Howard County Moves Forward on Spacious New Courthouse

Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman recently announced that Edgemoor-Star America Judicial Partners was chosen to head the new Circuit Courthouse project, on the site of the current Thomas Dorsey Building on Bendix Road, in Columbia., Md.

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Ascending From the Ashes: Are We Turning the Corner?

Once I was in Heliopolis, the “sun city,” or at least the place where the ancient city once stood. This was in the late 1960s, a few months after the seven-day war between Israel and Egypt. A tentative peace was apparent (which has now lasted more than four decades) and birds were back in the public squares.

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U.K. Company Helps Young Offenders

WARRINGTON, United Kingdom — British manufacturer Rixonway Kitchens has donated kitchen units to Thorn Cross Prison in Warrington to teach juvenile offenders new skills in a bid to reduce recidivism rates.
 
The program offers a fitted interiors course run by the Open College Network North West Region and allows offenders to earn a diploma or certification.
 
The course trains 10 students at a time in kitchen fitting, providing them with a trade and social and life skills that are hoped will help them find meaningful employme

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Burned U.K. Prison Was Beset By Troubles

ARUNDEL, West Sussex An open prison where buildings burned to the ground during a riot on New Years Day was criticized in an inspection a month earlier, according to a recent report.
 
A team that visited Ford Open Prison several weeks before the trouble said it had serious concerns in several areas.
 
Team members claimed the prison was failing to prepare inmates for life outside the facility and that security was u

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London To Divert Mentally Ill From Prison

LONDON The first step toward establishing a national service to divert the mentally ill from prison is due to be announced by the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and Justice Secretary Ken Clarke.
 
The two cabinet ministers will announce they have found $8 million to put into 100 diversion sites across England and Wales as part of their plan to create a national liaison and diversion service by 2014.
 
The decision is part of ClarkeRead more

UK Revises Plan to Revamp Aging Prisons

LONDON — The United Kingdom government scrapped its controversial $4.8 billion plan to construct three 2,500-bed prisons and will instead build a series of 1,500-bed prisons to expand bed capacity in England and Wales.

The revised proposal calls for up to five smaller prisons that will deliver up to 7,500 beds — the same number of beds as the scrapped large-prison plan — at a cost of $5.1 billion.

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