California Ordered to Reduce Prison Population

58,000 Non-Violent Prisoners Ordered Released

(CNN) -- Federal judges tentatively ruled on Monday that California must reduce the number of inmates in its overcrowded prison system by up to 40 percent to stop a constitutional violation of prisoners' rights. California must cut the number of inmates in its prison system by up to 40 percent, judges have ruled. "Overcrowding is the primary cause of the unconstitutional conditions that have been found to exist in the California prisons," the court concluded.

California state officials, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, immediately promised to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

"The governor and I strongly disagree with this ruling," said Matthew Cate, California's corrections and rehabilitation secretary. Implementing the court's ruling would result in up to 58,000 prisoners being released, Cate said, describing it as a threat to public safety. He disputed the court's contention that the prisons are unsafe the way they are now.

But in 2006, Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency because of "severe overcrowding" in California's prisons, saying it had caused "substantial risk to the health and safety of the men and women who work inside these prisons and the inmates housed in them." In court documents, the judges said the state's prison system was at about 200 percent of capacity.

The ruling is the result of two class-action lawsuits on behalf of California prisoners who said medical and mental health care in the state's prisons are so inadequate that they violate the federal constitution's Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

The judges said their ruling is tentative so that the parties involved can plan accordingly, essentially giving them an opportunity to work things out themselves before an official ruling is rendered. The court suggests a two- to three-year window for reducing the number of prisoners in the system.

Those who would be released would be very low risk, according to Don Specter, director of the Prison Law Office, a group that provides free legal services to California prisoners. He said the ruling would affect those in jail for three or four months because of parole violations, those getting early release dates, and those who might qualify for early release for taking part in rehabilitation programs.

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A Sobering Thought

"Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose" - Janis Joplin

Posted By: The Candid Blogger
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Correctional Officer Imprisoned for Assaulting Inmate

A former jail guard has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for violating the civil rights of a man in custody, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

On June 25, 2006, Jarrod Anthony Yates, while working for the Sequoyah County Jail in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, reportedly kneed, stomped and punched arrestee Donald Gene Allen resulting in serious injuries including a fractured eye socket and severe lacerations that required facial surgery. Yates was suspended while the FBI's Oklahoma City Field Office investigated the case. He was indicted on April 17, 2008, later to plead guilty on October 2, 2008. He faced a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The case was prosecuted by First Assistant US Attorney Doug Horn and Trial Attorneys Roy Conn and Michael Khoury from the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

"While we all appreciate corrections officers have dangerous jobs, that doesn't give them license to abuse their authority with this kind of physical violence," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker on Wednesday. "The vast majority exercise appropriate restraint, and because the rule of law is paramount in our society, we have an obligation to prosecute those who clearly don't."

SOURCE: RAWSTORY.COM

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Sheriff Jailed for Starving Inmates

DECATUR, Ala. - A federal judge ordered an Alabama sheriff locked up in his own jail Wednesday after holding him in contempt for failing to adequately feed inmates while profiting from the skimpy meals.  U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon had court security arrest Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett at the end of a hearing that produced dramatic testimony from skinny prisoners about paper-thin bologna and cold grits.  The sheriff, who showed no emotion when his arrest was ordered, had testified that he legally pocketed about $212,000 over three years with surplus meal money but denied that inmates were improperly fed.

Sheriff needs plans to get out of jail

Clemon, however, said the sheriff would be jailed until he comes up with a plan to provide the 300 jail inmates with nutritionally adequate meals, as required by a 2001 court order. Rhea said a plan may be drawn up Wednesday night and sent to the judge.

Clemon said the Alabama law allowing sheriffs to take home surplus meal money is "probably unconstitutional," but his ruling was limited to the finding that the court order was violated. It didn't address whether the law should be overturned.

"He makes money by failing to spend the allocated funds for food for inmates," Clemon said.

An attorney representing the inmates, Melanie Velez of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, called Clemon's order to take the sheriff into custody "extraordinary." She said she was shocked to learn how much meal money Bartlett was taking home.

Sheriffs in 55 of Alabama's 67 counties operate under the system allowing them to make money operating their jail kitchens. The law pays sheriffs $1.75 a day for each prisoner they house and lets the elected officers pocket any profit they can generate.

The law doesn't require the money to be spent at the jail or within the department; sheriffs can keep it as personal income. They historically have provided little information about profits, so the hearing offered a rare look into a practice that dates back to the Depression.

The sheriff, who showed no emotion when his arrest was ordered, had testified that he legally pocketed about $212,000 over three years with surplus meal money but denied that inmates were improperly fed.

Forced to buy snacks

One after another, 10 prisoners told Clemon about receiving meals that are so small they are forced to buy additional snacks from a for-profit store jailers operated inside the lockup. Most of the inmates appeared thin, with baggy jail coveralls hanging off their frames.

Some prisoners testified they spent hundreds of dollars a month at the store, which Bartlett said generates profits used by the jail for training and equipment.

Inmates told of getting half an egg, a spoonful of oatmeal and one piece of toast most days for breakfast, served at 3 a.m. daily. Lunch is usually a handful of chips and two sandwiches with barely enough peanut butter to taste.

"It looks like it was sprayed on with an aerosol can," testified Demetrius Hines, who said he has lost at least 35 pounds in five months since his arrest on drug charges.

Most prisoners said they supplement the sparse meals by spending $20 a week or more on chips, oatmeal pies and other junk food at the jailhouse store. Some said they buy extra goodies for other prisoners to prevent fights over food. Prisoners said they never received milk until last week, when attorneys from a human rights center began asking about meals in the jail.

 

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Out of Jail -- Nobody is Hiring

Ex-Felons Can't Get Jobs After Convictions Years Ago.

Today I came across a very disturbing article related to prisoner re-entry programs and the hurdles they face in returning former prisoners to the job market.

"It took Vikki Hankins 18 years to get out of prison. It's her bad luck she got out during a recession. For an ex-felon in Florida to find a job these days is tough — nearly impossible.

"Basically, nobody will hire you," said Stephanie Porta, spokeswoman for Orlando ACORN, a community-based advocacy organization that works with ex-felons looking for employment. "Even people with little felonies are not finding jobs."

Hankins, 40, released eight months ago from a federal prison in Florida, is living in an International Drive motel paid for by Advocate4Justice, a group that promotes prison reform. She has been turned down for jobs at Denny's, McDonald's, Golden Corral, Walmart, Home Depot, Ramada Inn, Hess and 7-Eleven.

Hankins was sentenced to 23 years for possession of 22 grams of cocaine, but the mark of her conviction is something she will carry the rest of her life.

"There are people who paid the penalty for their mistakes. Inside the soul and the heart, they have changed completely," said Hankins, who was convicted under the alias Vanessa Wade. "For those people, do you continue to punish them by holding them to the fire for the rest of their lives?"

"Florida, home to more than 600,000 released felons, should follow the lead of other states that offer employers tax incentives to hire them", said state Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando. "And it needs to revisit a bill that stalled in the Florida Senate", he said. "That legislation would have made it easier for released felons to have their criminal records expunged", Siplin said. "Such a move would allow them to legally say on an application form that they have not been convicted of a felony".

"A person who hasn't committed a crime in 10 or 15 years, they should be able to resume their lives," Siplin said.

The bill to make it easier for records to be expunged died after opposition from employers who said they need to know the criminal backgrounds of job applicants. Others say criminal records might continue to exist in various databases, even after their official removal.

source: SunSentine.com
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Christmas in Prison

John Prine's Classic performed by James Humphries

CHRISTMAS IN PRISON

It was Christmas in prison
And the food was real good
We had turkey and pistols
Carved out of wood
And I dream of her always
Even when I dont dream
Her names on my tongue
And her bloods in my stream.

Chorus:
Wait awhile eternity
Old mother natures got nothing on me
Come to me
Run to me
Come to me, now
Were rolling
My sweetheart
Were flowing
By god!

She reminds me of a chess game
With someone I admire
Or a picnic in the rain
After a prairie fire
Her heart is as big
As this whole goddamn jail
And shes sweeter than saccharine
At a drug store sale.

Chorus:

The search light in the big yard
Swings round with the gun
And spotlights the snowflakes
Like the dust in the sun
Its Christmas in prison
There'll be music tonight
Ill probably get homesick
I love you. goodnight.

Posted by: The Candid Blogger

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Importance of Validation

After reading Don's post on "You Matter", it is only natural that I follow up with this landmark short film called "Validation". An amazing and inspiring short film about the importance of acknowledging and validating people, this film is much needed pick-me-up that will inspire you during the holiday season and afterward.

This 16 minute short film shows the magic of looking for the best in people. Validation, has played at 34 film festivals worldwide and won 17 awards. A list of the awards that this inspiring short film has won:

1. Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival
2. Winner - Jury Award, Gen Art Chicago Film Festival
3. Winner - Audience Award, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival
4. Winner - Best Short Comedy, Breckenridge Festival of Film
5. Winner - Crystal Heart Award
6. Best Short Film & Audience Award, Heartland Film Festival
7. Winner - Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award
8. Williamstown Film Festival, Winner - Best Comedy
9. Dam Short Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Film
10. Sedona Int'l Film Festival

Posted by: The Candid Blogger

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit

Employment

Work Opportunity Tax Credit. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), authorized by the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 (P. L. 104-188), is a federal tax credit that encourages employers to hire eight targeted groups of job seekers by reducing employers’ federal income tax liability by as much as $2,400 per qualified new worker; $750, if working 120 hours, or $1,200 if working 400 hours or more, per qualified summer youth. Employers can learn which new hires may qualify, find brochures, download IRS and ETA forms necessary to participate and find instructions at the U.S. Department of Labor or call 1.800.669.9271.

National H.I.R.E. Network. Established by the Legal Action Center, the National Helping Individuals with Criminal Records Re-enter through Employment Network is both a national clearinghouse for information and an advocate for policy change. The goal of the National H.I.R.E. Network is to increase the number and quality of job opportunities available to people with criminal records by changing public policies, employment practices and public opinion. The National H.I.R.E. Network also provides training and technical assistance to agencies working to improve the employment prospects for people with criminal records.

Transitional Jobs. Meaningful work sets the stage for financial independence and career growth. Many individuals with barriers to work remain unemployed despite attempts to work because they have been unable to find and keep a job on their own. The National Transitional Jobs Network programs assist these individuals in gaining permanent jobs. By working in a subsidized, transitional job for three to twelve months, they earn a paycheck, learn technical skills for higher wage jobs, become eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, and receive intensive mentoring and support. This transitional job is the first step toward permanent employment and economic opportunity.

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