prison

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America's Last Prison Ship Is Closing

800-bed floating lockup arrived in NYC in 1992

(Newser) - Kenneth Williams spent his whole life in Brooklyn, but it wasn't until a night in 2018 when he crossed a narrow footbridge in shackles, that he learned about New York City's last floating jail. He remembers the murky East River water below him, the stench of mold, and...

Massive Operation Clears Out Prison Run by Inmates

Venezuela's Tocoron prison had its own zoo, nightclub

(Newser) - Venezuela's government has congratulated security forces on clearing out a "center of conspiracy and crime"—the notorious Tocoron prison. The BBC reports that 11,000 security personnel took part in the clearing of the prison, which had been run by inmates for years and functioned more as...

El Chapo Would Like Judge to Grant Him a Favor

He wants to have his wife, kids visit

(Newser) - Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman would like to see his wife, once her own prison sentence is up. The Mexican drug lord is serving a life sentence plus 30 years at a Colorado supermax prison (where, he said earlier this year , he is experiencing "psychological torment") and, in...

An Island Prison Colony Might Return in the West

Honduras plans to build what would be the only active such facility

(Newser) - Honduras plans to build the only island prison colony in the Western Hemisphere and send its most-feared gangsters there, reports the AP . Honduras' progressive president once promised to address gang violence through systemic reforms to governance and the criminal justice system. Now, President Xiomara Castro plans to build an isolated...

Larry Nassar Reportedly Stabbed in Prison

Disgraced sports doctor sexually abused young gymnasts

(Newser) - Disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar , who was convicted of sexually abusing female gymnasts, was stabbed multiple times during an altercation with another incarcerated person at a federal prison in Florida, reports the AP . Two people familiar with the matter said the attack happened Sunday at United States Penitentiary Coleman in...

Report: Ghislaine Maxwell Is the 'Prison Karen'

She's said to have made more than 400 complaints while behind bars

(Newser) - In the appeal of her conviction for helping Jeffrey Epstein traffic and sexually abuse underage girls, Ghislaine Maxwell complained of "inhumane" conditions inside the low-security prison in which she's serving a 20-year sentence. Now, a source is revealing more about what she finds so cruel, including standard-issue pillows...

Elizabeth Holmes Has Her Prison Start Date

Convicted Theranos founder must report to the Bureau of Prisons by May 30

(Newser) - On Tuesday, Elizabeth Holmes' bid to remain free while she appeals her fraud conviction was rebuffed . On Wednesday, the disgraced Theranos founder received the reporting date to begin her 11-year sentence: May 30, per Judge Edward Davila, who also presided over her trial. CNN Business reports that Davila agreed to...

Texas Makes Largest Jail Death Settlement in Its History

Inmate Holly Barlow-Austin was denied HIV medication, lived 'in constant pain': lawsuit

(Newser) - The family of a female inmate in Texas who was allegedly denied HIV medication before dying has been awarded $7 million in what's reported to be the largest known jail-related death settlement in state history. Holly Barlow-Austin died in a hospital on June 17, 2019, after two months inside...

Rapper MoneySign Suede Killed in California Prison

Lawyer says 22-year-old was stabbed in the neck

(Newser) - Rapper MoneySign Suede has died after he was stabbed in a shower at a California prison, authorities and his attorney said. The 22-year-old rapper from Huntington Park, whose real name was Jaime Brugada Valdez, was found in the shower area of the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad shortly before 10pm...

Harvey Weinstein Returns to NY Prison System

He's been transferred to medium-security facility

(Newser) - Disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has returned to the New York prison system after spending nearly two years in California, where he was tried and convicted of raping an Italian model. Weinstein, whose December 2022 conviction in Los Angeles followed his February 2020 New York conviction on rape and...

Killer Rapist Thought to Have Died in Prison Actually Escaped

Thabo Bester has been loose for 10 months, says South Africa's corrections department

(Newser) - Last May, South African prison authorities announced a man serving a life sentence for rape and murder had died in a fire in his cell. Dubbed the "Facebook rapist" for his habit of luring victims on the site, Thabo Bester had apparently set himself alight inside the maximum-security Manguaung...

What Prison Life Looks Like for Alex Murdaugh

He's being kept away from other inmates for his own safety, at least for now

(Newser) - Alex Murdaugh is being kept away from other inmates at Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, for his own safety. The state Department of Corrections tells TMZ that the convicted killer—sporting a shaved head in his new mugshot —is held in a single cell with a steel...

Bureau of Prisons Closes Notoriously Violent Unit

At least 7 inmates have died by homicide or suicide since Thomson unit opened in 2019

(Newser) - One of the most notorious units in the federal prison system is being shut down after a series of inmate deaths. There have been at least five suspected homicides and two suspected suicides since the Special Management Unit at the Thomson federal penitentiary in northwest Illinois opened in 2019, NPR...

Guards 'Running on Fumes' at Violent, Short-Staffed Prison

'All signals are blinking red,' warns union official at USP Hazelton

(Newser) - A federal prison complex in West Virginia is desperately short on staff, and it's not hard to see why the Hazelton facility might be having trouble attracting workers: Union officials say short-staffing has made the notoriously violent prison even more dangerous, and mandatory overtime is so common that the...

Texas Prisoners Are on Hunger Strike

Some inmates have been in solitary confinement for more than 20 years

(Newser) - Prisoners in Texas are in the second week of a hunger strike to demand an end to the practice of keeping inmates in solitary confinement for much, much longer than the 15 days that the United Nations considers torture. One of their main demands is that "under no circumstances...

Report: Prison Forces Pregnant Inmates Into Early Labor

3 prisoners at Arizona's Perryville facility claim that forced inductions are prison policy

(Newser) - Three female inmates have lobbed an eyebrow-raising accusation against the Arizona prison where they're incarcerated. The three women say that when they were pregnant at the Perryville facility outside of Phoenix, they had labor induced against their will, and medical records seen by the Arizona Republic confirm that all...

Guard Brutally Attacked by Inmate Rescued by Other Inmates

2 stepped in when fellow prisoner attacked guard at South Carolina max-security site

(Newser) - Two inmates at a maximum-security South Carolina prison are being lauded for helping a guard who was attacked by another inmate. The state's Department of Corrections is now detailing the Monday evening attack, which WCIV notes could've been a deadly one had the rescuing inmates not intervened. "...

Gunfire, Blaze Break Out at Prison Holding Protesters
Iran Says Prison Fire
Killed 4, Injured 61
updated

Iran Says Prison Fire Killed 4, Injured 61

Sources inside Evin prison dispute the count

(Newser) - Update: Iranian state media reported Sunday that four inmates died of smoke inhalation and 61 people were injured in a fire at the Evin prison, NBC News reports. Prison sources told BBC Persian , however, that the toll is higher. The state news agency quoted judiciary officials as saying that inmates...

Suit: She Gave Birth on Jail Cell Floor as Staff Laughed

Jazmin Valentine alleges she was ignored during her 6-hour labor

(Newser) - A woman who said she was left to give birth to her baby alone on the dirty, concrete floor of her jail cell in Maryland filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday alleging that jail nurses ignored her screams and pleas for help for six hours. Jazmin Valentine alleges some nurses working...

It&#39;s Time to Push Back Against the &#39;Inhumanity&#39; in Our Prisons
Don't Ignore the Suffering
in America's Prisons
OPINION

Don't Ignore the Suffering in America's Prisons

Writing for 'Philly Inquirer,' Cheryl Smith slams 'soul-chilling inhumanity' toward incarcerated

(Newser) - The Eighth and 14th Amendments are meant to prevent cruel and unusual punishment, as well as discrimination and unequal treatment—including for the incarcerated. But that's not what's being applied in America's prisons, Cheryl Smith writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer , where she lays out the "soul-chilling...

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