Missoula County Jail Opens Rec Area for Female, Juvenile Inmates
MISSOULA, Mont.
Prop 39
California on Path to Drug Sentencing Reform
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Assembly has passed a drug reform bill that would give counties more control in how to prosecute low-level nonviolent drug offenders. Authored by Sen. Mark Leno, D-san Francisco, Senate Bill 649 would allow county prosecutors to charge drug possession offenders with a misdemeanor rather than a felony.
Read moreEast Mississippi Correctional Facility Faces Class-Action Lawsuit
MERIDAN, Miss. — Mississippi is currently under scrutiny for the “less than ideal” conditions at East Mississippi Correctional Facility in Lauderdale County, Miss., near Meridian, Miss.
Federal Government Reviewing Solitary Confinement Practices
WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Prisons recently agreed to conduct a comprehensive review of solitary confinement practices in its correctional facilities to determine the monetary and public safety repercussions of the current policy. The federal agency will hire an independent auditor to review the practice. The federal prison system is larger than any of the individual state systems, holding 215,000 inmates.
Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) spearheaded the review. Durbin believes the practice of solitary confinement has gone on for too long.
Read moreMaine Considers Putting Young Adults in Juvenile Facilities
AUGUSTA, Maine — Battle lines are being drawn around an unusual proposal to change laws in the state of Maine pertaining to where young adult inmates serve out their sentences. The Maine Department of Corrections recently proposed changing a law that prohibits young adults from being housed in juvenile facilities.
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