Capital Punishment, Mental Illness and Families: A Report

From the ACLU:

The report details several examples in which people who were clearly ill murdered someone and were found incompetent. It also tells the stories of those who were still tried, convicted and eventually executed, despite their mental illness.

For example, Larry Robison was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. His parents checked him into a few facilities. Each time he was about to be released, his parents asked the physicians to retain him. One psychiatrist stated that Robison needed long-term care, but when the hospital learned that Robison was not covered by insurance, his parents said the hospital "could not wait to get him out of there." His parents were told he could not get help because he was not violent, but if he became violent, he would be placed in a mental hospital.

Robison began to self-medicate and was admitted to a rehabilitation center for his drug use, but was not treated for schizophrenia. Robison was arrested for the murder of five people just four years after his first diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. His first violent act was murder. Robison was executed, without ever receiving the treatment he needed.

Follow this link to dowload the full report: NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness | Home

Technorati Tags: aclu, mental illness, schizophrenia, capital punishment, death penalty, execution, murder, crime, law, prison

Featured Book: You Got Nothing Coming

So, Sunday Sites are out because I am now single parenting my son for a couple of months while his father sets life up for us in Canada and blogging with a baby boy who literally just learned to walk last night, is just not in the cards. Not enough hands! or eyes.

With that said, I want to start a new weekly thing about books. Any books on the topic of prison will do, so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to email me at vlu777@gmail.com - also, would love to get some reviews by other people as well. Guest blogging anyone?

My first book in this series is the first book I ever read about prison. I sought out books on the topic of prison because I had just learned my very good friend was locked up for 9 years in Ohio. When the shock subsided, I realized I knew bleep all about prison, had never even really given it any thought whatsoever. So I went on the hunt for books about it and the very first book I found was called You Got Nothing Coming: Notes From a Prison Fish by Jimmy Lerner.

This book is about a man, Jimmy Lerner, who was locked up in the Nevada State Prison system for manslaughter. It is written humorously which was perfect for the state of mind I was in which was absolute horror that my friend was experiencing these things. But Jimmy gave it a sarcastic lightheartedness. I loved, also, the fact that the book was about prison, not crime. His crime is explained later in the book, but the book is primarily about prison life and what it's like to be a Jew locked in a cell with a giant, ripped skinhead named Kansas, who has a swastika tattoo.

After I finished reading this book, I contacted the author, and much to my surprise, he contacted me back. Thus begun a year or so of emailing back and forth, long, sarcastic, hilarious emails to one another and I eventually had the honor of designing his web site. His web site has since been taken down, but can still be seen at the Internet Archive: Click here.

After his book was released, Jimmy Lerner faced a few legal issues regarding the Son of Sam law which basically states that no convicted criminal should be able to profit off of his crimes. This law was enacted when David "Son of Sam" Burkowitz wrote a book about being the Son of Sam. Jimmy was sued by the sister of the victim of his crime, under Nevada's Son of Sam law. The court found that the Son of Sam law was unconstitutional and the case was dismissed.

While I was designing Jimmy's web site, he was asked by the Prisons Foundation to sit on their board alongside Howard Zinn, one of my favorite authors who penned A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.).

Jimmy and I lost touch as my business got busier, but recently someone looking for Jimmy contacted me and said they'd heard he was dead. I saw this on Wikipedia as well. I tried to email him and didn't get a response, so if anyone knows anything about whether or not he has passed, let me know at the email address above.

Further resources:
The Talented Mr. Lerner - New York Times

Diary of a Prison Fish - Newsreview


Technorati Tags: jimmy lerner, prison, book, crime, law, son of sam

National Geographic's Last Words From Death Row

Luis Ramirez Age: 42 Convicted of murdering his ex-wife's boyfriend

I did not kill your loved one, but I hope that one day you find out who did. I wish I could tell you the reason why, or give some kind of solace; you lost someone you love very much. The same as my family and friends are going to lose in a few minutes. I am sure he died unjustly, just like I am.
Executed October 20, 2005

Read more: Explorer | Inside Death Row | National Geographic Channel

Technorati Tags: death row, death sentence, death penalty, capital punishment, execution, crime, law, prison, murder

Featured Prison: Wynne Unit, TX

The Wynne Unit prison in Hunstville, Texas was founded in 1883 and houses 2600 inmates. Located on 1,412 Acres, it is home to many agricultural programs, such as field crops, egg laying operations, peach orchards, horse breeding and more. The unit also has a mattress factory, license plate plant, sticker plant and freight terminal among other industries.

David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash served time for drugs and weapons charges at Wynne Unit and worked in the prison's mattress factory.

Last summer 440 inmates got sick with Norovirus and visitation was canceled.

Wynne Unit is host to the Christian Restorative Justice Mentors Association mentor program 1-4 times per month: http://www.crjma.org

An appeal for help with rebuilding the Wynne Unit Chapel roof:



Wynne Unit on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Site

Wynne Unit on Wikimapia

Wynne Unit on Prison Talk

Wynne Unit on Prison Place

To submit a little known fact about this or any other prison, or to suggest a prison for next week's featured prison, please email me at vlu777@gmail.com

Archive of all Featured Prisons on Genpop.org

Technorati Tags: wynne unit, hunstville, texas, prison, crime, law, david crosby, norovirus

Why Putting an End to Wrongful Convictions is so Important

Brian Dugan, the real killer in the wrongful conviction cases of Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez, has plead guilty to the murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico that took place in 1983. Rolando Cruz and Alejandro had been pursued as suspects despite evidence that pointed to Brian Dugan.

This case bothers me in so many ways. First, is that if you look up Brian Dugan's criminal resume here: http://www.idoc.state.il.us, you'll see that the fact that he was not picked up as the killer of this little girl, allowed him to commit other awful crimes. Had the police and prosecutors done their job in this case, another innocent murder victim would still be alive.

Second, here is a stunning example of racism in police investigations. Despite evidence pointing to a white man, two Hispanic Men were sought as the killers.

Third, are we not supposed to trust these people, police, investigators, prosecutors, to protect us from people like Brian Dugan? Instead of letting him go free to commit other crimes? Is this not absolute criminal negligence on their part, knowingly letting a child murderer go free only to have him commit murder again?

My question is, why don't people see that wrongful convictions literally and unequivocally cause more innocent people to become the victims of crime? Wrongful convictions cause crime. Why aren't more people up in arms about it, putting an end to prosecutorial misconduct? How can you be "tough on crime" and not want to put an end to wrongful convictions?

Rolando Cruz and Prosecutorial Misconduct

Rolando Cruz on the Innocence Project

Technorati Tags: wrongful conviction, wrongfully convicted, rolano cruz, brian dugan, innocence project, racism, innocence, pricon, crime, law, murder

Could You Confess to a Crime You Didn't Commit?

A good article about false confessions from CBS News' Crimesider:

Marty Tankleff in 2004. As a 17-year-old boy Tankleff pondered, during a police interogatation, whether he killed his own parents. He spent the next 17 years in jail fighting his own words.

Could someone make you confess to a crime that you didn’t commit? C'mon. No way. People usually lie to avoid penalties. Why would someone accept responsibility and punishment for something they didn’t do?

To most of us, it is inconceivable that even the most skillful police interrogator can get innocent people to, not only confess to a terrible crime, but actually believe that they committed it. Yet, we know it happens.

One quarter of those exonerated by DNA test results actually confessed to the crime of which they were convicted. Regular viewers of 48 Hours Mystery know about the case of Marty Tankleff.

He is the son of a wealthy New York couple who was convicted of killing his parents in 1990 after he wondered aloud to detectives if he was responsible. Tankleff was released from prison last year after new evidence surfaced pointing to a disgruntled partner of Tankleff’s father and hired killers.

So what makes people admit things that are not true? Until recently, I was confident that only a certain kind of individual could be coerced.

Read More: Could Someone Make You Confess a Crime You Didn't Commit?

Technorati Tags: wrongful conviction, wrongfully convicted, prison, crime, law, exonerated

12th Man Freed by Wisconsin Innocence Project

Yet another American man is freed after spending almost two dozen years in prison and it still shocks me. I don't think I will ever get used to hearing about these cases.

MILWAUKEE — A decades-old homicide charge was dismissed Monday against a Wisconsin man who spent nearly two dozen years in prison before new forensic tests raised questions about the evidence used to convict him.

Robert Lee Stinson, 44, shook hands with his attorneys, then hugged several relatives who wiped tears from their eyes after the charge was formally dismissed. He was freed from prison earlier this year after a judge vacated his sentence of life in prison.

"I feel wonderful right now," Stinson told The Associated Press. "I can't express it in words. It hasn't really sunk in yet."

Stinson, of Milwaukee, was convicted in the 1984 slaying of a 63-year-old Milwaukee woman, whose near-naked beaten and bloody body was found in an alley near her home with eight bite marks on her torso. His 1985 conviction was based in part on testimony from experts who said the bite marks matched the teeth of Stinson, then 21.

But newer tests, as well as DNA analysis of saliva found on the victim's sweater, suggested no match to Stinson, who has always maintained his innocence.

Read more: The Associated Press: Freed Wis. inmate gets homicide charge dismissed

The Wisconsin Innocence Project : http://www.law.wisc.edu/fjr/clinicals/ip/index.html

Technorati Tags: wrongful conviction, wrongfully convicted, innocence, crime, law, prison, exonerated, dna testing, inmate

Popular Mechanics : The Truth Behind the Real CSI

Popular Mechanics has published an extremely in-depth look at faulty forensics and junk science, at fault for many wrongful convictions.

Mofson testified that seven bite marks found on Kulakowski were “entirely consistent” with dental impressions taken from Brown. It was the only physical evidence tying Brown to the crime. Although a defense expert disputed Mofson’s findings, the jury convicted Brown of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

As the years ticked by, few listened as Brown proclaimed his innocence from his cell in the Elmira Correctional Facility. Then Brown got an unusual lucky break. His stepfather’s house burned down, taking with it all of his records from the trial. To replace his documents, Brown submitted an open records request to the county. The sheriff who processed Brown’s request mistakenly sent him the entire investigative file. It revealed another suspect: Barry Bench, the firefighter who discovered Kulakowski’s body. Bench’s brother had dated Kulakowski up until two months before the murder and Bench was reportedly upset that she continued to live in the family farmhouse. On the day before Christmas in 2003, Brown sent a letter to Bench letting him know he was seeking DNA testing. “Juries can make mistakes,” he wrote. But, “DNA is God’s creation, and God makes no mistakes.” Soon after receiving the message, Bench committed suicide by jumping in front of an Amtrak train. DNA tests confirmed that Bench was guilty of Kulakowski’s murder, and Brown was set free.

The faulty identification that sent Brown to prison for 15 years may seem like a rare glitch in the U.S. criminal justice system. It wasn’t. As DNA testing has made it possible to re-examine biological evidence from past trials, more than 200 people have had their convictions overturned. In approximately 50 percent of those cases, bad forensic analysis contributed to their imprisonment.

On television and in the movies, forensic examiners unravel difficult cases with a combination of scientific acumen, cutting-edge technology and dogged persistence. The gee-whiz wonder of it all has spawned its own media-age legal phenomenon known as the “CSI effect.” Jurors routinely afford confident scientific experts an almost mythic infallibility because they evoke the bold characters from crime dramas. The real world of forensic science, however, is far different. America’s forensic labs are overburdened, understaffed and under intense pressure from prosecutors to produce results. According to a 2005 study by the Department of Justice, the average lab has a backlog of 401 requests for services. Plus, several state and city forensic departments have been racked by scandals involving mishandled evidence and outright fraud.

But criminal forensics has a deeper problem of basic validity. Bite marks, blood-splatter patterns, ballistics, and hair, fiber and handwriting analysis sound compelling in the courtroom, but much of the “science” behind forensic science rests on surprisingly shaky foundations. Many well-established forms of evidence are the product of highly subjective analysis by people with minimal credentials—according to the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, no advanced degree is required for a career in forensics. And even the most experienced and respected professionals can come to inaccurate conclusions, because the body of research behind the majority of the forensic sciences is incomplete, and the established methodologies are often inexact. “There is no scientific foundation for it,” says Arizona State University law professor Michael Saks. “As you begin to unpack it you find it’s a lot of loosey-goosey stuff.”

Read the rest : Forensics Myths Debunked - The Truth Behind Real CSI Evidence - Popular Mechanics

Technorati Tags: wrongful conviction, junk science, forensics, innocence, exoneration, prison, crime, murder, law

A Prison Chaplain Speaks out Against the Death Penalty

Rev, Carroll "Bud" Pickett talks about how working with death row inmates has changed his opinion of the death penalty.

Pickett watched almost 100 men die this way, deaths completed in a matter of minutes, but ones that have stayed with Pickett for years. His experiences changed his views on capital punishment, making him an outspoken critic of the practice he says can punish the innocent, the mentally handicapped and the reformed for no good reason.

“Practically every one of the men I saw die had been restored. They’d changed. I saw so many people who’d made mistakes, but they didn’t deserve to die,” Pickett said. “It’s not a deterrent. It’s a deterrent for one person.”

His book, Within These Walls: Memoirs of a Death House Chaplain, tells his story. He is also the subject of a documentary, At the Death House Door, which is now available on DVD.

The death penalty, Pickett said, often does not bring comfort to those who have lost loved ones to violence. Instead, it widens the circle of pain.

“The warden was a victim. The guards became victims. The families are both sides became victims,” Pickett said. “The whole state is a victim.”

What Good Has Death Done - A prison chaplain changes his mind - by Natalie Pompilio - Obit Magazine

Pittsburgh Police to Test New Interrogation Techniques?

Allegheny County police departments could be part of a pilot program aimed at changing police interrogation techniques.

District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., who chairs the investigations section of a state Senate-commissioned Committee on Wrongful Convictions, acknowledged any changes could rankle some police.

"We're looking for the best practices. I'm willing to undertake pilot projects if this is coming out of the committee," Zappala said.

The Committee on Wrongful Convictions, chaired by Duquesne University law school professor John Rago, is due to release a report to the state Senate by fall that could outline several recommendations, including making it easier for convicts to gain access to DNA testing and providing monetary compensation for the wrongfully convicted.

Pittsburgh-area police may test interrogation changes - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Technorati Tags: wrongful convictions, exonerated, interrogation, police, crime, law, prison

A Death in the Family - Wrongful Conviction in Canada

This is a good documentary from Canada's CBC about an exceptionally awful case of wrongful conviction in Ontario.

William Mullins-Johnson spent twelve years in prison, wrongfully convicted of murder in the death of his four-year-old niece, Valin. For the first time, the full story of Valin's death, the mistakes that led to that wrongful conviction and its impact not just on Bill Mullins-Johnson, but his entire family.

'A Death in the Family - Watch Video | CBC News: the fifth estate

Technorati Tags: wrongful conviction, the fifth estate, cbc, canada, crime, law, innocence, prison, murder

Birthday Wish - Help End the Death Penalty

Tomorrow is my birthday! I will officially be old. Though I say that every year.

This year I have asked my friends and family to donate to the NCADP (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty) and have set a goal of $160. So far, $96 have been donated. Now I'm asking my blog readers, help me reach my goal and have a great birthday by donating here: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/100186?m=e0bc6388

Thanks everyone!

Technorati Tags: death penalty, donate, ncadp, capital punishment, crime, law, prison

Featured Prison: Pleasant Valley State Prison, CA

Pleasant Valley State Prison is a minimum/medium security prison in California. It was recently in the news after an inmate died on the 16th of July as a result of a riot involving 75 inmates.

PVSP's capacity is 2,616 offenders but currently houses well over 5000.

Notable inmates include Erik Menendez, who, with his brother Lyle, killed their parents and Flesh-N-Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

In 2005-2006, valley fever killed 4 inmates and one staff member of PVSP.

Tim Seely wrote a song called Pleasant Valley State Prison: Here is the mp3.

CDCR - Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP) - Home Page/Mission Statement

Pleasant Valley State Prison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP) - California - Prison Talk

Pleasant Valley State Prison info - WriteAPrisoner.com Forum

To submit a little known fact about this or any other prison, or to suggest a prison for next week's featured prison, please email me at vlu777@gmail.com

Archive of all Featured Prisons on Genpop.org

Technorati Tags: pleasant valley state prison, valley fever, prison riot, inmate, offender, prison, crime, law, tim seely, bone thugs-n-harmony, erik menendez

Perceptions of Wrongful Convictions in The USA

Take a couple of minutes out of your day today to finish this short survey on wrongful convictions in the USA:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2fyetaLsNFC2gn4g_2f4Yxerw_3d_3d

Technorati Tags: wrongful convictions, prison, innocence, law, crime

Gloria Killian for the National Prison Reform Committee

Eliminate Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, which has turned America into #1 Jailer in the world and threatened our own people within -- no longer "the land of the free" as 1 in 31 Adults are in Corrections, probation or parole. This does not count many other groups. Write your Congressmen/women. Write Sen. Jim Webb and participate on his Criminal Justice Commission -- citizens are needed, and those exonerated who have spent decades as innocent people trapped in America's jails and prisons - Hell-holes that rival Abu Ghraib in it's treatment of human beings.

We are nominating Gloria Killian, wrongfully convicted, wrongfully imprisoned for 17 1/2 years for a crime she did NOT commit, and exonerated for Sen. Jim Webb's Criminal Justice Reform Commission to overhaul a broken criminal justice and prison system.  Only she has more real life experience as a result of the failed policies that no one on the commission has or anyone else nominates. The alarming rate of growth of women and girls being incarcerated is an issue since the history of prisons is they were built for men, not women who have special gender specific needs and issues. It's time to recognize this. The future of this nation depends on honestly facing this crisis.

Sign the petition: http://www.change.org/acwip/actions/view/gloria_killian_for_the_national_prison_reform_committee

Technorati Tags: gloria killian, nationa prison reform committee, wrongful convictions, prison, law, crime

Apologies - Visas Required for Mexicans Entering Canada

I apologize for not having posted in a couple of weeks, but here is why:

The Affects of the new Visa requirements for Mexicans, on a 1 Year old Canadian Boy

This has also been sent to the Prime Minister of Canada, with ample time for his office to respond. They have not.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper c/o Michelle Trembley

July 16 2009

Almost two years ago, my boyfriend, John and I moved to Mexico to experience a new way of life and expand our horizons. Not long after we arrived, we realized I was pregnant. We had the child in Mexico, Joseph Freeman Simmonds, named after his Canadian-born paternal grandmother and Canadian-born maternal grandfather.

A year goes by and John and I decide to move back to Canada. Making it here was hard with our small internet business and being unable to work in this country. John left on July the 15th so he could attend a friend's wedding an start his new job. I purchased my ticket for Sept. 12th, 2009 direct to Calgary, even though our final destination is Vancouver. We needed a direct flight to bring home our beloved family pet, Rocky, who I adopted 9 years ago in Richmond, BC. We booked our hotel in Calgary and John was to come and pick us up in Calgary and we would all drive home to Vancouver. We told all our friends and family and were very excited. We were told by Canadian immigration on the phone that it would be easier for us to get Joey's Canadian citizenship in order after we arrive home.

Then on the 14th we hear news that Canada has suddenly, with no notice, implemented a new rule, that Mexicans need a visa to come to Canada. Under all circumstances.

So we went off to the Canadian consulate on the way to dropping John off at the airport. We needed to know that we could still travel with little Joey. I mean, surely they didn't expect us to believe that a 13 month old, blonde-haired blue-eyed boy born to two Canadian-born parents, 4 Canadian-born grandparents and even Canadian-born great grandparents, was going to be turned away if we take him to Canada in September. Add to that, the fact that we already purchased our ticket with no knowledge of this impending new rule, and the fact that Joey's father and I both are on the Canadian Embassy in Mexico's mailing list that sends out alerts to Canadians registered in Mexico and we received absolutely no information about this. We were sure they were going to tell us there was a grace period for people who had already bought tickets or who were clearly Canadian, with photo ID that has both Mom an Dad's name on it, and both Mom an Dad have Canadian passports. We were absolutely sure of this. But we needed to hear it from the horse's mouth.

So is that what they said? No. They said that in order to bring our son, who is 11 months old, to his home country, we need to get a visa or a temporary passport, both of which regularly take longer than 3 months to get done in Mexico City at the Canadian Embassy. That's longer than we have.

We did not purchase travel insurance. We are not wealthy people. In fact, we were moving back to Canada for economic reasons. We cannot afford to cancel all of our tickets, our hotel and repurchase them all again. But it is looking as though we have to. Add to that, that finding a direct flight that will take dogs is difficult and as any dog-lover would expect, leaving Rocky behind is not an option.

I have given my landlord here in Mexico (also a Canadian) notice that I will be moving out in September. I have no money to buy another ticket or to pay an extra month's rent here, as John is going to be getting us an apartment. We can't afford to pay for a home here and a home there. We absolutely cannot afford to not make that flight.

My father and I have spoken to as many people as we can think of. My Dad even got ahold of someone in the Prime Minister's office. We faxed them our situation as they told us to do, and they have not responded.

I was once proud to be a Canadian, but how can I be anymore if this country, because it cannot see that some circumstances require individual attention, forces my one-year-old boy to be homeless and stranded in Mexico?

Courtney Heard
Email: courtney@abalone.ca

To my blog readers: any help or suggestions are welcome! Will get back to posting regularly when this is all cleared up!

Technorati Tags: mexico, visa, canada

Sunday Sites#15: Write a Prisoner

This blog has a tendency to focus on ending the death penalty and wrongful convictions, but it is about prison in general. It is a fact that the way the prison and justice system in the USA is run, does not work in lowering crime, deterring criminals or rehabilitating offenders. It seems the more there are incarcerated, the higher the crime rate is.

One of the most powerful influences in anyone's life is peer pressure. Prison does not take advantage of this, keeping inmates away from family and friends, charging abhorrent amounts of money for phone calls home and even encouraging racial tension within the prison. If anything, the prison system encourages recidivism. It is my very firm belief that the prison system causes crime.

There are a lot of things that can be changed in order to help this, such as more time with families, friends and the outside world to encourage a sense of accountability, responsibilities within the prison, etc. One of these things though, that I am sure can help lower recidivism, and that you can do, is write to a prisoner. Become a friend to someone who doesn't have many. When you have someone to do good by in your life, you tend to do good a lot more often. Here are some great penpal services to help you find someone on the inside to connect with and be a positive influence to.

WriteAPrisoner.com - http://www.writeaprisoner.com/

Prisonpost - http://www.prisonpost.com/

LostVault - http://www.lostvault.com/

Inmate-Connection - http://www.inmate-connection.com/

InmatesForYou.com - http://www.inmatesforyou.com/

Inmate Classified - http://www.inmate.com/

Meet-An-Inmate - http://www.meet-an-inmate.com/

To see an archived list of all Sunday Sites, click here. To suggest a site for Sunday Sites, click here

Technorati Tags: prison, penpal, inmate, incarcerated, recidivism, crime, law

Benjamin Jealous on the Troy Davis Case

Head of the NAACP, Benjamin Jealous, on the Troy Davis case:

In late May I went to Georgia, where I met with Troy Anthony Davis on Death Row. He has been there for eighteen years, and I wanted to speak with him. I came away convinced that he represents the most compelling case of innocence in decades.

This week, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether to hear the request for a writ of habeas corpus in Davis's case in September hopefully signaling a more careful review of his motion. The reality, though, is that the last time the Justices granted such a motion was 1925 and should the Supreme Court decline the request, the countdown to Davis's execution will begin. It is even more imperative that the Chatham County District Attorney, Larry Chisolm, act now to do the right thing, and move to reopen the case.

The case must be reopened for several reasons: Davis's conviction was based on the word of eyewitnesses. However, since 2001, seven of the nine witnesses recanted or contradicted their original testimony. Several said they were coerced by the police. No physical evidence was ever produced that tied Davis to the murder of Mark Allen MacPhail, a white off-duty Savannah police officer who was killed as he tried to break up a street fight. The gun used in the shooting was never found.

Second, there is abundant evidence supporting Davis's likely innocence but it has not been aired in court. Our legal system does not allow defendants the opportunity to present new evidence of their innocence after conviction. This intransigence on legal procedural matters is unconscionable when a life is on the line.

Read more: The Nation: Saving Troy Davis From Death Row : NPR

Technorati Tags: troy davis, benjamin jealous, naacp, death row, death penalty, capital punishment, innocence, wrongful conviction, prison, crime, law

Featured Prison: York Correctional Institution, CT

York CI, founded in 1918, houses all of the state of Connecticut's female offenders, both pretrial and sentenced. It is the state's sole female facility. The population of this prison as of July 2008 is about 1350 offenders.

York CI has an intensive drug treatment unit as well as a Hospice program to train volunteer inmates in end of life care. The correctional institution also includes a reentry center, an employment program using inmates for data entry in other state agencies, the prison PUP program where assistance dogs are raised and trained and Girl Scouts Behind Bars that allows for more visitation for daughters of inmates.

New York Times Bestselling author, Wally Lamb, taught a creative writing workshop at the prison. In 2004, there was controversy over the fact that lamb accused prison officials of erasing hard drives that included up to 5 years of personal writing by 15 inmates.

Department of Correction Commissioner Theresa Lantz halted the writing program on March 29 after learning that inmate Barbara Parsons Lane had won a $25,000 PEN American Center prize for her work on the 2003 book Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution (Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters)

Prison destroys inmates writing

Complaints have been raised about the state of the water in York Correctional Institution. It has been reported to be brown and is inmates only source for water. Bottled water is brought in for staff and the puppies trained in the PUP program.

DOC: York CI

York Correctional Institution - Prison Talk

York Correctional Institution -- Sightseeing with Google Satellite Maps

York Correctional Institution | Pound Pup Legacy

prison pup partnership

York CI

To submit a little known fact about this or any other prison, or to suggest a prison for next week's featured prison, please email me at vlu777@gmail.com

Archive of all Featured Prisons on Genpop.org

Technorati Tags: prison, york ci, york correctional institution, connecticut, crime, law, wally lamb

Troy Davis decision postponed

From Amnesty International USA:

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court delayed a decision on whether to grant Troy Davis an appeal until after it returns from recess in September. The court's decision (or non-decision) should be taken as a good sign. It gives us hope that at least some Supreme Court Justices may finally be waking up to the strong claims of innocence in this case and want to take more time to weigh the facts.

We are convinced that if the justices agree to hold a hearing and allow all evidence to be weighed, then they will come to see what we have known all along – the pieces just don't add up. When Davis was sentenced to death for the 1989 shooting of a police officer in Savannah, there was an absence of any physical evidence against him. Furthermore, the majority of witnesses who testified against him then, have now recanted or changed their stories altogether.

Troy's case continues to inspire the support of millions of activists and countless leaders speaking on behalf of human rights, including former President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond TuTu.

Our activism has already put the U.S. Supreme Court and Georgia officials on the fence. Now we've got to do all we can these next couple of months to guarantee justice for Troy Davis!

Join the thousands in Savannah, Georgia who are calling for the new District Attorney to reopen Troy's case. Then, forward the link onto everyone you know!

Troy's life continues to be saved because of people like you who take the time to make the difference.

Thank you,

–Laura Moye, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign Director

P.S. Stay informed of the latest Troy news by checking back here: http://amnestyusa.org/troy

Technorati Tags: prison, death row, death penalty, capital punishment, troy davis, amnesty international, crime, law