Control of Prisons Going to Private Companies

A proposed contract in Virginia between the state and the nation's second-largest private prison operator, GEO Group and a company managing mental health institutes, Liberty Healthcare Corp., would give these private companies authority over convicted sex offenders enrolled in a controversial program known as "civil commitment". The state designates some inmates as sexually violent predators, that label gives the state the right to hold inmates indefinitely while administering mental health treatment. Virginia has advanced deliberations on this contract without official public input or legislative hearings even though both GEO Group and Liberty Healthcare Corp. have had incidents managing a similar facility in Florida. It should be noted according to state records that GEO Group was one of the largest single contributors to Republican Bob McDonnell. The GEO Group has also made smaller contributions to Virginia legislative leaders. In the past two years, a subsidiary, GEO Care has spent more than $13,000 on lobbying related to the sex offender facility. The intriguing part about the contract is the fact that these institutes will be able to profit by being the agencies that determin whether these inmates have been reformed or not. In other words they will be able to decide to keep people incarcerated indefinitely to keep the prison full.

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Judge Abuses Authority

In order to have a fair judicial system, judges need to be impartial  and provide an equal setting for both the prosecutors and defense attorneys. Unfortunately that is not always the case. A judge in Alameda County, California was publicly admonished for "abuse of contempt of power and authority". It was the second time an abuse of authority complaint has been filed against him.

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Supreme Court Rules Fair Sentencing Act Is Retroactive

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Fair Sentencing Act is retroactive. Brad R. Schlesinger for IVN.com (Unfiltered Policitcal News) writes, "The issue presented was whether the Fair Sentencing Act’s (the “FSA”) new, lower mandatory minimums apply to defendants whose crack offenses were committed prior to the passing of the FSA, but sentenced after the law passed. In a victory for criminal justice and sentencing reform, the Court sided 5-4 with the defendants, overturning the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and holding that the FSA does in fact apply to such defendants sentenced post-FSA for pre-FSA crimes. Writing the majority opinion for the Court was Justice Breyer, joined by Sotomayor, Kagan, Ginsburg, and Kennedy; while Scalia, Roberts, Alito, and Thomas dissented."

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Justice Department to Review Use of Forensic Evidence in Thousands of Cases

The U.S. Justice Department has decided to review the use of forensics in thousands of cases because of flawed work that has been done by FBI laboratories since 1985.  Although the Justice Department has known about these problems for years, they only released those findings to the prosecutors. One man was executed because of this flawed work.

For more information, please read David Greenwald's story on Vanguard Court Watch of Yolo County. 

Man Released After Serving 20 Years - Prosecutors Acknowledge Erroneous FBI Forensics

Kirk Odom served 20 years in prison for a rape he never committed. He was released in 2003 after serving his sentence and nine years later, on July 10, 2012, prosecutors acknowledge that he was in fact innocent and convicted based on erroneous  FBI forensics.

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Our Overcrowded Prisons

The April 22, 2012 CBS story titled The Cost of a Nation of Incarceration shows the conditions of overcrowding in this countries’ prisons. In California the overcrowding was so extensive the U.S. Supreme Court labeled it “cruel and unusual punishment”. One wonders how this can happen when the crime rate has dropped over 40% during the last 20 years.

To read or listen to the story click here.

Many More Exonerations and False Convictions than Previously Found, But Only “the Tip of the Iceberg”

There have been over 2000 exonerations of wrongful convictions in the past 23 years and that number is growing every year.  The problems with these wrongful convictions can be false identification, false confessions, and perjury by witnesses.  This article by David Greenwald of the Vanguard Court Watch of Yolo County cites data from the National Registry of Exonerations to explain why wrongful convictions have occurred.  Click here to read the full article.

National Uniform Disclosure Standards

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a bi-partisan bill to help standardize disclosure laws throughout the country. Right now there are 96 different policies when it comes to this vital issue. In her bill, S 2197 federal prosecutors would have to make early disclosure of favorable evidence regardless of whether the evidence is seen as material to the case. Judges would have a broad range of remedies of enforcement, including postponing or adjourning the proceedings, excluding or limiting testimony or evidence, ordering a new trial, or dismissing the case with or without prejudice. Unfortunately this bill may not pass without your support. Contact your senator and ask them to help pass this bill.

Click here to read the bill.