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DOJ IG’s Report: BOP Fails to Meet Needs of Female Inmates

A report issued September 18 by the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) identifies shortcomings in how the leaders of DOJ’s Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the correctional facilities it operates fail to meet the needs of its female inmates. Women are about 7% of all sentenced federal inmates (10,567 out of

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Conditions at Federal Prison in California Draw Various Probes

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. According to published reports, complaints about temperature

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Damning report finds serious issues with youth prison

From understaffing to suicides, youth are underserved in the juvenile justice system. The Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, Maine, has deep roots — 165-year-old ones. The center’s first iteration was the Boys Training Centre in 1853, when it functioned as a rehabilitation facility for young male offenders. In 1976 it rebranded as

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Food-Related Outbreaks Sicken Prisoners Six Times More Often

Prison food usually makes news only when blamed for hunger strikes or riots or a supplier is found providing rancid or insect-infested food. Yet it also poses an important but little-studied public health issue, recently tackled by a research team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which published a study showing outbreaks

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The private prison model lines pockets, but at what cost?

By Christopher Zoukis On August 18, 2016, then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates issued a memorandum with the subject line “Reducing our use of Private Prisons.” In the memo, Yates points out that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) had contracted with privately operated facilities about a decade ago in an effort to curtail the burden of

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D.C. Court Rules Warrant Required to Track Cell Phones

A District of Columbia Court of Appeals panel ruled by a 2-1 margin on Sept. 21 that a search warrant is required before police can use cell phone tracking devices. The decision marked the fourth time a state or federal court has come to that conclusion, echoing similar rulings by Maryland’s top court and federal

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Not the worst, but not Norway: US prisons vs. other models

America is known for its overcrowded prisons and harsh penitentiary conditions, but how does it rank compared to some of the other prison systems around the world? America – the Supermax: How not to treat mentally ill patients One of the most notorious jails in America is the ADX. The Administrative Maximum Facility, aka the ADX Supermax in Colorado was

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Bill to Improve Conditions for Female Inmates

Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and three co-sponsors have introduced S. 1524, the “Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act,” meant to improve the treatment of female federal inmates who are the primary caretakers of children. The bill, proposed on July 11, would require the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to create a new office to determine prisoners’

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Inadequate Prison Food Linked to Bad Behavior

POOR NUTRITION CAN PLAY A ROLE IN VIOLENT AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. IMAGE CREDIT: THE MARSHALL PROJECT According to research, despite the fact that eating a plant-based diet can help prevent and even reverse some of the top killer diseases in the Western world, and can be more effective than medication and surgery, the typical American diet

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What humanity learned from the Stanford Prison Experiment

The study aimed to discover whether guard brutality reported in American prisons had to do with their sadistic natures or the prison environment. The Stanford prison experiment ended after 6 days when guards began to abuse prisoners, and prisoners began to experience mental breakdowns. It was 46 years ago that psychologist Philp Zimbardo conducted one

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