http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/prisonsystem/ en-us Sun, 5 May 2013 23:03:09 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3016068/posts Michael Hough, a second-term Republican state legislator from Frederick County, Md., is about as conservative as blue-state legislators come. He played a prominent role in opposing the state’s new gay marriage law, holds an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association, and received a 100 percent score from the state’s business lobby. The major focus of his legislative agenda, however, crushes any stereotypes that might come to mind, given his résumé. Hough wants to reform America’s prisons and help the more than 500,000 people who come home from correctional facilities every year. In the past few years, he’s successfully pushed... Weekly Standard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3016068/posts#comment Sun, 5 May 2013 23:03:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2976822/posts "It is now time to return the control of our prison system to California," Gov. Jerry Brown declared at a news conference Tuesday morning. Amen to that. Federal lawsuits and federal judges have taken over the state's prison system. Unelected judges don't have to worry about paying for what they command. Nor need they worry about losing their jobs should they incite the public's wrath. Thus, judges have ordered massive increases in inmate health and mental health spending. Those orders have driven up the annual cost per inmate to more than $55,000. About $17,000 of that sum goes toward health... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2976822/posts#comment Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:05:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2976371/posts Will Barack Obama go down in history as our least merciful president? With less than two weeks to go in his first term, this reputedly progressive and enlightened man has a strong shot at winning that dubious distinction. December, a traditional season for presidential clemency, has come and gone, and still Obama has granted just one commutation (which shortens a prisoner's sentence) and 22 pardons (which clear people's records, typically after they've completed their sentences). Barring a last-minute flurry of clemency actions, his first-term record looks weaker than those of all but a few previous presidents. Which of Obama's predecessors... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2976371/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jan 2013 15:08:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2885124/posts Now a whistleblower who worked with the alleged rapist has come forward, saying the problem is widespread. A retired prison guard said he worked along side Kenneth Carrejo for years. When he heard about the rape allegations, he had to come forward. "He's a pervert, that's all he's ever been. I would tell that to his face." The former prison guard is exposing Carrejo and a number of other guards at the Central New Mexico Corrections Facility in Los Lunas. "I never feared an inmate, I feared administration. I feared people like Kenneth Carrejo." KOB 4 On Your Side, New Mexico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2885124/posts#comment Fri, 18 May 2012 02:51:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1670861/posts One of the difficulties facing corrections departments around the country is that their directors don’t keep their jobs very long. The average tenure for prisons chiefs is 2.4 years – not enough time to have a real impact, said Rod Hickman, the head of California’s prison system, in an interview earlier this year. "I don’t know that I can tell you exactly the right amount of time, but the one thing I do know that you can see from systems that are performing how people would like them to, albeit not perfectly: They had continuity in leadership," he said. Three... Daily Bulletin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1670861/posts#comment Sun, 23 Jul 2006 16:09:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1585872/posts SACRAMENTO (AP) - Corrections Secretary Roderick Q. Hickman, a reform-minded appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, plans to resign from the post he has held for more than two years, a newspaper reported Sunday. The Los Angeles Times reported that Hickman, 49, said in a telephone interview that he was quitting because he lacked the political support to reform the prison system. Hickman, who is the Schwarzenegger administration's highest-ranking black bureaucrat, said the governor would receive an official letter of resignation Monday. "I think we've built an excellent foundation, but I just don't see the courage and will we need to... AP on Bakersfield Californian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1585872/posts#comment Sun, 26 Feb 2006 16:57:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1562815/posts SACRAMENTO (AP) - The California prison system's use of some of its toughest, most feared inmates to help keep order behind bars led to the slaying of a guard, state investigators say. And the FBI is looking into whether the practice contributed to a second killing. Although the practice is banned in some states, California's top corrections official defends the limited use of "peacekeepers." These influential inmates are entrusted to help the staff, smooth racial tension and in some cases control fellow prisoners. Critics worry the freedom accorded peacekeepers lets them run drugs, order inmate assaults and commit other crimes.... ap on Bakersfield Californian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1562815/posts#comment Sun, 22 Jan 2006 19:07:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1175126/posts A federal judge threatened to put the state's prison system into receivership after warning that a prison guard contract renegotiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger harms reform efforts in the nation's largest state correctional system. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the guard's union, already has a pattern of interfering with investigations and employee discipline, U.S. District Judge Thelton E. Henderson wrote Monday in a letter received Tuesday by Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger's proposal would worsen problems by granting even more concessions to the union in return for postponing pay increases, despite numerous warnings from a federal court special master, witnesses at Senate... Sac Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1175126/posts#comment Tue, 20 Jul 2004 22:40:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1128259/posts The jaw-dropping moment came right at the beginning of a hearing in a room tucked away near the top of the state Capitol building. Lawmakers wondered: Was anybody managing spending at the state's adult prisons, which had blown their budget by a half-billion dollars this year? The one-word answer they got from a Finance Department official at the March hearing: No. More than two decades after California started toughening its sentencing laws and building new prisons to deal with rising crime rates, the mammoth penal system it created is embroiled in financial and management turmoil. The adult corrections system has... Sac Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1128259/posts#comment Sun, 2 May 2004 16:18:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1058787/posts <p>Citing evidence of a massive coverup within the highest levels of California's corrections department, a court-appointed investigator has found that the state's prison system has ``lost control'' of its ability to investigate and discipline guards for abusing inmates and is in dire need of major reforms.</p> Mercury News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1058787/posts#comment Thu, 15 Jan 2004 22:32:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/924451/posts <p>A pair of state Senate committees portrayed California's Department of Corrections on Thursday as a bumbling, wasteful giant that relies heavily on hundreds of temporary workers even as it pays full salary and benefits to dozens of employees who never come to work.</p> Mercury News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/924451/posts#comment Fri, 6 Jun 2003 18:09:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/916015/posts <p>SACRAMENTO --California's prison system is asking for another $69 million because of overspending on its budget, fueled in part by rising overtime costs. Critics, however, consider the request another example of the Department of Corrections' failure to control runaway costs -- even as the state faces a record budget deficit that could spur tax increases and cuts to programs that serve the most needy.</p> Mercury News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/916015/posts#comment Thu, 22 May 2003 15:44:38 GMT