prisoners

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SCOTUS Nixes White Jury's Death Penalty for Black Man

29 years after Timothy Foster's sentence, court finds prosecutors kept blacks off jury for racial reasons

(Newser) - In a ruling Vox says "could have a big impact on racism in the justice system," the Supreme Court on Tuesday tossed a death sentence rendered almost 30 years ago against a Georgia black man, voting 7-1 that state prosecutors kept African-Americans off the jury that convicted him,...

2 Inmates Were Put in Solitary Together. One Came Out

The practice of 'double celling' is shockingly common

(Newser) - It seems like some sort of oxymoron: two inmates together in solitary confinement. But as a joint investigation by NPR and the Marshall Project found, "double celling" is anything but an anomaly: They cite a 2014 Federal Bureau of Prisons report in asserting that "over 80% of the...

We Should Cap Prison Sentences at 20 Years
We Should Cap Prison Sentences at 20 Years
OPINION
Jan 13, 2016 10:15 AM CST

We Should Cap Prison Sentences at 20 Years

Or at least assess all inmates at that point, argues writer

(Newser) - With talk of reforming the criminal justice system gaining steam, a writer at Democracy makes the case for a controversial idea: maximum sentences of 20 years for nearly all prisoners. Lots of attention has been paid to the long mandatory sentences doled out to nonviolent drug offenders, but Marc Mauer...

Harvard Debate Champs Lose to Team of Prisoners

Maximum-security inmates beat Ivy League's best

(Newser) - Next up, a debate with the parole board? The Ivy League's finest debate team was defeated by a team of prisoners from a maximum-security prison in New York state. The three-man Eastern New York Correctional Facility team was declared the winner on Sept. 18 after debating for an hour...

Federal Inmates Have Found Good Way to Escape

Some had histories of violence and misconduct in prison

(Newser) - More than 240 inmates have slipped away from federal custody in the past three years while traveling to halfway houses, including several who committed bank robberies and a carjacking while on the lam, according to documents obtained by the AP. Some of the inmates who absconded from 2012 through 2014...

Seamstress: I Helped Convicts &#39;to Save My Family&#39;
 Seamstress: 
 I Helped Convicts 
 'to Save My Family' 
'today' interview
Sep 14, 2015 12:42 PM CDT

Seamstress: I Helped Convicts 'to Save My Family'

Joyce Mitchell says prisoners knew where they lived

(Newser) - The former prison seamstress who helped two murderers escape in New York in June says she did so out of fear for her family. Richard Matt and David Sweat had discovered where her mother and older son lived, and Joyce Mitchell felt she was in too deep to refuse their...

California to End Unlimited Solitary Confinement

Thousands of inmates to be moved out of isolation

(Newser) - Thousands of inmates will soon be moved out of solitary confinement in California, after years of court battles and hunger strikes against the controversial practice. The state's decision was revealed in a legal settlement filed today—which still must be accepted by the court—with a group of inmates...

NY Inmates: We Were Beaten After 2 Killers Escaped

Clinton Correctional inmates say they faced officers' wrath after June jailbreak

(Newser) - A daring escape from an upstate New York prison in June didn't go as planned for Richard Matt and David Sweat . But while those two men faced their personal consequences, inmates back at the Clinton Correctional Facility say they were facing their own repercussions for the jailbreak, per a...

Feds Set to Bring Back College Grants for Prisoners

Inmates lost access to Pell grants 20 years ago

(Newser) - The Obama administration is planning to restore access to federal college subsidies for a huge number of Americans who have a lot of time on their hands. Congress banned inmates at the state and federal level from receiving Pell grants in 1994, but Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he'll...

Obama to Make History for Federal Prisoners

President ready to commute record number of sentences

(Newser) - President Obama appears ready to make history by commuting sentences for nearly 80 federal prisoners this month—more than any president has in decades, the New York Times reports. His expected clemency will free prisoners put away on non-violent drug charges, and reflects a bigger effort by the Obama administration...

Lawyer: Husband Supports Jailed Prison Worker

He visits Joyce Mitchell in jail amid reports she planned to kill him

(Newser) - The husband of the woman accused of helping two New York state inmates escape visited her in jail today—one day after reports surfaced that she and the inmates talked about killing him . Lyle Mitchell's reaction? He's "standing by her," the attorney for Joyce Mitchell tells...

Smuggled Electrical Saw May Have Set Prisoners Free

Police converge on small town of Willsboro, NY, after possible sighting

(Newser) - Authorities are swarming the small upstate New York town of Willsboro to find the two convicted killers who escaped from prison last week, reports the Wall Street Journal . A motorist spotted two men walking on a "very rural" road last night, and they took off into the fields when...

Woman Questioned in New York Prison Escape

Authorities talk to ex-worker at Clinton Correctional Facility

(Newser) - Authorities are investigating whether a female accomplice was involved in the escape of two prisoners from a New York penitentiary on Friday or Saturday, police tell Reuters . Officials are talking to a woman who worked at the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemor, NY; she was an employee, not a...

2 Killers Break Out of Prison With Power Tools

Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, gone from maximum-security prison

(Newser) - Two convicted murderers used power tools to cut through steel pipes at a maximum-security prison near the Canadian border and escape through a manhole, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today. "It was an elaborate plot," Cuomo said after joining law enforcement authorities to retrace the prisoners' escape route from...

100 Bodies Found in Mass Graves on S. Africa Farm

Residents say farmer used prison laborers decades ago

(Newser) - An oral history project about the South African town of Dududu has turned up a dark secret from the past: the discovery of about 100 bodies in unmarked graves in what is now a sugarcane farm. The investigation is continuing, but the best guess is that they were prison laborers...

Youngest Woman on US Death Row Calls It 'Life Row'

Emilia Carr and fellow inmate Tiffany Cole don't believe they'll ever be executed

(Newser) - One out of every 25 inmates on death row is innocent, according to PNAS —and Emilia Carr and Tiffany Cole say they're in that demographic. That's not the only thing they have in common: They're both among the youngest women on death row in the US...

10 Dead After Train Hits Prison Bus
 10 Dead After Train 
 Hits Prison Bus 
UPDATED
Jan 14, 2015 12:05 PM CST

10 Dead After Train Hits Prison Bus

Vehicle slid off embankment onto tracks

(Newser) - Police in west Texas say 10 people are dead after a prison bus slid off an embankment and onto railroad tracks, then got hit by a train, reports the AP . Details are still pretty thin, but NBC Dallas-Fort Worth says the bus was on Interstate 20 near Odessa this morning...

Murder Suspects Attack Guard, Escape Prison

Jailer opened cell after he witnessed one inmate throwing up

(Newser) - The search is on in Alabama after two men charged with murder and another charged with armed robbery escaped their shared prison cell. Prior to the escape, one of the three began shouting in the cell, saying a cellmate was ill, the Choctaw County sheriff says. A guard checked up...

Jail Denied Basic Medical Care, Let Inmates Die: Suit

Prisoners could easily have been treated, lawsuits say

(Newser) - A 19-year-old in jail for shoplifting and passing a counterfeit bill died after a foot wound turned gangrenous. A 30-year-old imprisoned for harassment died of a bowel obstruction after being constipated for 13 days. A 61-year-old also jailed for harassment died of a broken femur after falling from her bunk....

American Held in North Korea Describes Prison Life

Matthew Miller says he's isolated, works in fields

(Newser) - North Korea claims Matthew Miller wanted to be a "second Snowden" and to expose human rights abuses in its penal system—and whatever the truth is, the 24-year-old from Bakersfield, Calif., is getting as close a look at the country's prisons as anybody could wish for. Miller has...

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