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.
“Ellis had stepped into the G Gate “guard shack,” a room the size of a closet, and not even two minutes later, he saw the same prisoner, now with a shirt on, but standing outside the door looking in, pointing a sword toward Ellis’s chest. “Stay in the shack,” the prisoner said, but then cut his eyes toward another officer who had just arrived on the scene. That’s when Ellis stepped out and sprayed the prisoner with pepper spray and he took off running.“
WBRC Birmingham
April 8, 2019
Read More“A federal court this week sided with an inmate who sued the Texas prison system to get a cotton blanket after repeatedly telling officials he was allergic to the standard-issue bedding, which he alleged is made of "recycled waste" that caused him to have open sores.“
Houston Chronicle
April 4, 2019
Read More“Alabama is not alone in having troubled, violent prisons. But the state has one of the country’s highest incarceration rates and its correctional system is notoriously antiquated, dangerous and short-staffed. The major prisons are at 182 percent of their capacity, the report found, contraband is rampant and prisoners sleep in dorms they are not assigned to in order to escape violence.“
New York Times
April 3, 2019
Read More“According to the release, current policies mean some jails provide limited menstrual hygiene products to inmates. Herod’s bill would require all jails, multi-jurisdictional jails and municipal jails to provide them to people at no expense, according to the release.“
Denverite
March 20, 2019
Read More“The "Beat the Heat" challenge, hosted by Texas Prisons Air-Conditioning Advocates, was held in support of Senate Bill 321 and House Bill 936, which would require the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to maintain temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees within all Texas prison facilities. The “cell,” made out of plywood and heated with lamps and a generator, hovered at a little over 90 degrees on Tuesday. Robert Lilly, who was formerly incarcerated at Texas’ Wallace Unit in Colorado City and now works for Texas Advocates for Justice, said the temperatures inside the mock cell were nowhere near what he faced in prison during the summer months.“
My San Antonio
March 12, 2019
Read More“If the LA county-wide initiative passes, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Civilian Oversight Commission will be granted subpoena and investigative power to effectively and independently investigate misconduct; the commission will also have the power to develop a plan that will reduce jail populations and redirect the cost savings into alternatives to incarceration.“
Essence
March 4, 2019
Read More“Ever year, tens of thousands of people are driven to face criminal charges in faraway jurisdictions by for-profit prison transportation companies, which are supposed to be regulated by the U.S. Department of Justice. The agency has penalized one prisoner transport company—not PTS—after an inmate fled an unlocked van and was found in a cornfield in 2011.“
The Marshall Project
February 28, 2019
Read More“With 1,703 prisoners, MDC-Brooklyn is one of the largest federal jails in the country, sitting in a flood zone along the borough’s waterfront. The blackout plunged the jail into darkness, and paralyzed computer systems that are essential to maintaining humane conditions of confinement, including the provision of medical care and medication to detainees. The blackout also amplified allegations––from corrections officers and detainees––that the facility was not sufficiently heated.“
The Appeal
February 22, 2019
Read More“Reporters have virtually no access to the jails on Rikers Island, but, for many years, Venters had a rare vantage point from which to observe its inner workings. He started working on Rikers in 2008, overseeing health care for thousands of people imprisoned there. On an island known for abuse and violence, Venters became a legendary figure; he often spoke about human rights and was known for his persistent advocacy on behalf of inmates. He left the city’s jail-health service in 2017, and now he has written a crucially important book, “Life and Death in Rikers Island,” in which he examines one of the most overlooked aspects of mass incarceration: the health risks of being locked up.“
The New Yorker
February 20, 2019
Read More“State prison wardens pleaded with Florida senators Wednesday to adequately fund the Department of Corrections and help alleviate a variety of dire conditions in their facilities, from maintenance deficits to gang violence epidemics. Low salaries, frequent overtime shifts and poor working conditions have created a statewide epidemic of correctional officer and prison staff turnover, wardens said.“
Florida Times Union
February 20, 2019
Read More“The nomadic aspect of prison life isn't generally seen on TV dramas or movies about "the big house." Most people, when they think about it at all, assume that cellmates are often stuck together for decades, in a pact of camaraderie born of shared circumstances. On the contrary, even the best buddies don't usually stay together for long. We live like hermit crabs, schlepping our stuff here and there, taking up a new shell for a while, when we're told to, then moving on.“
The Marshall Project
February 14, 2019
Read More“Prisons often occupy the “geography of nowhere.” They are found in unpopulated areas, far away from cities, so that both the facilities and the people they hold are invisible to most of the general public. We often hear talk of “removing” criminals from society; the location of prisons makes that rhetoric a reality.“
Washington Post
February 6, 2019
Read More“As the UK government plans to open four new prisons by 2020-21, it’s worth remembering how great an impact the architecture of such institutions can have on the mental health of inmates. Building design can offer therapeutic benefits for both psychiatric in-patients and prisoners. Or, it can result in vulnerable people – including those with severe mental illness – being held in custody, rather than receiving high quality, community-based care. “
The Conversation
February 6, 2019
Read More“More than a thousand inmates have been stuck in freezing cells at a federal jail on the Brooklyn waterfront that has had limited power and heat for at least this week, according to federal public defenders and leaders of the union representing the jail’s corrections officers.“
New York Times
February 1, 2019
Read More“‘It is extremely unusual for prison officials to even acknowledge the legitimacy of prisoner grievances, much less negotiate with them,’ Wright said. ‘The response is almost invariably one of repression and silencing and terrorization to dissuade others from standing up for themselves’.“
The Appeal
January 25, 2019
Read More“More than a thousand inmates have been stuck in freezing cells at a federal jail on the Brooklyn waterfront that has had limited power and heat for at least this week, according to federal public defenders and leaders of the union representing the jail’s corrections officers.“
New York Times
February 1, 2019
Read More“So why do Cook County inmates appear to be clearing snow without jackets on? Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cara Smith told HuffPost that the photo mischaracterizes the situation and that the Chicago Community Bond Fund should not have shared it without contacting her. Smith said the men in Monday’s photo are part of Renew, the county’s vocational program in which inmates are paid to learn skills that could help them get a job. The program selects work projects in distressed communities, and some of the program’s inmates were happy to help clear the snow Monday during a staff shortage, she said.“
Huffington Post
January 29, 2019
Read More“CNN's Alisyn Camerota talks with Eric Young, a federal corrections officer who is working without pay during the partial government shutdown.“
CNN
January 17, 2019
Read More“The DOJ claims in a series of petitions filed in federal court, that Alabama’s Department of Corrections (ADOC) has engaged in a pattern of delay and obstruction during the agency’s two-year investigation, refusing to turn over records and ignoring subpoena requests. ADOC insists it has cooperated with the investigation and simply lacks the staff needed to meet the DOJ’s demands.“
WBRC Birmingham
January 11, 2019
Read More“One prisoner was not seen by a doctor after collapsing and complaining of shortness of breath; she died that day of heart failure. A second woman’s rapid weight gain and severe chest pain were ignored until her heart also failed. For a third, it was sudden weight loss, wheezing and back pain; she was found dead during her dialysis, after a nurse left her unattended. A fourth died at a hospital; her neurological disorder went undiagnosed until she had a stroke.“
Washington Post
January 4, 2019
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