Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.
“Wright said the banning of Prison Legal News is another way some penal institutions try to prevent inmates from knowing their rights. Under Silver’s directive, the state of Arizona and its corrections department can no longer violate prisoners’ First Amendment rights, which include the right to read — something that also impacts non-incarcerated people once prisoners are released, Fathi said.“
Washington Post
November 12, 2019
Read More“Driven by climate change over the past few decades, the average number of days each year with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees has increased from 5 to 15 in Houston. The Wallace Pack Unit was home to some of the TDCJ’s most elderly prisoners, part of some 13,000 state prisoners who have been deemed medically sensitive to excessive heat. Collier said 8,000 of those prisoners have already been placed in air-conditioned housing, with plans to move the other 5,000 within two years.“
Prison Legal News
October 7, 2019
Read More“The chronic presence of mold is frequently a component of what is referred to as Tight Building Syndrome or Sick Building Syndrome – terms that have been coined to describe a relatively new occupational health and safety problem for people who work or spend excessive amounts of time indoors. This is not a new phenomenon; it has been a source of concern for governmental entities such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the subject of numerous class-action lawsuits over several decades.“
Prison Legal News
April 2, 2019
Read More“DOC spokesman Jim Lockwood quickly made assurances that prison officials would not force prisoners to work without compensation. Ultimately, the DOC replaced prisoner wages with a point system. At the end of each month, a prisoner’s accumulated points are converted into a monetary amount ranging between $8 and $77 for most prison jobs. Prisoners can earn more working for OCE, which pays an average of $158 per month, according to the agency. That is equivalent to around $1.25 per hour rather than the maximum $0.61 per hour for non-OCE prison jobs.“
Prison Legal News
April 2, 2019
Read More“Of 71 deaths reported in Utah county jails over a five-year period, 38 were suicides and 31 occurred within the first week after the prisoner was booked into jail. Six of the deaths occurred on the first day in custody. Deaths in state prisons were less predominated by suicides, and the prisoners had usually been incarcerated far longer than one week. Of the 20 prison deaths reported in 2017, just two were suicides. Two others resulted from drug or alcohol intoxication and 15 from “illness,” while the last was listed as “other/unknown.” “
Prison Legal News
March 5, 2019
Read More“Print media kept prisoners connected to the social justice movements of the day and enabled them to be active participants. Allies created opportunities and platforms for prisoners to be heard. Prisoners’ voices were given spaces to articulate their issues and solutions. Allies knew that “those closest to the problem are the ones closest to the solution.” These arrangements kept prisoners and their allies informed about what was happening inside and outside the prison walls. These connections, enabled by print media, were critical to successfully opposing the Prison Industrial Complex.“
Prison Legal News
February 5, 2019
Read More“Several state prison systems are facing a dilemma: too many prisoners and not enough beds. An increasingly popular solution to this problem is to transfer prisoners to facilities in other states, sometimes thousands of miles away, where there is surplus bed space available. That extra space is typically found in private, for-profit prisons.“
Prison Legal News
December 5, 2018
Read More“Since 2009, the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) has banned every issue of PLN, claiming that the advertisements in the magazine raise security concerns. FDOC’s blanket ban on PLN makes Florida an outlier. No other state, county or even our federal government has a de facto ban on PLN because of its ads. Nevertheless, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld the ban. Soon, the Supreme Court will have a chance to weigh in.“
The Crime Report
October 29, 2018
Read More“In that petition, Prison Legal News calls the 11th Circuit decision ‘an outlier ruling upholding an outlier policy.’ As it notes, Florida is alone in its position. Although the publication has battled censorship in 29 states, making it perhaps the most frequently banned magazine in the country, neither the federal prison system or any other state prison systems bans the magazine in its entirety.“
Reason Magazine
September 17, 2018
Read MorePrison Legal News is petitioning the Supreme Court to take up their case against the state of Florida for censoring the distribution of Prison Legal News in state prisons. If the case is taken, it would be an attempt to reverse the decision of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prison Legal News
September 14, 2018
Read More"The concept of banned books and magazines—reading materials deemed too dangerous or subversive—may seem anachronistic and even Orwellian. But prisons across the United States have long attempted to restrict what prisoners can read, and some are currently attempting to limit inmates’ access to a particular magazine."
Freedom of the Press Foundation
August 28, 2018
Read More"Nationally, about five of every 100,000 prisoners are murdered and another 16 commit suicide. In Alabama the number of prison homicides is over 30 per 100,000 – six times the national average and twice that of the next-highest state – while the number of suicides has risen to 37 per 100,000, more than twice the national rate."
Prison Legal News
August 6, 2018
Read More"While sitting idly in jail, Tuzlic was, like other pregnant prisoners, 'frequently hungry and undernourished' due to the 'nutritionally inadequate”'pregnancy diet. The complaint alleged prisoners often were not provided full portions of food or portions were completely missing. They were not given prenatal vitamins or calcium supplements."
Prison Legal News
August 4, 2018
Read More"The role of food is more pronounced for prisoners than for those who are not incarcerated. A primary reason for that difference is the fact that prison and jail schedules revolve around meal times. Another is that prisoners are limited to eating the fare provided in the dining hall (commonly called the chow hall or mess hall), or what they can buy from the commissary; they lack the food choices that most people take for granted."
Prison Legal News
August 4, 2018
Read More"'I’ve been concerned about their over-using administrative segregation for years,' said state Senator John Whitmire, who chairs the state Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee. 'I’m convinced that, if you’re not emotionally disturbed when you go in there, you will be when you get out'."
Prison Legal News
July 6, 2018
Read More"In the two months following an April 15, 2018 riot at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina that left seven prisoners dead and at least 22 injured, the state’s Department of Corrections (DOC) has renewed its push to get the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve jamming contraband cell phones in prisons and jails. Additionally, several prisoners who were wounded during the riot have filed lawsuits alleging that staff at the facility failed to protect them from foreseeable violence."
Prison Legal News
July 1, 2018
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