Federal trial on mental illness and isolation

Troy Anderson is a inmate at Colorado State Prison, and in more than two decades of imprisonment has spent most of his time in administrative segregation (AdSeg) or isolation. Anderson also is mentally ill:

Anderson has been in and out of jail since he was a juvenile on account of his erratic and sometimes violent behavior. In 2000, he was sentenced to 75 years for myriad charges stemming from two incidents in which he shot at police, the second time in an attempt to escape custody. Offenses committed in prison have landed him in “ad seg” at CSP. (His last disciplinary infraction was in 2005, when he was written up for somehow managing to get envelopes to another prisoner.) 

But there’s more to the story. Anderson, like hundreds of other prisoners confined in isolation in Colorado—and thousands held in solitary across the nation—is seriously mentally ill. His diagnoses include bipolar disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, cognitive disorders, and a seizure disorder. He has attempted suicide many times, starting at age 10. He is seen periodically by prison psychiatrists, all of whom seem to concur that he needs therapy and medication. At CSP, however, his treatment has consisted of a fiasco of intermittent and inappropriate meds and scant therapy, typically conducted through a slot in his solid steel cell door. 

Yet unlike most of those other prisoners languishing in solitary, Anderson is about to get his day in federal court. Beginning today, in a trial that could have broad implications for how states handle inmates with mental illness, Anderson’s lawyers will argue before the District Court in Denver that their client’s predicament violates his civil rights, under both the Constitution and federal law.

More at Mother Jones.

Passion required in jail ministry

From a profile of chaplaincy in Ventury County jail facilities, with chaplains John Gatlin and Bob Stockman:

Ministering to inmates is not for the faint of heart, said Marie Rhodes Smith, a county employee with inmate services. 

"In order to work in the jail setting, you have to have passion,” Smith said. “A lot of people don’t like to see the inmates confined. It bothers them. Chaplain John is very passionate about what he does and how he is able to make a difference in all the (inmates’) lives so they don’t come back again." 

Gatlin and Stockman also comfort inmates when a relative is terminally ill or dies. The two chaplains verify the inmates’ personal information so the public defender’s office can approve a temporary leave to visit a dying loved one or attend a funeral. 

Gatlin said he receives “nothing but respect and admiration” from the inmates. He said the most important aspect of his ministry is to just listen to the men and women he serves. 

Stockman said Gatlin has an innate ability to connect with the inmates, despite the often emotionally charged environment a jail can create. "You can go to school and become educated and stand before a church and preach and not be real—John is real,” Stockman said. “You have to be personable with the individual, you have to be open and honest and be able to minister with no bias. He has an ability to minister and not be a salesman, but a real Christian."

more at Simi Valley Acorn.

Governor Brown makes new effort to restart executions

California Governor Jerry Brown has ordered the consideration of a single drug protocol, in hopes of clearing the path for the resumption of executions. California had proposed a different protocol for lethal injection:

The new procedures called for prisoners to be put to death through the use of sodium thiopental, which may no longer be available in the United States, and two other drugs. 

A federal judge in March barred the use of sodium thiopental purchased outside the country. There is no domestic maker of the product, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has been ordered to turn over its foreign-bought drug to the Food and Drug Administration. 

The FDA is considering whether to appeal the judge’s order. 

Lawyers for the state Department of Justice said Thursday they would reconsider the appeal if it becomes certain that sodium thiopental can no longer be used in California executions.

More at: the Washington Post

Career criminal bill fails in committee

An attempt to change California's prison realignment effort has been killed in committee. SB 1435, intorduced by State Senator Sharon Runner, would have sent criminals with a longer felony record to state prison. Under the realignment program that started last fall, those sentenced to three years or less that did not have a history of violent or sexual crime would be incarcerated locally.

Since AB 109 took effect Oct. 1, San Bernardino County has convicted 1,660 felons who would have gone to state prison prior to realignment but were instead sentenced to county jail, according to Christopher Lee, spokesman for the District Attorney’s office. 

SB 1435 would have required that defendants who were convicted of a felony and had three or more prior felony convictions be sent to state prison.

The bill failed 4-3 in the Senate public safety committee. More information is available at the Victorville Daily Press.

Privatization not working in Lousisana

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal proposed raising $35 million by selling Avoyelles Correctional Facility to a private corrections firm. The Louisiana House of Representatives blocked that recently, but efforts to hire a private contractor to manage the facility continues. Budget analyst Steve Spires of the Louisiana Budget Project points out that Louisiana incarcerates a more of its residents per capita that any other state or country, and spends less per inmate than any other state. According to Spires, the record shows that privatizing prisons in Louisiana has not worked out well:

The privately run prisons in Winn and Allen parishes have more than twice as much prisoner sexual misconduct as Avoyelles. Over the last four years, both private prisons have reported far more assaults that resulted in serious injury to inmates or staff - six at Allen, 14 at Winn and only one at Avoyelles. And while escapes are rare, they are significant. In 2009, Allen had three and Winn had one. Avoyelles hasn't had one in nearly a decade. 

Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc has described Avoyelles, Allen and Winn as “identical facilities” that provide a "perfectly good laboratory for comparing private prisons" to public ones. By this measure, it appears the publicly run Avoyelles is safer than Allen or Winn. Savings shouldn't come at the expense of prison security or the safety of staff, inmates and the surrounding community.

More at Lafourche Parish Daily Comet and the Lousisana Budget Project.

05/4-5/2011 Helen Prejean in Bakersfield

Sister Helen Prejean, who has won countless honors for her work to eliminate the death penalty, will speak at St. Philip the Apostle Church on Friday, May 4 and First Congregational Church on Saturday, May 5. Both events will be open to the public. More from the Bakersfield Californian.

Uganda, the challenge of forgiveness

From America magazine:

Here is another video about conflict in the region, this one showing how religious leaders and laypeople in Uganda have sought to build peace through forgiveness and reconciliation.

The video post.

Governor signs repeal of Connecticut death penalty

Governor Dannel Malloy has signed a bill that eliminates the death penalty for future crimes in Connecticut

The Democrat signed the bill behind closed doors, without fanfare. An aide said Malloy was surrounded by lawmakers, clergy and family members of murder victims. 

While he called it "an historic moment," Malloy said in a written statement that it was a moment "for sober reflection, not celebration." The bill, which became effective immediately, was signed on the same day that a new Quinnipiac University Poll showed that 62 percent of registered voters in Connecticut still favor the death penalty for those convicted of murder. The same survey found 47 percent of voters disapprove of Malloy's handling of the issue, while 33 percent approve. 

"Many of us who have advocated for this position over the years have said there is a moral component to our opposition to the death penalty. For me, that is certainly the case," he said. "But that does not mean — nor should it mean — that we question the morality of those who favor capital punishment. I certainly don't."

This bill does not apply to the 17 persons currently on death row in that state. More information from Susan Haigh of the Associated Press.

Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, dies

Just a couple of links on this:

• A profile in Time magazine
• Remembering Charles Colson, a Man Transformed my Jontathan Aitkman in Christianity Today

Changes in California Prisons Announced

State officials announced on Monday (3/23) major changes in the California prison system. The proposals would bring the state system nearly into compliance with Federal court orders by next summer.

If state lawmakers and federal judges sign off on the proposals, California's long-troubled prison system would look significantly different by 2016 — smaller, cheaper and more autonomous. 

"It's a massive change," said Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, touting the plan at a Capitol news conference. 

Inmate numbers are already shrinking as low-level offenders are kept in local jails rather than sent to state prisons, part of officials' effort to comply with federal judges' orders. But prisons still weigh heavily on California's bursting budget, increasing from 3% of general-fund spending just over three decades ago to a proposed 9.4% in the next fiscal year. 

If the new plan is successful, prisons will fall to 7.5% of spending in the 2015-16 budget. 

"California is finally getting its prison costs under control and taking the necessary steps to meet federal court mandates," Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement Monday

. More from Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times.

SAFE California on November ballot

California voters will vote on abolishing the death penalty:

A measure to abolish capital punishment in California qualified for the November ballot on Monday, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said. 

If it passes, the 725 California inmates now on Death Row will have their sentences converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It would also make life without parole the harshest penalty prosecutors can seek. 

Backers of the measure say abolishing the death penalty will save the state millions of dollars through layoffs of prosecutors and defense attorneys who handle death penalty cases, as well as savings from not having to maintain the nation's largest death row at San Quentin State Prison. 

Those savings, supporters argue, can be used to help unsolved crimes. If the measure passes, $100 million in purported savings from abolishing the death penalty would be used over three years to investigate unsolved murders and rapes.

Read more from Paul Elias, Associated Press.

04/26/2012 The Death Penalty and Latino Communities in California

The Death Penalty and Latino Communities in California

Thursday April 26, 2012
Noon to 2 PM
Ahmanson Auditorium
University Hall
Loyola Marymount University

Featured Panelist Include:

Professor Federico Mayor Zaragoza of Spain, President of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty
and
Franky Carrillo, wrongfully convicted, served 20 years in prison, LMU student and Death Penalty Focus Advocate

Free to the public

For further infomation contact Elizabeth Zitrin 415 243 0143

Rare clemency for Georgia inmate

Up until last Friday (4/20) the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles had granted capital clemency only three times since 2002.

Three days after staying the execution of Daniel Greene, the five-member panel voted to commute his death sentence to life without parole, an unusual move that elicited mixed reactions from the tight-knit community. "We want to thank the board so much for their courage in this case," one of Greene's elated attorneys, Lindsay N. Bennett, said in a telephone interview from Atlanta. Greene, who had spent two decades on Georgia's death row and already ordered his last meal, received the news today and appeared to be in shock, Bennett said.

More from Jim Mustian's story in the Ledger-Enquirer (with thanks to Professor Doug Berman's Sentencing Law and Policy blog.

California women's prisons trying to save programs

The number of women prisoners in California prisons is rapidly dropping, reducing crowding but also leading to cutbacks in budgets for programs aimed at women prisoners. According to reporter Marisa Lagos, Kathleen Allison is the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation's associate director of female institutions, and wants to preserve existing programs that work:

Allison said state officials are looking at whether they could expand the criteria to keep at least one of the Community Prisoner Mother Program's centers open. The Family Foundations centers are operated by private companies contracted by the state, she noted, so counties could take over those contracts if they choose.

Hancock has also written legislation to expand the state's alternative custody program, which allows women with young children to serve their prison sentence at home, while being electronically monitored. Just 54 women have so far qualified for the program, but Allison said the governor is committed to expanding it.

"The first inmates were released in early January, and only one has been returned to custody," said Allison, who praised the program for both reconnecting women with their families and saving taxpayers' money.

"It costs about $7 a day to electronically monitor someone, and about $60 a day to house someone in state prison," she said.

From the San Francisco Chronicle.

PSP's try to find the straight and narrow way

The new "non-violent, non-sexual" parolees mow being released to local supervision are termed "post-release supervised persons" or PSP's. Many are trying to find a new life outside:

Arnold Ruiz was once the quintessential gang member, complete with shaved head, tattoos, and no fewer than 13 felonies on his rap sheet.

Released in January after spending almost half of his 38 years in and out of state prison for drug offenses, he is now determined to turn his life around.

"I'm doing whatever it takes to reinvent myself," Ruiz said, noting he has been sober for two years and has removed most of the gang insignia from his face and neck.

"I'm trying to do good but I'm nervous," he added. "I've been a failure all my life, and I'm scared of success."

It has been a rough road for counties building new programs, and there have been missteps, and successes. From the Long Beach Post-Telegram.

The Case for Phased Juvenile Justice Realignment

Brian Goldstone sets out the challenges to realigning of the California juvenile justice system:

However, questions persist about the feasibility of juvenile justice realignment. Many concede the failure of DJF, but raise the issue of county capacity. These skeptics believe counties lack the necessary infrastructure and expertise to get the job done. Some prosecutors argue that juvenile justice realignment, given these deficiencies, will force their hand to charge youths in adult criminal court, rather than offload them to ill-prepared counties. Yet, this fails to recognize ongoing county expertise and successes with high-risk youth.

From Juvenile Justice Information Exchange

How Jobs At Homeboy Industries Give Ex-Cons A Second Chance At Life Out Of Prison

Douglas McGray profiles Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J:

One Saturday, I went with Boyle to a girls' probation camp, for Mass. Around two dozen teenagers, wearing matching green T-shirts and black, shapeless shorts, filed into a room that looks just like a school classroom, except the bulletin boards remind the girls not to throw gang signs and to think about self-control. 

Boyle told a funny parable about facing fears, which involved being chased by dogs, back when he was "a new booty priest." Then he told the story of a 19-year-old boy who showed up at Homeboy looking for $50. After some prying, the boy admitted he wanted to buy fireworks. 

"I'm not giving you money to buy fireworks," Boyle told him. 

"Well, I guess my baby girl isn't going to have a Fourth of July. . . ." the boy said. Boyle spoke the boy's lines in a mopey voice. 

"How old is she?" Boyle asked. 

"Three months," the boy said. Boyle's teenage flock giggled. 

"Three months? Just wave your lighter in front of her face, she won't know the difference!" Boyle said. 

The room erupted, the girls rocking in their chairs with laughter. 

When the boy got up to leave, Boyle gave him the money. "Go get your explosion on," he said. 

There was a theological point: "I always have a funny story at communion time that underscores that no one is perfect, and that communion is not for perfect people but for hungry people," Boyle told me. But that probably matters less than this: The girls were rapt. After Mass, they came to him and lingered as long as they could. He spoke to each one in turn, as if she were his favorite niece: "You are so much more than the worst thing you've ever done." He asked when they were getting out and gave them all his card, with his cell-phone number. "Come see me," he said. "We have jobs."

Much more at Fast Company.

04/23/2012 - Monthly Meeting LA RJ Collaborative

The Los Angeles Restorative Justice Collaborative
April 23, 2012 | 12-2 PM
Student Lounge (Burns Building)

Please join us for the second monthly meeting of the Los Angeles Restorative Justice Collaborative at Loyola Law School on Monday, April 23rd from 12-2 PM. These monthly meetings feature presentations on current events relevant to restorative justice in the greater Los Angeles area. This will also be a forum for professionals of various disciplines to convene and confer. We hope to both enrich the legal education of attending law students and help facilitate synergy in the movement.

Lunch will be served!

For questions and to RSVP please contact:
Seth Weiner at seth.weiner@lls.edu or (310) 736-5236.

Pay Phones vs. Cell Phones

California prisons will be trying a new way to control contraband cellphones through Global Tel, the company that supplies inmate pay phones:

Jamming of cellphone signals in a particular area, such as the space surrounding a prison, is prohibited by the Federal Communications Commission. Last year, when Global Tel Link's contract to provide pay phones in state lockups came up for renewal, Cate said the next vendor would have to pay for a legal way to prevent cellphone use. 

Basically, each prison will get its own cell tower, which prison officials will be able to control. They'll make a list of approved phones that can send and receive signals, and all others will be rendered useless. Installing the systems at all 33 California prisons could cost between $16.5 million and $33 million, Cate estimated last year. 

A typical 15-minute call from a prison pay phone costs the person who receives it about $2, according to prison officials. Global Tel Link will not be allowed to raise rates once the cellphone blocking system is in place. In fact, the company will be required to reduce costs to users slightly. 

The payoff for the firm is expected to come entirely from increased demand. Last year, a one-day test of a similar system at a single California prison intercepted more than 4,000 attempts to place calls, send text messages or access the Internet, prison officials said.

From the Los Angeles Times

A Silver Tide Behind Bars: The High Cost of Living and Dying in Prison

In 2009, prison workers drove Debbie Peagler from the Central California State Prison for Women to a Denny’s near Chowchilla, California. At 49, Debbie had stage IV lung cancer and an estimated three months to live. She joked, “I came to freedom in a Denny’s parking lot.” She died ten months later.

Her story is part of the documentary Crime After Crime detailing the plight of elderly inmates:

Aging prisoners face some of the worst conditions and treatment within prisons, and they are the most expensive to house. Most policymakers seem to fail to see the implications of two facts: long-term, aging prisoners are astronomically expensive and they reoffend at the lowest rate of prisoners. In California, the cost to imprison a prisoner has increased by $19,500 since 2000; over one-third ($8,300) is from increased health care costs (and $7,100 for security, most likely because of overcrowding). The average elderly female prisoner in a California prison costs $138,000 per year and since prisons are not eligible for federal Medicaid and Medicare funding, the state picks up the tab.
...
The combination of harsh prison conditions and poor physical health frequently results in quality of life that is more effectively cruel and unusual than for the general population. According to Dignity Denied, a report by Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, current California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation housing issues put older and disabled prisoners at risk. Their report highlights a survey of women over 55 in Central California Women’s [Facility] in which more than half of respondents report that they fell at least once in the last year, and two out of five respondents report being injured while performing a daily prison routine. Cells without handrails, long-distance walks to the dining hall, and a limited number of bottom bunks exacerbate the challenges of aging.

More at BeyondChron.

Connecticut repeal adds momentum

The recent repeal of the death penalty adds momentum to the fight to abolish it in other states like California:

California spends an additional $184 million per year total on its more than 700 death row prisoners than if they had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, according to a comprehensive 2011 study by Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. 

An Urban Institute study in 2008 found that a single death sentence in Maryland costs almost $2 million more per case than a comparable non-death-penalty case. 

"It's not just the cost in a vacuum," said Shari Silberstein, executive director of Equal Justice USA, a national grass-roots organization that opposes the death penalty. "It's not to say that if it was a good economic time, we'd be supporting it. But people are weighing the cost … and realizing that the death penalty is a very ineffective way to keep the public safe, especially for the money."

From the Los Angeles Times

4/27/2012 - Woodford to speak on death penalty in Santa Rosa.

On April 27, Jeanne Woodford will be in Santa Rosa to talk about why she thinks capital punishment is morally wrong, fiscally destructive and socially counterproductive.

Woodford witnessed four executions during her five years as warden of San Quentin State Prison.

Even before she watched the inmates die – decades after the killings they’d been convicted of – the Sonoma State University alumna believed it is wrong on many levels for the state to be executing people.

Woodford, who left San Quentin to serve as undersecretary of the entire state Department of Corrections, now makes a mission of her opposition to capital punishment.

As executive director of the national non-profit Death Penalty Focus, she’s promoting the SAFE California Act, which would eliminate the death sentence in the state.

From Santa Rosa Press-Democrat

4/22/2012 - Requiem for the Death Penalty

Requiem for the Death Penalty
Survivors’ Panel Discussion
& Interfaith Service of Memory and Healing

Sunday, April 22, 2012
3:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
2301 Vine Street (between Arch & Scenic), Berkeley*

People who have lost loved ones to violence, both by murder and by execution, will share their stories and respond to questions. An interfaith service will follow, where prayers and invitations to healing will be offered by Father Louis Vitali (tent.), Rabbis Debra Kohn and Michael Lerner, Alan Senauke, the Reverend Robert Cromey, Sister Marianne Farina, and others. There will be a time for calling out names and lighting candles in memory of those lost.

To view more details about this and related events go to: www.requiemforthedeathpenalty.org
*wheelchair accessible

Report: Close LA Central Men's Jail.

Expert James Austin has delivered a report that explores how to handle the growth of L.A. inmate populations in the wake of state prison realignment.

In his report, Austin made four key recommendations: release non-violent inmates awaiting trial and place them on electronic monitoring, transfer some inmates to lower-cost fire camps, renovate and expand existing facilities at the Sheriff's North County Correctional Facility and expand rehabilitation programs. 

"I’ll guarantee you this, there will not be an increase in recidivism rates," Austin said. "In fact, this is a better way of managing these people. We will not see the crime rate go up because of these programs." 

Sheriff Lee Baca, whose jails are under FBI scrutiny, initially resisted providing Austin with the data he needed to produce his report. Baca eventually handed it over. 

"We welcome suggestions such as those offered in this report," Baca said. 

The sheriff also said he agreed with one key recommendation: "Yes, I think I could close a significant portion of the Central Jail."

For more information: KCRW.

Death Penalty repeal approved in Connecticut

The Connecticut state legislature approved a repeal of the death penalty there, and sent it to Governor Dannel Malloy who is expected to sign it.

Supporters of repeal, who fended off more than a dozen efforts to amend the bill, noted that Connecticut has carried out only one execution since 1960 -- that of serial killer Michael Bruce  Ross, who was put to death in 2005 by lethal injection. He confessed to eight murders of young women and spent 18 years on death row before his execution.

Some of those who backed the repeal also said that sometimes, people serving time in prison or on death row are exonerated years later because of new evidence. "The government does make mistakes, please remember that," said Rep. Mary Mushinsky, who cited the case of Kenneth Ireland. Ireland was freed from a Connecticut prison in August 2009 after more than 20 years on death row for a rape and murder he did not commit.

From the Los Angeles Times

Fr. G and the Homies of L.A.

How do you keep gangs off the streets of L.A.? You could build more prisons. Or you
could take Father Greg Boyle's advice:

"Jobs, not jails."

Visit The Jesuit Post for this phone interview.

Helping victims talk to perpetrators - and find closure

"As the mother of a victim, Connors welcomed a chance to take part in VOD. 'Don't take my choice away,' she says. 'We [victims] are used to getting upset – our whole lives have been upset. But don't take away my choice to meet with the person who caused me harm.' "

Janet Connors is the mother of Joel Turner who was murdered in 2001.  An article profiles the work of Jon Wilson with Victim Offender Dialogue, preparing both offenders and victims, sometimes taking months.  Wilson has found that the current system does not serve well the interests of either the victims or the offender:

"This is the problem with our system: These guys can do their whole sentence without ever having to think or talk about their crime. We do not insist [that] that person think about what they have done."

Entire article at Christian Science Monitor.

Children Can Never Be Safe in Adult Prisons

"An estimated 10,000 youths under 18 can be found in adult jails or prisons on any given day, according to federal statistics. As the members pointed out, data from a 2005 study showed that youths made up only 1 percent of the inmates in jails and prisons, but 21 percent of the victims of sexual violence.

Numerous studies show that placing children in adult prisons leads to more suicide, victimization and recidivism, which is costly in both human and economic terms."

Excerpt from  4/8 NY Times Editorial

One-time death penalty champions now fight to repeal California law

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times has a story about about Ron Briggs and Don Heller, who ran the campaign for 1978's Proposition 7, that brought back California's death penalty:

"Thirty-four years later, another initiative is going on the California ballot, this time to repeal the death penalty and replace it with mandatory life without parole. And two of its biggest advocates are Ron Briggs and Heller, who are trying to reverse what they have come to view as one of the biggest mistakes of their lives."

The rest of the story at this link.

5/15/2012 - Restorative Justice Facilitator Training - Phase 1

Restorative Justice Facilitator Training for Incarcerated Populations
Receive a $100 early bird discount  if you register and pay in full by April 15th!

Where:
San Rafael First United Methodist Church
9 Ross Valley Drive
San Rafael, CA 94901

and
San Quentin State Prison

When:
Tuesday May 15, 2012
-to-
Saturday May 19, 2012

Go to event homepage

The Insight Prison Project (IPP) is offering their multi-phase Facilitator Training, based on the Restorative Justice Victim Offender Education Group (VOEG) model of group facilitation successfully started at San Quentin State Prison. The multi-phase training model will provide greater support, evaluation and experiential exercises in an effort to better prepare facilitators to implement and run their own groups with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals.