- Dallas DA Susan Hawk is back on the job and under the spotlight after a rough couple of months
- Even though incarceration rates in the U.K. are markedly lower than here, British Justice Secretary Michael Gove reportedly was inspired to pursue a series of justice reforms after visiting a Texas prison. One of those includes letting prisoners out early for diligent participation in work, educational and treatment programs, a measure which Texas this year enacted for state jail felony prisoners.
- Good idea, somewhat weird execution on the Nueces Sheriff's plan to let jail inmates have access to tablet computers in order to fill up their free time. He's partnering with a company that provides prison phone service and wants to charge them by the minute.
- Read Murray Newman on Snitches, the Feds, and Prosecutorial Misconduct.
- See too-nostalgic look at the Walls, Texas' first prison unit in Huntsville, on the event of the 166th anniversary of its opening.
- It's increasingly becoming possible Texas will not see any new death sentences in 2015 for the first time since the death penalty was last reinstated. That said, the number prisoners serving Life Without Parole - a sentencing category which didn't even exist a decade ago in Texas - is becoming significant. Grits compiled these data* from TDCJ Annual Statistical Reports (available here):
Prisoners in TDCJ Sentenced to Life Without Parole
2014: 683
2013: 581
2012: 485
2011: 382
2010: 290
2009: 203
2008: 121
2007: 49
2006: 4
2014: 683
2013: 581
2012: 485
2011: 382
2010: 290
2009: 203
2008: 121
2007: 49
2006: 4
*Total at the end of each fiscal year, 2015 not yet posted
There are other US states that permit their state inmates (not jail) to have/purchase tablets, MP4 players, buy music, etc without the state succumbing to total chaos and an increased crime or recidivism rate. Those states also permit their inmates to make international phone calls, and some even allow visits during the week *gasp*.
ReplyDeleteJust because an unpopular ex Minister of Education in the UK wants to use Texas as a model for the UK's much smaller and geographically more urban prison population, doesn't mean there isn't more Texas can do to drag itself into the 21st century.
LWOP: You can't call it "exponential" but those LWOP numbers seem really big and there is no reason not to expect their continued growth. Smarter people than I will have to handle this.
ReplyDeletePrison Doc
Yes, Doc, while they might not be smarter than you by any means, at some point the taxpayers will have to wake the hell up and take a close look at exactly what they are knowingly & willingly funding. When taxes, fees or dues are paid by the public at large to accomplish a goal that is considered wrong when their are alternatives, the public at large is guilty as charged. Until the mass awakening occurs, it's a free-for-all.
ReplyDeleteThe only two times criminals should be sentenced to LWOP is when they allegedly KILL or allegedly RAPE. When it's discovered that one didn't KILL or RAPE, he/she can be released with large amounts of taxpayer funds for life.
Speaking about taxpayers responsibilities - Increasing the bribery to go away to One Million Dollars per year vs. the current bribery payout plan, would put an abrupt end to any & all false arrest and junk/fake jury trials.
a jury in your favorite county will hand down a death sentence this week. State v. James Calvert
ReplyDelete@Rex, perhaps not my favorite county, but as the Austin Lounge Lizards sang, it's that "Godforsaken Hellhole I Call Home." (I'm still partial to Hank Card's version.)
ReplyDelete@PrisonDoc, I agree with you, they're going up fast. Though I realize I'm in the minority, and there are people I respect who disagree with me vehemently over it, I never thought that 2005 deal eliminating capital life for LWOP was a good one, and this is precisely why.