Free Talk Live - prison

Christmas in Prison

PC Harris — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 02:01:27 +0000

Katherine Olejnik and Matt Duran Have Not Been Charged with Any Crime, and Yet They Have Been Locked Up for Three Months and Counting.

California Measure 34 - End The Death Penalty?

ecigarettes — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:02:51 +0000

Home to nearly a quarter of the nation’s death row population and in a state coping with budget crisis, independent analysts estimate that getting rid of the death penalty could save California taxpayers $130 million annually. The latest polls show a narrow margin of Californians oppose Prop 34, and that significant percentages are still undecided.

A Life Sentence For Stealing Socks?

ecigarettes — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:59:30 +0000

Under California’s three strikes, a person convicted of a felony who has two or more prior convictions for certain offenses must be sentenced to at least 25 years to life in state prison, even if the third offense is nonviolent. Critics have argued it is the harshest sentencing law in the United States. Life sentences have been handed down for stealing a pair of pants, shoplifting, forging a check and breaking into a soup kitchen.

Freed Hiker Shane Bauer on Solitary Confinement in Iran

ecigarettes — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:08:33 +0000

Shane Bauer was one of three Americans detained in 2009 while hiking in Iraq’s Kurdish region near the Iranian border. He and Josh Fattal were held for 26 months, and Sarah Shourd — now Bauer’s wife — was held for 13 months, much of it in solitary confinement. Seven months after being freed from prison in Iran, Bauer began investigating solitary confinement in the United States. Now, in his first major article since his release for Mother Jones magazine, Bauer finds California prisoners are being held for years in isolation based on allegations they are connected to prison gangs.

US Prison Population: The Largest in the World

Crotale — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:14:57 +0000

"When everything is illegal, everyone is a criminal." The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world—more even than China or Russia. Prof. Daniel J. D'Amico explains that as of 2010 more than 1.6 million people were serving jail sentences in America. Professor D'Amico suggests that "prisons are not what we think about when we think of America, and they shouldn't have to be." According to D'Amico, a free country should not have 1.6 million people in prison, and a fiscally responsible country cannot afford to. As Prof.

Are You the Next Prisoner?

TylerAE — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:48:58 +0000

If the jailed lived in one place, the 2.3 million would be the fourth largest American city, between Chicago and Houston. Every day, 35,948 people are newly incarcerated (source), and the only people who even bother to talk about it are considered to be on the fringe left, crazy people who can’t stop pleading for special interests.

Honor student placed in jail for tardiness and truancy at school

rawsteel — Wed, 30 May 2012 02:53:28 +0000

"A judge threw a 17-year-old 11th grade honor student from Willis High School in jail after she missed school again.

Judge Lanny Moriarty said last month Diane Tran was in his Justice of the Peace court for truancy and he warned her then to stop missing school. But she recently missed classes again so Wednesday he issued a summons and had her arrested in open court when she appeared."

I didn't know skipping class at school was considered a crime...