Texas Leads the Nation in Both Executions and Exonerations
by Matt Clarke
Texas has long been notorious for applying the death penalty, executing more prisoners than any other state. Between 1976 and September 1, 2015, Texas carried out 528 executions – nearly five times as many as neighboring Oklahoma, which ranked second in the U.S. according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
More recently, however, Texas has become known for the flip side of the capital punishment coin – leading the nation in the number of exonerations, passing the most generous compensation package for wrongfully convicted prisoners of any other state, and enacting laws to help prevent wrongful convictions and hold prosecutors responsible.
From 1994 to 2014, Texas saw 52 prisoners exonerated after DNA evidence revealed they did not commit the crimes for which they had been convicted and sentenced, according to the Innocence Project. Counting all wrongful convictions, including those not involving DNA evidence, there have been 215 confirmed exonerations in Texas.
“The big story for the year is that more prosecutors are working hard to identify and investigate claims of innocence,” said Samuel Gross, who authored a 2014 report for the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE). “And many ...
Jails in Trouble as IRS Investigates Tax-Exempt Bonds
by Matt Clarke
Jails financed with tax-exempt revenue bonds, including numerous facilities in Texas, are scrambling to sell or refinance their debt following investigations by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into whether the bonds are properly classified as tax exempt. County officials ...
Nevada: Federal Suit over Shackling of Pregnant Prisoner Settles for $130,000 and Policy Changes
by Matt Clarke
On February 4, 2014, the Nevada Department of Corrections (DOC) settled a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by a former prisoner who was shackled during her pregnancy. The Board of State Prison Commissioners ...
British Banking Giant Fined for Laundering Mexican Drug Money Through U.S. Banks
by Matt Clarke
In December 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) fined major British bank HSBC almost $2 billion following an investigation that found HSBC was being used by Mexican cartels to launder drug money by transferring ...
Two Reports Find at Least 54 Countries Complicit in Secret CIA Prisons
by Matt Clarke
The Central Intelligence Agency operated a network of prisons around the globe where suspected terrorists were routinely tortured, and in some cases the agency secured funding for foreign governments to pave the way for greater ...
Vermont Newspaper Defends Hiring Reporter with Sex Offense Conviction
by Matt Clarke
The publisher of a Vermont newspaper and its sister publication defended the hiring of a registered sex offender as a reporter covering the police and court beats after facing criticism from a rival paper and national media watchdog ...
Texas Prisoner Held in Prison 35 Years after Conviction Vacated
by Matt Clarke
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas denied a bid to halt the retrial of a mentally challenged prisoner whose original conviction was overturned but who remained incarcerated almost 35 years later. In ruling ...
Terrorism Suspect Moves to Suppress Statements Made to FBI due to Torture Threats
by Matt Clarke
A former British citizen with ties to the U.S.-designated terrorist group al-Shabaab asked a court to suppress statements he gave to FBI agents on the grounds that he was illegally pressured into making them ...
Controversy Surrounds Shackling of Dying and Comatose Prisoners in UK
by Matt Clarke
Authorities at Great Britain’s HM Prison Frankland pledged to change the way ill and dying prisoners are shackled in the aftermath of a scathing report by the UK’s prison ombudsman concerning a prisoner who died while chained ...
Two Names Added to Monument Memorializing Slain Prosecutors
by Matt Clarke
Two more names will be added to the National Prosecutor Memorial in Columbia, South Carolina to mark the deaths of two Texas prosecutors, murdered within months of each other by a former Justice of the Peace who sought vengeance ...
