prisons

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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...

Va. Prisons Issue New Rule on Feminine Hygiene Products

Female visitors will be banned from using tampons

(Newser) - Women who visit inmates at Virginia prisons will be barred from wearing tampons or menstrual cups under a new policy stemming from concerns about contraband, the state Department of Corrections said Monday. A spokeswoman said the policy is aimed at preventing contraband like drugs from being smuggled into prisons. "...

Judge Finds Prisoners Aren't Being Tortured by Powdered Milk

Canadian prisoner had complained, but judge dismissed his grievance

(Newser) - A Canadian inmate has lost his fight over powdered milk. The prisoner filed a grievance over the Correctional Service of Canada's policy of using the powdered dairy product rather than liquid milk, which was enacted in his facility in 2015, arguing that it violated his rights. William Johnson had...

Prisons Face 'Unique Challenges' With MS-13

Officials grapple with more fights, attacks, even extortion as MS-13 population rises behind bars

(Newser) - The good news: Hundreds of MS-13 gang members have been arrested over the past few years. The bad news: Those gang members are now wreaking havoc in the prisons they're in, perpetrating acts of violence and extortion to gain control over their locked-down domains. The Washington Post details the...

Inmates Say Florida Has Turned Them Into Slaves. They're Revolting

Operation PUSH begins Monday

(Newser) - Many Americans aren't working on Martin Luther King Day; others are protesting work that they describe as slave labor. The Guardian reports on an "unusual" protest organized by prisoners throughout the state of Florida that kicks off Monday. The primary grievance: that they're forced to work and...

After 10 Years, Inmate Wins Suit on Smoking in Prisons

State's prisons will have to be smoke-free by April 1 due to asthmatic inmate's complaint

(Newser) - Missouri prisons have been ordered to eliminate smoking after an asthmatic inmate serving a life sentence for two murders won a court judgment, per the AP . The Kansas City Star reports Missouri has been ordered to go smoke-free by April 1 because of the lawsuit Ecclesiastical Denzel Washington filed. Missouri...

&#39;Tumor Eroded Through Skin&#39;: A Graphic Look at Prison Health Care
'Tumor Eroded
Through Skin':
A Graphic Look at
Prison Health Care
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jul 16, 2017 7:36 AM CDT

'Tumor Eroded Through Skin': A Graphic Look at Prison Health Care

'Pacific Standard' charts the case of Debbie Daley

(Newser) - Pacific Standard sets out to expose the "twisted world of for-profit prison health care" in a lengthy piece that the easily queasy may struggle through. John H. Tucker charts the case of Debbie Daley, an inmate at Virginia's Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women who in July 2014...

What Happens to ISIS Babies When Their Parents Die

Home countries often won't take children back, so they end up in limbo or in prisons

(Newser) - Hundreds of children fathered by the Islamic State's foreign fighters or brought to the self-proclaimed caliphate by their parents are now imprisoned or in limbo with nowhere to go, collateral victims as the militant group retreats and home countries hesitate to take them back. One young Tunisian orphan, Tamim...

A Son in Prison, a Father&#39;s Tragic Find
Dad Seeking Inmate Son
Finds One Devastating Word
in case you missed it
Feb 25, 2017 5:15 PM CST

Dad Seeking Inmate Son Finds One Devastating Word

Lonnie Hamilton says he was never told his son had died in NY state prison

(Newser) - Lonnie "Ham" Hamilton is the father of four, but it was his namesake, Lonnie Hamilton III, who was his "best friend" and "shadow." Which makes what happened to the younger Hamilton in New York state's prison system, documented in Jennifer Gonnerman's piece for the...

Sad Reason Why Ex-Inmate's Freedom Lasted Just 103 Days

Dealing with mental illness, addiction in Mass. prisons and in real world stacks deck against certain prisoners

(Newser) - It can be tough for ex-inmates to stay out of trouble when they get out prison, but for those with drug problems or battling mental illness in Massachusetts, the transition is even more of a struggle, per a piece by the Boston Globe's Spotlight team. A Department of Correction...

DOJ: We're Phasing Out Private Prisons

After IG report found private prisons aren't as safe, don't offer significant cost-savings

(Newser) - Shares for two big corrections companies took a deep dive Thursday after a report that the Justice Department is moving away from using private prisons, with the eventual goal of no private prisons under its umbrella at all, CNBC reports. Prison companies GEO and Corrections Corporation of America saw more...

California to End Unlimited Solitary Confinement

Thousands of inmates to be moved out of isolation

(Newser) - Thousands of inmates will soon be moved out of solitary confinement in California, after years of court battles and hunger strikes against the controversial practice. The state's decision was revealed in a legal settlement filed today—which still must be accepted by the court—with a group of inmates...

Prisons Should Be More Like Work Camps
Prisons Should Be More
Like Work Camps
OPINION
Feb 10, 2015 12:16 PM CST

Prisons Should Be More Like Work Camps

It would help both the prisoners and the taxpayers

(Newser) - You know that movie cliche about prison inmates making license plates? Well, our prison system—and the inmates themselves—would benefit from a lot more of that kind of thing, writes Nathan Siegel at Ozy . Only a "scant proportion" of inmates have a prison job while locked up, even...

It's Time to Expand College Programs in Prison

Degrees will make ex-cons less likely to end up back in jail, says Bill Keller

(Newser) - Andrew Cuomo got flak when he announced plans to fund college classes for inmates in 10 of New York's prisons, and ended up backing off the idea. But he was right, writes Bill Keller in the New York Times . After all, "what is prison for?" Yes, one of...

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