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News in Brief:
Alabama: On December 1, 2007, Elizabeth Franklin, 54, a guard at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women fell 15 feet out of a guard tower and died.
Brazil: On November 18, 2007, prisoners at the Maceio Detention Center in the state of Alagoas tried to escape. After a shoot out with police jail prisoners rioted and burned parts of the jail. Five prisoners were killed and 70 injured by the time guards regained control of the jail. The jail was designed for 40 prisoners and held 300 at the time of the uprising.
Delaware: On December 7, 2007, Daniel Sosa, 29, a prison guard at Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty not third degree assault charges for beating prisoner William Malachi on February 21, 2007, and then trying to cover it up. Fellow prison guard Stephan Bruckner also pleaded guilty to covering up the attack and was also sentenced to probation. After beating Malachi and breaking his jaw the guards attempted to intimidate him into not reporting the assault. Had a prisoner broken a guard?s jaw during an assault it is unlikely they would have been sentenced to probation.
Florida: On December 24, 2007, prison guards at the Wewahitchka Correctional Facility were handcuffing and questioning a prisoner in the recreation yard of the prison when several prisoners rushed the gate, freed the prisoner and assaulted four guards, who suffered minor injuries in the scuffle. There were 600 prisoners in the yard at the time. Prison officials locked down the prison and subsequently transferred 72 prisoners to other prisons that were deemed insufficiently submissive. Three prisoners may face criminal charges from the incident.
Florida: On March 20, 2007, State attorney Bill Eddins announced no criminal charges would be filed in the death of Escambia county jail prisoner Jerry Preyer, 45. Preyer was allegedly combative with jail guards, who placed him in a restraint chair, released him and then tried to restrain him again and tasered him twice. He died shortly thereafter.
Honduras: On October 15, 2007, ten prisoners escaped from the Yoro prison in Tegucigalpa by shooting their way out, killing one guard and wounding two others. The escapees then stole three cars from visitors in the prison parking lot. The escape occurred during Sunday visiting by prisoners? families. The prison was designed to hold 75 prisoners and held 220 at the time of the escape.
Indiana: Beginning January 1, 2008, sex offenders registered in Grant county will have to pay a $50 annual fee and an additional $5 for each time they change their address. Sex offenders who don?t pay the money will be charged with a Class D felony.
Iraq: On December 10, 2007, seven prisoners were killed and 20 people, including guards and prisoners, were injured when a jail next to the Interior Ministry was subjected to a mortar attack by unknown parties. US troops sealed off the area around the jail in an unsuccessful attempt to catch them.
Maryland: On November 9, 2007, Federal Correctional
Institution-Cumberland guard Robb Phillips, 33, pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting over $14,000 in bribes from prisoners in exchange for smuggling tobacco into the prison. He charged prisoners $50 a pack, or $1,000 a carton for his services. Smoking was banned in federal prisons in 2006 creating a lively black market for tobacco products.
Massachusetts: On February 10, 2008, Daniel Snay, 56, a level 3 sex offender won $10 million in the state lottery. Connecticut state police expressed their surprise at Snay being out of state since he had not registered his change of address with them and they may charge him with failing to register as a sex offender. Snay works as a truck driver.
Mexico: On November 25, 2007, one prisoner was killed and 14 wounded in a gang fight at the Neza-Bordo Jail in Mexico City. The prisoners were armed with guns and knives. This brought the annual death toll at the jail to ten for the year. Designed for 1,600 prisoners it held over 3,000 at the time of the fight.
Missouri: On December 6, 2007, a Howell County sheriff?s squad car was involved in an accident with another car. Jail transport guard Laura Whittingham, 35, and prisoner Lisa Oliver, 36, were killed in the accident and deputy Dennis Maddux, 53, and prisoner Larry Marsh, 33, were both seriously injured.
New Mexico: On December 11, 2008, Johnny Barrientos, a guard at the Don?a Ana County Detention Center was stabbed by Donald Taylor, 27, a federal detainee awaiting trial on murder charges who is allegedly a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. Barrientos was hospitalized for treatment but is expected to recover.
New York: On June 21, 2007, Assistant Warren County District Attorney Jeffrey Ferguson, 53, was fired after being charged with drunk driving by state police. That same weekend, Albany county prosecutor Joseph Meany was arrested and charged with drunk driving after he crashed into two parked cars.
New York: On June 4, 2007, an unidentified prisoner from the Great Meadow Correctional Facility was hospitalized with a severe infection, on his arms, of ?flesh eating? bacteria. The prison reassured its employees, but apparently not the prisoners, that it was taking ?universal precautions? to clean the prison.
Pennsylvania: On December 20, 2007, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections announced it would discipline six employees who were negligent in allowing Malcolm Kysor, 53, to escape from the State Correctional Institution-Albion on November 25, 2007. Kysor, serving a life sentence for a 1988 murder, allegedly was hidden in a trash can by fellow prisoner John Gromer and was loaded into a pick up truck and driven off the prison grounds. Guards failed to use a heart beat detector or prod the garbage. Prison warden Marilyn Brooks was among the staff disciplined. DOC Secretary Jeffrey Beard stated: ?The escape should not have occurred. It shows complacency? If people had done what they were supposed to do this would not have happened.? Kysor remains at liberty as this issue of PLN goes to press. The full report on the escape is on PLN?s website.
Peru: On December 11, 2007, Alberto Fujimori, 69, the former president of Peru was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $134,900 for illegally ordering the search of the apartment of the wife of Vladimiro Montesinos, his spy chief. Fujimori ruled Peru from 1990-2000, the last 8 years as dictator. During his rule, the army and police murdered tens of thousands of Peruvians in a brutal counter insurgency war against the Communist Party of Peru and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.
Fujimori is awaiting trial on murder, kidnapping and corruption charges stemming from ordering government death squads to kidnap, torture and murder the opponents of his regime.
South Carolina: On December 28, 2007, the Department of Corrections announced that women held 1,639 of the Department?s 3,894 security positions, or 42%.
Texas: On December 11, 2007, a an unidentified female prison guard at the Geo Corporation run Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield attempted to take tobacco away from two Idaho prisoners housed in the facility which they resisted. Fifteen prisoners then refused to return to their cells until guards made a show of force.
Texas: On December 31, 2007, guard Julian Brink, 26, was arrested and charged with smuggling 15 packages of Bugler tobacco into the Stringfellow Unit in Rosharon.
Texas: On December 4, 2007, 300 prisoners and seven employees at the McConnell Unit in Beeville were sickened with Norovirus, a gastrointestinal virus that causes vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and stomach cramps. One diabetic prisoner was hospitalized as a result.
Viet Nam: On November 16, 2007, Nguyen Thuyen, 31, and Bui Van Quyet, 23, policemen in Hoa Binh province were convicted of abusing their office by accepting a $92 bribe to allow a male prisoner to have five unsupervised visits to the cell of death row prisoner Nguyen Thi Oanh, 40. Oanh was sentenced to death in 2005 for drug trafficking. While on death row she became pregnant and Vietnamese law prohibits the execution of pregnant women or mothers with children under the age of 3. As a result, her sentence was commuted to life in prison. The death sentence will not be reinstated once her son turns three.
Washington: On June 7, 2007, the Washington State Bar Association suspended Seattle criminal defense attorney Oscar Desper III, 47, for 60 days for punching King county deputy prosecutor Dave Culbertson during a June, 2004, sentencing hearing as the two men argued over the sentence Desper?s client should receive for assaulting a police officer and possessing cocaine. Culbertson pushed Desper when Desper punched him. Culbertson was not charged by the Bar association.
Brazil: On November 18, 2007, prisoners at the Maceio Detention Center in the state of Alagoas tried to escape. After a shoot out with police jail prisoners rioted and burned parts of the jail. Five prisoners were killed and 70 injured by the time guards regained control of the jail. The jail was designed for 40 prisoners and held 300 at the time of the uprising.
Delaware: On December 7, 2007, Daniel Sosa, 29, a prison guard at Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty not third degree assault charges for beating prisoner William Malachi on February 21, 2007, and then trying to cover it up. Fellow prison guard Stephan Bruckner also pleaded guilty to covering up the attack and was also sentenced to probation. After beating Malachi and breaking his jaw the guards attempted to intimidate him into not reporting the assault. Had a prisoner broken a guard?s jaw during an assault it is unlikely they would have been sentenced to probation.
Florida: On December 24, 2007, prison guards at the Wewahitchka Correctional Facility were handcuffing and questioning a prisoner in the recreation yard of the prison when several prisoners rushed the gate, freed the prisoner and assaulted four guards, who suffered minor injuries in the scuffle. There were 600 prisoners in the yard at the time. Prison officials locked down the prison and subsequently transferred 72 prisoners to other prisons that were deemed insufficiently submissive. Three prisoners may face criminal charges from the incident.
Florida: On March 20, 2007, State attorney Bill Eddins announced no criminal charges would be filed in the death of Escambia county jail prisoner Jerry Preyer, 45. Preyer was allegedly combative with jail guards, who placed him in a restraint chair, released him and then tried to restrain him again and tasered him twice. He died shortly thereafter.
Honduras: On October 15, 2007, ten prisoners escaped from the Yoro prison in Tegucigalpa by shooting their way out, killing one guard and wounding two others. The escapees then stole three cars from visitors in the prison parking lot. The escape occurred during Sunday visiting by prisoners? families. The prison was designed to hold 75 prisoners and held 220 at the time of the escape.
Indiana: Beginning January 1, 2008, sex offenders registered in Grant county will have to pay a $50 annual fee and an additional $5 for each time they change their address. Sex offenders who don?t pay the money will be charged with a Class D felony.
Iraq: On December 10, 2007, seven prisoners were killed and 20 people, including guards and prisoners, were injured when a jail next to the Interior Ministry was subjected to a mortar attack by unknown parties. US troops sealed off the area around the jail in an unsuccessful attempt to catch them.
Maryland: On November 9, 2007, Federal Correctional
Institution-Cumberland guard Robb Phillips, 33, pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting over $14,000 in bribes from prisoners in exchange for smuggling tobacco into the prison. He charged prisoners $50 a pack, or $1,000 a carton for his services. Smoking was banned in federal prisons in 2006 creating a lively black market for tobacco products.
Massachusetts: On February 10, 2008, Daniel Snay, 56, a level 3 sex offender won $10 million in the state lottery. Connecticut state police expressed their surprise at Snay being out of state since he had not registered his change of address with them and they may charge him with failing to register as a sex offender. Snay works as a truck driver.
Mexico: On November 25, 2007, one prisoner was killed and 14 wounded in a gang fight at the Neza-Bordo Jail in Mexico City. The prisoners were armed with guns and knives. This brought the annual death toll at the jail to ten for the year. Designed for 1,600 prisoners it held over 3,000 at the time of the fight.
Missouri: On December 6, 2007, a Howell County sheriff?s squad car was involved in an accident with another car. Jail transport guard Laura Whittingham, 35, and prisoner Lisa Oliver, 36, were killed in the accident and deputy Dennis Maddux, 53, and prisoner Larry Marsh, 33, were both seriously injured.
New Mexico: On December 11, 2008, Johnny Barrientos, a guard at the Don?a Ana County Detention Center was stabbed by Donald Taylor, 27, a federal detainee awaiting trial on murder charges who is allegedly a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. Barrientos was hospitalized for treatment but is expected to recover.
New York: On June 21, 2007, Assistant Warren County District Attorney Jeffrey Ferguson, 53, was fired after being charged with drunk driving by state police. That same weekend, Albany county prosecutor Joseph Meany was arrested and charged with drunk driving after he crashed into two parked cars.
New York: On June 4, 2007, an unidentified prisoner from the Great Meadow Correctional Facility was hospitalized with a severe infection, on his arms, of ?flesh eating? bacteria. The prison reassured its employees, but apparently not the prisoners, that it was taking ?universal precautions? to clean the prison.
Pennsylvania: On December 20, 2007, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections announced it would discipline six employees who were negligent in allowing Malcolm Kysor, 53, to escape from the State Correctional Institution-Albion on November 25, 2007. Kysor, serving a life sentence for a 1988 murder, allegedly was hidden in a trash can by fellow prisoner John Gromer and was loaded into a pick up truck and driven off the prison grounds. Guards failed to use a heart beat detector or prod the garbage. Prison warden Marilyn Brooks was among the staff disciplined. DOC Secretary Jeffrey Beard stated: ?The escape should not have occurred. It shows complacency? If people had done what they were supposed to do this would not have happened.? Kysor remains at liberty as this issue of PLN goes to press. The full report on the escape is on PLN?s website.
Peru: On December 11, 2007, Alberto Fujimori, 69, the former president of Peru was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $134,900 for illegally ordering the search of the apartment of the wife of Vladimiro Montesinos, his spy chief. Fujimori ruled Peru from 1990-2000, the last 8 years as dictator. During his rule, the army and police murdered tens of thousands of Peruvians in a brutal counter insurgency war against the Communist Party of Peru and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.
Fujimori is awaiting trial on murder, kidnapping and corruption charges stemming from ordering government death squads to kidnap, torture and murder the opponents of his regime.
South Carolina: On December 28, 2007, the Department of Corrections announced that women held 1,639 of the Department?s 3,894 security positions, or 42%.
Texas: On December 11, 2007, a an unidentified female prison guard at the Geo Corporation run Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield attempted to take tobacco away from two Idaho prisoners housed in the facility which they resisted. Fifteen prisoners then refused to return to their cells until guards made a show of force.
Texas: On December 31, 2007, guard Julian Brink, 26, was arrested and charged with smuggling 15 packages of Bugler tobacco into the Stringfellow Unit in Rosharon.
Texas: On December 4, 2007, 300 prisoners and seven employees at the McConnell Unit in Beeville were sickened with Norovirus, a gastrointestinal virus that causes vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and stomach cramps. One diabetic prisoner was hospitalized as a result.
Viet Nam: On November 16, 2007, Nguyen Thuyen, 31, and Bui Van Quyet, 23, policemen in Hoa Binh province were convicted of abusing their office by accepting a $92 bribe to allow a male prisoner to have five unsupervised visits to the cell of death row prisoner Nguyen Thi Oanh, 40. Oanh was sentenced to death in 2005 for drug trafficking. While on death row she became pregnant and Vietnamese law prohibits the execution of pregnant women or mothers with children under the age of 3. As a result, her sentence was commuted to life in prison. The death sentence will not be reinstated once her son turns three.
Washington: On June 7, 2007, the Washington State Bar Association suspended Seattle criminal defense attorney Oscar Desper III, 47, for 60 days for punching King county deputy prosecutor Dave Culbertson during a June, 2004, sentencing hearing as the two men argued over the sentence Desper?s client should receive for assaulting a police officer and possessing cocaine. Culbertson pushed Desper when Desper punched him. Culbertson was not charged by the Bar association.
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