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Ridding our nation’s prisons of solitary confinement is far harder than it should be
Last year, California’s State Legislature passed a bill that prohibited solitary confinement for a list of people who are at higher risk for its harms: people with mental or physical disabilities, people who are pregnant, under 26 years old, or over 59 years old. In addition, Assembly Bill 2632,...
Bill Seeks Increased Media Access to Prisons and Incarcerated Interviewees
In 1994, then-California Governor Pete Wilson signed a bill giving the state prison system more authority to block journalists from entering prisons to report on conditions inside. By 1996, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) had pulled up the drawbridge, instituting what were considered some of the most restrictive policies in the nation. Between 1998 and 2012, state lawmakers tried and failed to reverse the CDCR’s limits on media access nine times.
Three LAPD officers shot in Lincoln Heights in stable condition, shooter dead.
At 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, LAPD Chief Michel Moore tweeted this message: “Following closely tonight’s violent encounter resulting in 3 officers being shot. Reports from hospital have all three in stable condition. Ongoing tactical scene with outstanding gunman.”. The shooting to which the chief referring to took place in...
LA County Probation Chief Gonzales fired by Supervisors, his 2nd in command to take his place
Los Angeles County Probation Chief Adolfo Gonzales was fired by the Board of Supervisors late in the afternoon on Tuesday, effective immediately. “There was no more cell phone or email,” one friend of Gonzales told WLA. “They told him, and that was it.”. Gonzales’ second in command, Karen...
Op-Ed: We Must Invest in LA’s Justice Involved Youth
Witness LA’s Celeste Fremon has declared that the LA County juvenile halls are neither safe for youth nor for the staff or rehabilitative service providers working there. Ms. Fremon has, at long last, spoken truth to power and it is past time for change – which is precisely what LA County’s dedicated probation officers have been saying for decades.
Deadly LA Jails and Inconclusive Autopsies
The Los Angeles County Department of the Medical Examiner and Coroner often misrepresents the reasons people are dying inside the county’s jails, according to a new report from Dignity and Power Now and UCLA’s BioCritical Studies Lab (BSL) scrutinizing autopsy results from in-custody deaths. The report is part...
2 Stabbings & 2 drug overdoses at LA juvenile hall, then the county’s Board of Supes asked probation chief to resign
It has not been a good month for LA County’s youth probation system. Thursday, February 9, the members of the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) presented a report showing that Los Angeles County Probation’s two youth lock-ups — Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall and Central Juvenile Hall — were once again extravagantly out of compliance when it comes to the most basic standards of care and safety for the kids in residence at the two facilities.
Gavin Newsom moved to close 4 California prisons. How many more can he shut?
California used to need lots and lots of prisons. Big prisons, little prisons, prisons with special cells for gang leaders and prisons for those convicted of nonviolent financial chicanery. There were so many prisoners packed into so many prisons that federal courts intervened, mandating that the state find a way to alleviate the overcrowding.
A Law Was Meant to Free Sick or Aging Inmates. Instead, Some Are Left to Die in Prison.
Jimmy Dee Stout was serving time on drug charges when he got grim news early last year. Doctors told Stout, now 62, the sharp pain and congestion in his chest were caused by stage 4 lung cancer, a terminal condition. “I’m holding on, but I would like to die at...
Constitutional Amendment Would Restore Voting Rights to People in CA Prisons
A constitutional amendment proposed this month, ACA 4, would restore voting rights to people disenfranchised by a prison sentence. Currently, the California constitution bans people serving state or federal prison sentences from voting. ACA 4, introduced by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, would remove that restrictive language. “Disenfranchisement of incarcerated people does...
State oversight board says LA Probation’s youth halls are dangerously out of compliance in 39 categories
Last Thursday, February 9, the members of the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) were presented with a report showing that Los Angeles County Probation’s two youth lock-ups — Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall and Central Juvenile Hall — were once again extravagantly out of compliance when it comes to basic standards of care for the kids in residence at the two facilities.
New Federal Law Clarifies FCC’s Power to Cap Phone and Video Call Rates in Jails and Prisons
As of January, a new federal law, the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, gives the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the power to regulate the price of video calls in prisons and jails across the nation. Families of incarcerated people often have to pay for phone calls, video calls,...
Lack of Rural Lawyers Leaves Much of America Without Support, including some California counties
California, which has 168,000 lawyers, the second-most of any state in the nation, also has seven counties with less than one lawyer per 1,000 residents. That includes Merced County, between San Jose and Fresno, with 0.74 lawyers for every 1,000 residents, making some of those areas what the American Bar Association describes as “legal deserts.” At the other extreme, San Francisco County as 23 lawyers for every 1,000 residents.
Vallejo police bend badges to mark fatal shootings
Today we are beginning a new series in which we’ll share with you some of the remarkable work of Open Vallejo, an award-winning, independent, nonprofit newsroom that serves Vallejo, CA, a small city long burdened by police violence, and alarming bouts of government corruption, but that had been largely neglected by mainstream media.
New Community-Led Report Calls for LA School Police to Be Replaced With Holistic Care and Community Engagement
Parents, students, teachers, researchers, advocates, and two Los Angeles Unified School Board members gathered last Tuesday, January 31, on the steps of Mann UCLA Community School in South LA, for the release of a 52-page report outlining the ways in which kids are criminalized at school, and how the school district can and should replace campus police with counselors and services for students.
INSIDE JOB: PREA turns 20 this year, and it urgently needs fixing
On December 8, 2022, a jury convicted the former warden of the Federal Correctional Institution-Dublin located in Alameda County, CA, of eight crimes. Ray J. Garcia, the former warden, was convicted of three counts of having sexual contact with an incarcerated person, four counts of abusive sexual contact, and one count of lying to FBI agents.
Tyre Nichols: The anger & sorrow continues
On Friday night, January 27, Memphis officials released more than an hour of footage showing the deadly confrontation between Tyre Nichols and Memphis police officers. Since then, Twitter has been flooded by expressions of shock, fury, and grief, as people struggled with the horror of the images they’d seen.
The Human Toll of Jail – Eight Essays
In 2016, the Vera Institute of Justice published The Human Toll of Jail, a series of essays written by people held in jails across the nation and their families, as well as individuals who worked in jails. Now, in 2023, Vera has partnered with PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing program on a new set of eight stories of life inside jail, all written by incarcerated people.
Financial Abuse Is Common. Now There Are Protections For Survivors
Leigh Ferrin knew she had to find a way to help the single mother who called her legal aid office. The mom, who lived near Ferrin’s office in Orange County had escaped domestic violence and was trying to move on with life — for her child and herself. She was scraping together rent money for the home they shared. She was starting over.
Op-ed: California should be treating gun violence as a public health crisis
There’s an African proverb that says, “In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams.” As gun violence rates increase across the country, police budgets have risen like dams in the name of prevention and interruption. To decrease violence in California, research...
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