Prisons

November 30, 2007 -- TRENTON – New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced that a street level distributor for a major drug trafficking network in Atlantic and Gloucester counties was sentenced to prison today. Members of the network distributed at least 10 kilograms of cocaine per week during the year preceding their arrests in March 2004.    » read more »

November 26, 2007 -- "I want to take this opportunity to thank the chairs and members of the Sentencing and Parole Review Task Force for contributing your time, energy and expertise to the important work of conducting a top-to-bottom review of our criminal justice system, from arrest to release. I appreciate that this is a difficult and time-consuming task, but I also know that it is necessary to ensure the safety of our citizens.    » read more »

10/22/2007 -- California Governor Schwarzenegger today directed inmate firefighters and staff from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to deploy across Southern California to work hand-in-hand with state and local firefighters. As of today, more than 2,300 CDCR inmates and more than 170 custody staff have joined firefighters from city and county fire departments and state agencies as part of a major coordinated effort to battle the widespread wildfires in Southern California.    » read more »

Joint Economic Committee Hearing

October 4, 2007 -- “I am committed to working on a solution that is both responsive to our needs for law and order, and fairer to those ensnared by this system.”

Washington, DC – Senator Jim Webb conducted a Joint Economic Committee (JEC) hearing to explore the steep increase in the U.S. prison population and the economic and social costs of mass incarceration. His opening statement follows:    » read more »

09/26/2007 -- Consistent with his number one priority to protect the public's safety, California Governor Schwarzenegger today signed SB 943 by Senator Mike Machado (D-Linden) that creates the first secure community re-entry facility. Aimed at rehabilitating prisoners and reducing recidivism and dangerous prison overcrowding, re-entry facilities are a central part of AB 900, the bipartisan measure approved earlier this year to reform California's prison system. The $7.7 billion comprehensive plan will add 53,000 beds throughout the state.    » read more »

Overcrowding, Demands for Better Care and Inefficiencies Require Action

August 30, 2007 -- AUGUSTA – Citing chronic overcrowding problems, double digit growth in costs and a lack of necessary services, Maine Governor John E. Baldacci today released an outline of his plans to consolidate state prisons and county jails.    » read more »

August 29, 2007 -- Colorado Governors Bill Ritter announced today he has established a seven-member Juvenile Clemency Advisory Board to review clemency and commutation requests by juveniles who were tried as adults and sentenced to state prison.

“As a former prosecutor, protecting the people of Colorado and ensuring the fair administration of justice are extremely important to me,” Gov. Ritter said upon issuing Executive Order B-009-07, which creates the Juvenile Clemency Board.    » read more »

August 27, 2007 -- MONTGOMERY — Alabama Attorney General Troy King announced that a Somerville man was sentenced today to serve 10 years in prison for welfare fraud. James Shea, 58, pleaded guilty in Morgan County Circuit Court on August 23 to committing second-degree theft of food stamp benefits, by misprepresenting his household income and resources. Because of previous felony convictions for crimes related to distribution of drugs, he was sentenced today as an habitual offender to serve the 10 year sentence in prison without a period of probation, and ordered to pay restitution.    » read more »

August 23, 2007 -- NATCHEZ, Miss. – Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest provider of corrections management services to state, federal and local governments, held a groundbreaking ceremony today to mark the company’s new construction of a company-owned and -operated correctional center in Adams County, Miss.    » read more »

August 17, 2007 -- FRANKFORT, KY – Kentucky Department of Corrections’ Commissioner John Rees today announced the establishment of a “Re-entry Hotline” for inmates that are being released from prison. The program is funded by a grant from the United States Department of Justice.    » read more »

08/16/2007 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today filed court documents joining a major push by state and local officials as efforts increase to prevent the early release of dangerous criminals into California communities. In federal court, the Governor filed a motion to support 31 Republican Assemblymembers, 15 county district attorneys and 23 county sheriffs and chief probation officers who have requested to get involved in the prison overcrowding case against the state.    » read more »

Aug 10, 2007 -- LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe today announced his intent to grant two pardons from a total of 107 clemency applications. This notice begins a 30-day waiting period to receive public feedback on the pardons before final action is taken. Beebe denied 58 requests from inmates for commutations or other forms of clemency and took no action on an additional 43 inmate requests. He also denied three applications for pardons received from inmates and took no action on one non-inmate pardon application.

Governor Beebe intends to grant pardons to the following people:    » read more »

August 2, 2007 -- Washington, DC -- U.S. Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Arlen Specter (R-Pa), Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), announce the Senate Judiciary Committee’s passage of S. 1060, Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act of 2007.    » read more »

July 12, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) have filed an amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill requiring President Bush to close the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within one year.

The amendment is co-sponsored by Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Dick Durbin (D-IL).    » read more »

Gov. Riley and Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen discuss selling unproductive property and putting more state inmates to work during a briefing at the State Capitol.

July 11, 2007 -- MONTGOMERY - The Alabama Department of Corrections will put 5,763 acres of unproductive and money-losing properties up for sale, bring state inmates back from Louisiana prisons and put more inmates to work.    » read more »