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California To Free Thousands of Female Inmates With Children
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Drastically redefining incarceration in California, prison officials are about to start releasing thousands of female inmates who have children to serve the remainder of their sentences at home, reports the Los Angeles Times. The move, which could affect nearly half the women held in state facilities, will help California meet a court-imposed deadline to make space in its chronically overcrowded prisons. The policy could be extended to male inmates in the near future. Mothers who were convicted of non-serious, non-sexual crimes - and have two years or less remaining on their sentences - could start going home as early as next week, prisons spokeswoman Dana Toyama said. The women would be required to wear GPS-enabled ankle bracelets and report to parole officers. The program is "a step in breaking the intergenerational cycle of incarceration," state prisons Secretary Matthew Cate said, arguing that "family involvement is one of the biggest indicators of an inmate's rehabilitation." Skeptics abound, including prosecutors and crime victims' advocates who opposed the idea as it worked its way through the Legislature last year. "If they were such great mothers to begin with, they never would have committed the heinous crime that got them sent to state prison," said Harriet Salarno, founder of Sacramento-based Crime Victims United. In many cases, the children might be better off in foster care, she said. |
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California Medicaid Reform Expected To Help Ex-Offenders
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ California has embarked on an ambitious expansion of its Medicaid program, three years ahead of the federal expansion that the health law requires in 2014. At least half a million people are expected to gain coverage - mostly poor adults who never qualified under the old rules because they didn't have kids at home, says NPR. Among those who stand to benefit are ex-offenders. Inmates often leave California prisons with no consistent place to get medical care. But that's changing. Many of those getting out of prison and other poor adults in California are being enrolled in a Medicaid-like program where they will be covered for preventive care, prescription drugs, specialty visits, and mental health and substance abuse - pervasive problems that when left untreated, researchers say, can lead offenders right back to prison or jail. Alex Briscoe runs the public health department in Alameda County, home to more than 1.5 million people, including an enormous ex-offender population. "Historically, services for this population are fragmented and tend to be episodic," Briscoe says. "And what we're trying to do is prepare for health reform by assigning all consumers in our system, all clients in our system, to a medical home." Those preparations are important as California begins to comply with a court order to reduce its prison population. |
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CT Projects Inmate Decline but Total of Unsentenced Inmates Rises
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Although Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy is counting on a continuing decline in the state's prison population--having closed two institutions in the past four months, laid off 21 front-line correction supervisors, and planning to close another facility soon--one group of inmates is bucking the trend. Numbers of accused but unsentenced inmates have risen each of the past three months, climbing almost 8 percent since May and reaching 3,632 in August, reports the Connecticut Mirror. Former state Rep. Michael Lawlor, who heads the state criminal justice planning and policy division, attributed the surge to a seasonal trend. While Lawlor acknowledged this is one of the most volatile components of the inmate population, the rising unsentenced number hasn't prevented overall prisoner levels from declining from last year's totals. State corrections department spokesman Brian Garnett attributed the rise to "increased police activity, to increased criminal activity" during the summer. The Correction Department has a $695.2 million budget for this fiscal year, virtually unchanged from the $693.4 million the agency spent in 2010-11. The August inmate population of 17,666 fell 144 inmates, or 0.8 percent, below the forecast issued by the criminal justice division last February. That projection also calls for inmate levels to reach 17,375 by January. |
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Life Without Parole Sentences Overused, Should be Cut: NY Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Supreme Court ruled last year that it is cruel and unusual punishment to sentence a juvenile to life without parole when the crime is short of homicide. The sentence is no less severe when applied to adults, the New York Times says in an editorial. Yet life without parole is routinely used. From 1992 to 2008, the number in prison for life without parole tripled to 41,095, an increase much greater than the percentage rise in those serving life sentences. The American Law Institute, a group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars, has called for restricting the use of the penalty to cases "when this sanction is the sole alternative to a death sentence." The racial disparity in the penalty is stark. Blacks make up 56.4 percent of those serving life without parole, though they are 37.5 percent of prisoners in state prisons. The law institute notes that an "ordinary" life sentence is "a punishment of tremendous magnitude" whose "true gravity should not be undervalued." In the past 20 years, the average life term served has grown from 21 years to 29 years before parole. The newspaper concludes that, "A fair-minded society should revisit life sentences and decide whether an offender deserves to remain in prison or be released on parole. And a fair-minded society should not sentence anyone to life without parole except as an alternative to the death penalty." |
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Webb Still Pushes Criminal Justice Study Commission Idea
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is still working to create a national commission to study criminal justice system problems, Newsweek reports. "Time may be on Webb's side," says the magazine, noting increasing conservative support for the cause. Republicans have begun to realize that prison spending, the the fastest-growing state budget item behind Medicaid, was ripe for a trim. Influential GOP governors such as Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mitch Daniels of Indiana are working to reduce recidivism, soften sentences, and save money in their home states, while Right on Crime, backed by Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush, and Grover Norquist, is championing reform on the national stage. "People who would've been skeptical have gotten on board," says Webb, noting that he has convinced Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, Jeff Sessions, and Orrin Hatch to support his bill. Webb believes he has "two thirds" of the Senate on his side, and that his only remaining roadblock is "getting the bill to the floor." His plan has earned the backing of 39 cosponsors and more than 100 outside organizations, including the National Sheriffs Association, and President Obama has been "supportive." (In February they "discussed doing it as a presidential commission" should the bill fail.) Newsweek doesn't discuss the House, which passed the commission measure once but that was before Republicans took control. Webb is not seeking reelection in 2012. |
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Justice's O'Donnell Vows Federal Aid Focus on Evidence-Based Projects
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S. Justice Department should be able to provide states and localities considerable aid for innovative anticrime programs during the nation's economic downturn, but there will be less of it, says Denise O'Donnell, President Obama's new director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Speaking to criminal justice group representatives yesterday in Washington, D.C., O'Donnell said she is "happy to accept" the challenge of funding criminal justice improvements that are based on scientific evidence. O'Donnell is a former prosecutor and New York State justice official who also has a social work degree and said she "brings a social-service orientation" to her job. O'Donnell stressed using grant dollars to test promising approaches rather than simply sustaining worthy programs. Among priorities she cited were grants in the second major year of funding for the federal Second Chance Act, which helps prisoner re-entry programs--what O'Donnell called a "missing piece in the criminal justice agenda" until recent years. She called the shortfall in government funds overall an opportunity to move away from the reliance on incarceration as a way to bring down crime rates. An example of what federal funding cutbacks may mean to localities is Project Safe Neighborhoods, which formerly provided funds to all of the 94 U.S. Attorney's offices to run anticrime programs in conjunction with local authorities. Under current funding, there will be only 8 to 10 such projects, O'Donnell said, but she vowed that they would be "much more effective" than some previous efforts. |
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FBI Agents to Work Full Time on New Orleans Police Internal Affairs Unit
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the first time in six years, the FBI will have two agents working full time within the New Orleans Police Department's internal affairs unit to ferret out corruption and investigate possible civil rights violations on the part of city police officers, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Federal and local public safety officials, who announced the move yesterday, called it another step toward reforming the city's troubled police force. "It's the right thing to do at the right time," said David Welker, agent in charge of the FBI's New Orleans division, He said the move did not signify a takeover of the Public Integrity Bureau. "This relationship is not designed to make the FBI the NOPD's Big Brother," he said. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas portrayed the arrangement as an important partnership that will better the New Orleans police department. He said that his department requested the FBI's presence. "These two agents will work closely with us on systems of corruption, on civil rights investigations and to help in our in-service training programs," Serpas said. |
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Miami Panel Votes 3-2 to Fire Chief Exposito Over Demotions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito, who fought the mayor for more than a year and tried to keep his job in a hearing that stretched over three days, was fired yesterday, reports the Miami Herald. A sharply divided City Commission called for charter changes and cast a shadow over the future of City Manager Johnny Martinez. After more than four hours of heated debate, commissioners voted 3-2 to uphold a decision by Martinez, who suspended Exposito last week for insubordination. The hearing was prompted when Martinez suspended Exposito for disobeying an order not to demote three high-ranking police officers. The chief chose to reassign and strip the officers of their authority - though not their rank and pay - anyway. The manager also suspended the chief for not completing a plan to cut down on skyrocketing overtime. That argument fell short with four of the five commissioners, who instead cited the demotions as justification to fire the chief. |
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Police Agencies Cite Need for Training on Juvenile Justice Issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The need for training on juvenile justice issues is great at a time when funding for training is declining in many areas, says a Juvenile Justice Training Needs Assessment Survey of 404 law enforcement agencies from the International Association of Chiefs of Police and reported by Youth Today. About one-third of the surveyed departments said they do not have an assigned staff in charge of juvenile operations, while 25 percent have a centralized juvenile unit. Twenty-two percent of agencies have at least one officer assigned to youth services, and 16 percent have multiple officers assigned to youth issues, but these officers do not make up a centralized unit. Agencies identified eight issues concerning juvenile crime to be most pressing: substance abuse, physical, sexual and emotional abuse, juvenile repeat offenders, bullying and cyberbullying, gangs, internet crimes involving youth, runaways, and school safety. The IACP runs a Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Project, which trains law enforcement officials and juvenile justice professionals in dealing with youth issues. |
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More Families Suing Schools for Ignoring Bullying Incidents
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A growing number of civil lawsuits are being filed against schools for allegedly ignoring bullying, reports USA Today. Francisco Negron, general counsel for the National School Boards Association, says, "anecdotal evidence shows an obvious increase." The lawsuits are increasing for several reasons, including increased awareness, new standards, and more experts in the legal community, says David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center. "People are more likely to know about bullying and feel that they have to report it," he says. Attorney Martin Cirkielsays he has processed 60 to 70 cases about bullying in the past two years. "Every single parent comes to us for the same reason," he says. "They want to make sure what happened to their child doesn't happen to someone else." Jacquelyn Goss of the Point Pleasant Borough School District in New Jersey, where one of the nation's toughest bully laws went into effect Sept. 1, says the lawsuits are detrimental to education. "School funding is in crisis, and if you are spending any of your discretionary money on lawsuits, that's money that isn't going into education," she says. |
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Ex-IACP President James Damos Dies; Chief Had No Police Experience
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jim Damos had never even been a police officer when the St. Louis suburb of University City asked him to become police chief in 1961. Damos, who rose to become president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, died Saturday at 91, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. He helped found the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis and became its first chairman. He was University City's police chief for 28 years. Speaking of his IACP leadership, he said, "I guess I'm about the first president that didn't start out riding a patrol car." Damos was working in his family's movie theater business when then-City Manager Charles Henry named him chief. Damos had what the city manager said the police department needed: management skills. He was a businessman who had served on the city's personnel board and had helped manage the police department's then large force of auxiliary officers. He also was the department's only college graduate. Damos immediately set about getting training for his force, then at 51 officers. He helped persuade the legislature to require training for all Missouri police officers. Mearl Justus, sheriff in St. Clair County, Il., now heads the squad's board of directors. On Damos never having been a police officer, Justus, who has been a police officer, police chief, and sheriff, said: "It's just like being the CEO of a giant company. You don't have to know how to make boxcars. You take care of the business end. And we're in a business - providing a service to communities." |
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A Penalty for a Parking Ticket You Didn't Get? It's Hardbacking
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ever been asked to pay a penalty on a parking ticket you never got in the first place? It happens all the time in Philadelphia, a phenomenon Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky says is called "hardbacking." When a parking-enforcement officer logs an infraction into a handheld computer, the device generates a paper - or "hard" - copy of the violation, to be placed on the windshield. In some cases, the officer destroys the hard copy, leaving the car owner ignorant until a notice is mailed weeks later. Why would the officer do such a thing? It could be that he doesn't want a confrontation with a driver who looks like a troublemaker. Or a nasty citizen trash-talked him, so he hardbacked a ticket as passive-aggressive payback. Or he may have realized, after writing a ticket, that it wasn't legit (e.g., he misread a kiosk receipt) but didn't rescind it, since rescinding requires supervisor notification. So he hardbacked it to avoid a reprimand. Or to beef up his ticket count. Officers scoff at the notion that there are no quotas for ticket-writers. "They never use the word 'quota,' but the supervisors tell you what your beat is 'expected to produce' " in numbers of violations, explains a former city worker. "It's the same thing." |
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