Day: October 17, 2023

CA: Still many unknowns surrounding placement of sexually violent predator William Stephenson

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Source: kcra.com 10/17/23 Placer County hosted a housing committee meeting Tuesday to inform the community about the release of William Stephenson, a man classified as a sexually violent predator. The Department of State Hospitals, along with Liberty Healthcare, which has been contracted out by the state to facilitate placement services, hosted the meeting which was attended by the public at the Placer County Community Development Agency building, and virtually, for people who couldn’t attend in person. According to the Placer County District Attorney, the Superior Court judge overseeing the case…

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AR: Arkansas Parole Board Denies Release to Sex Offender For Failure to Find Appropriate Housing

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Source: prisonlegalnews.org 9/15/23 On February 2, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas dismissed a state prisoner’s habeas corpus petition challenging denial of his parole because he did not have approved sex offender housing. While bad news for him, the decision is instructive for any prisoner facing housing restrictions when paroled or on probation. Charles Isaac Wilson, Jr., is serving a 40-year sentence for a 2010 conviction for delivery of cocaine. In November 2021, the state Parole Board recommended he be transferred from the state Department…

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UK: Teacher sacked and arrested after girls made up sex claims ‘for fun’ gets payout

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Source: msn.com 10/17/23 A male teacher at an all-girls grammar school has been awarded £45,000 after he was sacked over sex assault claims pupils later said had been made up ‘for fun’.  Jonathan Hawker, who taught maths and computing, lost his job at Devonport High School for Girls after pupils said he assaulted them by touching their thighs and massaging their shoulders.  He endured the ‘brutal experience’ of being arrested at his home before being dismissed from the Plymouth school for gross misconduct.  His appeal against the sacking was then…

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A Place to Be Free

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Source: inquest.org 10/12/23 Life in prison is hard. Coming back home shouldn’t be harder. More than 600,000 people are released from prison every year, which means that many people will be transitioning home from a place where trauma, stress, and other hardships are commonplace. Reentry, as this transitional period is called, comes with huge barriers to housing, employment, and our well-being. We know this because we’ve experienced these hardships ourselves—include the anxiety of knowing that any misstep during this period could have landed us back in prison. Of the more…

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NY: Opinion: The case for fixing probation and parole

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Source: cityandstateny.com 9/22/23 On Sept. 17, 2021, when I was running the notorious Rikers Island jails, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Less Is More act into law, reducing parole revocations for non-criminal, technical violations.  When she did so, she applied the act retroactively to all people incarcerated for 30 days or more for parole violations like drug use, missed appointments and curfew violations. Unfortunately, Isaabdul Karim had only been incarcerated for 29 days, missing his release opportunity by a single day. Two days later, Mr. Karim died of COVID-19 in…

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Parents, investigators recall long quest for answers after Jacob Wetterling’s 1989 abduction

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Source: abcnews.go.com 10/12/23 A new “20/20” examines the chilling case that remained unsolved until 2016. Nearly 34 years ago, the abduction of an 11-year-old boy from a dark road in rural Minnesota terrified the community and went on to become one of the biggest mysteries in the state’s history. Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped at gunpoint a half-mile from his St. Joseph home just after 9 p.m. on Oct. 22, 1989. He was never seen alive again. The chilling case, which remained unsolved until 2016, is the focus of a new…

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