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News in Brief
Brazil: On February 28, 1997, police stormed the Anibal Bruno prison in Recife where three prisoners were holding two guards and 20 prison visitors hostage in an escape attempt. When negotiations stalled the prisoners killed the guard hostages after which police stormed the prison, killing the prisoners and one hostage.
CA: On April 10, 1997, David Anderson escaped from the California Medical Facility in Vacaville by putting a dummy in his bed, cutting through the window bars of his third floor cell, climbing out with a bed sheet rope and cutting through the prison's perimeter fence. The next day Anderson, who is dying of AIDS, kidnapped a newspaper delivery man, robbed him and took his truck. Anderson was later recaptured.
CA: On April 13, 1997, Michael Bradley and Gregory Smith escaped from the CA Rehabilitation Center in Norco by removing a window security screen and cutting through two chain link fences. Both were recaptured the same day after an extensive manhunt.
CA: On April 2, 1997, Daniel Pivulete escaped from Mule Creek State Prison by driving away from a prison work crew in a prison truck. Pivulete was in prison for vehicle theft.
CA: On April 3, 1997, federal prison guard Scott Williams was stabbed to death by an unidentified prisoner at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lompoc. Four other guards who came to Williams' assistance were stabbed by the same prisoner. No motive was given for the attack.
CA: On March 12, 1997, black prisoners on the IC yard at the Sacramento State Prison in Folsom were placed on lockdown status after prison officials accused black prisoner Lenton Hall of slashing a guard's throat with a razor device.
CA: On March 27, 1997 an Anaheim jury awarded former gang investigator Steve Nolan $340,000 in damages after finding he was fired from the city police force for reporting the beatings of detainees and prisoners by police.
CA: On March 31, 1997, John Turner, a 23 year employee with the state Dept. of Justice's Bureau of Criminal Information and Analysis, was sentenced to fifteen months in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing and possessing child pornography.
Columbia: On March 30, 1997, William Infante was killed by a letter bomb sent to him at Bogota's La Picota maximum security prison. Infante was serving a 25 year sentence for murdering the communist party's 1987 presidential candidate, Jaime Leal. Infante's cellmate, Luis Rodrigues, convicted of a 1995 assassination attempt on president Ernesto Samper's attorney, was seriously injured in the blast.
IA: On March 28, 1997, Paul Severin, a guard at the Iowa State Penitentiary at Ft. Madison and his wife Myrna were arrested on charges of smuggling drugs to prisoners at the facility.
IL: On April 9, 1997, a hooded man entered the Urbana courthouse and threw a Molotov cocktail that bounced off the forehead of circuit judge George Miller which started a fire that gutted the courtroom. Police later arrested John Ewing and charged him with the crime.
MA: On March 9, 1997, 140 state prisoners were sent to a Dallas county jail to join 300 other MA prisoners already there. MA DOC boss Larry DuBois claimed the transfers were necessary to relieve prison overcrowding.
Mexico: Mexico city police chief Raul Guiterrez resigned in April, 1997, amidst scandal after armed prisoners shot their way out of one maximum security prison and disclosures that rich prisoners at another had several cells to themselves, CD players, cell phones, computers, large beds, imported food and visits from prostitutes. Poor prisoners sleep 29 to a cell using newspapers as blankets to stay warm.
Mexico: On March 17, 1997, rival prison gangs fought each other in the Santa Maria Ixcotel prison in Oaxaca, leaving 8 prisoners dead and 49 wounded. The rioters surrendered when police retook the prison. The warden was fired.
MN: On March 27, 1997, a federal grand jury indicted state prisoner George Chamberlain, a convicted pedophile, of conspiring to collect and trade child pornography on the internet using a prison industries computer.
ND: Queen Anne county commissioners announced that beginning April 1, 1997, the county would make chain gangs mandatory for male and female prisoners in the local jail. The county became the first in Maryland history to ever have a chain gang.
OH: In January, 1997, two unnamed employees at the Trumbull Correctional Institution were disciplined after local media reported prisoners had seen films depicting violence such as "Natural Born Killers," "Bad Girls," "Silence of the Lambs," "Angel Heart" and others. An investigation began after an anonymous guard complained prisoners cheered during a scene in "Angel Heart" where a woman was raped and killed.
OH: On April 2, 1997, a paroled murderer awaiting a hearing on new charges, Alva Campbell, escaped from a Cincinnati courtroom when he leapt from his wheelchair, disarmed a guard and escaped in the truck of a man he later killed. Campbell had been diagnosed with "hysterical paralysis," requiring the wheelchair. Apparently he made quite the recovery.
OH: On April 2, 1997, prisoner Robert Lonberger pleaded guilty to aggravated murder charges stemming from the murder of Lima Correctional Institution case worker Bonita Haynes. Lonberger was sentenced to life without parole in exchange for his testimony against John Davis who faces the death penalty for allegedly killing Haynes while Lonberger kept watch. Prosecutors claim the two were attempting to coerce sex from Haynes.
OR: Snake River Correctional Institution sex offender counselor Jan Hindman had her license suspended by a state board after the board found credible evidence that Hindman sometimes treated prisoners while drunk and had sex with them.
SC: Governor David Beasly recently retook state control of a juvenile prison whose operation had been contracted to Corrections Corporation of America. Beasly cited escapes, poorly trained guards and allegations of physical abuse at the prison as reasons for the takeover.
TX: In February, 1997, a Houston probate jury found death row prisoner Robert Coulson liable for the murder of his five family members and he was ordered to pay $26 million in damages to his surviving son.
TX: On April 1, 1997, David Herman attempted suicide by slashing his throat and wrist 36 hours before he was due to be executed. Herman was taken to a hospital, stitched up and returned to the prison where he was killed by the state as scheduled.
TX: On March 11, 1997, nine prisoners at the Hughes Unit in Gatesville were indicted on federal charges of smuggling a .380 pistol and ammunition into the prison for use in an escape attempt. The prisoners were charged with being felons in possession of a firearm, participating in a conspiracy and others. One outside person, who allegedly smuggled the gun onto prison grounds, was also indicted. None of the defendants were identified in media reports.
TX: On March 17, 1997, federal judge Terry Means sentenced former state parole officer Cynthia Evans to six years in prison after she was convicted of taking sex, $25,000 in cash and concealing the drug use of John Clay, a drug dealer selling $2.5 million in cocaine a year. Evans was assigned to supervise Clay's parole. Clay testified against Evans, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison. Evans sentence was twice that called for by federal guidelines because the judge said she had abused the public trust.
TX: On March 22, 1997, Jose Salaz escaped from a Beeville prison by climbing over a razor wire fence.
WA: On April 23, 1997, Washington State Penitentiary guard Jeffrey Griswold was charged with third degree child molestation in Walla Walla superior court. Prosecutors claim Griswold fondled a 14 year old girl in his home during a game of Truth or Dare. Lieutenant Gary Edwards told media Griswold would remain employed at the prison until the charges were resolved.
WI: Damon Block became the second person sentenced to life without parole under the state's "Three Strikes" law after a jury convicted him of battery and causing bodily harm after he hit Oshkosh Correctional Institution supervisor Ana Secchi on the head with a sock containing a padlock. Block hit Secchi because he was upset she ordered him moved to a more restrictive cellblock.
WY: On March 19, 1997, 100 state Wyoming State Penitentiary prisoners were transferred to a Taylor, Texas prison to relieve overcrowding.
CA: On April 10, 1997, David Anderson escaped from the California Medical Facility in Vacaville by putting a dummy in his bed, cutting through the window bars of his third floor cell, climbing out with a bed sheet rope and cutting through the prison's perimeter fence. The next day Anderson, who is dying of AIDS, kidnapped a newspaper delivery man, robbed him and took his truck. Anderson was later recaptured.
CA: On April 13, 1997, Michael Bradley and Gregory Smith escaped from the CA Rehabilitation Center in Norco by removing a window security screen and cutting through two chain link fences. Both were recaptured the same day after an extensive manhunt.
CA: On April 2, 1997, Daniel Pivulete escaped from Mule Creek State Prison by driving away from a prison work crew in a prison truck. Pivulete was in prison for vehicle theft.
CA: On April 3, 1997, federal prison guard Scott Williams was stabbed to death by an unidentified prisoner at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lompoc. Four other guards who came to Williams' assistance were stabbed by the same prisoner. No motive was given for the attack.
CA: On March 12, 1997, black prisoners on the IC yard at the Sacramento State Prison in Folsom were placed on lockdown status after prison officials accused black prisoner Lenton Hall of slashing a guard's throat with a razor device.
CA: On March 27, 1997 an Anaheim jury awarded former gang investigator Steve Nolan $340,000 in damages after finding he was fired from the city police force for reporting the beatings of detainees and prisoners by police.
CA: On March 31, 1997, John Turner, a 23 year employee with the state Dept. of Justice's Bureau of Criminal Information and Analysis, was sentenced to fifteen months in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing and possessing child pornography.
Columbia: On March 30, 1997, William Infante was killed by a letter bomb sent to him at Bogota's La Picota maximum security prison. Infante was serving a 25 year sentence for murdering the communist party's 1987 presidential candidate, Jaime Leal. Infante's cellmate, Luis Rodrigues, convicted of a 1995 assassination attempt on president Ernesto Samper's attorney, was seriously injured in the blast.
IA: On March 28, 1997, Paul Severin, a guard at the Iowa State Penitentiary at Ft. Madison and his wife Myrna were arrested on charges of smuggling drugs to prisoners at the facility.
IL: On April 9, 1997, a hooded man entered the Urbana courthouse and threw a Molotov cocktail that bounced off the forehead of circuit judge George Miller which started a fire that gutted the courtroom. Police later arrested John Ewing and charged him with the crime.
MA: On March 9, 1997, 140 state prisoners were sent to a Dallas county jail to join 300 other MA prisoners already there. MA DOC boss Larry DuBois claimed the transfers were necessary to relieve prison overcrowding.
Mexico: Mexico city police chief Raul Guiterrez resigned in April, 1997, amidst scandal after armed prisoners shot their way out of one maximum security prison and disclosures that rich prisoners at another had several cells to themselves, CD players, cell phones, computers, large beds, imported food and visits from prostitutes. Poor prisoners sleep 29 to a cell using newspapers as blankets to stay warm.
Mexico: On March 17, 1997, rival prison gangs fought each other in the Santa Maria Ixcotel prison in Oaxaca, leaving 8 prisoners dead and 49 wounded. The rioters surrendered when police retook the prison. The warden was fired.
MN: On March 27, 1997, a federal grand jury indicted state prisoner George Chamberlain, a convicted pedophile, of conspiring to collect and trade child pornography on the internet using a prison industries computer.
ND: Queen Anne county commissioners announced that beginning April 1, 1997, the county would make chain gangs mandatory for male and female prisoners in the local jail. The county became the first in Maryland history to ever have a chain gang.
OH: In January, 1997, two unnamed employees at the Trumbull Correctional Institution were disciplined after local media reported prisoners had seen films depicting violence such as "Natural Born Killers," "Bad Girls," "Silence of the Lambs," "Angel Heart" and others. An investigation began after an anonymous guard complained prisoners cheered during a scene in "Angel Heart" where a woman was raped and killed.
OH: On April 2, 1997, a paroled murderer awaiting a hearing on new charges, Alva Campbell, escaped from a Cincinnati courtroom when he leapt from his wheelchair, disarmed a guard and escaped in the truck of a man he later killed. Campbell had been diagnosed with "hysterical paralysis," requiring the wheelchair. Apparently he made quite the recovery.
OH: On April 2, 1997, prisoner Robert Lonberger pleaded guilty to aggravated murder charges stemming from the murder of Lima Correctional Institution case worker Bonita Haynes. Lonberger was sentenced to life without parole in exchange for his testimony against John Davis who faces the death penalty for allegedly killing Haynes while Lonberger kept watch. Prosecutors claim the two were attempting to coerce sex from Haynes.
OR: Snake River Correctional Institution sex offender counselor Jan Hindman had her license suspended by a state board after the board found credible evidence that Hindman sometimes treated prisoners while drunk and had sex with them.
SC: Governor David Beasly recently retook state control of a juvenile prison whose operation had been contracted to Corrections Corporation of America. Beasly cited escapes, poorly trained guards and allegations of physical abuse at the prison as reasons for the takeover.
TX: In February, 1997, a Houston probate jury found death row prisoner Robert Coulson liable for the murder of his five family members and he was ordered to pay $26 million in damages to his surviving son.
TX: On April 1, 1997, David Herman attempted suicide by slashing his throat and wrist 36 hours before he was due to be executed. Herman was taken to a hospital, stitched up and returned to the prison where he was killed by the state as scheduled.
TX: On March 11, 1997, nine prisoners at the Hughes Unit in Gatesville were indicted on federal charges of smuggling a .380 pistol and ammunition into the prison for use in an escape attempt. The prisoners were charged with being felons in possession of a firearm, participating in a conspiracy and others. One outside person, who allegedly smuggled the gun onto prison grounds, was also indicted. None of the defendants were identified in media reports.
TX: On March 17, 1997, federal judge Terry Means sentenced former state parole officer Cynthia Evans to six years in prison after she was convicted of taking sex, $25,000 in cash and concealing the drug use of John Clay, a drug dealer selling $2.5 million in cocaine a year. Evans was assigned to supervise Clay's parole. Clay testified against Evans, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison. Evans sentence was twice that called for by federal guidelines because the judge said she had abused the public trust.
TX: On March 22, 1997, Jose Salaz escaped from a Beeville prison by climbing over a razor wire fence.
WA: On April 23, 1997, Washington State Penitentiary guard Jeffrey Griswold was charged with third degree child molestation in Walla Walla superior court. Prosecutors claim Griswold fondled a 14 year old girl in his home during a game of Truth or Dare. Lieutenant Gary Edwards told media Griswold would remain employed at the prison until the charges were resolved.
WI: Damon Block became the second person sentenced to life without parole under the state's "Three Strikes" law after a jury convicted him of battery and causing bodily harm after he hit Oshkosh Correctional Institution supervisor Ana Secchi on the head with a sock containing a padlock. Block hit Secchi because he was upset she ordered him moved to a more restrictive cellblock.
WY: On March 19, 1997, 100 state Wyoming State Penitentiary prisoners were transferred to a Taylor, Texas prison to relieve overcrowding.
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