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Yoga and Meditation Improve Life Behind Bars and Beyond

Yoga and meditation have a host of benefits for prisoners. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that within five years of release, 76 percent of prisoners released in the U.S. re-offend. Breaking this cycle requires radical reforms in rehabilitation methods, and some surprising approaches are showing promising results —  downward dog and mantra chanting. Educational

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High Court Tells Alabama to Review Its Death Sentencing Law

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 8-1 mid-January decision in Hurst v. Florida overturned the way Florida decides on imposing the death penalty, saying it was unconstitutional because juries weren’t allowed to make the ultimate decision. Now, the high court has recently told Alabama’s Court of Criminal Appeals to review whether that Florida case means Alabama must

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Australian program seeks to break the recidivism cycle through education

Prisoners in the state of Victoria, Australia, will be part of new plans designed to try and meet prisoners’ educational needs immediately upon entry into the system. The $78 million (AUD) program aims to dramatically improve prisoner access to instruction from a variety of universities, colleges, and institutes across the region. Of particular note is the

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“Inside-Out” is a “right-side up” approach to prison education

Some years ago an inmate at SCI Gratford Prison Pennsylvania conceived of an entirely new approach to prison education, designed not only to enlighten its participants intellectually but socially as well. Through its implementation, it’s succeeded in providing prisoners with hope and breaking down barriers between social groups. Called “Inside-Out classes,” an inmate by the

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Education Justice Project Hosts Symposium on Higher Education in Prison

By Estefania Florez / The Daily Illini The Education Justice Project is hosting a symposium on higher education programs in prison until Sunday. “Our mission is to build a model college-in-prison program that demonstrates the positive impacts of higher education upon incarcerated students, the family, the neighbors to which they return, the host institution – the

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Stevie Vigil Charged

Dianne Frazee-Walker

Stevie Vigil, childhood friend and aspiring plus-size model has been charged for providing the gun Evan Ebel used on March 19 to kill Tom Clements, Colorado Correctional Chief.

22 year-old Stevie Marie Vigil of Commerce City, Colorado was indicted by a grand jury last Friday on one count of knowingly transferring a firearm to a convicted felon.  Stevie Vigil / Photo courtesy canoncitydailyrecord.com 

Vigil is accused of a “straw purchase” of a 9mm Smith & Wesson hand gun for $611.97 cash.  She allegedly handed the gun over to 28-year-old Evan Ebel, a member of the white supremacy gang 211 Crew and convicted felon. Ebel spent most of his adult life serving time in prison for robberies, menacing, weapons charges, and assault on a correctional officer.

Ebel allegedly took the gun and went on a shooting spree, killing Nathan Leon, pizza delivery driver, along with Tom Clements, Chief of Colorado Prisons. Ebel’s life ended in a shoot-out with police in Texas.

Ebel was released from prison in January and placed on parole after a long stretch of solitary confinement with no significant rehabilitation. Five days after his release he cut-off his ankle bracelet. On March 19, Ebel allegedly shot pizza delivery driver, Nathan Leon for his uniform. He drove to Clements’ house in Colorado Springs, knocked on Clements’s door posing as a pizza delivery man. Ebel shot Clements’s point blank in the head when he answered his door.  

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