The index for the 2004 issues of PLN is now ready and available for shipping. PLN's indexes are a great stand alone research tool as well as the best tool to maximize the use of PLN as a research tool. Each index lists all PLN articles by issue and article ...
Welcome to the first issue of 2005. The year is starting pretty much the way it ended in terms of political progress for prisoners' rights: not very good at all. The ongoing, simmering outrage of the abuse of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners by the US military in those countries and ...
From The Editor
by Paul Wright
As we close the year I would like to remind readers of our matching grant fundraiser where donations will be matched, dollar for dollar from non prisoners, and two dollars for every dollar donated from prisoners. The maximum amount being donated is $25,000.00. As ...
by Roger Smith & Paul Wright
In a rare reversal of its own prior ruling, the Washington state supreme court has ruled that the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) must stop "letting out" convict labor to private businesses. The court found that practice to violate art. II, sec. 29 of ...
As this issue of PLN goes to press the 2004 presidential election is over. Regardless of who won, the need for PLN and the news and work we do will remain and undoubtedly increase given that both major party presidential candidates promise more repression and police power.
We need reader ...
On August 7, 2004, I attended the memorial for PLN writer James Quigley. The memorial was held on the beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Jim died on October 7, 2003, when he hung himself in the segregation unit of the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, Vermont. He ...
Welcome to another issue of PLN. With our June, 2004, issue we reached a milestone with our highest circulation yet of 4,006 subscribers on our mailing list. The past year has seen an ongoing effort by PLN to boost our circulation through inexpensive means of reaching new people who may ...
The month of June saw the media and
the Bush administration in a massive love fest over the death of Ronald Reagan. While it is generally considered bad form to speak poorly of the dead, like much of American domestic and foreign policy, there are winners and losers in all ...
This month's cover story reports on
the U.S. government's clandestine network of prisons around the world. The story was written before the news about the torture and murder of Iraqi prisoners appeared. The only thing that would have been unusual would have been the news that prisoners in Iraq and ...
This issue marks the 14th anniversary of Prison Legal News. With this issue we will have published 169 issues. At this point, PLN is the longest, continuously publishing independent publication whose content is mostly written and produced by prisoners and ex-prisoners in American history. When PLN was started in 1990 ...