Locked up, then counted out

January 18, 2003

Prison Policy Initiative Assistant Director Peter Wagner has an article entitled "Locked up, then counted out: Prisoners and the census" in the new Fortune News magazine published by the Fortune Society:

Imagine that in some parts of the country, the local economy depends on the maintenance of a large population of working-age Blacks. Regional politicians stake their careers on keeping the number of young Blacks high, but extend the electoral franchise to no more than a handful. In one studied county, the 2,395 Blacks made up a sizable portion of the 43,424 total population, but the number of Blacks allowed to vote is just 72. Read more.

Illinois Governor empties death row

January 12, 2003

On Jan 11, 2003, outgoing Illinois Governor Ryan reduced the death sentences of all 167 prisoners to life or other sentences. The day prior, he freed four death row prisoners who were innocent.

"The facts that I have seen in reviewing each and every one of these cases raised questions not only about the innocence of people on death row, but about the fairness of the death penalty system as a whole," --Gov. Ryan

"Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die."--Gov. Ryan

"The Legislature couldn't reform it, lawmakers won't repeal it, and I won't stand for it U I must act. Because our three-year study has found only more questions about the fairness of the sentencing, because of the spectacular failure to reform the system, because we have seen justice delayed for countless death row inmates with potentially meritorious claims, because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious U and therefore immoral." --Gov. Ryan

According to the New York Times:
" Governors have broad, virtually unchecked constitutional powers for pardons and clemency, and Mr. Ryan is at least the fourth to empty death row as he departs office, though the scale of his action overshadows the 22 men Gov. Lee Cruce of Oklahoma spared in 1915, the 15 death sentences Gov. Winthrop L Rockefeller of Arkansas commuted in 1970 and the five clemency petitions Gov. Toney Anaya of New Mexico granted in 1986."

Prisonsucks.com Top 5 Most Disturbing Criminal Justice Stories of 2002

January 3, 2003

Next year weIll be giving out 10 awards. To nominate a story, send a the full text and a link to where story can be viewed.

5. Coffee, Tea, or Should We Feel Your Pregnant WifeIs Breasts Before Throwing You in a Cell at the Airport and Then Lying About Why We Put You There? by Nicholas Monahan, LewRockwell.com December 21, 2002

4. RUBBISH!: Portland's top brass said it was OK to swipe your garbage--so we grabbed theirs. by Chris Lydgate and Nick Budnick, Williamette Week. December 24, 2002

3. "We wanted our children to be professionals. We wanted our children to be lawyers and doctors and school teachers. We wanted for all children what all people want for their children": the mothers and sisters of the central park 5 speak out as the manhattan da asks the judge to throw out their convictions
Democracy Now!, December 6, 2002.

2. Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in Calif. By Jill Serjeant, Reuters Dec 19, 2002;

1. Weapons of mass distraction By Wagner James Au, Salon. October 4, 2002

What does UNICOR not want the world to know?

January 1, 2003

This website gets regular traffic from the Bureau of Prisons, so maybe someone can drop us an email and explain why the entire UNICOR website is not in google. The omission is not an accident or google's fault, as the UNICOR website's robots.txt file excludes all of the search engine spiders.

Tips will be kept confidential on request.

(UNICOR is the Federal Prison Industries Corporation that "employs" 23,000 prisoners in the Bureau of Prisons making various products for which the largest buyer is the Department of Defense.)