Tag: prison

CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS DECRY PROPOSED FEDERAL PRISON SOCIAL MEDIA CRACKDOWN

Two civil rights groups castigated the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) this week for a proposed crackdown on imprisoned peoples’ access to social media—including a possible ban on accounts run by family on the outside. The two organizations, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University (KFAI), said the BOP’s suggested new procedures would violate basic civil rights and run afoul of the U.S. Constitution.

To change administrative policies, federal agencies must submit written proposals to the federal register and allow for public comment. In a proposed rule published on Feb. 2, the BOP floats a series of changes to “inmate discipline regulations,” including stricter bans on possessing hazardous tools, escaping from prison, or encouraging others to engage in work strikes. But multiple sections pertaining to the use of social media particularly caught the eye of First Amendment defenders. 

If enacted, one measure would ban “accessing, using, or maintaining social media, or directing others to establish or maintain social media accounts on the inmate’s behalf.” As it stands, many incarcerated people either access social media on tablets or contraband devices or send information to loved ones to post. Many state prison systems already ban imprisoned people from accessing social media and a handful of states, including Alabama and Iowa, ban third parties from posting on prisoners’ behalf.

Violating the new federal code would be considered a “High Severity Level” incident, which could bring a host of punishments, including solitary confinement, damage to parole eligibility, or fines.

Another proposal would label the use of social media to commit “criminal acts,” as well as the use of money-transfer apps such as CashApp, as “Greatest Severity Level” prohibited acts, the most severe offensive level. 

“When inmates use these services to send and receive money, Bureau staff are unable to monitor those transfers,” the proposal says. “CashApp and similar applications employ encryption technology that enables inmates to avoid detection, allowing them to use these platforms for unlawful purposes such as money laundering.”

The period for public comment closed on April 1. The federal register website shows that the proposed rule received 219 comments, though only 22 have been posted online.

In a six-page rebuttal submitted Monday, KFAI attorneys said a blanket social media crackdown would likely violate the Constitution.

“For the nearly 2 million people who are incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons, maintaining connection with loved ones and communities is associated with better physical and mental health outcomes, reduced recidivism, and successful reentry into society,” wrote attorneys Jennifer Jones, Nicole Mo, and Stephanie Krent. “Social media is increasingly becoming an important part of that connection. As one formerly incarcerated journalist recently recounted, using social media through his wife allowed him to pursue a writing career, stay in touch with his community, and give him hope of reintegration upon release.”

Keep reading

When the solar eclipse arrives, N.Y. prisons will be locked down

Preparations for April’s solar eclipse have ramped up as the highly anticipated astronomical event nears — those preps, it turns out, include New York’s prisons.

The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced its plans to cancel visitations at nearly two dozen facilities in the path of totality on April 8.

In total, the department said 23 facilities “will experience total darkness ranging from approximately one and a half minutes to approximately three and a half minutes.” Those sites will be closed to visitations all day, while facilities not “directly” in the path will end visits early at 2 p.m.

The DOCCS solar eclipse plan doesn’t just affect visitations. According to Hell Gate, a “system-wide lockdown” will be put in place during the eclipse “as a safety precaution.”

A memo issued by the department earlier this month reportedly states that all persons in DOCCS custody will be locked in their housing units between 2-5 p.m. on April 8, Hell Gate reported. Despite this move, the department allegedly made a large purchase of solar eclipse safety glasses to distribute to the incarcerated population on the day.

April’s event will be New York’s first solar eclipse in almost a century, and the state has been preparing for this moment for months.

Keep reading

Prison Phone Companies Involved in Scheme to Ban In-Person Jail Visits, Lawsuit Says

Two lawsuits filed by an activist organization allege a conspiracy between county governments in Michigan and prison phone companies. This conspiracy has involved a “quid pro quo kickback scheme” that eliminated in-person visits at prisons to boost profits for the companies, the litigation claims. As part of the scheme, a portion of those profits were allegedly then shared with the county governments.

The Civil Rights Corps, a non-profit that describes itself as “dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the United States’ legal system,” recently filed the two lawsuits, which allege a similar scheme in both St. Clair and Genesee counties in Michigan. These arrangements involved business relationships with the county sheriffs of St. Clair and Genesee that were predicated on the elimination of in-person prison visits. Under the new systems, visitors to the jails had to pay for phone calls with the incarcerated, and the money from those calls was then shared between the providers and the counties, the lawsuit alleges.

Keep reading

J6 Political Prisoner, Dominic Pezzola, Confronts Myth of Rehabilitation in Federal Prison and the Reality of Prison Abuse

January 6TH, Prisoner Dominic Pezzola’s life within the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been anything but ‘rehabilitative.’ Each passing day of his ten-year sentence reveals a system marred by injustice and riddled with apparent apathy from those tasked with his care while in custody. Lisa, his wife, remains resolute in her role on the outside, relaying the brutal realities of Dominic’s ordeal to those willing to listen.

Earlier this year, Dominic was thrust into the cruel isolation of the Special Housing Unit (SHU) for an inexplicable 45 days. Dom told Lisa that prison authorities offered no explanation, leaving him in the dark about his alleged transgressions. After his release from the SHU, it was just two weeks later that the entire prison was placed under lockdown for more than two weeks due to a stabbing incident in a separate unit, no amount of explanation in the aftermath could undo the damage of what amounts to collective punishment. The prison walls seem impervious to reason, punishing every inmate indiscriminately, regardless of their involvement in the incident.

Dom’s confusion over the sudden confinement was compounded by the fact that he never received a formal write-up, a violation notice that typically accompanies punitive measures. For all he knew, the authorities had deemed him guilty without affording him the right to understand his supposed crimes.

Dominic’s release from the SHU was as abrupt as his initial confinement. No explanation was immediately given, and the slate was wiped clean as if the ordeal had never occurred. Through the proverbial grapevine, he learned that the prison authorities swiftly concluded the investigation of the stabbing within 48 hours. Without further explanation from BOP officials, to either Dom or his wife Lisa, motives behind the extended lockdown and solitary confinement remain unclear.

Many inmates believe that what happens with frequent and extended periods of lockdown are more than just arbitrary measures. In fact, many allege they are but one component of a systemic strategy rooted in corruption.

Keep reading

Kentucky prison officers accused of forcing inmates to drink urine or be tased upon failed drug test

A lawsuit filed on behalf of seven inmates at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex claims they were forced to either drink their own urine or be tased after failing a drug test while in custody.

And Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb acknowledged in a statement that some employees have been fired and disciplined in other ways.

“This incident was thoroughly investigated and multiple disciplinary actions were taken including employee terminations,” she said. “As of now, the Department of Corrections has not been served with the lawsuit and cannot provide further comment.”

She would not discuss details of the disciplinary action or terminations, including the results of the investigation. 

WDRB News has requested the investigation and disciplinary action taken through the Kentucky open records law. 

In a June 6th memo to Randy White, deputy commissioner of the Department of Corrections, an investigator said the findings substantiated that staffers were tasing inmates who failed drug test. 

“This determination is based on the preponderance of evidence,” according to an investigative memo obtained by WDRB. “This evidence includes video footage, staff and inmate witness statements , electronic Taser evidence log … and inconsistencies in suspect interviews.” 

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court’s Eastern District in Ashland, claims four correctional officers told the inmates who failed drug tests “they would be able to ‘throw away’ their urine sample if they chose to be subjected to electrocution by taser or to drink their own urine.”

However, the suit also claims the seven inmates were “forced” to either be tased or drink their urine.

Keep reading

Warden is ousted as FBI raids California women’s prison known as the ‘rape club’

FBI agents raided a federal women’s prison in California this week so plagued by sexual abuse that it was known among inmates and workers as the “rape club.”

The action coincided with the ouster of the new warden from the federal correctional institution in Dublin. Warden Art Dulgov — just a few months into his tenure — and three other top managers were removed from their positions Monday by the federal Bureau of Prisons. Dulgov was the third new leader of the low-security prison since Warden Ray T. Garcia, who, along with more than half a dozen employees, was convicted of sexually assaulting multiple women serving time there.

Dulgov and staff are accused of retaliating against an inmate who testified in January in a class-action lawsuit that alleges “horrific abuse and exploitation” at the prison, with rampant sexual assault of incarcerated persons, according to a court filing.

The developments are the latest twist in a years-long scandal surrounding the facility. Since an FBI investigation was launched and resulted in arrests in 2021, eight FCI Dublin employees have been charged with sexually abusing inmates. Five have pleaded guilty, and two have been convicted by juries. Another employee is slated to go on trial this year.

Last year, Garcia was sentenced to 70 months in prison for sexually abusing incarcerated women and lying to the FBI as part of a cover-up.

Keep reading

Utah corrections department discriminated against transgender woman, DOJ says

The Utah Department of Corrections violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it failed to provide a transgender woman with her hormone therapy, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The state corrections department discriminated against the woman, who is not named in court documents, by denying her equal access to health care services, imposing “unnecessary barriers” to treatment for gender dysphoria and failing to grant her requests for reasonable accommodations, including allowing her to purchase female clothing and makeup at the commissary, a federal investigation found.

Utah’s corrections department also “unnecessarily delayed” the woman’s treatment for her gender dysphoria, a condition with which she had “for many years” before entering the department’s custody in 2021, according to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) findings.

The woman’s psychological distress worsened while she was incarcerated in a men’s prison, federal investigators said, and a health care provider contracted by the state corrections department formally diagnosed her with gender dysphoria — a state of severe distress that stems from a mismatch between a person’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth.

Unlike other requests for medical care, which are typically directed to the state corrections department’s medical staff, a request for treatment for gender dysphoria is sent to the department’s gender dysphoria committee, which federal investigators described as the “gatekeeper” of care.

The committee during the woman’s incarceration included members who demonstrated “overt bias” against transgender individuals seeking care and expressed reluctance to prescribe treatment for gender dysphoria, including hormone therapy, the Justice Department said.

“Complainant’s access to medically necessary care for her disability was unnecessarily delayed due to [the Utah Corrections Department’s] biased and prolonged approval process,” DOJ Disability Rights Chief Rebecca Bond wrote Tuesday in a letter to Brian Redd, executive director of Utah’s corrections department.

Keep reading

Trudeau Demands Life In Prison For Speech Crimes

To protect children from sexual exploitation, Canada must pass the Online Harms Act, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. “I am the parent of two young boys,” said Justice Minister Arif Virani. “I will do whatever I can to ensure their digital world is as safe as the neighborhood we live in. Children are vulnerable online. They need to be protected from online sexual exploitation, hate, and cyberbullying.”

But Virani’s bill is totally unnecessary to protect children. Its real goal is to allow judges to sentence adults to prison for life for things they’ve said and for up to a year for crimes they haven’t committed but that the government fears they might commit in the future.

As such, Trudeau and Virani’s Online Harms Act (Bill C-63) is the most shocking of all the totalitarian, illiberal, and anti-Enlightenment pieces of legislation that have been introduced in the Western world in decades.

The Liberal government’s censorship legislation, when considered in the context of Trudeau’s sweeping abuse of governmental powers during and after the Covid pandemic and new subsidies for government propaganda, sets a new watermark in rising totalitarianism in Western societies.

In an unusually long statement in response to a series of questions asked by Public, the Trudeau government’s “Canadian Heritage” department, which regulates the media, tried to ease our concerns.  “Bill C-63 is meant to bolster the rights of Canadians to express their thoughts and opinions,” said the anonymous official, “by creating a safer and more inclusive online space.”

But the government spokesperson went on to confirm the shocking truth about the legislation, which is that it would put people in prison for life for things they’ve said, specifically, “advocating genocide.”

“Bill C-63 would increase the maximum penalty specifically for advocating genocide from 5 years to life imprisonment,” said an unnamed spokesperson for the Canadian government, “and from 2 years to 5 years, on indictment, for the willful promotion of hatred (section 319 of the Criminal Code)” [emphasis added]

This means someone who writes something that a government official decides is “advocating genocide” will face a longer maximum sentence than someone who rapes a child.

And what might count as “advocating genocide”? Today, there are prominent politicians around the world who say that supporters of Israel are advocating the genocide of the Palestinian people and that supporters of Hamas are advocating genocide against Jewish people. Imagine if they were in power. Under Trudeau’s legislation, would they not be able to send their political enemies to prison for life?

Keep reading

Ear-Piercing Noise Blares Through DC Gulag Torturing Sleep Deprived J6 Political Prisoners For Weeks

An ear-shattering, harrowing sharp noise has been blaring throughout the Washington DC  Correctional Treatment Facility for weeks where January 6 political prisoners are detained.

J6 defendants housed in C3A, the cell block known as the Patriot Pod in the DC gulag where J6ers are segregated from the general population, called The Gateway Pundit urging the American people to demand oversight of the jail from US Marshals and members of Congress.

As TGP has reported, J6ers have been brutalized and tortured for exposing the corruption within the Bureau of Prisons System and the Department of Justice to the media. In February, two political prisoners were ripped from their cells, abducted and transferred to the country’s most hostile anti-Trump correctional facilities and barred from communication for regularly speaking out.

J6 political prisoner Matthew Krol has been living on a pacemaker for nearly two years in the DC jail and has described dying from a heart attack while incarcerated and “coming back” while waiting years for heart surgery. Krol is one of several J6 defendants in the correctional facility in a legal battle with DC jail for medical deprivation.

After enduring more than two weeks of unbearable loud noise, Krol is calling on everyone on the outside for help.

“We have another situation here in C3A. For weeks, now throughout the day and many nights, there [are] sounds of construction going on,” the political prisoner, who is living on a pacemaker, told TGP after 14 days of the madness. “The supervisors say there is no construction at night, yet the noise continues.

“And there have been C/Os that have said there [is] no construction going on in the pod above us. It is 10:23 PM and our current C/O has been in my cell listening twice tonight to the noise. Inmates in the USA are supposed to get 8 1/2 hours of interrupted sleep a day, that does not happen here.”

Keep reading

Death of transgender prisoner Tiffany Scott, 32, considered ‘one of Scotland’s most dangerous inmates’ is being treated as ‘unexplained’ by police

The death of a violent transgender prisoner who was considered to be one of Scotland’s most dangerous inmates is being treated as ‘unexplained’ by police.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) confirmed Tiffany Scott, who was previously known as Andrew Burns, died in HMP Grampian yesterday at the age of 32 after becoming unwell and being taken to hospital.

Scott was convicted of stalking a 13-year-old girl while known as Andrew Burns in 2013 and had requested to be moved to the female prison estate early last year.

The 32-year-old became ill on Wednesday night and died in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary the following day.

The death is being treated as ‘unexplained’, according to police and there are said to be no suspicious circumstances around the prisoner’s death.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said that at around 10.50pm on Wednesday, the force was made aware of a 32-year-old taking unwell at HMP Grampian.

They added: ‘The death is being treated as unexplained and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.’

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: ‘Tiffany Scott, 32, of HMP Grampian, died on February 29.

‘With each death in custody, Police Scotland are advised and the matter reported to the procurator fiscal. Fatal accident inquiries are held in due course.’

Last year there was outrage when it emerged that Scott, who stalked a 13-year-old girl and later attacked female prison officers, was set to be moved to a women’s prison. 

A statement posted on the SPS website yesterday said: ‘Tiffany Scott, 32, has died in prison. With each death in custody, Police Scotland are advised and the matter reported to the procurator fiscal. Fatal 

Keep reading