Posts tagged The Guardian
San Quentin prisoners reframe photos to share their stories

“In a photography course that she still teaches through the not-for-profit initiative Prison University Project, Poor engaged her students – incarcerated at San Quentin – with visual mapping exercises encouraging them to write and draw directly on to the found photos. Adding poetic musings, facts and speculative theories to the works, the students interpreted a range of scenes – from visiting-room weddings and ice sculpture-carving contests to family visits and attempted escapes. Presented without context, the diagrammed images are time capsules that chart how the culture of San Quentin has evolved from the 60s to the present.“

The Guardian

September 10, 2019

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Access to Outside WorldPhillip ReevesThe Guardian, San Quentin, CaliforniaComment
Beatings, murders and prisoners set on fire: inside the prison called 'gangland'

“The state has sharply cut spending on prisons over the last few years. Along the way, the number of guards at the three state-run prisons has plummeted, from 905 in July 2017 to 627 two years later, even as the number of inmates has remained the same. Vacancies abound, largely because the pay is so low.“

The Guardian

August 21, 2019

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UnderstaffingPhillip ReevesThe Guardian, MississippiComment
Why are so many people dying in US prisons and jails?

“Surges in the number of Americans dying while incarcerated have occurred against a backdrop of an increase in the US prison population by 500% over the last 40 years. Based on the latest national figures available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 4,980 prisoners in US correctional facilities died in 2014, a nearly 3% increase from 2013. In state prisons, the mortality rate was 275 for every 100,000 people, the highest since data collection began in 2001.“

The Guardian

May 26, 2019

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Death in PrisonPhillip ReevesThe GuardianComment
Four prisoners dead in six weeks: the crisis unfolding in San Diego county jails

“The jail system’s inmate death toll stands at 135 dead over the last decade, according to public records. Between 2000 and 2007, San Diego had the second highest death rate of inmates among the state’s large jail systems, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Since then, those numbers have only increased. A majority of the 135 deaths involve inmates who struggled with serious mental illness. Some prisoners died of a lack of medical care. And many took their own lives.“

The Guardian

April 16, 2019

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Death in PrisonPhillip ReevesThe Guardian, San DiegoComment
Four prisoners dead in six weeks: the crisis unfolding in San Diego county jails

“The jail system’s inmate death toll stands at 135 dead over the last decade, according to public records. Between 2000 and 2007, San Diego had the second highest death rate of inmates among the state’s large jail systems, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Since then, those numbers have only increased. A majority of the 135 deaths involve inmates who struggled with serious mental illness. Some prisoners died of a lack of medical care. And many took their own lives.“

The Guardian

April 16, 2019

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Death in PrisonPhillip ReevesThe Guardian, San DiegoComment
Sentenced to prison without a crime: mental health patients locked up in New Hampshire

“According to mental health advocates, New Hampshire stands alone in the US in warehousing involuntarily committed mental health patients in prison. There have been efforts to reform the system for years now, but the state’s legislature never agreed on the millions of dollars needed to build a secure psychiatric facility, leaving the prison SPU as the only option for some patients.“

The Guardian

March 1, 2019

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Mental HealthPhillip ReevesThe Guardian, New HampshireComment
'A hopeless place': St Louis workhouse denounced as a modern-day debtors' prison

“The tour came about a year after a regional heatwave turned attention to the conditions of prisoners in the facility, which did not have air conditioning. In July, more than 150 protesters gathered outside the workhouse, where temperatures inside reportedly exceeded 120F (49C), only to be dispersed by pepper spray. Three days after the protest, Mayor Lyda Krewson moved to place temporary air conditioning units in the facility.“

The Guardian

September 24, 2018

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Jail & Prison ConditionsPhillip ReevesThe Guardian, St Louis, MissouriComment