Demonstrations are taking place at Governors’ offices across the country today in New York, Connecticut, and Illinois in solidarity with those pushing for basic rights and humane conditions within the Security Housing Units (SHU) at the notorious Pelican Bay State Prison, located in the northwestern tip of California. The conditions of the SHU will be the topic of discussion at today’s oversight hearing by California’s Assembly Public Safety Committee (listen live at 1:30 pm ). The…
On the November 2, 2004 California ballot, Proposition 66 was designed to place limitations on California’s “Three Strikes” law enacted in 1994. In response to the increasing numbers of third-strikers serving 25-years-to-life for drug possession, the initiative intended to require that the third-strike conviction be for a violent or serious felony in order to apply an increased sentence. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office , Proposition 66 would have saved the state several…
Newsroom Aug 18, 2011
Curfews: Crime Fighting Or Racial Profiling?
Curfews: Crime Fighting Or Racial Profiling? NPR, August 17, 2011
Selena Teji on California’s Broken Juvenile Detention System Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, August 18, 2011
Blog Aug 16, 2011
Conservative states leading the way in prison reform
The Supreme Court decision that California needs to shrink (not release) its prison population has made national headlines, but as I mentioned in my last blog , over the past few years many states have already begun reducing their reliance on incarceration. What is particularly interesting, as the ACLU points out in their most recent report, is the overwhelming bi-partisan support for prison reform efforts. Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, and a handful of other states have successfully…