By now you may know the story – Kalief Browder has become the primary example of the justice system’s punitive and unjust treatment of Blacks, especially Black males. At 16, Bronx native Browder was arrested on suspicion of stealing a backpack. He spent the next three years of his life in New York’s notorious Riker’s […]
A lawyer friend posed this thorny question yesterday: “How many Black men have been falsely accused of rape and spent half their lives in prison for crimes they didn’t commit?” I couldn’t answer his question with a hard number. I didn’t know. My friend really didn’t want a definitive response; his mind was already made […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a decade ago, a judge bemoaned that the life sentence she was about to impose on Charles C. Brown was overly harsh. This week, relief finally came to Brown, along with 57 other offenders. President Barack Obama on Thursday commuted their prison terms as part of a broader push to […]
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A woman who taught English classes at a Southern California jail was arrested Thursday on suspicion of helping three inmates — including an alleged killer — escape the lockup, and the men are believed to be riding around in a stolen van. Nooshafarin Ravaghi, 44, of Lake Forest, was arrested […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of federal inmates serving sentences for drug crimes are set for early release next month under a cost-cutting measure intended to reduce the nation’s prison population. The more than 5,500 inmates set to go free in November are among the first of what could eventually be tens of thousands eligible for […]
Are they parents in extreme denial or just showing their faith through unconditional love? That is the question many have of Yvonne and Zachery Ervin,…
Are they parents in extreme denial or just showing their faith through unconditional love? That is the question many have of Yvonne and Zachery Ervin, who made the national news in a way they could have never expected – as the victims of an attempted murder plot masterminded and almost carried out by their two […]
EL RENO, Okla. (AP) — Federal inmates at an Oklahoma prison said Wednesday they are hoping a documentary featuring President Barack Obama’s July visit to the facility and in-depth interviews with six of the prisoners will influence policymakers to re-examine harsh sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. About 50 inmates gathered inside the chapel of the […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California corrections officials said Thursday that they are handing out earplugs and telling guards to walk softly around some of the state’s most dangerous prisoners after the inmates complained about noise. The inmates say new welfare checks at Pelican Bay State Prison’s notorious security housing unit are keeping them up nights […]
When two Palestinian-American brothers were murdered in cold blood in a Florida gas station, surveillance cameras caught the shooting on tape. Police released the footage to the public hoping someone would help them find the killer, ID’s as Devin Chandler. But police in Palmetto, Florida were probably surprised when confirmation that Chandler was involved would […]
Jamie and Gladys Scott – the “Scott Sisters” – were incarcerated in Mississippi for 16 years for an armed robbery which, according to court testimony, yielded $11. They have consistently denied involvement in the crime, and although neither sister had a prior criminal record, they were each sentenced to serve double life. On December 29, […]
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland moved the last inmates out of the dangerously decrepit men’s section of the Baltimore City Detention Center on Tuesday, state officials said, completing the closure of the notorious facility. The jail pre-dates modern penal facility standards, with some of its walls dating to the 19th century. It has been known […]
