Federal Prison News and Information | Zoukis Prison Consulting Group

Congress passed the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) in 1984, aiming to bring longer sentences to violent career criminals. Under ACCA, federal defendants facing firearms possession charges can get much longer sentences if they have previously been convicted of three or more violent felonies or serious drug crimes. The 10-year maximum sentence for being a…

Prison Conditions at FCI Mendota pose dangers to inmates and staff

Federal Correctional Institution Mendota, located near Fresno, California, houses about 800 inmates. Opened in 2012, the medium-security male prison in California with an adjacent minimum-security camp has recently been the focus of numerous investigations into whether conditions there pose serious dangers to the health of inmates and staff. Complaints about temperature levels due to a…

Benefits of Prison Education

More and more people are learning that prison education programs are instrumental in reducing crime and cutting down recidivism. It costs less to educate prisoners (both in and out of prisons, which ultimately leads to lower incarceration rates) than to house offenders in the federal prison system, making education a key tax-reduction strategy as well.…

Cell Doors open at Tecumseh State Correctional Institute in Nebraska

Shortly before 10:00 a.m. on September 7, 16 single-occupancy cells in a restrictive housing section of Nebraska’s top-security prison, the Tecumseh State Correctional Institute, unexpectedly opened. The cause of this irregularity was not certain, but a computer error in the system which controls the cellblock doors was suspected. The restrictive housing unit is home to…

The Prison Entrepreneur Program (PEP), a Texas-based non-profit formed in 2004, assists inmates convicted of felonies to prepare for life after prison by developing skills and character, finding post-release employment, and eventually making a success with their own businesses. The group’s current CEO Bryan Kelley is a program graduate. Nearly finished serving a 20-year sentence…

The Cornell Prison Education Program (CPEP) provides college degree courses for persons in upstate New York prisons. Believing that “any person can find instruction in any study,” the leaders of CPEP see this education as a fundamental part of any successful re-entry program. CPEP launched after an act of Congress and the resulting legislation ended…

In 1994, as part of the Clinton-era tough on crime Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, Congress stripped from the Higher Education Act of 1956 (HEA) prisoners’ eligibility for federal Pell grants for lower-income students. But in July 2015, the Obama Department of Education (DOE) created a pilot Second Chance program under a different HEA…

“I made a mistake when I was 17 years old, and I recognize that someone lost their life. I didn’t pull the trigger, but I was there. There’s no snapping my finger and getting them to come back. I know what death means.” That was a powerful statement Edward Sanders made during a recent lecture…

On September 7, Michigan announced it will stop requiring applicants for most occupational and construction code licenses to check a box on the application form disclosing whether they have ever been convicted of a felony. Governor Rick Snyder (R) announced the policy change by the state’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). Snyder also…

Financial Literacy necessary for released offenders

What are you doing at age 36? Or, what do you plan to do by age 36? Buy a house perhaps? Be climbing the corporate ladder in your career? Starting a family or getting your startup off the ground? Most people look forward to doing those things in their 30s, but for more than 33,000…

After considering for years whether to revise its criminal procedure rules to broaden defendants’ access to information that will be used to prosecute them, the Virginia Supreme Court has decided to expand defendants’ pre-trial access to prosecutors’ evidence. An order issued September 5 by the top state court will require state prosecutors (known locally as…

By: Christopher Zoukis At the time, when he agreed to murder his friend’s allegedly abusive father, Sean Pica thought he was doing the right thing. Although his conscious lashed at him for what he felt he needed to do, he accepted cash from a friend to complete the hit, and he carried it out. The…

Five inmates were found dead in their cells at southeastern Arkansas’ Varner Unit prison during a four-day period in late August, three of them in a single day. The Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) announced that, between the morning of Sunday, August 26 and early hours of the next day, inmates Edward Morris, 34, Stephan…

Piper Kerman supports prisoner education

Orange is the New Black is an award-winning, hard-hitting, Netflix show that mixes comedy and drama to suck viewers in and keep them enthralled. The story centres on Piper Chapman, whose cozy suburban life is disrupted when an old brush with crossing the law catches up to her. However, did you know that Chapman’s character…

celebrating the graduation of inmates in Cheshire Correctional Institution

It started out as the Cheshire Reformatory in 1909. The goal of the Reformatory was to keep male prisoners aged 16-24 out of the adult prison population. The Reformatory evolved over the years, and now it’s Connecticut’s Cheshire Correctional Institution, where male adult offenders carry out long sentences. It’s a level four facility and includes…

Back in February, the House of Representatives by a 360-59 margin passed H.R. 5628, the “First Step” Act – an acronym for the “Formerly Incarcerated Re-enter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act.” With bipartisan co-sponsors, Reps. Doug Collins (R-GA) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the bill had cleared the House Judiciary Committee by a 25-5…

We are proud to announce that, “Federal Prison Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Surviving the Federal Bureau of Prisons” has been named a Finalist in the Colorado Independent Publishers Association 2018 EVVY Awards. We are honored to have made it through as a finalist amongst so many talented authors. We want to thank the Colorado…

In 1930, the French scientist Edmond Locard published a journal article in which he laid the groundwork for what would become the field of forensic science. Locard said a criminal actor will always leave traces of his or her presence at a crime scene and will always leave with traces of the scene on his…

President Trump’s Prison Education Plan – Is it Enough?

By Christopher Zoukis On August 9, President Trump sat down with governors and state attorneys general to discuss prison reform and prisoner education. The majority of America’s prison population is held in state-run facilities and given that America has the highest incarceration rates in the world – the meeting was an important step in addressing…

On August 7, Texas governor Greg Abbott announced a new package of proposals intended to reform the state’s bail system. Together the collection was named the “Damon Allen Act,” to commemorate a state trooper who was killed in the line of duty last Thanksgiving. During a traffic stop, Trooper Allen was ambushed and fatally shot…