Source: reason.com 8/6/24 When those on parole or probation are included, one out of every 47 adults is under “some form of correctional supervision.” Not only have we adopted more criminal laws at an astonishing clip, but the punishments our criminal laws carry have also grown markedly. Beginning in earnest in the second half of the 20th century, legislatures began to adopt laws that had, as Judge Jed Rakoff has noted, “two common characteristics: they imposed higher penalties, and they removed much of judicial dis-cretion in sentencing.” Notable among these…
Read MoreDay: August 6, 2024
When the Prison Grievance Process Is Worth the Risk
Source: filtermag.org 8/5/24 For nearly three decades, I’ve been hearing people scream for help. Screams of people being raped, robbed, stabbed. Screams of people left freezing in paper gowns in a suicide watch cell. Screams of people simply forgotten about behind these concrete walls. Prisons are filled with people screaming, but there’s no one besides us to hear them. We lose many rights in prison, but legally we still have basic civil rights like protection from abuse. And when we suffer abuse anyway, we have the right to seek justice…
Read MoreCongressional Democrats Take Aim at For-Profit Probation, Electronic Monitoring Companies
Source: theappeal.org 7/23/24 A group of nearly 20 federal lawmakers sent letters to two companies this week calling out abusive industry practices and requesting additional information about their profits, policies, and contracts with local governments. In letters sent Tuesday to Sentinel Offender Services, a for-profit probation contractor, and Attenti Group, an electronic monitoring services provider, more than a dozen congressional Democrats excoriated the companies for allegedly abusive industry practices that heap debt onto vulnerable people who are already living in poverty. The lawmakers have given the companies an Aug. 8…
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