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Articles by Matthew Clarke

OSHA Cites Corizon for Inadequate Workplace Safety on Rikers Island

Listing numerous instances of its medical, mental health and dentistry employees being assaulted by Rikers Island prisoners, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Corizon Health, Inc. for willful violation of Section 5(a)(1) of the OSHA Act of 1970 by failing to provide a workplace that was "free ...

Jail Crowding at Texas County That Recently Sold Expansion Jail

In 2008, Montgomery County, Texas built the 1,293-bed Joe Corley Detention Center (JCDC) for $45 million. The voters who approved the bond issue believed the JCDC would be used to expand the capacity of the 1,251-bed Montgomery County Jail, which was built in 1987. In approving the tax-exempt status of ...

Crime Statistics for Texas Prison System Unchanged

The crime rate in Texas prisons has remained about the same despite a decrease in prisoner population of about 9,000 over the past ten years.

Since 2009, 3,001 Texas prisoners and 584 Texas prison guards have been charged with crimes that occurred within the prison system. The most charges were ...

Alaskan Prisoner Deaths under Scrutiny

The Alaskan state legislature held a hearing in July 2014 after five Alaskan prisoners died between April and June of that year.

According to Joe Schmidt, director of the Alaska Department of Corrections, the 2010 national prisoner death rate was .217% and the death rate for Alaska was .23%, putting ...

Report Finds Fiscal Crisis of Increasing Low-Risk, High-Cost Older Prisoners

A report released by the Osborne Association found American prisons facing a crisis of aging in which an increasing percentage of older prisoners who are at low risk for recidivism are driving up the cost of running prisons while parole officials continue to deny release due to the nature of ...

Texas County Closes Most of Jail Due to Staff Shortage

People are escaping from the Austin County Jail in Texas. Not the prisoners, but the jailers. Low salaries and a lack of overtime compensation have driven jail staff away and led Austin County Sheriff Jack Brandes to close a new annex to the jail with 50 of the jail's beds, ...

In-house Parole Costs New Mexico Over $10 Million Annually

Inefficiencies in the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and the state’s Parole Board have resulted in hundreds of prisoners being kept in prison long beyond their parole release dates. The cost of incarcerating each prisoner during this so-called “in-house parole” is $99.31 per day, and with only 50% of New ...

Medical Statistical Model Used to Estimate Wrongful Conviction Rate in Death Penalty Cases

An interesting collaboration between medical and law professionals, under the leadership of University of Michigan Law School professor Samuel R. Gross, led to the application of medical statistical analysis to exonerations of death-sentenced prisoners, in order to estimate the number of innocent defendants who receive the death penalty. The report, ...

Dallas Conviction Integrity Unit Gains National Notoriety

The word “first” was applied to Craig M. Watkins multiple times after his election to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office in 2006. He was the county’s first black D.A., the first D.A. who had been a public defender before being elected prosecutor and the first D.A. to establish a ...

Cities Re-evaluating Housing Bans for Former Prisoners

In the 1990s, high crime rates in public housing – especially the infamous “projects” – led many cities to adopt a one-strike policy that banned anyone with a felony conviction from public housing. Now, with declining crime rates and the demolition of many massive housing projects, some cities are re-evaluating ...