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|  "Knowledge Is Power"
Prison-to-Poverty Cycle A New Jim Crow http://www.newjimcrow.com/ | |
October 8, 2010: Governor McDonnell Selection for Director of the Department of Corrections Harold Clarke, Director of the Department of Corrections Harold Clarke joined the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services as a counselor in 1974. Mr Clarke rose through the ranks in the department becoming a unit manager, deputy warden, and then warden at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in 1987. In August of 1990, he was appointed Director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, a position he held until 2005. As the Director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Clarke developed and implemented a community focused re-entry plan for the department. In 2007, Mr Clarke left Nebraska to become the Secretary of the Washington State Department of Corrections where he was instrumental in obtaining accreditation for 22 of the 30 facilities in less than three years. |
Virginia prisons' reading policy overturned, LARRY O'DELL Associated Press Writer
September 3, 2010 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a Virginia prison policy that denies inmates access to classic literature with sexually explicit passages but allows them to peruse Playboy magazine. U.S. District Judge James C. Turk in Roanoke ruled Wednesday that there is no rational connection between the restrictions and the state's legitimate interests in rehabilitating inmates and maintaining safety and order in the prisons. The ruling was a victory for Augusta Correctional Center inmate William R. Couch, who represented himself in a lawsuit challenging Virginia Department of Corrections Operating Policy 803.2 after he was denied access to the novels "Ulysses" by James Joyce and "Lady Chatterly's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence.
Inmate convicted of Amherst murder linked to 2nd prison death August 02, 2010 A Virginia inmate who warned prosecutors that he would kill again if not given the death penalty for strangling his cellmate was involved in the death of another inmate, authorities said.A Hopewell man serving a life sentence for murdering a Madison Heights man and facing a possible death-penalty sentence this month for murdering his cellmate last year was implicated in the death of a second inmate last week. Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ron Elkins confirmed late Saturday that Robert Gleason Jr. was “involved” in the death of Aaron Alexander Cooper, though Elkins refused to elaborate. Gleason has not been charged in the death, he said Saturday. Cooper, 26, died Wednesday in the recreation yard for inmates housed in segregation at the maximum security Red Onion State Prison in southwestern Virginia. Staff writer Chris Dumond contributed to this report. http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2010/aug/02/virginia-inmate-linked-2nd-death-ar-358212/ Spring/Summer 2010 - Virginia Defenders Newspaper Page 6 --THE 864 RASTA OF VDOC --Prisoner advocacy groups target sentencing disparity Feel free to print and send to your incarcerated loved one!
Va. inmates file suits to stop prison violence: Thirty-five inmates at a Virginia prison, fed up with rape and sodomy at the institution, have filed federal lawsuits seeking an end to prison violence. The lawsuits come at the same time a group of prisoner advocates are demanding that the U.S. attorney general implement regulations, ordered by Congress, to eliminate sexual attacks in prisons. http://hamptonroads.com/2010/06/va-inmates-file-suits-stop-prison-violence
Va: Rasta Inmates Spend 10 Years in Isolation for Hair: He has now been in isolation nearly 4,000 days. He begins each one with prayer, reading scripture and meditation. "Kendall Gibson, Virginia Prisoner - JARRATT, Va. -- Kendall Gibson would seem to be one of Virginia's most dangerous prisoners. For more than 10 years he has lived in segregation at the Greensville Correctional Center, spending at least 23 hours every day in a cell the size of a gas station bathroom. In a temporary home for the worst of the worst - inmates too violent or disruptive to live among the rest of society's outcasts - he has been a permanent fixture. He is there, he says, not for his crimes but for a crime he will not commit - a crime against God. The only thing imposing about Gibson is his long black dreadlocks, resting on the front of his shoulders so they won't drag the ground as he shuffles along in his orange jumpsuit. It is his hair - winding locks he considers a measure of his Rastafarian faith - that makes him a threat, according to Virginia Department of Corrections Operating Procedure No. 864.1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/07/AR2010050703559_pf.html
American Friends Service Committee: The American Friends Service Committee Prison Watch Project is planning to update the Fall 2001 "Torture in US Prisons – Evidence of US Human Rights Violations." We are seeking testimonies from men, women and children relating to the use of extended isolation and devices of torture (use of force, chemical and physical restraints, other living conditions, forced double celling in isolation, etc.). We will also be accepting drawings and photos. Our deadline is June 15th. We will only be able to acknowledge by form letter. Unless otherwise authorized the publication will use first name, last initial and facility only. Please send to Bonnie Kerness, AFSC, 89 Market St., 6th floor, Newark, NJ 07102. Please make this message available to people concerned with the prison system and send it to friends and loved ones in prison. Without your input, this publication would not be possible. Our gratitude. Sincerely, AFSC Prison Watch Project Bonnie Kerness <BKerness@afsc.org
Va. inmate: 'Only way to stop me' is death row: DENA POTTER, Associated Press Writer= POUND, Va. (AP) — For seven days, Robert Gleason Jr. begged correctional officers and counselors at Wallens Ridge State Prison to move his new cellmate. The constant singing, screaming and obnoxious behavior were too much, and Gleason knew he was ready to snap. On the eighth day — May 8, 2009 — correctional officers found 63-year-old Harvey Gray Watson Jr. bound, gagged, beaten and strangled. His death went unnoticed for 15 hours because correctional officers had falsified inmate counts at the high-security prison in southwestern Virginia. Now, Gleason says he'll kill again if he isn't put to death for killing Watson, who had a history of mental illness. And he says his next victim won't be an inmate. "I murdered that man cold-bloodedly. I planned it, and I'm gonna do it again," the 40-year-old Gleason told The Associated Press. "Someone needs to stop it. The only way to stop me is put me on death row." http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9124611/print
PA. will transfer 2,000 inmates to Virginia Pa. will transfer 2,000 inmates to Virginia & Michigan. HARRISBURG -- The state Department of Corrections, faced with a worsening problem of prison overcrowding and the protracted process of building new prisons, has decided to move 2,000 inmates to lockups in two other states.
Virginia Prisoners Sues Parole Board: Eleven state inmates convicted of violent crimes filed a lawsuit against the Virginia Parole Board this morning, challenging what they allege are rote, automatic parole denials. The class action suit filed in U.S. District Court claims the inmates are repeatedly rejected for parole because of the “serious nature and circumstances of the crime,“ wrongly and unnecessarily prolonging their prison terms and burdening taxpayers. Parole ended in Virginia for crimes committed on or after Jan. 1, 1995. http://www2.wsls.com/sls/news/state_regional/article/11_va._inmates_sue_parole_board/78870/
Innoncent NYC Man Freed After 16 Years in Prison: This is becoming all too common. A man, usually a black man, is freed from prison after spending decades behind bars for a crime that is later discovered he did not commit.
Sometimes DNA evidence is the reason these men are freed. Other times, it's witnesses who recant their testimony, false witness identification and coerced confessions. http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/06/10/nyc-man-freed-after-16-years-in-prison/?icid=main|htmlws-bv-n|dl3|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bvblackspin.com%2F2010%2F06%2F10%2Fnyc-man-freed-after-16-years-in-prison%2F The “tough on crime” posturing and policymaking that have dominated American politics for more than three decades have left behind a grim legacy. Longer sentences and harsher parole standards have led to overcrowded prisons, overtaxed state budgets, and devastated families and communities. Now, yet another consequence is becoming visible in the nation’s prisons and jails: a huge and ever-growing numbers of geriatric inmates.
VA LEGISLATORS HAVE TWITTER The Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia now have Twitter accounts,
Video of Event: Jobs With Justice Chicago Illinois Rally/March:
More than 7.3 million people were under the authority of the US corrections system at the end of 2008, according to new government data. This figure amounts to 1 in 31 adults in the country, by far the highest rate in the world. Over 2.3 million adults are held in prisons and jails throughout the US, and 5.1 million are on supervised parole or probation.
Denied religious CD, Va. inmate sues: Associated Press - February 4, 2010 - RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A Virginia inmate who says prison officials wouldn't let him order a sermon on CD is suing the state Department of Corrections. The Rutherford Institute filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Norfolk on behalf of Kyle Mabe. He claims a directive allowing inmates to receive music CDs but not spoken word CDs violates his right to exercise his religious beliefs. According to the lawsuit, Mabe tried to have a CD with a Christian sermon delivered to him at St. Brides Correctional Center in Chesapeake. He says prison officials refused to process his request. A Department of Corrections spokesman did not immediately return telephone or e-mail messages Thursday. http://www.nbc12.com/Global/story.asp?S=11934567
Prison Legal News (PLN) Censorship Suit Against Virginia DOC New questions on censorship
By The Daily Progress
Published: February 10, 2010
The state corrections department is at it again.
Last year, you’ll remember, the department gained notoriety first for banning a local program to send books to inmates and then for a broader censorship issue in which prisoners were denied material ranging from James Joyce’s classic "Ulysses," to The Daily Progress, to Reader’s Digest. Also banned were issues of Prison Legal News, a 7,000-circulation monthly magazine. It filed a lawsuit in October against a handful of officials at the state corrections department, claiming that they violated the First and 14th amendments. Now comes a lawsuit alleging another violation of the First Amendment, this one involving religious expression. An inmate says he was denied a copy of a CD containing a sermon because the department does not allow inmates to receive spoken-word CDs, only music disks. http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/opinion/op_ed/article/new_questions_on_censorship/52063/
Florida man exonerated, freed from prison after 35 years: James Bain, 54, talks to the media Thursday after his release in Bartow, Florida. Bartow, Florida (CNN) After more than three decades in prison, a man in florida was set free Thursday after a DNA test showed he did not kidnap and rape a 9-year-old boy in 1974. James Bain, 54, was 19 when he was convicted on charges of kidnapping, burglary and strong-arm rape. Now he will be allowed to go home for the first time in 35 years. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/16/florida.dna.exoneration/index.html
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