Tag: prison

Black prisoners are assigned harsher living conditions in Ontario jails—thanks to AI

Black prisoners in Ontario’s jails are being assigned to harsher living conditions than other prisoners, through the use of an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that claims to predict their behaviour. A class action lawsuit says the province was aware its use of the software could disproportionately target Black prisoners, but went ahead with it anyway.

The Security Assessment for Evaluating Risk (SAFER) program has been operating quietly in Ontario’s jails since early 2021. SAFER inputs a prisoner’s personal information—including arrests, charges, and disciplinary records—into an algorithm. The program assigns each prisoner a score from 0 to 100 that determines whether they’ll be placed in minimum, medium, or maximum security detention.

Critics of the program argue that the data that SAFER is fed is racially biased: they cite documented patterns of police and courts handing out more severe punishments to Black people because of anti-Black racism. SAFER then uses that data to make harsher risk assessments of Black people who are sent to jail. 

The ministry responsible for Ontario’s prisoners agrees. It wrote in internal training documents viewed exclusively by The Breach that “Indigenous and racialized individuals face systemic discrimination in our justice system … As a result, assessments like SAFER would likely contribute to the overrepresentation of Indigenous inmates in maximum security.”

Despite this, the ministry has been using SAFER for five years. And while the province has included several measures in its rollout of SAFER to reduce the number of Indigenous prisoners in maximum security, it does not appear to have taken such steps for Black prisoners. “We are continuously evaluating to determine if it is necessary to make similar adjustments for other groups,” the same training document from the Ministry of the Solicitor General says. 

Keep reading

Labour to free waves of killers and rapists early: Criminals guilty of the most serious offences will now be released just halfway through sentences

Labour is to start releasing waves of killers, rapists and violent criminals from jail under its controversial soft-justice plan.

As part of a scheme to free up prison space, even those jailed for more than a decade will get out early.

The plan will ‘horrify’ victims, Justice Secretary David Lammy was warned last night, amid calls for it to be halted immediately.

The Ministry of Justice release programme could mean hundreds of serious criminals being freed in large batches – potentially even on the same day – heightening police fears of a surge of offenders on the streets.

Ministers have set out a timetable that will see 6,000 prisoners walk free, starting in September.

Criminals handed sentences shorter than 18 months will be the first to be freed. 

Releases will then ramp up month by month, depending on the length of sentences. Offenders handed more than 12 years in jail – some of the most dangerous criminals in the country – will start to be freed next June.

Tory spokesman Dr Kieran Mullan said: ‘Victims are going to feel like justice has been stolen from them by these plans. We aren’t talking about shoplifters or vandals.

‘We are talking about paedophiles, rapists and seriously violent criminals. Seeing them walk out of prison years early will horrify most victims, and the public as well. The whole programme needs to be stopped.’

Labour’s Sentencing Act, part of a long-term plan to reduce the prison population, allows early release for violent and sexual offenders after serving half their sentence, rather than the current two-thirds.

Other offenders could be freed after serving just a third of the punishment imposed by a court if they demonstrate good behaviour while in jail.

The early-release scheme means a killer jailed for 15 years for manslaughter would be freed after seven and a half years if they are assessed to have behaved well. 

Murderers will not be considered because they are given a mandatory life term, with a minimum amount of years they must serve.

Ministers are braced for a backlash after a scheme introduced in autumn 2024 saw offenders celebrating at the prison gates by popping bottles of bubbly, driving away in luxury cars and thanking Keir Starmer.

Keep reading

Trump loyalist Jim Jordan linked to group that received ‘dark money’ from ICE detention contractor

Jim Jordan is among the most famous names in this stretch of Ohio.

The congressman and chair of the powerful House judiciary committee is considered among the most conservative and influential members in Congress, and is a longtime loyalist of Donald Trump.

But a report released last month by Pogo Investigates, a nonprofit newsroom, highlighted the close ties between Jordan and a company profiting from the Trump administration’s anti-immigration crackdown, which has sometimes been violent and even deadly.

The report found that the American Liberty Foundation, a political action committee (Pac) tied to Jordan, last year received $250,000 in “dark money” payments from Geo Group, the Florida-headquartered company that runs dozens of detention centers on behalf of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the country.

The money transfer came 11 days after the passing of the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last July, which saw the federal government’s budget for ICE and other immigration enforcement efforts trebled to $170bn – an amount greater than the GDP of Morocco.

“A company and or a company’s political action committee is permitted to contribute funds to a Super Pac, but a federal contractor [such as Geo Group] is not,” says Nick Schwellenbach, the author of the Pogo Investigates report.

“Geo Group’s Pac had not disclosed this. Only American Liberty Foundation had. Both have legal obligations to disclose. This raises a lot of questions about the broader universe of dark money contributions from Geo Group or other private prison companies.”

Campaign Legal Center, a litigation advocacy organization, has since filed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Geo Group, alleging it violated federal campaign finance laws by making an illegal, misreported contribution.

Critics say that taxpayer money is helping to create a “deportation-industrial complex” that puts Geo Group, which runs ICE detention facilities across 16 states, including Delaney Hall in New Jersey, at the forefront of the benefactors.

All the while, conditions at many of the 52 detention centers that Geo operates on behalf of ICE have been reported as being very poor. Detainees at Delaney Hall last month launched a hunger strike to protest against the state of their living conditions and accused the contractor of denying them access to medical care. This month, the state of New Jersey sued Geo Group, seeking full access in order to inspect the facility.

In Michigan, family members and friends of the estimated 1,500 immigrant detainees held at the North Lake Processing Center have reported being verbally abused by staff and refused permission to see their detained family members.

Repeated emails sent by the Guardian to Geo Group asking why the company donated to Jordan’s Super Pac and if it believes the money represents a conflict of interest were not responded to.

Some rights groups have suggested that the poor living conditions are a tactic to force immigrants to self-deport. Trump’s former attorney general, Pam Bondi, previously worked as a lobbyist for Geo Group before joining the Trump administration.

According to reports, ICE is Geo Group’s biggest source of revenue, with 41% of its 2024 income coming from ICE. That figure is likely to have risen significantly under the Trump administration, with a host of new contracts signed.

Keep reading

NYC Democrat Socialist Candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier Wants to ABOLISH Prisons and OPEN America’s Borders — Deletes Thousands of Radical Tweets Before Tuesday’s Primary

The far-left challenger backed by NYC’s Communist Mayor Zohran Mamdani tried to scrub her record, but the receipts are devastating.

New York’s 13th Congressional District heads to the polls tomorrow in a Democratic primary that could hand a radical open-borders, abolish-prisons extremist a major platform in Congress.

Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old democratic socialist and Justice Democrats-backed organizer, is challenging longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat.

She’s been endorsed by far-left NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and has positioned herself as the future of the Democrat Party in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

But newly uncovered deleted tweets from her old account (@darializabonet) — over 3,600 posts and reposts from 2018 to 2022 — reveal exactly who she really is.

In September 2021, she reposted this gem:

“A world without borders—just like a world without prisons or police—is possible, necessary, and the only moral way forward.”

She also amplified calls to “literally, abolish the border” and declared that “all deportation is wrong.”

She pushed for zero deportations and full open borders while the rest of the country was already suffering under Biden-era chaos.

During the 2020 riots, she doubled down on abolishing police entirely:

“F**k you. We’re gonna defund and abolish. You don’t get to water down our movements.”

And:

“No. It means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all ever.”

Other deleted posts praised seizing private property from landlords, nationalizing industries, and openly flirted with communism.

When confronted, Chevalier claimed the posts “did not reflect who she is today.” Too late. The mask is off.

Keep reading

Judge rules Scottish guidance for housing trans prisoners is unlawful

A judge has ruled that prison guidance which allows some transgender prisoners to be held in jails matching their gender identity, rather than their sex at birth, is unlawful.

Judge Lady Ross said sex segregation in prisons must be based on biological sex, based on a Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman in equality law in April last year.

Campaign group For Women Scotland challenged the Scottish government guidance through a judicial review, saying only those born biologically female should be held in the women’s estate.

Lawyers for the government had argued this would breach transgender prisoners’ human rights. The first minister said they will take time to consider the judgement.

Lady Ross said the guidance was “in conflict with the requirement that prison accommodation be provided separately for men and women” and constituted “a mis-statement of the law”.

She said: “In all the circumstances, the prisons guidance is unlawful.”

Keep reading

Elderly Transgender Serial Killer Harvey Marcelin Sentenced to Life Without Parole for Third Brutal Murder and Dismemberment, ‘He Would Kill Again’ 

An 88-year-old New York man who identifies as a woman and has now been convicted of killing three women over six decades was sentenced this week to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Harvey Marcelin, who has also gone by Marceline Harvey, was handed the maximum sentence on Wednesday for the 2022 murder and dismemberment of 68-year-old Susan Leyden.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentenced Marcelin after concluding he would “kill again” if ever released.

The sentencing was for Marcelin’s May conviction on charges of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and concealment of a human corpse.

A Brooklyn jury deliberated for less than one hour before finding him guilty.

Prosecutors said Marcelin killed Leyden in his East New York apartment on February 27, 2022.

The gender-bending lunatic used a reciprocating saw to dismember her body.

Leyden’s headless torso was later found in a plastic bag inside a shopping cart.

Additional body parts, including her head, were recovered from his apartment along with bloody sheets, a hammer, and a saw.

Surveillance video captured Marcelin purchasing the saw and cleaning supplies at a Home Depot.

Marcelin was also recorded at a 99 Cent store riding his electric wheelchair while sitting on one of Leyden’s severed legs as he disposed of evidence.

Marcelin and Leyden had previously lived in the same Bronx homeless shelter.

This was Marcelin’s third conviction for murdering a woman.

In 1963, he was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting his girlfriend, Jacqueline Bonds, in Manhattan. He was paroled in 1984.

Over two decades later, in 1985, Marcelin stabbed another girlfriend, Ana-Laura Sierra, to death. Her body was found in a garbage bag.

Marcelin pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was paroled again in 2019 after promising to stay out of trouble.

Despite serving more than 50 years in prison across two prior terms, Marcelin killed Leyden while still under parole supervision.

At sentencing, Justice Danny Chun stated he had “no hope for rehabilitation” and feared Marcelin would kill again if freed.

“The cold fact is that every time you were released, you killed someone else, which leads this court to believe that, regardless of your age, if you are ever paroled again, I have no doubt that you would kill again,” Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun said, according to a report from the New York Daily News.

Keep reading

Democrat Running to Replace Pelosi Opened Women’s Prisons to TRANS Inmates and Eased Laws on SEX OFFENDERS

For nearly four decades, Nancy Pelosi represented San Francisco in Congress and became one of the most powerful Democrats in American history. Now, as California voters decide who will replace her, one candidate has emerged as the frontrunner: State Senator Scott Wiener.

Most Americans have probably never heard his name.

That is exactly why his record deserves scrutiny.

Wiener is not just another California Democrat running in a deep-blue district. He is one of the clearest examples of how far the modern Democrat Party has moved from ordinary American values. If elected to Congress, he would bring one of the most extreme records in California politics to Washington.

In the primary race for California’s 11th Congressional District, Wiener advanced to the November general election against San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan. According to recent reports, Wiener led the primary field while Chan, who was backed by Pelosi, finished second. 

The race is now a contest to determine who will inherit one of the safest Democrat seats in the country.

But while the media will likely describe Wiener in polite terms as a “pro-housing” lawmaker or an “LGBTQ rights advocate,” voters deserve to know the rest of the story.

Wiener authored SB 145, a bill that changed sex offender registration rules for certain adults convicted of sexual activity with minors when the age gap is within ten years. Supporters claimed the bill addressed unequal treatment in California law. 

But for many parents, the obvious question was why California lawmakers were focused on weakening sex offender registration requirements in cases involving minors at all.

Wiener also authored SB 107, which made California a refuge state for minors seeking so-called “gender-affirming care.” In practice, the law placed California on the front lines of the transgender medical movement and shielded certain records and proceedings from out-of-state laws. 

For parents across the country who believe children should not be pushed into irreversible medical decisions, this was not moderation. It was radicalism.

He also pushed SB 357, which repealed California’s loitering law related to prostitution, making it harder for law enforcement to respond to prostitution and trafficking concerns in communities already struggling with public disorder.

This is the pattern. On issue after issue, Wiener has used state power to advance the priorities of California’s progressive activist class, even when those priorities collide with public safety, parental rights, and basic common sense.

That is why his congressional campaign matters nationally.

San Francisco is one of the bluest districts in America. Whoever wins Pelosi’s seat will almost certainly become another reliable vote for the Democrat agenda. 

Keep reading

Trump Reveals He Pardoned Man Sentenced to SEVEN YEARS in Federal Prison for Fixing His Own Truck

President Donald Trump just exposed yet another example of the radical Democrat regime’s war on hardworking Americans during an agriculture roundtable discussion in Wisconsin, this time, jailing people simply for fixing their own equipment.

Speaking before a crowd that included farmers and agricultural workers, Trump blasted government regulations that restrict Americans from repairing their own equipment and praised efforts to restore “right-to-repair” freedoms.

The president then recounted a case that left him stunned.

“The Democrats have a restriction that if you get caught fixing your tractor, they bring you to jail. You know that?” Trump told the crowd.

“Do you know that I pardoned a man last week who was sentenced to seven years in jail because he got caught fixing his car or his truck?”

Trump said he initially couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I said, ‘What did he do?’ Sir, he was fixing his truck.”

“I said, ‘How long is he getting?’ Seven years.”

“I said, ‘Say it again.’ It’s the first time I’ve ever heard it.”

According to Trump, he quickly intervened.

“Like two weeks ago, I gave him a pardon because he had to go to jail because he was fixing his tractor or his truck.”

“So I promise, Ken, if you ever get caught fixing your tractor or truck, I will give you a pardon, okay?”

Trump then turned his fire toward environmental regulations that have long frustrated farmers, truckers, and equipment owners.

Keep reading

DHS to Push Ahead With Plans to Convert Warehouses Into ICE Detention Centers

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is moving forward with plans to convert warehouses into large-scale immigration detention centers.

The decision comes despite legal challenges from activist groups and opposition from left-wing local officials seeking to slow the Trump administration’s deportation agenda.

According to The Washington Post, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to award contracts for major detention facilities in San Antonio and near El Paso.

The two sites are expected to be operational by early 2027.

The administration sees the warehouse initiative as a central part of its immigration enforcement strategy, allowing ICE to detain and process illegal immigrants more efficiently through large regional hubs rather than smaller, dispersed facilities.

Keep reading

Netanyahu: We Will Sue NYT for Exposé Alleging Sexual Torture in Israeli Prisons

Israel is planning to sue The New York Times over a shocking report that Israeli prison officials are sexually torturing Palestinian prisoners.

Opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof’s 3,500-word exposé graphically details mind-boggling cruelty, including genital mutilation and using dogs to rape prisoners.

Such a lawsuit won’t likely succeed in U.S. courts because the Constitution forbids it. Federal law generally forbids recognizing defamation judgments in foreign courts.

The exposé appeared one day before the Times reprised an official Israeli report that detailed Hamas’ rape and sexual torture of Israeli prisoners and hostages during and after the October 7, 2023 terror raid.

The Story

Palestinians told Kristof about sexual violence against men, women, and children by myriad Israeli assailants: “soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.”

Evidence does not show that leaders ordered the rapes, Kristof explained. But a UN report explained that sexual torture is “one of Israel’s ‘standard operating procedures’ and ‘a major element in the ill treatment of Palestinians.’” And the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has reported that “systematic sexual violence” is “widely practiced as part of an organized state policy.”

Kristof spoke to 14 victims. 

A freelance journalist, Sami al-Sai, 46, told Kristof that Israeli guards raped him with a rubber baton and then a carrot. A sadistic woman guard, he told Kristof, “grabbed him by the penis and testicles and joked, ‘These are mine,’ and then squeezed until he screamed from pain.”

Noting that American tax money has made the U.S. government complicit in the sex crimes, Kristof also detailed a case from the Euro-Med report. It described the repeated rape of a 42-year-old woman, which Israeli soldiers photographed and said would be released if “she did not cooperate with Israeli intelligence.”

Yet abuse, Kristof reported, went beyond — way beyond — rape.

“Many reported that they often had their genitals yanked or were beaten on the testicles. Hand-held metal detectors were used to probe between men’s naked legs and then smashed into their private parts; some men had to have their testicles amputated by doctors after beatings, according to the Euro-Med monitor,” Kristof reported.

A farmer told Kristof that Israeli guards raped him three times with a metal baton. He invited the third assault by asking for a pen and paper to write a complaint. 

Keep reading