Texas Psychologist Barred from Death Row Evaluations for sending Mentally retarted people

A psychologist used as a key government witness in death row cases in Texas has reached a settlementn barring him from performing future evaluations. George Denkowski agreed to the deal after his methods came under challenge. Denkowski has been accused of helping prosecutors unfairly send mentally retarded prisoners to death row. Defense attorneys are planning to seek appeals court reviews of at least 14 death row cases that relied on Denkowski’s testimony. But the settlement says that it cannot be used as evidence in cases that are retried.

Troy Davis, suspected to be innocent, is about to be killed by the state of Georgia

Texas Refuses to Compensate Exonerated Death Row Prisoner

The Texas Comptroller’s Office is refusing to pay out compensation to a former death row prisoner who spent 18 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Anthony Graves was denied the $1.4 million in compensation because the word "innocent" did not appear in paperwork submitted on his behalf.

ACLU Observer Alleges Beating at L.A. Prison

In California, the American Civil Liberties Union is accusing Los Angeles prison guards of severely beating a defenseless prisoner. ACLU jail monitor Esther Lim says she witnessed two deputies at the Twin Towers jail kicking, punching and tasering prisoner James Parker as he lay unconscious for at least two minutes. Lim says the deputies repeated the commands, "stop resisting" and "stop fighting," as though they were reading from a script. Parker has been charged with felony counts of battery and resisting an officer in connection with the incident

Georgia Prison Strike: Prisoner Advocate Elaine Brown on Georgia Prison Strike: “Repression Breeds Resistance”

And I remain that person. So it isn’t complicated to draw the line from that struggle to the struggle of the most oppressed group in America: the prisoner class. The prisoners in this country, as you know, make up the largest prisoner group in the world. America confines more people than any single country at a higher rate and a higher—and the largest number. Fifty percent of those prisoners, or nearly 50 percent of them, are black men. And so, we have to ask the question, how did that come to be? Either the black men are the only people—when we consider that we black people make up approximately 12 to 13 percent of the overall population and yet almost 50 percent of the prison population, we have to ask the question, is this the result of some genetic flaw in black people? Are we obviously some sort of criminally minded? Or is there something wrong in the scheme of things? Obviously, the latter is what I would say. And so, I’ve committed myself to bringing people out of prison.

Lockdown Ends in Georgia Prison Strike

In Georgia, thousands of prisoners taking part in a strike against poor living and working conditions in at least seven prisons reportedly came out of their cells on Thursday after a week-long action. The nonviolent protest was organized through a network of banned cell phones. The prisoners are calling for better medical care and nutrition, more educational opportunities, just parole decisions, an end to cruel and unusual punishments, better access to their families, and payment for the work they do in the prisons. There have been reports some strike leaders have temporarily called off the strike to negotiate with prison officials while other prisoners are continuing their strike.

No only is legislation not for the public, its not even made by them. -- Prison corporations and immigration law

Report: Prison Industry Helped Draft Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law

A new investigation has found the private prison industry played a key role in the drafting and passage of Arizona’s notorious anti-immigrant law. According to National Public Radio, the bill was formulated at a Washington, DC meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, last December. The group brings together state legislators and major corporations, including the nation’s largest private prison firm, the Correction Corporation of America, CCA. Attendees helped write the bill, gave it a name, and then voted to approve it. The bill’s eventual sponsor, Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, then brought it back to his home state. The ensuing months saw a frenzy of lobbying to enact the bill. According to NPR, thirty of the measure’s thirty-six co-sponsors received campaign donations from lobbyists working for CCA and two other major private prison companies. In an internal document last year, the CCA predicted that contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement would bring in "a significant portion of our revenues."

Poll: Latinos See Widespread Discrimination

A new poll shows nearly two-thirds of Latinos in the United States think they experience discrimination fueled by anti-immigrant sentiment. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, the number jumps to 70 percent for Latinos born abroad. Half of respondents say the US has become less welcoming to immigrants in the last five years, and over half say they’re worried they or their family members could be deported.

Homeless Man Jailed for Stealing Food Freed After 13 Years

And a California man has been freed from prison after serving thirteen years following his arrest for trying to forcibly enter a church soup kitchen because he was hungry. Gregory Taylor had been sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison under the state’s controversial three-strikes law. At the time of his last arrest, he was homeless and suffering from drug addiction. Taylor’s release came in part due to efforts by students working on the Three Strikes Project at the Criminal Defense Clinic at Stanford Law School. Taylor says he plans to work for a food pantry run by his brother.

Sugar Water

Prison and Gardens

Michigan prison inmates finishing their sentences at the Gateway
halfway house on East Jefferson Avenue at Lillibridge Street have
created a small but vibrant example of an inner-city garden. Using a
vacant lot and recycled debris from a demolished house nearby, the
inmates are growing corn, tomatoes, peppers, watermelons, lettuce and
squash.
The men give away the fruits and vegetables to needy people and
appreciate purposeful work to fill their final days of incarceration.
For James (Bear) Fuller, 51, who spent 34 years in prison for
homicide, the garden is a metaphor for the changes he and other
prisoners have tried to make in themselves.
“I look at vegetables and fruits like people,” Fuller said last week.
“They need to be nurtured, tended to. A garden needs to be weeded just
like a person’s spirit.”

To read full article from the Detroit Free Press click here

Warning Issued to Top Texan Appeals Court Judge

The presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has been given a public warning for misconduct in a closely watched case. Sharon Keller has faced scrutiny after refusing to hear a last-minute appeal from a death row prisoner scheduled to be executed that night. Keller reportedly denied an appeal from the lawyers for Michael Wayne Richard at 5:20 pm on September 25th, 2007, saying, quote, “We close at five.” Richard had been on death row for two decades. He was killed later that night by lethal injection. In its warning, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct said Keller had "cast public discredit on the judiciary."