prisoners

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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...

Report: Conditions Inhuman at 'Alcatraz of Rockies'

Amnesty International: solitary confinement must be rolled back at ADX

(Newser) - At the nation's most restrictive prison, most inmates are allowed nearly zero social interaction—in one extreme case, a prisoner who killed a fellow inmate at another prison gets just one minute per day of contact with other people. In a report out today, Amnesty International says the Administrative...

WHO: All Gay Men Should Take Antiretroviral Drugs

A pill could cut HIV risk in gay men by up to 25%: WHO

(Newser) - HIV infections are "exploding" among gay men, according to the World Health Organization. In fact, the infection rates are so bad, the organization—for the first time—"strongly recommends men who have sex with men consider taking antiretroviral medicines as an additional method of preventing HIV infection,"...

Future Sentences Could Last 1K Years —in Prisoners' Minds

Philosophers discuss mind-warping punishments

(Newser) - We could someday see prison sentences radically altered—in the prisoner's own mind, the Telegraph reports. An Oxford philosophers are considering how future technology could, for instance, make a jail sentence feel as though it lasted 1,000 years, they tell Aeon magazine. After all, there are already "...

Why 30K US Inmates Went on Hunger Strike

Solitary confinement drove alleged gang leaders to make a statement

(Newser) - Last summer, four prison inmates organized a hunger strike from their solitary-confinement cells and inspired 30,000 prisoners to join them —a stunning development that says a lot about US prisons, writes Benjamin Wallace-Wells in New York . The four guys—allegedly leaders of white, black, and Latino gangs—were...

Century Later, Conjugal Visits to End in Mississippi

Leaving 5 states that allow them, down from 17 in 1993

(Newser) - Only six states allow prisoners conjugal visits—and the state where the practice began roughly a century ago, Mississippi, is poised to halt (but not legally ban) those visits Feb. 1. The prison commissioner in the state, where 155 of some 22,000 inmates had such visits last year, blames...

Israel Frees Palestinians in US-Brokered Deal

PM Netanyahu takes heat from political right and left alike

(Newser) - Israel has released more than two dozen Palestinian prisoners convicted in deadly attacks against Israelis as part of a US-brokered package to restart Mideast peace talks. After departing on buses from Israeli jails overnight, the prisoners received hero's welcomes upon their return to the West Bank and Gaza with...

How a Model Prison Became America's Scariest

USP Lewisberg: from rehabilitation to hardcore 'attitude adjustment'

(Newser) - A prison that once encouraged upbeat activities among inmates is now home to the nation's nastiest criminals and severe prison tactics—a transformation that may say a lot about our prison system in general. An academic article , summarized by Justin Peters at Slate , recounts how the USP Lewisberg facility...

Report: Inmates Control 65% of Mexico's Prisons

According to review of 101 most populated prisons

(Newser) - Mexico's prisons are in "critical condition," says an official, and a new report seems to confirm it: Sixty-five of Mexico's 101 most populous prisons were controlled by the inmates themselves last year, according to the National Human Rights Commission; that's up 4.3% from 2011....

NYC Inmates Cost Nearly $168K Per Year

That's almost as much as four years of Ivy League tuition

(Newser) - In New York, the annual cost of one inmate is almost as much as four years of Ivy League tuition: $167,731. That's $460 per day for an average of 12,287 prisoners, and it's quite a bit higher than what other big cities spend: $47,063 a...

59 Days Later, California Prisoners End Hunger Strike

40 had been striking since July 8

(Newser) - California inmates have ended a nearly two-month hunger strike to protest the prison system's isolation policies, prison officials said today. More than 30,000 inmates, who said gang leaders are often held for decades in isolation units, had been refusing meals when the strike began July 8. By this...

Money Is Driving End of &#39;Draconian&#39; Drug Sentences
Money Is Driving End of 'Draconian' Drug Sentences
analysis
Aug 13, 2013 12:15 PM CDT

Money Is Driving End of 'Draconian' Drug Sentences

Brad Plumer looks at the DOJ's budget

(Newser) - In announcing yesterday that it planned to do away with "draconian" mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug offenders, the Justice Department is righting an injustice, right? As Eric Holder explained it, "Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good...

Israel to Release Longtime Prisoners Amid Palestine Talks

Some have been 'in jail for decades': minister

(Newser) - With Israel-Palestine talks potentially beginning next week , Israel will release some "heavyweight (Palestinian) prisoners in jail for decades," says top minister Yuval Steinitz. Details are fuzzy, but it's possible 350 prisoners could be released over several months, a Palestinian official tells the BBC ; some 100 of them...

30K California Inmates Join Hunger Strike

Prisoners demand end to indefinite isolation

(Newser) - More than 30,000 inmates in California refused meals yesterday in what could be the start of the biggest prison hunger strike in American history—although corrections officials won't consider it a hunger strike until inmates miss nine consecutive meals. Inmates at more than 20 of the state's...

Calif. Prisons Sterilized Women Without State OK

148 had procedure between 2006 and 2010: report

(Newser) - The California prison system had at least 148 women sterilized between 2006 and 2010—without the state signing off on the move. Another 100 women may have faced the same fate since the 1990s, the Center for Investigative Reporting finds, based on state records and interviews. The inmates were pregnant...

Colo. Fire Forces Evacuation of 900 Prisoners

4 blazes have destroyed dozens of homes

(Newser) - Wildfires are raging in Colorado, and one of them caused more than 900 prisoners to be evacuated from a state prison early today. The medium- and low-risk prisoners were taken by bus to other prisons, a spokesperson tells the AP . The fire hasn't actually reached the Colorado Territorial Correctional...

Inmates Host Raunchy Party at Prison Nightclub

Venezuelan prisoners invite friends, family to bash

(Newser) - For a fun night, visit the local ... prison? Seems inmates in Venezuela have built their own nightclub and hosted an inaugural bash including strippers and a light show, AFP reports. According to a local paper, the inmates at a prison on Margarita Island invited friends and family over for the...

Single Round Fired at Gitmo as Tensions Mount

Lawyer says detainees growing more desperate

(Newser) - The US military is admitting a Guantanamo guard fired "one non-lethal round" at prisoners in a Jan. 2 incident, possibly marking the first gunfire response inside the detention camp, reports the Miami Herald . (Rubber bullets may have been used during a 2006 prisoner uprising.) The event occurred on...

Palestinians Sneak Sperm Out of Israeli Prisons

Fertility doctor cooks up smuggling scheme

(Newser) - The wives of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are getting pregnant in an odd way—by smuggling out the prisoners' sperm, NBC News reports. But the families won't say how they get the sperm past a glass separation, body search, and an airport-style scanner. "If I told you...

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