by Michael Fortino, Ph.D.
Following multiple PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) investigations into the inappropriate actions of six sheriff’s Office employees, all were summarily fired from their positions at the Howard County Jail in Kokomo, Indiana, in early March 2020.
Of the six terminations, two occurred on the same day ...
by Michael Fortino, Ph.D.
Sic semper tyrannis! “Death to tyrants!”one spectator angrily proclaimed, as the city of Baltimore demolished the State of Maryland’s oldest and most austere penitentiary, an 80-foot high, granite, medieval-style castle with roots dating back to 1811—a feat of nostalgic architecture, but one that represents 200 ...
by Michael Fortino, Ph.D.
A January 23, 2020, report from the Office of the State Auditor reveals poor oversight by the Utah Department of Corrections (UDC) of its Inmate Placement Program (IPP), which places state prisoners in local jails rather than one of two state prisons. The audit found deficiencies ...
by Michael Fortino, Ph.D.
Open prison is unthinkable today in the United States, though in Scandinavia such institutions are heralded as models of civility and rehabilitation. The U.S. experimented with open prisons back in 1941, which proved there were better ways to rehabilitate and reduce recidivism. Unfortunately, those lessons were ...
by Michael Fortino, Ph.D.
In September 2019, California prison administrators and officials agreed to put a hold on a policy known as “incremental release” after complaints from prisoners and their relatives that it had been used to promote a “divide-and-conquer” strategy at state prisons by orchestrating “gladiator fights” among prisoners, ...
by Michael Fortino, Ph.D.
On March 9, with fears of coronavirus spreading, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York held a press conference to announce the debut of a new hand sanitizer called NYS Clean. It will be produced by state prisoners paid approximately 16 cents per hour through CorCraft Products, ...
by Michael Fortino, Ph.D.
In August 2016, just after an Obama administration decision to stop contracting with for-profit private prisons sent its stock price tumbling, GEO Group, Inc., the country’s largest private prison contractor, donated $100,000 to a super PAC aligned with then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.
Through a wholly ...
