Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) officials are working to expand prisoner visiting opportunities, in response to a 2011 study that found a positive correlation between prison visits and recidivism rates.
In November 2011, the Minnesota Department of Corrections released a study, concluding that “visitation significantly decreased the risk of recidivism,” ...
In 2013, the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) paid 53 employees $580,891 to stay home, according to public records.
ODOC employees may be placed on administrative leave and “duty stationed at home” for a number of reasons, such as being suspected of criminal conduct, violating employment practices, or for internal ...
On March 26, 2014, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court enjoined the retrospective application of a law requiring Internet publication of level two sex offender registry information.
In 1999, Massachusetts established a sex offender registration law (SORL), which classified sex offenders “into one of three ‘levels of notification depending on the ...
In the rarest of moves, Oregon prison officials have quickly admitted that negligence was a “substantial factor” in a prisoner’s murder.
In July, 2010, Michael Clarence Hagen began serving a 17 year prison term at the Snake River Correctional Institution (SRCI), in Ontario, Oregon. Hagen, who had never been in ...
As the nation’s prison population increased 10 percent, from 1.2 million prisoners in 1999 to 1.3 million in 2012, the New York and New Jersey prison populations dropped 26 percent, according to a report released by The Sentencing Project on July 23, 2014.
More importantly, the crime rates in both ...
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is subjecting prisoners to cruel, degrading and “inhuman” conditions, in violation of international law, by locking them in long-term solitary confinement at the Administrative Maximum facility (ADX) at Florence, Colorado, according to a recent Amnesty International report.
ADX, known as Alcatraz of the Rockies, is ...
In the wake of a botched execution, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections adopted new rules on September 30, 2014, severely limiting media access to executions.
Media representatives and other observers waited in a viewing room, to witness the April 29, 2014 execution of Oklahoma prisoner Clayton Lockett. The blind concealing ...
Lance Conway Wood, 48, was described as “a strong-willed inmate” with an extensive “history of ‘crossing the line’” who “exploits the human weaknesses of prison staff,” according to a federal judge. Wood, however, undoubtedly views himself as a “lover” and not an “exploiter,” and his affections have not been limited ...
Over the past five years the crime rate has steadily declined in New York City. Meanwhile, the city’s incarceration rate has decreased, too.
“New York’s crime rate has gone down more quickly and more steeply than the rest of the country and we are the model for low crime in ...
The Washington Department of Corrections (WDOC) was fined $141,000 after an inspection found code violations that exposed prisoners working in an asbestos abatement program to elevated risks of cancer and lung disease.
Since 1990, the WDOC had trained and certified prisoners in asbestos removal. Those prisoners were then paid $4.00 ...
