Civil Rights | Incarceration Trends

2010-07-31: Headlines

• Seattle Post Intelligencer: A Solution to Our Prison Problem 2010-07-31

  In this time of economic uncertainty and shrinking tax revenues, government agencies are being forced to cut costs right and left. Our prisons are no exception. Our prison population over the past two decades has soared to a record-bursting 2.

• Pacific Free Press: Press Release: Cuban 5: Torture Masquerading as Justice 2010-07-31

  Gerardo Hernandez Held in 'The Hole' | fighting against terrorism. | found himself in the hole while preparing for an appeal. | defend his country against terrorist attacks. | Phone Number: 202-307-3198. | Fax Number: 202-456-2461. | E-mail: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov. | qacct:"p-fbLvlbcODYt7M"

• News-Herald.com: Jay Ambrose: Reporting and the Internet solution 2010-07-31

  Browse print ads, find online deals, and search valuable coupons from local retailers! | As Northeast Ohio gears up for a local election, get the latest on what's happening behind the scenes. | Our die-hard sports fans dream of the city's first professional championship. | News-Herald writers, editors and photographers share the inside stories of today's headlines and what goes on behind the scenes. | src="http:/ / jrcnewsherald.122.2O7."

• The National Law Journal: What price justice? 2010-07-31

  It is time for lawmakers to recognize the value of our judicial branch as more than a line item in a budget — and keep courts well-funded. | Recent news reports tell of a Wall Street recovery and anticipated hiring in the financial sector. Yet for many of us, these indicators of economic improvement have not been felt.

• AFP: Political detainee sues Saudi government 2010-07-31

  More than three years after he was arrested on vague allegations, Saudi political detainee Suliman al-Reshoudi who has yet to be tried or even charged with a crime is now taking on the system. | Although his situation is not unusual for political prisoners in Saudi Arabia, the former judge is suing the security police and interior ministry to either charge him or release him.

• Liverpool Echo: Liverpools Altcourse prison released more inmates early than any other jail 2010-07-31

  A LIVERPOOL prison released more inmates early under an early release scheme which may have damaged public confidence in justice than any other jail.

• Bellingham Herald: Freed political prisoners now in Spain describe experience in Cuban prisons 2010-07-31

  MADRID Boiled plantain-flavored water as soup. A greasy scoop of bland, yellowing beef fat as a side dish. A stew dubbed "the giraffe" because "you had to stretch your neck to find something in it." A hairy heap of ground pig eyes, cheek, ears and other unidentifiable parts served as a main course. | The meal, nicknamed "patipanza,"

• Monroe News Star: Neighbors vent concerns about work release 2010-07-31

  Residents near the former Ridgedale Academy in northwestern Ouachita Parish told Sheriff Royce Toney on Friday they are concerned about his plans to turn the facility into the base of his work...

2010-07-30: Headlines

• Leagle.com: PEOPLE v. HEATH 2010-07-30

  DOMINIC ALEXANDER HEATH et al., Defendants and Appellants. | Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, Division Two. | Filed July 29, 2010. | Law Offices of Dennis A. Fischer, Dennis A. Fischer and John M. Bishop, for Defendant and Appellant Dominic Alexander Heath. | William Flenniken, Jr., under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Ehon Michael Baker. | Edmund G. Brown, Jr.

• Deccan Chronicle: Woman cop arrested for murder of lover 2010-07-30

  July 29: A woman police constable, her friend and four of his associates were arrested by the Chennai police on Thursday for the murder of the policewoman€™s lover. The policewoman€™s lover, a TNEB employee, was allegedly killed because he objected to her having a relationship with another man.

• Leagle.com: IN RE PRATHER 2010-07-30

  In re MICHAEL B. PRATHER on Habeas Corpus. | In re MIGUEL MOLINA on Habeas Corpus. | Supreme Court of California. | Filed July 29, 2010. | Rich Pfeiffer, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Petitioner Michael Prather. | Michael Satris, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Petitioner Miguel Molina. | Munger, Tolles & Olson, Leo Goldbard; Cuauhtemoc Ortega; Alan L. Schlosser; Peter Eliasberg;

• The Standard: Three Kenyans charged with Uganda bombings 2010-07-30

  Everyone considered her married, but when she passed away, 'Queen' Jane Nyambura's marriage to James Kariuki was cast in doubt. Apparently, the two were not issued with a marriage certificate despite solemnising their marriage at a Ruiru church in June 2001, as James told a Thika court.

• Ahora.cu: Redaction AHORA: Cuban Five Committee Demands Fair Treatment 2010-07-30

  AHORA News System, Holguin, Cuba.

• Indian Express: Test proves rape victim is a minor 2010-07-30

  Keywords: tabhomec2.init("tabnavhc2", 0) | In a dramatic turn of events, radiological examination of a girl, who had claimed to be an adult, has proved she was a minor.   | The girl was allegedly raped by a local industrialist. She later claimed to be an adult and said she was married to one Sunny.  | The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now sent the girl to Nari Niketan, Chandigarh.

• Minnesota Public Radio: Pawlenty works up his roots in new web video 2010-07-30

  29 July 2010 – The recent dismissal of three judges and a magistrate in Honduras, apparently because they spoke out during the political crisis that engulfed the country last year, sends a disturbing message to other jurists in the Central American country, three independent United Nations human rights experts warned today.

• The National Law Journal: Calif. Supreme Court Reins in Courts Authority in Parole Cases 2010-07-30

  Keywords: getNumber('1202464074953') | The California Supreme Court today reined in courts' authority in parole cases, saying they should not order prisoners released or "place improper limitations" on the type of evidence the state Board of Parole Hearings considers.

• The Herald | HeraldOnline.com: Yorks Police Chief Mobley plans to retire in December 2010-07-30

  William "Bill" Mobley, chief of York's Police Department, is retiring after 43 years. | Mobley, who began working for the department in 1967 as a dispatcher, will step down at the end of the year. The search for his successor will begin once the City Council resolves some budget issues, City Manager Charles Helms said.

• Entertainment and Showbiz!: Lindsay Lohan: Guess what her new stress buster in prison is! 2010-07-30

  It is said that when you are depressed or sad, stuff your stomach or stuff your cupboard. Shopping and eating is considered to be a great stress buster alon...

• Express Buzz: Police woman held for murder of old flame 2010-07-30

  CHENNAI: In the latest in the long line of illicit affairs resulting in gruesome murders, it has now come to light that a 38-year-old TNEB employee of Velachery, who was reported missing for the last four months, was allegedly done to death by his cop lover€™s current paramour and a four-member gang in Tiruvallur district on March 25. | The long-drawn investigation came to a close on Wednesday, when the partners in crime, S Sastrakanni (39)

• Stamford Advocate: Angela Carella: Wisdom comes late to a wiseguy 2010-07-30

  Hill is his own boss now, but this week he stopped in Stamford, again on his way from New York to Bridgeport, where people gathered at a restaurant at $50 a head to hear him tell his story. The 1990 comedy "My Blue Heaven," written by Nora Ephron, Pileggi's wife, depicts Hill's years in the federal Witness Protection Program. At 67, Hill lives off his story now. Besides "Wiseguy,"

• Globe and Mail: Obama puts race card face up on the table 2010-07-30

  Drawing on personal experience, U.S. President underscores how much race and education are inseparabl...

• Chicago Tribune: Giving Dan Walker a break 2010-07-30

  More than 33 years and 1,600 miles separate Dan Walker from his days in the governor's mansion in Springfield. Yet he's bracing to have his name dragged into the news again when another federal jury renders another verdict in another...

• Entertainment and Showbiz!: Lindsay Lohan: Isnt it called a special treatment? 2010-07-30

  There is a lot of hue and cry over Lindsay Loan€™s shortened jail term. Everyone thinks that LiLo is getting special treatment;

• Boston Globe: Dont forget these bills 2010-07-30

  Your article has been sent. | – |   Criminal justice. The state House has passed legislation overhauling the flawed criminal-records system, which can keep ex-cons from finding work long after their release. The Senate bill also includes much-needed reforms to some excessive prison sentences. Compromise has been elusive. House negotiators may be wary of violating tough-on-crime orthodoxy not once but twice.

• Providence Journal: Forum at Roger Williams University studies ways to avoid wrongful convictions 2010-07-30

  Betty Anne Waters, who freed her brother after a wrongful conviction, addresses the forum Thursday. | BRISTOL — Someone stabbed Katharina Brow 30 times and beat her over the head with a toaster as she recovered from a heart attack in her trailer in Ayer, Mass., in 1980. Blood at the scene indicated Brow had scratched her assailant.

• Leagle.com: IN RE MIRANDA 2010-07-30

  In re ROBERT MIRANDA, On Habeas Corpus. | Court of Appeals of California, First District, Division Two. | Filed July 29, 2010. | In November 1981, petitioner Robert Miranda, then 26 years old, stabbed David Larsen repeatedly in the neck, took his wallet, and fled the scene, leaving Larsen to die on a sidewalk.

• Ahora.cu: Ricardo Alarcón: USA Responsible for Health Condition of Cuban Anti-Terrorist 2010-07-30

  Keywords: tabhomec2.init("tabnavhc2", 0) | In a dramatic turn of events, radiological examination of a girl, who had claimed to be an adult, has proved she was a minor.   | The girl was allegedly raped by a local industrialist. She later claimed to be an adult and said she was married to one Sunny.  | The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now sent the girl to Nari Niketan, Chandigarh.

• Glendale News Press: Suspect at large arrested in Las Vegas 2010-07-30

  Richard Lugo, suspected of knifepoint robbery, is stopped in traffic violation. Vegas officers notice he had arrest warrant.

• Nashua Telegraph: Man gets up to 12 years on drug charges 2010-07-30

  There is a lot of hue and cry over Lindsay Loan€™s shortened jail term. Everyone thinks that LiLo is getting special treatment;

• Leagle.com: IN RE SOLIS 2010-07-30

  In re VICTOR SOLIS on Habeas Corpus. | Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, Division One. | Filed July 29, 2010. | Petition for writ of habeas corpus following the Governor's reversal of a grant of parole. Relief granted. | Solis, now 37 years old, has remained in custody for almost 19 years and for the last 13 years has been an exemplary prison inmate. He became eligible for parole in 2002.

• Collider.com: Kevin Kline Interview THE EXTRA MAN 2010-07-30

  Last month I was invited to participate in a roundtable interview with Academy Award winning actor Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda) to discuss his upcoming film The Extra Man. Kline stars as an eccentric (and unsuccessful) playwright who rents the spare room in his New York City apartment out to an aspiring journalist (Paul Dano) who is new to the city.

• Blogcritics.org: K-9s Suffer PTSD 2010-07-30

  Man's best friend has been used—and misused—in warfare since ancient times. Sentry and guard dogs, search and rescue dogs, attack dogs, cart-pulling dogs, dogs to carry battlefield messages, scout and track enemy troops, locate booby traps and detect explosives (sometimes the hard way), and in their spare time serve as mascots. More controversially, the U.S. military has subjected dogs to "scientific"

• UN News Centre: Dismissal of Honduran judges sends an intimidating message – UN 2010-07-30

  29 July 2010 – The recent dismissal of three judges and a magistrate in Honduras, apparently because they spoke out during the political crisis that engulfed the country last year, sends a disturbing message to other jurists in the Central American country, three independent United Nations human rights experts warned today.

Background Briefing: Sentancing and Drug Laws

Human Rights Watch: California: Repeal Law Jailing Children for Life 2008-01-14

Senate Should End Life Without Parole for Juvenile Offenders | Californias State Senate should pass a law this month to end the sentencing of children to prison for life with no possibility of parole, Human Rights Watch said today in a report on a practice outlawed in most of the world.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Girls Abused in New Yorks Juvenile Prisons 2006-09-25

Violent Restraints, Sexual Abuse Must Stop | Girls in New Yorks juvenile prisons are being abused and neglected by state authorities, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union charged in a report released today.

Human Rights Watch: Human Rights Watch Submission to the Human Rights Committee 2006-07-12

Human Rights Watch Supplemental Submission to the Human Rights Committee During its Consideration of the Second and Third Periodic Reports of the United States | In January 2006, Human Rights Watch submitted a list of issues for the Human Rights Committees reference while posing questions to the United States about its adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the ICCPR). Since that submission, the United States has enacted or begun to undertake new laws, policies, and practices that reflect the continuing failure of the U.S. to fulfill its obligations under the ICCPR. Oulined here are some of those developments, as well as some additional issues that HRW believes are central to the Committees work.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: House Amendment Tilts Playing Field for Death Penalty 2005-10-27

Radical Changes to the Federal Death Penalty May Soon Be Law | The House has slipped an amendment into the Patriot Act Reauthorization Act that would dramatically skew federal death penalty cases in favor of the prosecution.

Human Rights Watch: United States: Thousands of Children Sentenced to Life without Parole 2005-10-12

National Study by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Finds Majority Face Life for First Offense | There are at least 2,225 child offenders serving life without parole sentences in U.S prisons for crimes committed before they were age 18, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a new joint report published today.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Supreme Court Ends Child Executions 2005-03-01

With the Roper v. Simmons Supreme Court ruling abolishing the execution of child offenders, the United States joins the international consensus rejecting this cruel and inhuman punishment.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Children Are Collateral Casualties of N.Y. Drug Laws 2002-06-18

Excessively severe drug laws have deprived thousands of children of their parents, Human Rights Watch said today. Governor Pataki and New York politicians in Albany are now debating legislation to reform these drug laws

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Incarceration Rates Reveal Striking Racial Disparities 2002-02-27

Human Rights Watch today released the first state-by-state incarceration rates for whites, blacks and Latinos based on actual correctional facility counts. The figures, compiled from census data for the year 2000, reveal the high percentage of blacks that are behind bars and dramatic racial disparities in the incarcerated population.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Pataki Drug Reform No Improvement 2001-07-16

New York Governor George Pataki's proposed drug law reforms would leave drug offenders vulnerable to excessive prison sentences and maintain prosecutors' undue power over sentencing decisions, Human Rights Watch charged today.

Human Rights Watch: US: A Human Rights Agenda for the Justice Department 2001-03-29

In a letter released today, Human Rights Watch called on the Bush Administration's Justice Department to promote and protect human rights in the United States. The letter outlines a human rights agenda for the new U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, on such issues as prisoner abuses, police brutality, sentencing, the mistreatment of immigrants, the federal death penalty, and the poor U.S. record on ratifying international human rights treaties.

Background Briefing: Prison Conditions in the United States

Human Rights Watch: Scores of Muslim Men Jailed Without Charge 2005-06-27

Justice Department Misused Material Witness Law in Counterterrorism Efforts | Operating behind a wall of secrecy, the U.S. Department of Justice thrust scores of Muslim men living in the United States into a Kafkaesque world of indefinite detention without charge and baseless accusations of terrorist links, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report released today.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Maryland Death Penalty Moratorium Applauded 2002-05-09

Human Rights Watch applauded Maryland Governor Paris N. Glendening's decision today to impose a moratorium on executions in Maryland. Citing the need "to be absolutely sure of the integrity" of the death penalty process, Governor Glendening announced the moratorium would continue until an ongoing University of Maryland study on racial bias and the death penalty is completed and reviewed and acted upon by the state legislature.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Illinois Commission Highlights Death Penalty's Inherent Flaws 2002-04-17

Human Rights Watch welcomed the unanimous conclusion of the bi-partisan commission, appointed by Governor George H. Ryan to examine the administration of the death penalty in Illinois, that no system of criminal justice can guarantee absolutely that innocent persons will not be sentenced to death.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Incarceration Rates Reveal Striking Racial Disparities 2002-02-27

Human Rights Watch today released the first state-by-state incarceration rates for whites, blacks and Latinos based on actual correctional facility counts. The figures, compiled from census data for the year 2000, reveal the high percentage of blacks that are behind bars and dramatic racial disparities in the incarcerated population.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Bush Urged to Stop Federal Execution 2001-06-18

Human Rights Watch urged President Bush to halt Tuesday's scheduled federal execution of Juan Raul Garza. Citing continuing concerns over racial and geographic disparities in the application of the federal death penalty, HRW called for a stay of execution until the government can guarantee that race plays no role in the federal death penalty.

Human Rights Watch: US: Clinton Urged to Impose Moratorium on Executions 2000-12-12

Human Rights Watch commended President Clinton for staying the execution of Juan Raul Garza. The group urged the president to impose a moratorium on federal executions.

Human Rights Watch: U.S.: Florida Ex-Offenders Barred from Vote 2000-11-08

31% of State's African American Men Denied Vote | The permanent disenfranchisement of over 400,000 ex-offenders in Florida is likely to have determined the outcome of the presidential election, two non-partisan research and advocacy groups said.

Human Rights Watch: United States: Stark Race Disparities in Drug Incarceration 2000-06-08

Some states send black men to prison at rates 27 to 57 times greater than whites | The U.S. war on drugs has been waged overwhelmingly against black Americans, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released "Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs".

Human Rights Watch: Felon Laws Bar 3.9 Million Americans from Voting 1998-10-22

A stunning proportion of black men in the United States will not be able to vote in the November elections because they have been convicted of a felony, according to a new report released today by Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project. In seven states, a staggering one in four black men is permanently disenfranchised. In two states, Alabama and Florida, the ratio is one in three