by Matt Clarke
Globovisión is the last remaining Venezuelan television station that is openly critical of President Hugo Chávez. In May 2010, Globovisión president Guillermo Zuloaga was arrested for making offensive comments about Chávez while discussing a government crackdown on the Venezuelan media at an Inter-American Press Association conference.
That ...
by Matt Clarke
Over the course of the past few decades there has been a significant increase in the percentage of criminal cases being plea bargained and a corresponding decrease in cases that are taken to trial.
According to many legal experts, the driving force behind this change is an ...
by Matt Clarke
Faced with a $23 billion shortfall in its 2011-2012 budget, Texas officials nevertheless have refused to take advantage of a potential money-saver: paroling state prisoners who are elderly, infirm or terminally ill, who pose little threat to public safety.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a conservative ...
by Matt Clarke
The smuggling of illicit items such as drugs, cigarettes and cell phones into prisons and jails continues to be a significant problem throughout the United States. Often the people doing the smuggling are guards or other corrections employees, who, motivated by greed, accept bribes from prisoners.
Prison ...
by Matt Clarke
Faced with a $23 billion biennial state budget deficit, the Texas legislature has radically cut education programs in state prisons. Such short-term savings will undoubtedly result in long-term expenses, as education has been proven to reduce recidivism.
Jorge Renaud, 55, is an example of a prison education ...
by Matt Clarke
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Christopher B. Epps, the Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), was entitled to qualified immunity after a prisoner was held beyond the date he was supposed to be released.
Will Terrance Porter, a former Mississippi state prisoner, ...
by Matt Clarke
On October 7, 2011, a U.S. District Court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (Board) from enforcing onerous sex offender conditions that had been imposed on a parolee who had not been convicted of a sex offense.
Buddy Jene Yeary, convicted ...
by Matt Clarke
A June 2011 report by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) reveals how for-profit private prison companies use political campaign donations, lobbyists and relationships with government officials to increase their profits by promoting policies that result in more people being incarcerated.
Even in tight budgetary times when many ...
by Matt Clarke
In September 2011, the Texas State Auditor released a report on the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) used by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The audit, which covered the period from September 2009 through November 2010, found inaccuracies ...
Texas served its final last meal to condemned prisoner Lawrence Russell Brewer, who, on September 21, 2011, was executed for the infamous racially-motivated 1998 dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. Brewer requested an extensive last meal and then didn’t eat any of it, which prompted state Senator John Whitmire, chairman ...
