Prison News
Supreme Court Weighs How to Define Violent Felonies Triggering ACCA
By Christopher Zoukis 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…
Read MoreVirginia Expands Defendants’ Access to Prosecution Evidence
By Christopher Zoukis 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…
Read MoreIs It Curtains For The First Step Act?
By Christopher Zoukis 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…
Read MoreTexas Governor Issues Proposal to Revise Bail Procedures
By Christopher Zoukis 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…
Read MoreStudy Says Official Misconduct Was Leading Cause of Inmate Exonerations in 2017
By Christopher Zoukis The Registry of National Exonerations has monitored and analyzed over 2,100 instances since 1989 in which inmates were later found not to have been guilty of the crimes for which they were incarcerated. A new report from the group says at least 139 inmates were exonerated last year, a decline from record…
Read MoreLawsuit Over GEO Group “Voluntary” $1 a Day Work Program Survives Motion to Dismiss
By Christopher Zoukis A federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging private prison company GEO Group’s “Voluntary Work Program,” which pays detained immigrants $1 per day for cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and otherwise running the facility in which they are held. The December 6, 2017 order rejected GEO’s arguments that federal law preempts any…
Read MoreOhio Experiences Continued Problems with Aramark Over Alleged Food Fraud
By Christopher Zoukis The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) overpaid food service giant Aramark $57,193 for food provided to nonexistent prisoners, investigators found. The overpayment was uncovered by the state Office of the Inspector General (OIG). According to a June 15, 2017 report, the OIG began investigating Aramark after learning of a dispute…
Read MoreStingray Technology Lets G-Men Into Your Pocket (and Your House, and Your Car…)
By Christopher Zoukis It’s 3 a.m. Do you know what your cell phone is doing? With the advent of stingray technology, it just might be reporting your location to government officials. Or it might be transmitting data to the authorities. Your phone may even be acting as a microphone, allowing local police to listen in…
Read MoreThe Insanity Defense: It’s Not What You Think
By Christopher Zoukis In the American criminal justice system, a defendant who commits a crime while “insane” cannot be held legally responsible for that crime. In such cases, legal guilt is not established, and the defendant may not be punished. Instead, a defendant who is found not guilty by reason of insanity (“NGRI”) is involuntarily…
Read MoreIn Historic Move, 15 Cases Related to Crooked Chicago Cop Thrown Out
By Christopher Zoukis Cook County, Illinois Chief Criminal Judge LeRoy Martin tossed the convictions of 15 criminal defendants on November 16, 2017 because the cases were linked to disgraced former Chicago Police Sergeant Ronald Watts. All of the men whose cases were overturned claimed that they had been framed by Watts, who went to federal…
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