A former prison guard trainee was charged with involuntary manslaughter on Monday by the Nevada state attorney general. The guard, Reynaldo-John Ramos had been accused of killing Carlos Perez Jr. with a shotgun while he was in handcuffs in November 2014. If found guilty of both felony charges, Ramos could …
April, 2016
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7 April
Second-In-Command Paul Tanaka Found Guilty In L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Corruption Scandal For Obstructing Justice In Fed. Probe Of Brutality Against Inmates
On Wednesday Paul Tanaka, 57, once the second-in-command of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was found guilty of obstruction of justice and conspiracy. He is the highest-ranking Sheriff’s Department official to have stood trial after nine other department officials have already pleaded guilty or been convicted of corruption in …
March, 2016
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3 March
NYC Prisons Report 27% Increase In Injury Claims Last Year, Cost City $13.1 Million In Settlements
At a press conference on Wednesday, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer presented data on the human and financial costs of the city’s correctional facilities, offering stern warning on the future of Rikers Island, the prison complex he called a “humanitarian crisis.” According to Stringer, claims filed for personal injuries–both from routine accidents, …
February, 2016
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17 February
Shots Fired Outside Of Corrupt Tennessee Sheriff’s Home, His Immediate Reaction: ‘Beyonce’s Video’ Made Him A Target
Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold told the press Tuesday that he suspects Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance and “Formation” music video may have led to a shooting outside his Murfreesboro, Tennessee home. The officer reported hearing eight gunshots outside of his house Monday around 9 PM. He yelled for his wife and two young …
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8 February
26th Rikers Island Officer To Be Arrested in Two Years; Nicole Bartley Charged With Rape and Smuggling
Corrections Officer Nicole Bartley, 30, has been arrested for having an illegal sexual relationship with an inmate and smuggling marijuana. Bartley is now the 26th officer at Rikers Island to have been arrested for misconduct since 2014. Drug-sniffing dogs indicated the smell of marijuana on Bartley Saturday morning and although officers …
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2 February
Mentally Ill Inmate Boiled To Death By Officers, Death Ruled Accidental After 3 Year Investigation
Three and a half years after the death of Darren Rainey in June 2012, an African-American inmate serving a two year cocaine charge in Dade County, the state has finally released its highly anticipated autopsy report. Rainey’s death was ruled as “accidental,” but the state has been accused of a large-scale …
January, 2016
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26 January
President Obama Takes On Solitary Confinement
Today’s edition of the Washington Post contains an op-ed by President Obama outlining a series of executive actions on the use of solitary confinement in American federal prisons. Currently around 100,000 inmates are serving time in solitary confinement. The Justice Department’s research has found a high incidence of depression, withdrawal, exacerbated …
December, 2015
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28 December
Riker’s Island inmate accuses officer of rape
A female inmate in Riker’s Island mailed her sister samples of the clothing she was wearing while she was violently raped by a guard. The unnamed officer has been reassigned to a different unit. Last year 28 sexual assaults were report to NYPD from Riker’s Island. More at New York …
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23 December
Cleveland’s rape kit testing payout: Serial home invasion rapist identified from DNA and sentenced to life
Cleveland’s initiative to start testing its high backlog of old rape kits has so far led to 120 convictions in previously unsolved cases. Among them, a man who raped three teenagers over ten years ago was just sentenced to life in prison when the evidence was belatedly tested. More at Cleveland.com
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22 December
The Real Reason Sandra Bland Got Locked Up
“As in Ferguson, Waller County and Prairie View are choking residents with court fees in order to fill their coffers in a state without income tax.” Full Story – The Nation
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14 December
Guantanamo Bay: An ex-prisoner released to the UK reports the most unbearable of his torture was the threat by his interrogators that they would rape his five-year-old daughter
“[…]That was completely inhumane. It was worse than the beating as well, worse than everything, just thinking of my daughter and I just sat there silent completely,” he said.