Rockland County Times

No Excuse for Cruel and Unusual Prisoner Punishment Posted August 25th, 2012 BY DIANE DIMOND If you are reading this anywhere in America, you know firsthand that this summer has been a record-breaking sizzler. We could be living though the hottest summer season ever. Think about what you’ve done to keep cool. You’ve turned on your air conditioner, or (if you don’t have one) maybe you’ve gone to the movies to cool off. You probably drink lots of ice-cold beverages or jump into a swimming pool or cool shower. Perhaps, like my friend Lester, you drench a kitchen towel, twist it into a U shape and plop it in the freezer to hang around your neck when working outside. Well, imagine you couldn’t do any of those things. Imagine you were isolated in a 10-foot-by-12-foot space with no windows to...

Read more »

Man Accuses Prison of Violating His 13th Amendment Rights (You Know, The One That Banned Slavery)

GARY S. CHAPMAN It’s been 147 years since slavery was abolished in the United States, but one man believes a Vermont prison treated him as if he were back in the 1800s. Finbar McGarry has filed a lawsuit against the state’s prison system and a number of prison officials, alleging they violated his 13th Amendment rights — under which all Americans are guaranteed freedom from “slavery or involuntary servitude.” McGarry, in the $11 million lawsuit, claims he was forced to work for hardly any pay under unsafe conditions at a Vermont jail. According to CBS, he was arrested for a domestic disturbance in December 2008. He spent six weeks...

Read more »

Texas prison officials struggle with high turnover rates, staff shortage

The state's prison system is offering a $3,000 signing bonus for new guards in hopes of filling latest in series of shortages By AZIZA MUSA MORRIS NEWS SERVICE, August 6, 2012 10:17 AM EDT Texas prison officials struggle with high turnover rates, staff shortage AMARILLO — Texas correctional officers guard one of the largest state inmate populations in the country but are plagued by a shortage of people willing to do the job. It’s a thankless but critical function. The pay is low, the hours are long, the conditions are grueling and the danger is constant. http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2012-08-06/texas-prison-officials-struggle-high-turnover-rates-staff-shortage ...

Read more »

Inmates sue over Pelican Bay 'sensory deprivation'

Bob Egelko Published 08:55 p.m., Thursday, May 31, 2012 Ten inmates held in isolation at California's Pelican Bay State Prison for more than a decade sued the state Thursday, saying their conditions - which deprived them of virtually all human contact and any meaningful chance for release - violate international standards against torture and inhumane treatment. The prolonged solitary confinement in the North Coast prison's Security Housing Unit is the harshest anywhere in the nation and "strips human beings of their basic dignity and humanity," the inmates said in a federal court suit in Oakland. A proposed class action on behalf of the unit's 1,000 inmates - half of whom have been there for more than a decade - seeks court orders limiting their stay in the unit to...

Read more »

Patrick Earl Conely, Appellant v. Texas Board of Criminal Justice et al., Appellees

NO. 03–11–00094–CV -- May 30, 2012 Before Chief Justice Jones, Justices Pemberton and Henson  M E M O R A N D U M   O P I N I O N Appellant Patrick Earl Conely, an inmate confined in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), who is appearing pro se and in forma pauperis, appeals the dismissal of his suit against the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and Candace Moore.   Because we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Conely's suit pursuant to chapter 14 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, we will affirm.   See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. §§ 14.001–.014 (West 2002). FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Conely filed suit in district court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2003).   Conely...

Read more »

Rights group joins case over solitary confinement cells in CA where prisoners kept for years

...

Read more »

In Jackson, tourists pay for the chance to experience life behind bars

by Ellen Craeger   Detroit Free Press Travel Writer About 250 guards at State Prison of Southern Michigan fired tear gas at the 1,000 prisoners. Purchase ImageZOOM Visitors now get a chance to see 7 Block, part of the former State Prison of Southern Michigan. The tour of 7 Block was added last year, boosting prison tourism in Jackson. / MARCIN SZCZEPANSKI/DFP Purchase ImageZOOM Judy Gail Krasnow takes visitors back in time to experience another way of life on the Jackson Historic Prison Tour. Krasnow, in front of a mural designed by Jean Weir and Hector Trujillo, hosted just 400...

Read more »

Struggle for prison health care enters new phase

by Marilyn Bechtel May 9, 2012 A new phase opened May 7 in the long-running struggle to provide adequate health care for California prison inmates and to end conditions a federal judge said in 2005 were leading to the unnecessary death of one inmate a week. The State of California, the attorneys who brought the lawsuit on behalf of prison inmates, and the receiver now in charge of prison health care filed a joint report in court this week, setting forth their differing - in some cases opposing - views on how to end the receivership while assuring adequate treatment for the state's current inmates. The state claims prison health...

Read more »