completely unequipped' to handle pandemic, one ex-NYC official says

(Newser) - The next potential epicenter for America's coronavirus pandemic: prisons and jails, per health experts. They're little cities hidden behind tall fences where many people share cells, sit elbow-to-elbow in dining areas, and are herded through halls to the yard or prison industry jobs. They say it's nearly...

Jay-Z Sues Again: Life in Miss. Prison Is 'Barbaric'

Suit describes 'nonexistent' health care, food tainted with rat feces at Parchman in Mississippi

(Newser) - The reported last words of an inmate who died by suicide at Mississippi State Penitentiary last month were, "I'm tired of this s---. They don't care about me or my food." Now, 152 inmates are suing the state's only maximum-security prison for men, known as...

Girl Visiting Dad in Jail Had to Do 'Traumatizing' Thing First

Civil rights activists are outraged 8-year-old was strip-searched at Virginia correctional facility

(Newser) - An 8-year-old who visited her dad in a Virginia prison received an unpleasant surprise there that has civil rights activists outraged. The Virginian-Pilot reports on Nov. 24, the father's girlfriend, Diamond Peerman, took the girl to Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn. Once there, a drug-sniffing dog focused on Peerman,...

Barr: DOJ Is 'All In' on Releasing 2.2K Inmates

It marks a big policy turnaround for the AG

(Newser) - Leroy Nolan has spent the last 26 years behind bars at a federal prison for a drug conviction. But what has become a decades-long routine for Nolan behind the barbed wire, steel gates, and concrete walls of FCI Edgefield, a prison in rural South Carolina, will all change on Friday...

Inside Prison's Stitched-Up Rats, All This

What a fun find in Dorset, England

(Newser) - Those aiming to sneak contraband into a UK prison assumed guards wouldn't inspect dead rats. Too bad the guards at Guys March prison in Dorset, England, noticed stitches over the bellies of three animals, believed to have been thrown over a prison wall. Inside, reports Reuters , were five cellphones...

Last Island Penal Colony in the Americas Is Closing

Mexico's Islas Marias will become a cultural center

(Newser) - Mexico is closing its infamous Isla Marias prison, the last island penal colony in a hemisphere once dotted with remote island jails like the one depicted in the movie Papillon. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday that Mexico will relocate about two-thirds of the 659 remaining inmates and free...

An 'Abrupt About-Face' for Va. Prison Ban on Tampons

Tampon, menstrual cup ban for inmate visitors has been suspended—for the moment

(Newser) - Virginia is suspending a newly introduced policy that would have barred women who visit inmates at state prisons from using tampons or menstrual cups. Secretary of Public and Homeland Security Safety Brian Moran said Tuesday on Twitter that he'd ordered an "immediate suspension until further review." The...

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