by Matthew T. Clarke
Texas has a unique form of civil commitment for sexual predators which allows outpatient treatment and requires most of the civilly committed to live at a halfway house. A committed man's recent escape from a Dallas halfway house brought the Texas model into question.
Seventeen states ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
On June 28, 2006, the Supreme Court held that violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Notification (Convention) do not require exclusion of evidence from a criminal trial and are subject to procedural default rules.
Moises Sanchez-Llamas, an Oregon state prisoner and a citizen of Mexico, ...
European Court of Human Rights Voids UKs Blanket Bans On Prisoner Voting
by Matthew T. Clarke
On October 6, 2005, the European Court of Human Rights issued a Grand Chamber Judgment holding that Britains blanket ban on incarcerated prisoners voting in elections violated Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
In a little-known program, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has been allowing unescorted prisoners to transfer between prisons using Greyhound and other civilian buses. Not surprisingly, some never show up at their destination.
The program is considered a form of furlough by the BOP, related ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
A federal grand jury has indicted four men--two of whom have been prisoners at the California State Prison-Sacramento (New Folsom Prison)--with conspiracy to levy war against the United States, to possess and use firearms in the furtherance of violence, and to kill U.S. and foreign officials. ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
The Fifth Circuit court of appeals held that a parolee who has never been convicted of a sex offense is entitled to a due process hearing prior to being required to register as a sex offender and attend sex offender treatment as a condition of parole. ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
In another bizarre twist to an already bewildering prosecution history, on September 9, 2005, Texas federal district judge Lynn Hughes, by judicial fiat, acquitted Andy Collins, the former executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), and Yank Barry, the Canadian ex-con owner of ...
Illinois DOC Seeks to Block Ex-Wardens Benefits
by Matthew T. Clarke
On September 13, 2005, the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) filed an appeal of a workers compensation arbitrators decision to grant ex-prison warden William Barham permanent total disabilities benefits. Barhams injuries stem from a fatal one-vehicle accident for which ...
Houston Grand Juries Mostly Law-Enforcement and Government Employees
by Matthew T. Clarke
Ever since a ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court in Smith v. State of Texas, 311 U.S. 128, 61 S.Ct. 164, 85 L.Ed. 84 (1940), grand juries have been required to represent a broad cross-section" of the ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
Tony Fabelo was the head of the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council for two decades. He survived multiple changes of administration by doing a great job as the state's top number-cruncher on prison issues. Legislators of both parties say the Cuban-born Ph.D., a nationally-known authority on ...
