by Matt Clarke
On November 12, 2009, Pennsylvania state representative John M. Perzel was charged with 82 counts of theft, conflict of interest, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and hindering apprehension or prosecution as a result of Attorney General Tom Corbett’s long-running investigation into political corruption, nicknamed “Bonusgate.” Perzel, a Republican ...
by Matt Clarke
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest for-profit prison company, already spends a significant amount of money courting federal agencies and members of Congress. CCA employs three lobbying firms in Washington D.C., spent about $1 million in lobbying on the federal level in 2009, and has ...
by Matt Clarke
On May 20, 2010, a $2.9 million settlement was reached in a Pennsylvania federal civil rights lawsuit against GEO Group for performing suspicionless strip searches of people arrested for minor, non-violent, non-drug offenses.
Penny Allison inadvertently missed a scheduled court appointment finalizing her probation program in a ...
by Matt Clarke
On November 30, 2009, a maximum-security Texas state prisoner who was shackled to a wheelchair in the back of a transport van while being transferred between prisons pulled out a pistol, commandeered the van, handcuffed the guards together and escaped. He was recaptured eight days later.
Arcade ...
by Matt Clarke
On September 17, 2009, Steven Charles Phillips, a former Texas prisoner who spent 24 years in prison on a rape charge before being exonerated in 2008, filed suit in Dallas County district court against his former attorney, Kevin Glasheen, and his attorney’s law firm, Glasheen, Valles, Inderman ...
by Matt Clarke
In December 2009, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice released statistical data on capital punishment in the United States for 2008. The report was later revised to include preliminary statistics on capital punishment in 2009.
Of the 37 executions carried out ...
by Matt Clarke
After examining hundreds of cases, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission has verified its first claim of innocence – which resulted in both controversy and stinging criticism from prosecutors.
In 2006, North Carolina became the first state to establish a government agency with the sole mandate of ...
by Matt Clarke
In November 2009, an Arizona state judge held Maricopa County Detention Officer Adam Stoddard in contempt of court and ordered him to hold a press conference and publicly apologize to defense attorney Joanne Cuccia, after Stoddard took a document from Cuccia’s file while she was participating in ...
by Matt Clarke
On September 5, 2009, guards at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville prepared for an onerous task – executing state prisoner Romell Broom. They tried for two hours to find a usable vein in which to inject the three-drug lethal injection cocktail. Unable to find one, ...
by Matt Clarke
There are two criminal justice systems in the United States. One is for people with wealth, fame or influence who can afford to hire top-notch attorneys and public relations firms, who make campaign contributions to sheriffs, legislators and other elected officials, and who enjoy certain privileges due ...
