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A friend tells me he was watching part of an episode of 'Law and Order' last evening. Does not remember which one of the many L&E shows. I no longer watch conventional television, so I need help finding this. The plot involves two detectives stubling upon prisoners held secretly in a state prison. Detectives found out because of the differance between official head count and number of meals served. My friend says the great quote from the show; "Ever read the Patriot Act ?" "I read the original-1984." Help me find this episode.

From 1980 to 2007, the number of prisoners held in the United States quadrupled to 2.3 million, with an additional 5 million on probation or parole. What Ayn Rand once called the “freest, noblest country in the history of the world” is now the most incarcerated, and the second-most incarcerated country in history, just barely edged out by Stalin’s Soviet Union. We’re used to hearing about the widening chasm between the haves and have-nots; we’re less accustomed to contemplating a more fundamental gap: the abyss that separates the fortunate majority, who control their own bodies, from the luckless minority, whose...

One of the most influential evangelical leaders in the United States says Christians should go to jail rather than comply with the Obama administration’s mandate to provide all contraception, including abortion-inducing drugs, in their health care plans. Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), told LifeSiteNews.com “we will not comply” with the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ mandate requiring religious institutions to cover abortifacient products such as Plan B, Ella, and the IUD. “We want the law changed, or else we’re going to write our letters from the Nashville jail, just...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A federal judge on Tuesday ordered California officials to prepare for the end of a six-year, court-ordered oversight of the prison system that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars and helped force a shift of lower-level criminals from state prisons to county jails. U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson cited improving conditions in the prison system in a three-page order that says "the end of the Receivership appears to be in sight." The ruling marks an important milestone in a process that began nearly six years ago when the judge appointed a receiver to run California's prison...

Obama promise to close Guantánamo prison unfulfilledBy Jeremy Herb - 01/11/12 08:32 PM ET The 10th anniversary of the Guantánamo Bay prison was marked with protests Wednesday, as closing the controversial detention facility remains a promise unfulfilled for President Obama. Obama campaigned on closing the facility in Cuba and, in one of his first actions as president, issued an executive order calling for it to be dismantled within one year. But as he enters the final year of his first term, human-rights groups are dismayed that the end of Guantánamo is nowhere in sight. While he remains committed to closing...

Every so often I want to watch some TV program in my PC. Ok, it usually is football! When I google "this game lifestream" I usually get lots of sites from where I can download something for free that will allow me to watch the game. But I don't know anything about that site, how safe it is... Does any body have any recommendations? At least, does someone know how I can watch the Denver-New England game tomorrow? Thanks

AUBURN — Marriage equality in New York passed another landmark Monday, as an Auburn Correctional Facility inmate married his boyfriend in the state’s first same-sex marriage ceremony behind bars. The inmate, 31-year-old Ronald Cook, married 34-year-old Marc Rodriguez, a former Auburn inmate, in a simple civil ceremony Monday morning. The two men met in the prison in 2002, Rodriguez said....

Sacramento - US prison guards have shot some prisoners while breaking up a fight involving 50 inmates at a California prison, corrections officials say. Inmates stabbed each other during the fight, and some employees suffered minor injuries as they intervened. The outbreak was in a maximum security area of the California State Prison, Sacramento. About 50 inmates were involved and an unknown number of staff were injured, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "We don't have a firm number yet. At least nine inmates have been transported to local hospitals for treatment of...

A young woman sits cross-legged on the ground laughing playfully as she is fed a lychee. Another plays cards in pair of baggy pink pyjamas. The moving images could show any group of young women as they go about their daily lives in prison. But just hours - and in some cases minutes - after the pictures were taken, each of the four women were led into a concrete yard and executed.

EXCLUSIVE    Perv lags getting paid to do rehab Fury at paedo jail ‘bribes’   Courses ... inmates can even pick up the cash by not attending the sessions   JAILED paedophiles are being PAID to take courses inside to stop them offending. Under prison rules, sick inmates who attend "offender behaviour programmes" get wages the same as if they have a job in jail. They can even pick up the cash by NOT attending the sessions — if they show they were willing to go but there were no spaces available. Last night Lyn Costello, of campaigning group Mothers Against...

MANSFIELD, Ohio -- The old, imposing prison in Ohio where the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" was filmed has become a hot spot for weddings and hosts an annual bridal show. What was once known as the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield is all booked up for weddings through the end of 2012 and has begun taking reservations for 2013. The bridal show is called "Glamour in the Slammer" and is in its fifth year.

Landlord John Miller will miss Thanksgiving at home this year after what may be Central Florida's first case of eviction rage ending in attempted-murder charges. Miller remains held without bail in the Orange County Jail after crushing a mobile home with a large front-end loader while a terrified child cowered inside as a woman tried to save her, according to Sheriff's Office records. "Good, then I got what I wanted," Miller, 51, said after deputies told him the roof had collapsed and the small trailer was uninhabitable. The attack began Tuesday afternoon on West Ponkan Road near Apopka when 911...

A federal judge sentenced Tony Rezko to 10 1/2 years in prison Tuesday, describing his actions under Rod Blagojevich’s tenure as “selfish and corrupt.” Rezko has already served about 44 months. His daughter burst into tears at hearing the sentence. U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve said she found it offensive that Rezko put at risk the Teachers’ Retirement System by scheming for kickbacks with a board member in 2004. “You put their retirements at risk for your own greed and your own thirst for power,” St. Eve said. A pale, thin Rezko gave a brief statement before he learned...

Six teenagers were convicted of murder in Washtenaw County and sent to prison for life without the opportunity for parole, but county officials recall the most controversial and gruesome as the one involving the killing of a 13-year-old girl who thought she might have been pregnant.Christopher Machacek and Steven Stamper were just 16 years old when they picked up 13-year-old Mary Ann Hulbert in Stamper’s Ford Bronco from her Canton Township home, drove her to a field in Superior Township, blindfolded her and shot her to death because of the pregnancy scare.The two boys were later tried as adults —...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl9y3SIPt7o&feature=youtu.be&t=58s This video needs to go viral. It's very tough to watch though.

U.S. Government Seeks to Create Website Ban List Written by Raven Clabough Thursday, 27 October 2011 16:23 The U.S. House of Representatives recently introduced a “rogue websites” bill that has managed to attract bipartisan support even though it would force Internet Service Providers to create a list of banned websites and prevent users of those websites from accessing their sites. The list is all too similar to the “ban lists” that are found in China. Breitbart.com reports: “US lawmakers introduced a bill on Wednesday that would give US authorities more tools to crack down on websites accused of piracy of...

Peshawar — Seven prisoners of Bannu District Prison have been beatenby jail staff and now they are locked in death cells even though they were in trial. Theprisoners were shifted from Kohat Central Jail to Bannu Jail, because the managementof the prison is now shifting the militants and Taliban linked prisoners to differentprisons in KP Province. Now the Kohat Central Prison will be used only formilitants and other prisoners will shifted to Bannu and D.I.Khan prison. According to Bannu Prisonsources, seven prisoners detained by forces in FCR were shifted one weekbefore to Bannu District Jail. Where these prisoner were found,...

Herman Cain in New Interview: Abortion Should Not be Legal Washington, DC -- Herman Cain has given a new interview in which he explains his pro-life views on abortion and gives some insight as to why he made some "pro-choice" sounding comments in a CNN interview this week. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/10/21/herman-cain-in-new-interview-abortion-should-not-be-legal/

Two drug-related police scandals inadvertently have helped The City prepare for an influx of inmates under the state’s recently implemented prison realignment plan. The inmate population at San Francisco’s jails dropped sharply in early 2010 after the Police Department’s drug lab scandal came to light and again this year after allegations began surfacing about police misconduct during drug raids at residential hotels, Sheriff’s Department statistics show. By Oct. 3, when courts began redirecting prisoners convicted of minor offenses to county jails instead of state prisons, San Francisco jails were running at just 60 percent of capacity. “The crime lab fiasco,...

One factor that made the Shalit exchange deal possible was Israel’s crackdown on Hamas prisoners, Channel 2 news reported Tuesday. The worsening of conditions led to pressure on the Hamas leadership to sign a deal quickly, according to the report. Another factor was Hamas’ understanding that Israel did not intend to give in regarding the release of terrorist leaders, or the deportation of select murderers to foreign countries.

Ukraine Court Sentences Tymoshenko To Seven Years In Jail A police officer tries to calm Yulia Tymoshenko as she reacts to the verdict. Last updated (GMT/UTC): 11.10.2011 14:08 By RFE/RL KYIV -- Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been jailed for seven years and penalized tens of millions of dollars over abuse-of-office charges in a verdict the European Union says could have "profound implications" for relations. The accusations stem from a 2009 natural-gas deal Tymoshenko signed with Russia. Judge Rodion Kireyev said Tymoshenko's actions had caused the state damages amounting to 1.5 billion hryvna (some $190 million) and he...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A decision by Ohio officials to remove all pork products from prison menus in response to a lawsuit by Muslim inmates is not sitting well with the state's pork producers and processors. Both promise action of their own, including a possible counter lawsuit, to address what they consider an unfair and illogical decision.

SAN FRANCISCO — Transgender inmates who did not begin treatment prior to entering federal custody can now receive hormones, specialized mental health counseling and possibly gender reassignment surgery while they are in prison, according to new rules adopted by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons as part of a court settlement. A May 31 memo issued to wardens at the nation's 116 federal prisons and made public by gay rights groups in announcing the settlement Friday states, "current, accepted standards of care" will be applied to inmates who believe they are the wrong gender. Under the bureau's previous policy, issued in...

EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are going to call for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Holder perjured himself during his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious, Fox News has learned. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is sending a letter to President Obama arguing that Holder cannot investigate himself and will request a probe by a special counsel. The question is whether Holder committed perjury during a Judiciary Committee hearing in May. At the time, Holder indicated he was not familiar with with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program known...

A paedophile died after being disembowelled in an attack in his prison cell when he boasted about his sick crimes, it was claimed last night. Mitchell Harrison, 23, was killed at high-security Frankland Prison, in County Durham – where last year Soham killer Ian Huntley was slashed in the throat by a fellow inmate. Serial sex attacker Harrison was butchered with makeshift weapons, thought to be razor blades melted into toothbrush handles.

Federal judge rejects DiMasi appeal for bailBy Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff September 24, 2011 Disgraced former House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi lost his bid yesterday to remain free pending an appeal of his conviction on political corruption charges and must report to a federal prison Nov. 16. In rejecting DiMasi’s request for bail, US District Court Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf said he found no likelihood that the former lawmaker will be successful in his appeal to have his conviction overturned or his sentence reduced. **SNIP** Once one of the most powerful politicians in the state and the first...

Death-row inmates headed to their executions will no longer be able to pick what they’d like for their last meal. Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, issued this statement in response to concerns from Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire: “I believe Senator Whitmire’s concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid. Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit.” Here’s the original post about Whitmire’s concerns: Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman...

A chilling look inside the minds of female prisoners unfolds on Thursday with the première of the new TLC show, Prison Diaries. The first episode of the series focuses on Emilia Carr, one of just 63 women on death row in the U.S. Carr is seen in ankle chains and handcuffs, led by a burly, fully-armed female guard as she leaves her cell. She wears bright orange overalls and trainers, her long, dark hair allowed to fall around her hunched shoulders.

A career criminal who raped younger, slightly built men while incarcerated received a 40-year sentence Thursday, raising the likelihood that the serial prison rapist will die behind bars. U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland said Sabil Mujahid's crimes were "likely as bad as I have ever seen," leaving his victims filled with enduring terror, anguish and shame.

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A bit actor who appeared in the first "Austin Powers" movie was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the violent 1990 gang rape of a Southern California woman. Joseph Son, 40, was found guilty of one felony count of torture Aug. 25 after being linked to the crime through DNA evidence, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney. In 1997's "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," Son wore a bowler hat and played one of Dr. Evil's henchmen, named Random Task. Son and co-defendant Santiago Lopez Gaitan,...

SAN FRANCISCO -- More than half of all people sent to federal prison for committing felony crimes so far this year were Hispanic, a major demographic shift swollen by immigration offenses, according to a new government report released Tuesday. Hispanics already outnumber all other ethnic groups sentenced to serve time in prison for federal felonies. Hispanics reached a new milestone for the first time this year, making up the majority all federal felony offenders sentenced in the first nine months of fiscal year 2011, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Hispanics comprised 50.3 percent of all people sentenced in that...

Rachid Nekkaz (pictured) has set up a million euro fund to pay fines for women who choose to wear the full Islamic veil in countries, like France, where it is against the law to do so in public. A French businessman has set up a fund to pay fines for women who wear Islamic veils or the burqa in public “in whatever country in the world that bans women from doing so”. Rachid Nekkaz, 38, a real-estate businessman based in Paris, travelled to Belgium on Wednesday to pay 100 euros for two women fined in the first case in the...

After 52 years of marriage, crook Bernard Madoff's wife is finally calling it quits. Ruth Madoff, 70, hasn't seen her 73-year-old hubby for more than 8 months, reports the Daily Mail. She's cutting ties with Madoff in an effort to reconcile with her remaining son, Andrew, and her dead son's family, say sources. Her son Mark committed suicide late last year on the second anniversary of his dad's arrest for massive fraud, and Ruth was turned away from his memorial by his distraught widow. "Ruth has not seen Bernie since Mark's suicide, and I think the remnants of the family...

Thermal imaging cameras recorded a parolee sneaking back into New Folsom State Prison at 1:30 a.m. Thursday, prison officials said. "We quickly determined we did not have an escape. We found the suspect hiding in bushes near the Prison Industry Authority area," prison spokesman Tony Quinn said. Marvin Lane Ussery, 48, was arrested on suspicion of being a felon on prison grounds.

Last Friday, Cuba’s top court rejected the appeal of an American Jew sentenced to 15 years in prison for distributing satellite communications equipment and laptops to Cuba’s Jewish community – an act Cuban prosecutors charged was part “of a subversive project to try to topple the revolution.” It is illegal under Cuban law to bring such equipment into the country without a permit. Alan P. Gross, 62, of Potomac, Maryland, has been held since his arrest at Havana’s airport in December 2009. Gross was sent to Cuba as a contractor by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to...

The man allegedly behind Norway's devastating terror attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, is now under arrest. And he should count himself lucky for—if entirely undeserving of—a penal system in that country that is among the cushiest in the world. There's no capital punishment, and the longest jail term allowed is 21 years (a caveat: if a prisoner is deemed to still be a threat, his sentence can be extended in five-year blocks indefinitely, though it's highly unlikely, according to Norwegian officials). In Norway, rehabilitation is the guiding principle, not punishment—a somewhat difficult notion to swallow given the gravity and callousness of...

Mom faces prison for jaywalking during drunk hit-and-run that killed son; driver served 6 monthsBY Philip Caulfield DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, July 25th 2011, 3:29 PM The devastated mother of a 4-year-old boy who was killed in a drunken hit-and-run accident is facing more jail time than her son's killer because she was jaywalking during the accident. Raquel Nelson, 30, could get up to three years behind bars after being convicted on July 12 of second-degree vehicular homicide, reckless conduct, and failure to use a crosswalk during the incident in April 2010. Nelson and her three children had gotten...

Lawyers for the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage say prison officials have resumed forcibly medicating their client with a psychotropic drug. Jared Lee Loughner's attorneys in filings Thursday questioned whether the forced medication violates an earlier order by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that forbid them from involuntarily medicating Loughner as the court mulls an appeal on his behalf. The filings say officials at the federal prison facility in Missouri resumed the forced medication on an emergency basis because Loughner had become an immediate threat to himself. Loughner's attorneys say their client has been on 24-hour suicide watch,...

A Colorado inmate has filed a lawsuit because prison guards revived him in contravention of his do-not-resuscitate orders. Daniel Self claims he was wrongfully convicted in the shooting death of his pregnant girlfriend, and his life sentence is worse than death, the Denver Post reports. “Death would be welcome relief," he tells the newspaper.

WATCH: Woman in Kentucky attacks judge after being sentenced to 10 days in prisonBy Nina Mandell DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Friday, July 15th 2011, 1:13 PM A Kentucky woman accused of domestic violence had serious objections with a judge's sentence early this week, attacking the jurist after getting jail time. Wayne County Family Court video shows Melissa Harvick arguing with Judge Jennifer Upchurch Edwards before being sentenced to 10 days in prison for contempt of court. As soon as Edwards said, "You go now," Harvick lost it. She leaps over the bench and tries to choke Edwards, who remains, surprisingly,...

CHEHALIS, Wash. - An Onalaska man who shot and killed a man who he thought was going to rob him will spend more than five years in prison. Lewis County Judge Nelson Hunt sentenced Ronald Brady to the maximum possible sentence, 63 months. A jury found Brady guilty of manslaughter last month. "I think the jury missed this one," said Jack Tipping, a friend of Brady. "This is a great victory for burglars."

A Mexican woman has been arrested for trying to sneak her husband out of prison in a suitcase following a conjugal visit. SNIP Staff became suspicious as the young woman seemed nervous and was struggling with a black, wheeled suitcase which looked particularly bulky. Police spokesman Gerardo Campos said prison guards checked the bag and found inmate Juan Ramirez Tijerina curled up inside. CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST

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A Michigan inmate is suing Gov. Rick Snyder and the state over his prison's ban on pornographic materials, claiming he is being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, the Detroit News reported. In a handwritten lawsuit filed June 10 in US District Court in Detroit, Kyle Richards said the porn ban has "been used as a method of 'psychological warfare' against prisoners, in order to both destroy the morale of inmates and break the spirit of individuals." The Macomb County jail where Richards is imprisoned does not allow inmates to possess porn, the newspaper reported. However, instead of suing the...

The Palestinian Authority has lashed out at Israel over MKs' plans to cut benefits to imprisoned terrorists as long as Gilad Shalit remains in captivity. Riyad Elashkar, a senior official in the PA's Prisoners Affairs Ministry, accused Israel of “an unprecedented campaign of oppression, terror and isolation.” PA officials warned that the thousands of PA Arabs imprisoned in Israel would begin a hunger strike on Sunday. The strike will be a warning strike, said Elashkar. Prisoners may go on to refuse to take part in the daily headcount, he said. MKs are seeking to put an end to good prison...

Kids hoot and yammer so loudly that their ruckus drowns out the teacher. A trash can is overturned in class and dumped. Grimy floors are littered with sunflower-seed shells, spit out by the hundreds. Books and supplies fly out the windows. Mouse droppings are everywhere, even on the computers. MS 344, the Academy of Collaborative Education in Harlem, is a hellhole where teachers should get combat pay -- they are cursed, assaulted and sometimes groped. "It was literally war," said a teacher who once found a sticky used condom in her purse. "I was pushed, shoved, scratched, thrown against the...

South Africa President Jacob Zuma has snubbed the visiting Michelle Obama by sending his prisons minister to meet the first lady at the airport and failing to see her during her three-day stay. Mr Zuma was out of the country for the first day of Mrs Obama's second solo trip abroad on Tuesday and although he returned on Monday night, aides said he was "not available" to meet her. Instead, he arranged for Corrective Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to greet her on her arrival in Pretoria on Monday night, and one of his three wives, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, to meet her...

Children don't like school because they love freedom. Someone recently referred me to a book that they thought I'd like. It's a 2009 book, aimed toward teachers of grades K through 12, titled Why Don't Students Like School? It's by a cognitive scientist named Daniel T. Willingham, and it has received rave reviews by countless people involved in the school system. Google the title and author and you'll find pages and pages of doting reviews and nobody pointing out that the book totally and utterly fails to answer the question posed by its title. Willingham's thesis is that students don't...

Crouched in her cell, Ophelia De'lonta hoped three green disposable razors from the prison commissary would give her what the Virginia Department of Corrections will not — a sex change. It had been several years since she had felt the urges, but she had been fighting them for weeks. But like numerous other times, she failed to get rid of what she calls "that thing" between her legs, the last evidence she was born a male. Months after the October castration attempt, De'lonta filed a federal lawsuit Friday claiming the state has failed its duty to provide adequate medical...