by Christopher Zoukis
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the imprisonment rate for blacks is declining and has been doing so for many years. But the BJS data also indicates that the trend is headed in the opposite direction when it comes to white incarceration rates.
The ...
by Christopher Zoukis
The federal government's attempt to restrict a former prisoner’s First Amendment right to free speech has been reversed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Darren Chaker was convicted of a white collar crime related to a bankruptcy filing and sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. ...
by Christopher Zoukis
The Ninth Circuit has ruled that the former warden at the California Institute for Women (CIW) is not immune from liability for failing to protect two female prisoners from repeated sexual abuse at the hands of a prison guard.
Jossie Ramos and Melissa Ortiz were incarcerated at ...
by Christopher Zoukis
On October 25, 2016, the Tenth Circuit remanded a case involving a federal probation violation for resentencing due to the improper admission of hearsay testimony from a probation officer.
Tremale Henry was on federal supervised release when he was allegedly involved in two assaults involving dangerous weapons. ...
by Christopher Zoukis
A disturbance at Alaska's Lemon Creek Correctional Center left a housing unit uninhabitable after prisoners and guards clashed over the prison's excessive telephone rates, a "smartmouth" guard's comments on the subject, and other issues.
According to prisoners formerly housed in the dorm, on October 9, 2015, between ...
by Christopher Zoukis
On November 30, 2014, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office announced that Ferguson (MO) Police Officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted in connection with Wilson's fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown on August 9, 2014. The failure of the grand jury to return an ...
by Christopher Zoukis
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has taken the unusual step of reversing a prison disciplinary board's finding that a prisoner was guilty of committing a prohibited act.
Timothy W. Austin was a prisoner at an Indiana prison when he was found guilty of attempting to traffic in tobacco. The entire body of evidence used against Austin at his disciplinary hearing was a grammatically flawed statement by "Ofc Spoon." In the statement, Spoon stated that while "shaking down the crawl spase [sic]" in which Austin was allegedly assigned to a work detail, he found Ziploc baggies with tobacco in them.
Austin provided uncontradicted testimony that he had only worked in the crawl space one day out of the four weeks he was assigned to the area. He also provided uncontradicted testimony that four other inmates were in the crawl space on the same day he was.
The prison disciplinary board found this to be sufficient evidence and convicted Austin. His punishment consisted of losing 60 days of good conduct time, being demoted to a lower credit class, being given 20 hours of extra duty, and being denied commissary privileges for 25 days.
Austin ...
by Christopher Zoukis
In a department that is riddled with scandals, so many that Sheriff Gary Wilson resigned on Monday, July 21, Denver Sheriff's Department Division Chief Elias Diggins was appointed in his place on a temporary basis.
Adding to Denver's woes, it was later revealed that Diggins has a criminal record.
There have been numerous incidents when Denver Sheriff's Department employees have been accused of misconduct. Deputy Brad Lovingier was caught on video slamming a handcuffed inmate, Anthony Waller, into a wall al a court hearing without provocation.
In April 2013, Deputy Matthew Andrews assisted prisoner Felix Trujillo's escape from Denver's new jail. Deputy Andrews let Trujillo wear his hat and coat to walk out of the building.
In another case, the second highest ranking member of the Department, Michael Than, was said to have stolen 1,288 copies of Turbo Tax software from several Target stores, reselling them for more than $60,000 on eBay.
In a suit filed by former prisoner Jamal Hunter, it was alleged that Hunter had been attacked by other prisoners who burned his genitals with scalding water, allegedly because officers failed to protect him from other prisoners; he alleged that two deputies had attacked him ...
by Christopher Zoukis
On November 2, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a district court’s denial of death row prisoner Thomas D. Arthur’s challenge to the use of the drug midazolam in the lethal injection protocol used by the State of Alabama.
Arthur challenged midazolam as the first in a series ...
by Christopher Zoukis
Suicides at the California Institution for Women (CIW) in Chino have surged to alarming levels. Six prisoners have killed themselves within the past three years, according to Krissi Khokhobashvili, spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). In the same period, she added, there were ...
