Jun 22 Ex-U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert starts prison term By Michael Tarm, Associated Press Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert arrived at a Minnesota prison on Wednesday to serve his 15-month sentence in a hush-money case involving revelations that the Illinois Republican sexually abused at least four boys when he coached wrestling at an… Continue reading
Jun 21 Watch 7:10 Prisoners with disabilities lack 'scaffolding for success' By PBS News Hour According to a new report, more than 750,000 people with disabilities are currently imprisoned in the United States. Advocates say that children born with physical or intellectual disabilities are far more likely to end up in prison than their able-bodied… Continue watching
Jun 07 States bedeviled by contraband cellphones in prisons By Teresa Wiltz, Stateline Last month, a Georgia inmate was indicted for ordering the revenge killing of a 9-month-old baby from his prison cell. His alleged tool: a cellphone. Continue reading
May 17 Watch 8:48 Do call it a comeback -- how the checkerspot butterfly found salvation in a women's prison By PBS News Hour Continue watching
May 05 Obama administration commutes 58 prison sentences, all nonviolent drug offenders By Eric Tucker, Associated Press The Obama administration on Thursday commuted the prison sentences of 58 federal convicts, part of a broader push to revamp the criminal justice system and ease punishments for nonviolent drug offenders. Continue reading
Apr 25 One year after Freddie Gray's death, thousands leave Maryland prisons with risky health problems, no coverage By Jay Hancock, Kaiser Health News Maryland’s prisons and jails release thousands of inmates each year without helping them enroll in Medicaid, jeopardizing their health and putting communities at greater risk. Continue reading
Jan 12 Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts on America's 'lost generation' By artsdesk Reginald Dwayne Betts grew up an honor student with hopes for college, but went to prison at 16 for carjacking, his first run-in with the law. Reading, and poetry in particular, became a comfort and gave him a new identity. Continue reading
Jan 11 This Chicago program connects incarcerated youth to poetry By artsdesk Free Write Jail Arts and Literacy aims to help troubled youths in Chicago’s Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center address their personal issues by writing poetry about their circumstances and upbringing. Jeffrey Brown talks with poet Reginald Dwayne Betts, who… Continue reading
Jan 11 Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts returns to the city that nearly broke him By Frank Carlson Betts' new book touches on the way he believes institutions -- schools, the police, the judicial system -- helped create a lost generation of young black men. Continue reading
Dec 23 More than 3,000 Washington prisoners mistakenly freed early By Rachel La Corte, Associated Press OLYMPIA, Wash. -- More than 3,000 prisoners in Washington have been mistakenly released early since 2002 because of an error by the state's Department of Corrections that resulted in wrongly calculated sentences for about 3 percent of the prison population. Continue reading