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John Edwards' mug shot released By: CNN Political Unit (CNN)–Former U.S. Senator John Edwards, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and campaign law violations in early June. His mug shot was obtained by CNN following a Freedom of Information Act request. The plea came after a federal grand jury indicted him on six counts, including conspiracy, issuing false statements and violating campaign contribution laws. A grand jury has been investigating whether money given to support Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, by benefactors of Edwards should have been considered campaign donations, a contention Edwards' team has disputed. A plea deal between the two-time...

With a censure vote looming this afternoon, Rep. Charlie Rangel clashed with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) in a closed-door meeting this morning, as the New York Democrat and his supporters demanded the right to seek a lesser punishment for a series of ethics violations. Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) came to the floor shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon to offer the censure resolution against Rangel, who was found guilty of 11 ethics violations related to his personal finances. Lofgren and Bonner are taking one hour of floor time for the resolution, half of which will be...

For the first time in 38 years, the number of state prisoners in the United States has declined, according to a new survey by the Pew Center on the States.

President Obama finally listened to the outcry of New York, and is considering moving the trial of 9/11 terrorist Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other al Qaeda members out of the city, perhaps to Guantanamo Bay. Finally, some wisdom. It would be better there. It's military. They're not going to mess around. These dangerous terrorists will not be allowed to spread their hate, or hurt anyone else. Nobody knows better than me. I was a federal prison guard at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. In 2000, I was with a prisoner, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, taking him back to his cell....

Ohio's Head of Job and Family Services Approved a Child-Support Search on Joe Wurzelbacher Immediately After Third Debate; Her Excuse? "Oh, We Always Do That" Confirmed: Max Donor to Obama Helen Jones-Kelley (two e's in Kelley) just happens to be a maximum $2300 contributor to Barack Obama.

Government computers used to find information on Joe the Plumber Investigators trying to determine whether access was illegal Friday, October 24, 2008 8:41 PM By Randy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch "State and local officials are investigating if state and law-enforcement computer systems were illegally accessed when they were tapped for personal information about "Joe the Plumber." Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher became part of the national political lexicon Oct. 15 when Republican presidential candidate John McCain mentioned him frequently during his final debate with Democrat Barack Obama. The 34-year-old from the Toledo suburb of Holland is held out by McCain as an...

Bureau of Prisons can suspend attorney-client privileges One month after the 9/11 attacks, the Department of Justice issued an interim rule that gave its Bureau of Prisons the right to scrap traditional notions of attorney-client privilege in order to monitor conversations between inmates suspected of terrorism and their lawyers. Last month, the department announced that the final version of that rule, which will become effective on June 4, extends from four months to one year the time period during which such intrusive monitoring of those jailhouse conversations can take place. The final rule also extends the authority to impose such...

Millionaire real estate developer Charles Kushner is home.......he will be back at the firm he founded before his downfall on tax fraud and other charges. The one-time political heavyweight was released from a Newark halfway house Friday after finishing what remained of a reduced sentence....... Kushner, a prominent philanthropist who has given millions to schools, hospitals and charities, and contributed to the campaigns of politicians including former Gov. James E. McGreevey, toppled from grace in 2004 after a lengthy investigation into his finances. He admitted to making campaign contributions in the names of partners and cheating on his taxes by...

PHILADELPHIA - Lil' Kim celebrated Independence Day one day early with her release from a federal detention center Monday morning after nearly 10 months behind bars. The rapper, who was sent to prison for lying about a shootout outside a New York radio station, walked out of the jail looking glamorous in sunglasses and an all-white, cleavage-baring outfit. Carrying a balloon and a bouquet of white roses, she waved to dozens of cheering onlookers _ some carrying signs that said, "Welcome Home, Queen Bee" _ before getting into a silver Rolls-Royce. The car pulled into a nearby parking lot where...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- FBI agents and U.S. marshals are searching for a convicted murderer who escaped Wednesday from a federal prison in Louisiana. Richard McNair, 47, is serving a life sentence in the U.S. penitentiary in Pollock, Louisiana, after being convicted of murder and burglary in North Dakota. "This inmate is considered to be dangerous and should not be approached," the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said in a statement. Officials describe McNair as a 6-foot tall, 210-pound white male with brown hair and blue eyes. He has scars on his left wrist and both knees.

Former state Sen. Charles Walker surrendered himself to a federal prison on Thursday afternoon after a last-minute appeal to federal judges failed. Walker was sentenced this month to more than 10 years in federal prison for tax evasion, mail fraud and conspiracy charges. He and his attorneys hoped an emergency petition with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would allow him to remain free on bond until judges made a ruling, but the request was denied Wednesday. Once one of the most powerful legislators in Georgia, the Augusta Democrat was convicted in June of 127 of 137 crimes and...

AUGUSTA — A federal judge Tuesday sentenced former Senate Majority Leader Charles Walker to more than 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay a $150,000 fine and $698,000 in restitution. The Augusta Democrat received 121 months in prison, and his companies were fined $70,000 in the fraud and theft case. He and the companies also were ordered to pay $80,000 in court fees. U.S. District Judge Dudley Bowen said he wanted to "send a message to other would-be corrupt politicians." Walker stole at least $425,000 from a charity he created and bilked newspaper advertisers out of another $200,000,...

Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. There are several prison's in the greater Leavenworth area besides the military and federal penitentiary. - FMC * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This actually a distance photo, from a viewing deck, as you can see far away, again, this is the "Big House" the Federal Penitentiary. - FMC * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * For the life of me I cannot remember the type of animal (type of live stock) that is in...

Former state Rep. Loren Jennings, accused of using his office to financially benefit a firm in which he had a financial stake, was convicted Tuesday of two counts of mail fraud and one count of money laundering by a federal court jury in St. Paul. A federal court jury in St. Paul acquitted him of four other charges following a nine-day trial. No date has been set for his sentencing by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle. Jennings, 54, of Harris, declined to comment as he left court after the verdicts Tuesday afternoon. But defense attorney Doug Kelley said Jennings will...

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press Writer Two high-security federal prisons in central Florida and five others will be getting fences that can kill prisoners who touch them, a $10 million project intended to allow the prisons to operate with fewer perimeter guards. The 12-foot-high "stun-lethal" fences, similar to ones already used at some state prisons, can be set to deliver electrical shocks to prisoners who touch them once and fatal shocks if they are touched a second time. The federal Bureau of Prisons expects to award contracts for the fences in late fall, bureau spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said. "This new...

DALLAS - Larry Tyler, the former securities salesman from Fort Worth who pleaded guilty last fall to defrauding nearly 500 mostly elderly clients, was sentenced Thursday to eight years in prison. U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders also ordered Tyler, 51, to serve three years of supervised release after he gets out of prison and to pay $23.8 million in restitution to the people he scammed. He also ordered Tyler to report to prison by 2 p.m. June 19. Tyler, stoic and dressed in a dark suit, was allowed to make a statement before Sanders rendered the sentence. "I am deeply...

PEORIA - A Pekin woman faces up to 10 years in federal prison for allegedly threatening President Bush by telling him in a letter she had put anthrax in the note. Jessica A. Moyer, 21, appeared in U.S. District Court in Peoria on charges of threatening the president and mailing a threatening communication. She said little except to her attorney, Bill Anderson, during the five-minute hearing. Moyer's address was listed in court records as 4105 N. Brookdale, Apt. 2C3, but Pekin police report no such address. The indictment was handed down April 20 but unsealed Thursday. It alleges Moyer sent...

Bill Kamal Talks About Life Behind Bars POSTED: 10:26 am EDT May 9, 2005 UPDATED: 6:53 pm EDT May 9, 2005 DEVEN, Mass. -- In an exclusive jailhouse interview, Bill Kamal -- the former Channel 7 chief meteorologist -- sits down and tells everything to Local 10 News.Our community was shocked when we learned he had driven to Fort Pierce to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old boy. He was caught in an Internet sex sting, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison.We saw the evidence. We heard the sickening details of the conversations on the...

Many branches of government need to understand Islam, but probably none deal with Muslims and their religious practices in so practical and detailed a way as do the wardens of prisons. It is therefore particularly dismaying to see that the highest prison authority in the United States, the Bureau of Prisons (which oversees all federal correctional facilities), has bought the Islamist line. My evidence for this comes from the Annual Refresher Training (ART) that all BOP staff must participate in. The 2005 course includes a lesson plan, "Islam in the Correctional Environment," designed by the Training and Staff Development Branch...

ATLANTA (AP) -- Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis was sentenced to four months in prison Wednesday for using a cell phone to try to set up a cocaine deal about 4 1/2 years ago. The penalty, worked out with prosecutors in October, should allow Lewis to return to the Ravens well before the start of the 2005 season. At most, he could miss the opening of training camp. He also will spend two months in a halfway house and perform 500 hours of community service following his prison term. Lewis pleaded guilty to trying to set up the drug...