March 29, 2013
Globe and Mail – Rod Mickleburgh
B.C.’s provincial health officer critical of federal crime bill
BC provincial health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, says that the ‘tough-on-crime approach is not only resulting in disproportionate harm to Aboriginals in jail for longer but is also likely to prolong problematic access to health care. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/tough-on-crime-legislation-a-step-backward-for-bc-aboriginals-ottawa-told/article10514488
N.Y. Times – Ian Urbina
Immigrants Held in Solitary Cells, Often for Weeks
Given that undocumented immigrants are a civil and not criminal matter, the use of solitary confinement on detainees and the lack of both health care and access to legal advice raise questions about excessive force. Dr. Kupers, the psychiatrist at the Wright Institute (Berkeley, CA), said: “Immigrants have the worst situation. They have no advocates. Their family is afraid to complain.” Detainees are not automatically represented by legal counsel, and about 85 percent have none. On the average day, over 300 detainees are in solitary and about half of these for 15 days, the rest longer. 15 days is maximum before the onset of severe psychological problems, according to the UN standards around torture. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/us/immigrants-held-in-solitary-cells-often-for-weeks.html?pagewanted=1
ACLU – David Fathi*
UN Prisoners’ Rights Meeting: US Puts the Brakes on Progress
The United Nations is pursuing a declaration on the minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners and met in December, 2012 in Buenos Aires. The draft report is available through the link. The draft will be further examined in Vienna in April. The US has been a stumbling block on both medical care and practices around solitary confinement. http://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform-prisoners-rights/draft-report-meeting-expert-group-standard-minimum-rules Full draft report: http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/sharpcopiernpp-aclu.org_20121217_102007.pdf
*see April 11 post (Adult penalties)for corrections and an update of this item from the ACLU. David Fathi is the Director of the ACLU’s national prison project.
Vera Justice Institute
Sexual Abuse of Children with Disabilities: A National Snapshot
This new report was offered to a congressional hearing on the subject. The 12 page report presents some surprising findings in suggesting that children with disabilities are at almost three times greater risk. http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/sexual-abuse-of-children-with-disabilities-national-snapshot-v2.pdf
Center for Research on Globalization – Linda Evans and Eve Goldberg
“Prisons are Big Business”: The Prison-Industrial Complex and the Global Economy
This article is dated (2001) but offers several advantages in that the principal author was incarcerated herself for political activities and the article is comprehensive of the issues involved. The link also has other helpful articles. http://www.globalresearch.ca/prisons-are-big-business-the-prison-industrial-complex-and-the-global-economy/5328757
The Sacramento Bee – Denny Walsh and Sam Stanton
Fury at hearing on California prison mental health case
Efforts to wrest supervision of mentally ill prisoners away from a federal judge and to restore the supervision to the state of California appear to have back-fired. The judge alleges unethical conduct by the state’s lawyers in the face of a required April 7 ruling. http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/28/5298547/fury-at-hearing-on-california.html#storylink=cpy
Fast Company blogger – Neal Ungerleider
The Gangsternet
This study funded by Google Ideas attempts to understand how gangs use the internet in the US. Three University of Arizona professors / researchers went on the street and interviewed gang members for this report. http://www.fastcompany.com/3007548/code-war/gangsternet