Prison News
Federal Crack Sentencing Reform Takes Effect
Beginning this past Tuesday, November 1st, Federal judges began reviewing the prison sentences of thousands of offenders convicted for crimes related to crack cocaine. This review process is an extension of the Fair Sentencing Act, passed in 2010, which reduced the disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses. Earlier this summer, the United [...]
Effects of Realignment Felt In California
The reductions in California’s state prison population precipitated by the US Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this summer are beginning to ripple through the state’s correctional ecosystem. As we mentioned in earlier blog posts (here and here), Sacramento approached the mandatory reductions by shifting more nonviolent and low-risk offenders from state facilities to county jails. That [...]
The Butterflies of Mission Creek
With the help and blessing of the US military, inmates at the Mission Creek Corrections Center in Washington State have started raising butterflies. If that sentence seems strange to you, it seemed a little strange to us, too. Apparently, according to the Kitsap Sun, one of the last remaining habitats for the endangered Taylor checkerspot [...]
Facebook, Felons, and the Contraband Cell Phone Challenge
First, thank you all for your comments since we’ve updated the look and feel of our blog. We hope you find it easier to navigate and find the posts that are of most interest to you. Our last post in particular – regarding “cell” phones in UK facilities – drew a lot of comments (commenter [...]
“Cell” Phones
A pilot program being considered by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice could put phones in inmate’s individual units, or cells. Officials cite two rationales for the program: first that it could reduce the growing quantity of contraband mobile phones being smuggled into the facilities and second, that it could reduce the lines and waiting [...]
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