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Helping accused killers look good in court

By ERIC D. LAWRENCE and CHRISTINA HALL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Nov 7, 2010

Defense attorney Joseph Kosmala knows how to shop for cheap threads. 

But the clothes aren't to make him look good in court -- he buys them so that his clients will.

"I'm getting really good at it," he said of bargain finds at Clinton Township resale shops for his court-appointed clients, including convicted murderer Ihab Maslamani. "For $40, he's pretty well-dressed."

The dress clothes for inmates like Maslamani, who had no money or family, provide a jailed, indigent defendant with civilian garb suitable for trial.

There is "a very negative impact to see someone coming in Macomb County blues," Kosmala said.

He isn't the only attorney turned personal shopper. Metro Detroit defense attorneys and judges said they often step in when criminal defendants are destitute and don't have appropriate clothes for trial.

"Every other attorney I know either does this or has done this," said Detroit attorney Margaret Sind Raben, past president of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan. "We don't particularly like paying for this out of our own money, but what's the alternative? The alternative is for us to force our client to go to his trial in jail clothing," which she said generally is not permitted by court rules.

Legal experts, such as Robert Homant, professor of criminal justice studies at the University of Detroit Mercy, said if a defendant was to appear before a jury in jail garb, he or she would be at a severe disadvantage.

The ideal espoused by the justice system might be the presumption of innocence, but the public has the presumption of guilt when it comes to criminal defendants, said James Samuels,an attorney in Big Rapids and president of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan.

And seeing a defendant in jail garb reinforces that assumption, he said.

"Impressions mean a lot," Samuels said. "We'd like to think justice is blind, but we're all realistic human beings and know that's not always the case."

Barbara Durecki, 55, of Warren was a juror in Maslamani's trial for the murder of Matthew Landry. She said she expected to see the 18-year-old Flint man in a jail jumpsuit and was surprised to see the accused killer wearing dress clothes.

"If I saw handcuffs and a jumpsuit from the jail, I'd think it's a scarier sight," she said. "I think the attorneys try to make the jury feel comfortable."

Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny keeps several shirts, sweaters and pairs of pants on hand, which he gives to defendants "maybe once or twice a year... and I don't think that I'm necessarily out of the norm."

"Ultimately, it's our responsibility in the court that the defendant is dressed in civilian clothes," said Kenny, presiding judge of the court's criminal division.

Macomb County Circuit Chief Judge Mark Switalski keeps six of his old cleaned and pressed shirts in his chambers for defendants who come from the jail without a change of clothes.

"They may not fit great, but they're very suitable for clothes," he said. "You certainly can't come in there in a jail outfit. For trial, you don't want the jury to be prejudiced by seeing (the defendant) in jail clothes and chains or any of that business."

Switalski said that he commends lawyers who buy clothes for their clients, who may not even know that their attorney paid for them.

"That's important for the defendants. A lot of them don't have anything," he said.

The Oakland County Jail keeps a small amount of men's and women's clothing at the lockup and in a detention office at Oakland County Circuit Court, Oakland County Sheriff's Capt. Charles Snarey said.

Snarey said inmates usually wear jail flip-flops or slip-on shoes, though dress shoes can be worn if the proper size is available.

The Macomb County Jail does not keep trial-suitable clothing, but authorities try to accommodate inmate requests by contacting the jail's chaplain program, Macomb County Undersheriff Kent Lagerquist said.

Inmates in court for plea hearings or sentencings, such as Maslamani on Thursday, wear jail jumpers.

"There's more of a chance possible escape could happen, so we want them to be in jail clothing," Snarey said.

For many female inmates, clothing is just one facet of appearance at trial. Hair and makeup are another.

Female inmates are not allowed hair styling tools or cosmetics. So the women get inventive and use tampons as curlers. Kool-Aid with water becomes blush and lead from pencils is used as eye shadow and eye liner.

"They are very resourceful individuals," Lagerquist said.

Samuels, who maintains a closet with jackets and ties for clients in need, said it is unlikely courts would fund a clothing allowance for a defendant, in part because of tight budgets.

Raben keeps two large storage bins with dress shirts, pants and ties -- clothes from adult sons who left them when they moved. When she buys clothes, she picks neutral colors.

"We live in a world where appearance counts," she said. "There's a reason attorneys wear suits to court." 

Mr. Pancake inmate wins early release

'You're just one generous soul, aren't you?'

CINCINNATI (AP) - A judge has granted early release to an inmate who was fired from a jail's kitchen for handing out too many pancakes — earning himself the nickname Mr. Pancake.

Heriberto Rodriquez was fired while serving a 180-day term for stealing money from a concession stand at the Cincinnati Reds' ballpark. The kitchen job allowed Rodriquez, 44, to get three days credit for each day in jail, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

Authorities said Rodriquez was supposed to give inmates two pancakes each but sometimes gave them four, an act the newspaper said helped the judge decide to take pity on him and grant the early release.

"Mr. Rodriquez, you're just one generous soul, aren't you?" Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh said in court Wednesday before granting his request to be released after 73 days.

The judge had sentenced Rodriquez after he pleaded guilty to theft Aug. 24. Rodriquez, of Cincinnati, stole a money bag containing $3,000 from a concession stand at the Great American Ball Park after a Reds game and was caught on his way out.

With a grin, the judge told Rodriquez on Wednesday that he could go home.

"Get your big box of Aunt Jemima and eat all you want, Mr. Pancake," she said.

Each pancake served at the jail costs 6 cents, sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett said, meaning Rodriquez cost taxpayers 12 cents each time he gave an inmate four pancakes instead of two.

"He just didn't do what he was supposed to do," Barnett said.

Rodriquez, who was fired from the kitchen job Sept. 23, told the judge Wednesday that his shift started at 10 p.m. to help get the food ready for breakfast the next morning. He said when he was doubling up on pancake servings he didn't think he would be "jeopardizing my job."

GED program offers alternative to crime

Inmates with education less likely to return to jail

November 7, 2010
Donna Fielder / Staff Writer
DentonRC.com 

The Jail door opens and the car burglar walks out a free man.

It’s likely he has no money, no job and no skills of interest to an employer.

Pretty soon, he’s roaming parking lots again, looking for a car with a handbag “hidden” on the floorboard or a GPS unit in plain sight. One thing he knows how to do is break into a car. So he does.

Because he has very little choice, he’s back to crime. And soon, he’s back in jail.

It’s a cycle fueled by lack of education and poor critical thinking skills. It’s a cycle that Sandi Brackeen, inmate programs director at the Denton County Jail, hopes to break.

Brackeen worked for more than a year to reinstate a defunct education program at the jail aimed at helping inmates earn a GED. In October, her first class of four all passed the test.

She is working with about 150 people who are at various stages of literacy moving continuously toward that goal. Some can’t read or write at all. Some must learn English before they can begin studying history and math.

 

 

 

Sometimes it’s possible to form a small group of people learning at the same level. Often, she and a group of volunteers work one-on-one with inmates. She is looking for people who would like to help with the program.

It isn’t just important, she said, it’s key to helping inmates break the cycle of recidivism, in which they relapse into a life of crime.

“Recidivism rates are outrageous for those without education,” Brackeen said. “Generally, the recidivism rate is 60 percent. With a high school diploma or GED, it drops to 24 percent.”

She retired after 20 years of teaching and still teaches part time at a community college. Six years ago she began working at the jail, and a couple of years ago she made a presentation to Assistant Chief Deputy Roy Davenport, who supervises the jail, about developing the education program. He agreed.

Brackeen said that while it took 50 years for the federal and state jail populations to double between 1930 and 1980, it took only 12 years after that for them to triple. Jail and prison rates continue to grow at an alarming rate, she said, and the majority of people incarcerated are behind bars for nonviolent offenses.

“If we can stop the revolving door of incarceration at the county level, we can reduce the population of Texas prisons, without having the crime rate increase, by giving people options other than crime as a way to live and support themselves and their families,” Brackeen said. “We can also help people learn critical thinking skills that will allow them to make more productive lifestyle choices.”

Lack of education — and the inability to find and keep a job — has an impact not only on the inmate population as criminals continue to cycle through the jail, but also on the community as the crime rate continues to climb, she said. It costs taxpayers to house and feed the jail population. And it costs individuals when prisoners serve their time and are released to rob and steal again.

Inmates begin by taking a test to assess their level of knowledge so education workers will know where to start with them. Inmates study from education packets, with periodic tests to see how far they’ve come. They must take a preliminary test before sitting for the GED, which is given by an outside agency that comes in once a month to administer the tests.

It’s boring in jail, Brackeen says. Sometimes inmates get involved in the program simply to have something to do.

“But the reason they started doesn’t really matter once they get into it,” she said. “They want it. They seem to care. They seem to want something different for their lives. If we can keep some of them from coming back, we’ve accomplished our goal.”

 

 

 

 

 

Man released from Jail arrested again within hours of being let go

November 6, 2010
Tavia D. Green 
THE LEAF-CHRONICLE

A man released from jail after police charged him with robbing a 79-year-old woman allegedly robbed an 84-year-old woman less than 12 hours after his release, police said. 

According to a news release from Clarksville Police spokesman Officer Jim Knoll, the 79-year-old woman pulled into her driveway Monday at her Hillwood Drive home. When she opened her car door an unknown man — later identified as Frank Sumner — allegedly snatched her purse from her arms, knocked her to the ground and ran away.

The 79-year-old woman was taken to the emergency room and treated for minor injuries, the release said.

Sumner, 37, was arrested Wednesday and charged with robbery. He was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on a $25,000 bond.

On Thursday, he was released on his own recognizance and found himself in jail less than 12 hours later, charged with robbing another elderly woman.

According to police, Sumner has been arrested more than 50 times. His extensive criminal history includes several aggravated domestic assaults, burglary, theft, vandalism, vehicle burglary and drug-related offenses since 2000. Sumner also served six years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections following a conviction for cocaine possession in 2001.

In October, Sumner was charged with aggravated domestic assault, unlawful drug paraphernalia and illegal possession of weapons. He was out on a $1,000 bond at the time of his first arrest.

So why was Sumner released from jail with such an extensive history and two pending cases?

Deputy Ted Denny, spokesman for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, said the jail medical staff filed a request for Judge Raymond Grimes to release Sumner so he could seek care for a medical condition.

Authorities can't disclose Sumner's medical condition because of privacy laws, Denny said.

Captain Douglas Tackett said in a previous article that the jail is responsible for paying for the medical expenses of inmates if the treatment is required and the inmate is in the jail's custody. The cost of inmates' care is paid for by taxpayers and included in the jail's budget.

Tackett referred all questions to Denny.

Second arrest

Sumner was released from jail Wednesday to obtain medical care, but he ended up back in jail a short time later.

At 9:10 p.m. Thursday, an 84-year-old woman was leaving work at a Madison Street business. When she approached her car, another vehicle pulled up beside her. A man, later identified as Sumner, allegedly jumped out of the vehicle and grabbed the 84-year-old woman's purse, the release said.

The woman was knocked to the ground and sustained a broken shoulder and laceration above her eye, the release said.

Sumner, who gave a 724 Clayton Drive address, was arrested a short time later and charged with aggravated robbery. Judge Grimes added $250,000 to Sumner's $25,000 bond from the first case when he appeared for arraignment on Friday. Sumner's total bond is $300,000.

Paper cup theft gets man 10 days in jail

by KGW.com Staff
Posted on November 5, 2010

It will cost Cowlitz County about $2,600 to jail a man who stole a paper cup from a Safeway store he was forbidden to enter. Defense attorneys say the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

"There's some significant costs incurred by the system in charging and pursuing such cases," said Kevin Blondin, court-appointed defense attorney for Robert Patrick Hayes, who was sentenced to 10 days in jail Tuesday.

"We are not Mercer Island. We are a blue-collar county. We are broke," attorney Sam Wardle, a frequent critic of prosecution charging practices, said Thursday. "The money spent on that case could have bought a lot of gas for cop cars to go out and catch some really bad people."

"I understand the defense attorneys scoff at charges," countered Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Shaffer. "But what we hear from businesses is they appreciate that the police take these cases seriously and that we follow through with prosecution of these cases seriously."

Blondin said Hayes, 27, of Longview was banned from the 15th Avenue Safeway in February. Hayes ignored the order and entered the store Aug. 10, took a paper cup from the pop station, filled it with water and went outside, where he poured the water over himself to cool off, Blondin said.

"By going in and committing a crime, the theft of a 5-cent paper cup, that made it a burglary charge," Blondin said.

Most second-degree burglary arrests in Cowlitz County involve shoplifting from a store after being banned.

"We feel that local businesses have every right to (ban) individuals that commit crimes in their stores," said Shaffer. "When that individual comes back unlawfully in the store and commits another crime ... it's appropriate to charge as burglary."

If a business can't punish repeat criminals, "it basically means their trespass orders have no teeth."

Hayes on Tuesday agreed to plead guilty to a lesser felony he didn't commit — first-degree criminal impersonation — to avoid being convicted of the greater charge. His sentencing range for second-degree burglary was nine to 12 months in jail, Blondin said.

"We negotiated it down to 10 days just to resolve the case," Blondin said.

Hayes' actual time in jail related to the Safeway incident, however, adds up to 39 days, which includes time he was locked up while the case was pending. The cost of incarcerating him, at the average cost of $66.83 a day, will be about $2,600. With attorney fees and booking costs counted, the total cost of handling his case will be about $3,400. It's not certain how much of the $1,600 in court-ordered fees Hayes will be able to pay.

According to jail records, Hayes has been in the county jail 24 times since 2008, mostly on Department of Corrections violations. His criminal history includes two felony drug convictions and several crimes in Columbia County.

Maricopa County Sheriff's M.A.S.H. Unit

Jail Inmates Care For Abused And Abandoned Pets

Once again....no one is immune from visiting the Jail Sergeant! 

Brevard inmate: Jailhouse movies 'torture'

BY JOHN A. TORRES • FLORIDA TODAY • November 15, 2010

Inmates in a state prison or county jail often write letters to the media insisting on their innocence, claiming they have been wronged by authorities and lawyers or abused while incarcerated.

But James Poulin, jailed almost four years awaiting trial for driving-under-the-influence manslaughter, complains of "torture" at the Brevard County Detention Center: He says inmates are forced to watch the same movies over and over and it is taking a toll.

Poulin, 45, blames Sheriff Jack Parker.

"Parker gathered up a bunch of old (movies) he had laying around and played them over and over for the next year," Poulin wrote to FLORIDA TODAY. "I have seen 'Black Hawk Down,' 'Pearl Harbor,' 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Battle Front' hundreds of times each, sometimes two or three times a day. . . .

"Like the old Chinese water torture, the inescapable sounds of these movies over and over works on nerves and psyche."

The jail's administrator, Cmdr. Susan Jeter, said no inmates are forced to watch the movies.

"The jail provides a voluntary, video-programmed educational opportunity for the inmates, she said. "This program is available in the dayroom area. . . . They can go to their cells and read a book if they so choose."

Jeter said showing movies -- instead of network or cable-television programming -- has resulted in "fewer aggression issues."

Poulin, however, said many of the films are violent and damaging psychologically.

Part of the issue is the length of time Poulin has been in the jail. The average stay is 25 days, and he has spent almost 1,400 days.

Poulin was arrested by Palm Bay police in January 2007 for allegedly driving and crashing his car while intoxicated, an accident that killed his female passenger.

There have been 14 motions for continuances in his case and six federal lawsuits against the jail, all of which have been dismissed.

The sheriff said Poulin's manslaughter case should have been resolved.

"Defending frivolous lawsuits such as those alleged by this inmate are not only expensive, but are a distraction to those trying to operate a safe and orderly facility," Parker said. "This serves as just one more example that there needs to be stronger consequences to those who waste the court's time and the precious resources of the taxpayer.

"Sadly, these wasteful expenses have resulted from an inmate whose case should have been dealt with long ago."

No more TV

Poulin said the "torture" began when the jail did not switch over from analog to digital television, limiting the viewing options.

Jeter said the initial move away from network television had to do with the cost of going digital.

"This would require the purchase of new TVs that receive the digital signal and cable to have a signal brought in to view it, both expensive to maintain," she said. "Keep in mind TV is not a requirement to have for the inmates, and more and more jails are going to a programmed educational format."

The movies, Jeter said, generally fit a theme. For example, after a talk by retired U.S. Army Col. Danny McKnight, the jail showed "Black Hawk Down," which dramatized McKnight's real-life heroics.

"We try to include inspirational, educational and motivational information," she said, giving other examples: "Job Interviews Simplified," "Hepatitis," "Mount Rushmore," "Planet Earth" and "Heart of Africa."

Trial delayed

While Poulin claims "torture," Palm Bay Police Maj. John Blackledge said Poulin is the one causing pain to others. He said the victims in Poulin's lawsuits and continuances are the family of the woman who died, including her child.

"He's dragging out continuances, hoping witnesses grow weary, they move away, police retire," he said. "Defense strategy appears to drag cases out as long as possible so justice is undone."

Assistant Public Defender Randy Moore, whose office represents Poulin, said the continuances are a strategy.

"It's called trial preparation," he said, adding that Poulin represented himself for a period of time and filed several continuances on his own.

Wrongly Convicted
and
In Prison for Life

Melissa's case is a horrendous and nightmarish example of how the judicial system goes wrong without remedy for correction.

Melissa has been incarcerated in Michigan since 1987 for protecting

her life and that of her family, was never allowed to present evidence of

Battered Women’s Syndrome at her trial.

www.melissachapman.com
Click here

Breaking Into Jail

Harry Jackson on a Cigarette Run

 By Buck Wolf, About.com Guide

About the Writ of Habeas Corpus

What is a Writ of Habeas Corpus?

A writ of habeas corpus is a judicially enforceable order issued by a court of law to a prison official ordering that a prisoner be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that prisoner had been lawfully imprisoned and, if not, whether he or she should be released from custody. A habeas corpus petition is a petition filed with a court by a person who objects to his own or another's detention or imprisonment. The petition must show that the court ordering the detention or imprisonment made a legal or factual error. The right of habeas corpus is the constitutionally bestowed right of a person to present evidence before a court that he or she has been wrongly imprisoned.

Inmate dives head-first off Jail’s upper level

Salemnews.net
November 17, 2010

LISBON, Ohio - A county jail inmate underwent emergency surgery Tuesday for head injuries sustained after he dove from the second floor of the cell block to the concrete floor below.

The inmate taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown was identified as Ronald E. Davie, 28, Chippewa Trail, Negley, according to county Sheriff Ray Stone.

The sheriff's office was notified of the incident at 7:59 a.m. Stone said Davie, in jail on a domestic violence charge, had just been let out of his cell in the lock-down section, where he had been placed the week before after being maced by corrections officers because he had given them problems. While in lock-down, Davie was entitled to one hour of freedom per day, where he was allowed to walk about within the controlled area of the cell block and use a recreational room.

Two other inmates were also in the common area at the same time. Stone said the inmates saw Davie run up the stairs to the second level of the cell block, climb on top of the railing and jump, but not before saying goodbye. He landed head-first on the concrete floor.

The corrections officer was in another area of the cell block at the time.

"The witnesses said he just ran up the stairs and jumped," Stone said. "There was nothing anyone could do about it."

Davie was taken by ambulance to the field across County Home Road from the county jail, where he was transported by helicopter to St. Elizabeth Hospital.

Stone said Davie had a history of mental health issues and was on medication at the time. He said the jail nurse had just spoken with Davie while administering him some medication before the jump, "and he seemed fine."

The inmates said Davie had been quiet since being placed in lock-down but he didn't say anything that would indicate he was planning to do this.

As mentioned above, Davie was in jail on a domestic violence charge from 2009, when he reportedly punched his mother in the face and head while at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Calcutta. The charge was a felony because Davie had two other prior domestic violence complaints, and court records show relatives had sought protection orders against him in the past.

This is the second incident at the county jail in the past six weeks. On Oct. 9, inmate Amy Fortune, 35, of Minerva, died while in custody. The county coroner's office has yet to issue an official cause of her death but it is believed to be the result of a medical problem and not foul play.

Jail: Inmates Scam IRS For $100,000

WJXT-TV
11/18/2010

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  — Police said nearly 20 inmates locked up in the Duval County jail have been collecting thousands of dollars in tax refunds by filing false tax returns and having the IRS checks deposited into their jail accounts, Channel 4 has learned.

About $100,000 in falsified refunds are involved, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. 

"Say you would have an inmate that was incarcerated for two years awaiting trial. You know he has not worked in the previous year, and all of the sudden he gets a refund. That would be ridiculous," Wildes said.

This scam is not limited to Duval County. The same thing has happened in south Florida, where jail officials said they found tax forms, stolen Social Security numbers and cheat sheets for filling out returns. A prosecutor there said have recorded telephone conversations from inmates talking about the scam, one saying he's done with street crime "because Uncle Sam is taking good care of him."

Wildes said she was not surprised the inmates were scamming the system while behind bars.

"They are inmates and that is what they do, they commit crimes," she said.

Associated Press

PUNTA GORDA, FL (AP) - Jail officials have found pot, pills and tobacco in an inmate's rectum.

A Charlotte County Sheriff's corrections officer became suspicious when he saw 22-year-old Salvatore James Zambuto walking awkwardly Wednesday and then ask to use the restroom. Authorities followed Zambuto and found him on the bathroom floor with latex glove bags filled with pot, pills and tobacco.

Zambuto was arrested earlier Wednesday on two outstanding warrants. A detective coincidentally spotted him slouching down in the passenger seat of a car and pulled the vehicle over. The detective found pills and syringes in the car.

Zambuto was charged with introduction of contraband into a corrections facility and several drug possession charges. He is being held without bond.

Sergeant Sandvig believes this particular inmate was a "pain in the ass"!

We are a grassroots organization that exists for one purpose - to send free books to prisoners. We've been doing it since 1972.

Books are crucial to the political, spiritual and educational development of all people.  Education is a powerful tool that greatly reduces the chances of inmates returning to the prison system after their release. Prison educational programs have been drastically cut and most prisoners cannot afford to buy their own books. Most prisons do not allow family and friends to send books into prisons; they must come from a bookstore or publisher. That's where we step in to help.

Over the years we've heard from countless prisoners who are grateful to have access to books for a number of reasons. Many inmates have limited literacy skills and are thankful to receive dictionaries or reference books to improve their reading skills. Others are simply glad to have books for something to do. Some inmates have been profoundly changed by books they read in prison and want to share their insights with the world. And thousands of prisoners simply enjoy having access to comics, philosophy books, novels in foreign languages, historical texts, autobiographies, thrillers, westerns, legal handbooks, GLBT literature, cookbooks, GED study guides, religious texts, and the dozens of other reading materials the Prison Book Program sends out, free of charge.

   www.prisonbookprogram.org

Inmate facing new charges after being caught with hooch, shank

November 23, 2010
Janice Peterson
Daily Herald

A Utah County Jail inmate is facing new charges after a shakedown of his cell turned up some hooch and a shank.

A shakedown was conducted in Jorge Fernando Penaloza's cell on Nov. 8, according to a police affidavit. Deputies allegedly found an excessive amount of food and fruit in his cell, and Penaloza appeared to be intoxicated and fell off his bunk.

Penaloza was acting strange and had trouble standing, but would not admit to drinking any hooch, according to the affidavit. After handcuffing Penaloza, officers reportedly found a sock that had been used to strain the alcohol and a cup with residue in it, and both smelled of alcohol.

Officers patted Penaloza down and reportedly found a shank hidden in the long thermal sleeve of his right forearm, with the weapon pointed toward his hand for quick access. The shank was made from a full-length toothbrush that had been sharpened at the tip, wrapped in a torn bed sheet and packed with pencils to make a handle, according to the affidavit.

Penaloza would not speak to officers and was taken to the Secure Housing Unit, where he became upset and combative, according to the affidavit. Later, he reportedly became combative and noncompliant and shoved his mattress out of the cuff port of his cell. He also allegedly became verbally abusive and began punching the windows and door of his cell before he was extracted from the cell, shot with a Taser and restrained. He allegedly tried to head-butt an officer before he was moved to another cell.

The next day, Penaloza reportedly talked to officer and admitted drinking six commissary cups full of hooch because he wanted "to get tipsy," according to the affidavit. He also allegedly told police he had the shank because of his prison mentality, "just in case."

Penaloza is now facing charges of possession of an item prohibited in a correctional facility, a second-degree felony, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a class A misdemeanor.

Penaloza has several pending cases in the 4th District, including charges of assault, criminal mischief, unlawful detention, assault by prisoner, violation of a protective order and damage to jails.

Con Packed a Lot of Junk in His Trunk

Guards amazed by size of Washington inmate's rectal stash

                     (I bet he was the "Butt of all
                      Jokes".....Sergeant Sandvig)
Robb Quinn
Newser.com

A Washington state man turned his rectum into an Aladdin's Cave of contraband in preparation for a 3-day stay in prison, police say. The man managed to smuggle in a lighter, rolling papers, a baggie of tobacco, a bottle of tattoo ink, eight tattoo needles, a one-inch-long smoking pipe and a baggie of suspected marijuana, according to officials at the county jail.

Guards became suspicious after a plastic bag was found floating in the cell's toilet and the 24-year-old surrendered the contraband after questioning. "We were all wondering, ‘How do you put all that up there?’" a police spokesman told Wenatchee World. “The tobacco was pretty impressive; it was a good ounce.”    

Texas Inmate Made 70 Trips to Wal-Mart

   He dyed uniform with coffee, shopped for cigarettes  

Newser.com

A convicted burglar slipped out of prison in Texas to make a late-night run to Wal-Mart for cigarettes, then slipped back in. About 70 different times. The 19-year-old reportedly dyed his prison uniform with coffee so he wouldn't raise eyebrows at the store, reports the Austin American-Statesman. It also helped that he worked as a prison trusty in a fenceless unit.

Officials only got wise by reviewing Wal-Mart’s surveillance footage, which is apparently much better than the prison’s, and the testimony of an informant. A miffed state senator puts the latest bungle in the context of a “system that’s had cell phones on death row” and “that had a loaded pistol turn up in a maximum-security unit.” This incident “might be funny if it weren’t absurd.” Also, why does Wal-Mart have “better security cameras than our prisons?”

"It might be funny if it weren't so absurd. People shopping at a Wal-Mart shouldn't have to worry that the person standing next to them in line is supposed to be in a prison".     - State Sen. John Whitmire

Tubby Texas Con Smuggles Gun in Flab

Cops missed pistol in 3 separate
searches of 500-pound man
Newser.com

Cops missed pistol in 3 seperate searches of 500 pound man AP reports—in between his rolls of fat. Authorities had searched George Vera, 25, at least three times after initially arresting him for selling illegal copies of CDs, but never found the unloaded 9mm pistol. The 500-pound Vera, who was discovered with the gun in the shower, has been charged with possession of an illegal weapon in a correctional facility, which could get him as many as 10 years in prison.

The differences between Jails and Prisons in the US

by Todd Hicks

The United States of America holds suspects and inmates in jails and prisons. Have you been wondering what determines whether someone who enters the criminal justice system is sent to a jail or to a prison?  Do you want to learn the difference between the jail system and the prison system?  You will learn the difference between jails and prisons in the United States and the steps that are taken for incarcerating defendants.

We must begin by discussing how defendants are sentenced. Defendants who enter a plea of innocence receive a trial. Defendants who enter a plea of guilt are sent to sentencing divisions where judges issue sentences the entire day. A plea of "no contest", or Alford plea, is considered to be a plea of guilt; therefore, a defendant who uses this plea will automatically receive a sentence.

Felonies fall into four different categories. A Class A felony such as a robbery involving a weapon or an act of arson carries a penalty of ten to thirty years in prison. A Class B felony such as a rape or burglary mandates a prison sentence of five to ten years. Commit a Class C felony such as theft or fraud and you will probably receive a sentence of one to five years. The penalty for a Class D felony such as misdemeanor assault or misdemeanor animal abuse is a year or less in confinement.

Jails and prisons serve different purposes. Jails detain defendants awaiting a trial, sentencing or a transfer from one prison to another. Jails also confine defendants convicted of a misdemeanor up to a year.

Exceptions are sometimes made. If you keep up with the news, you know that some people who are convicted of a felony are lucky and are sentenced to spend a few months in jail instead of prison. About seventy-five percent of our country's jails hold less than twenty people.

Prisons detain people convicted of a felony. Minimum security prisons hold defendants who are given a sentence of one to two years. Inmates detained in minimum security prisons are allowed to walk around the facilities as much as they want.

Medium security prisons hold defendants who are given a sentence of two to five years. Inmates who do time at medium security prisons are allowed to walk around the facilities most of the day.

Maximum security prisons hold defendants who receive a sentence that will last longer than five years. Defendants who are unfortunate to spend time at maximum security prisons are restricted to their cells most of the day.

You have learned the difference between jails and prisons in the United States.

Patrick Swiney, innocent in prison, passed away on July 28, 2009 from years of medical neglect. He would have been 65 years old on October 24, 2009.  Patrick's life was intentionally shortened by deliberate forms of torture. Not only medical indifference (worse than mere neglect) but punishment that was severe and life threatening for simple things like writing an article about prison conditions in Alabama.

He was nearly killed several times but he always made it through with the help of the public who understood his case of actual innocence. This time he didn't make it.

Patrick was framed for murder, falsely imprisoned and then abused for more than 20 years for doing the right thing. Such things happen to other people on this planet. It happens a lot and it is done by governments.

Well, I don't have to worry about them doing retaliation to Patrick any more!!! They cannot hurt him any more and ergo, they cannot hurt me either. 

  www.patrickcrusade.org

Limon Prison incentives keep inmates in check

November 27, 2010
Associated Press

LIMON (AP) - Stacey Torres earned his way into one of the most dangerous prisons in Colorado with 66 rule violations for fighting, dealing drugs and defying officers -- all while already doing time.

He was facing another stint at the maximum-security Colorado State Penitentiary when he was offered a spot in a pilot program called STAR, or Security Threat Administrative Review.

The 42-year-old habitual criminal has gone write-up-free since then, while doing homework in a series of cognitive-behavior classes. Torres is just one of many gangsters, lifers and killers at Limon Correctional Facility whose demeanor is changing. Along the way, he has learned a new vocabulary.

"I have to remain humble and swallow my pride," he said.

STAR is one of the new initiatives the Colorado Department of Corrections is trying at Limon designed to curb violence throughout the system in a prison known for problems.

Other new ideas at Limon are designed to provide incentives for good behavior, including giving some inmates perks such as padded chairs, early meals, a large flat-screen TV and inmate-purchased DVDs of "Avatar," "Twilight" and "Rambo."

"In general population, trouble comes right at you," said Gregory Reed, 52, serving 40 years for robberies. "Here, things are more even-keel. There's minimal peer pressure. The stress level is lower. This is more of a safe haven."

Limon's long history of inmate violence, including two fatal stabbings in five years and the beating death of a correctional officer, made it an unlikely candidate for testing more humane behavior-modification techniques. But the proof of the programs' success is in the numbers.

In the past 14 months, the 260 inmates in the "Incentive Unit" in cellblocks 5 and 6, who constitute 27 percent of the prison's total population, committed just 26 rule violations -- 2 percent of the 1,253 violations committed by all inmates.

"We have some of the most dangerous, defiant prisoners in the prison system," said Warden Angel Medina.

Before STAR, inmates with disciplinary problems were shuffled through the system through progressively more restrictive confinement until they reached the state's maximum-security prison at Canon City.

But through classes designed to teach inmates how to better control their emotions, STAR gives them a chance to gradually earn their way back into the general population and avoid that steady slide.

At the same time, the new incentive program at Limon allows inmates in the general population to trade up through good behavior into better living conditions.

The STAR and Incentive Unit programs have won broad acceptance from prisoners and staff, Medina said.

Only prisoners who have not had a serious infraction for two years can go to the incentive cellblocks, and there is a waiting list, said Sgt. Clint Flory.

Though the incentives are modest, they make a powerful difference to inmates such Byron Cortez, 47, a habitual robber who is serving a 130-year sentence.

Cortez said he can spend twice as much time in the pod common area then general-population inmates. Incentive-block prisoners have exercise equipment in the day room, unlike in general-population pods. They have a big-screen TV and cushioned seats instead of steel chairs. They are the first inmates to line up for food and to go to the yard. They can buy a larger assortment of goods in the prison canteen.

The perks do not go unnoticed, even by the STAR inmates who might be years away from becoming eligible to watch movies on a flat screen.

Justin Martinez, 27, who has been in prison since he was 17 on aggravated-robbery convictions out of Denver, had been regressing with dozens of prison violations, moving him from lesser- to higher-security prisons. Then, faced with a choice between being locked down most of the time in Canon City or enrolling in the STAR program, he chose Limon.

He has been taking two different classes a week and is at the highest of three STAR levels, weeks from graduating and going to a transition unit before returning to the general population.

He has been following the rules, largely because of the impact his bad behavior has had on his parents.

"They see everything I've done. It's hard to see the hurt that it has caused," Martinez said. He dreams of paroling out and working in the family restaurant.

It's a whole different philosophy from the con code in prison. In his STAR classes, he does role-playing, such as how to better respond if insulted.

Sgts. Patricia Banks and Barbara Martinez and their staff have unusual powers designed specially for the STAR unit, which opened in June.

Instead of discipline by committee taking as long as 10 days to sort out, they have the authority to instantly regress inmates to lower levels with fewer privileges or require them to write a report that traces what led to bad decisions.

Of eight inmates who started the program, five graduated in September and none has regressed so far. Medina expects setbacks, but the system is designed for ups and downs. There are 48 inmates currently in STAR.

Prison counselor Roberta Walters, who has been tracking the behavior of Limon inmates for many years, has noted startling improvements in seemingly incorrigible offenders.

"I've seen a lot of changes in inmates," Walters said. "I believe in the program, and I believe they believe in the program."

The STAR and Incentive programs have promoted unusual con behavior, said program supervisor Ken Sokol. Instead of negative peer pressure, he has seen inmates coaxing peers to follow the rules.

"They keep each other in check," Sokol said.

               ksandvig@jailsergeant.com
                  

Inmate's potty protest disgusting and criminal, court rules

November 30, 2010
Andrew Wolfe

CONCORD, New Hampshire - Prison and jail inmates who defecate or urinate on the floor to spite the guards can face felony assault charges, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

Ruling in the case of a Hillsborough House of Corrections inmate Timothy Spade, the court re-instated aggravated assault indictments that Superior Court Judge Gillian Abramson had dismissed.

Spade was charged with aggravated assault for expelling feces and urine on the floor of his cell, by the door, where guards would have to clean it up.

His lawyers argued that a law prohibiting such acts, and classifying them as assault, was ambiguous, and Abramson agreed.

Justices James Duggan and Carol Ann Conboy agreed with Abramson, and dissented from the majority decision.

The state legislature had already cleared up the confusion, however, amending the law (effective Jan. 1) to make clear that throwing bodily waste or fluids at corrections staff is assault, and simply expelling it onto the floor is harassment, and both are class B felonies.

Former Inmate Speaking Out About Potter County Jail

Inmates Commit $130 Million in Tax Fraud in 2009

Prisoners Use Basic Tax Forms to Claim Phony Income or Tax Credits, Often With no Supporting Documents

December 1, 2010

(CBS)  Chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports on a group of tax cheats all too familiar with crime. They're running a multi-million dollar tax scam from behind bars.

While working in prison, inmates learn the meaning of hard time. Pay is limited to an average of just 35 cents an hour, well below what's required to file a federal tax return.

But CBS News has learned that hasn't stopped tens of thousands of prisoners from ripping off the IRS at taxpayer expense.

"You're in prison anyway," said one inmate. "What are they going to do to you?"

Prisoners like him, who asked we conceal his identity, are filing bogus tax returns from behind bars.

A scam so big, CBS News has learned, prisoners last year collected a staggering $130 million in tax refunds they didn't deserve.

"They were just filling out the forms," said the prisoner.

Using basic tax forms, available inside all prisons, state and federal inmates claim phony income or tax credits, often with no supporting documents. The refund checks they collect range from a few hundred dollars to as much as $8,000 each.

Some prisoners file multiple returns year after year.

"They'll file 10, 20 of them at a time just to see which ones do come through and which ones don't," said the prisoner.

An IRS document, obtained exclusively by CBS News, shows inmates filed nearly 45,000 bogus returns for the tax year 2009.

Florida (8,777), Georgia (7,351) and California (3,713) state prisons top the list.

The single worst offender was an Ohio facility, where nearly 30 percent of the inmates filed false returns with the IRS for 2009. But when CBS News contacted the prison, they had no idea about the problem, saying in an email, "This is not an issue."

"The IRS is processing these returns, it makes no sense," said IRS inspector general J. Russell George.

George is the treasury inspector general for tax administration. He's releasing a detailed report Thursday.

It finds 253,929 tax returns filed by prisoners for 2009 were never reviewed by the IRS - that's 88 percent.

"The IRS could have easily, in our view, identified these people and yet failed to do so," said George.

Late this afternoon, after repeated requests from CBS News, the IRS finally sent us a statement. It says in part, "…the IRS remains focused on improving our techniques to address this type of fraud. However, without Congressional action to require state and federal prisons to report on the status of inmates to the IRS, there will be gaps in the prison data and compliance problems will persist."

STRIVING TO BECOME THE
#1 INMATE MESSAGING SERVICE! 

Etowah County Jail inmates caught drinking alcohol-based hand sanitizer

The sanitizer was broken down and turned into a liquid by using regular table salt, Etowah County Sheriff’s Office Chief of Corrections Scott Hassell said.

Hassell said jailers were made aware of the method that could be used to break down the sanitizer about a year ago, but this is the first time inmates have been caught doing it.

When salt is added to the gel, it breaks down and becomes denatured ethanol, Dale Hyatt, the environmental health and safety officer at the jail, said. He said ethanol evaporates quickly, which is why it is used in the hand sanitizer. The liquid smells much like rubbing alcohol.

Hand sanitizer is not readily available to the inmates, but it is in each section of the jail after last year’s H1N1 flu scare.

Hyatt said sanitizing the jail is done often, with door knobs sanitized with germ killer every two hours. He said the hand sanitizer is in small containers and usually accessible only to the jailers.

The inmates involved in the incident had gotten a small bottle of hand sanitizer and put a small amount of salt in it, he said.

But the alcohol in the hand sanitizer is not the same as in alcoholic drinks.

The alcohol did not have the same effects as an alcoholic drink, and the inmates’ faces became very red, Kerry Dodd, a member of the Special Operations Detail, said.

The ethanol from the sanitizer metabolizes in the liver and the drink gives a sugar rush. The liquid in larger amounts can be toxic, however.

S.R.T. does not mean "Social Reception Team"

    Special Reaction Team (SRT)

A Special Reaction Team (SRT) is a specialized team or element within law enforcement/corrections units to respond to high risk situations within a Jail or Prison.

The teams are equivalents to Police SWAT teams, and receive specialized  training.

Jail Inmates Tortured with Bob Zemeckis Animation

Talk about cruel and unusual punishment! Inmates in a Florida jail are being forced to watch Robert Zemeckis's mo-cap trainwreck Polar Express over and over again. One inmate is so distressed that he’s filed a lawsuit claiming that the experience is akin to torture. “I hear those little kids screaming through my brain. All night long I can hear them,” he told CNN. “I can close my eyes, but I’m still going to hear them over and over and over.”

To be fair, the guy killed a woman driving drunk so Robert Zemeckis’s films is exactly the animation hell he deserves.

Pull on that florescent orange jumpsuit, pose for your mugshot, make fast friends with your burly, tattooed cellmate, and -- whatever you do -- keep your back firmly against the wall.

By Nick Clarke
Lifestyle Correspondent

How to behave around inmates

Be respectful to other prisoners: Striding into the yard like you own the place will earn you enemies, and -- in a place where you have to keep your enemies closer than your friends -- this could prove fatal. Stripped to your bare soul, the only three valuable assets you’ll have left are respect, dignity and pride.

Don’t stare at a fellow prisoner: The wrong look inside a prison will either mean you’re their new worst enemy or new best friend. And you’d better believe that being their new worst enemy is better than being the type of new best friend he’d force you to become.

Don’t become a target: If a confrontation does arise -- and, let’s face it, it probably will -- strike first. You must guard your reputation with your life, and giving in to the first confrontational situation will only make you a target for future attacks.

Don’t be a snitch: If you see anything illegal going on -- such as the trading of drugs or another inmate getting hoe checked (beaten by a group) -- walk away. The moment you snitch is the moment you become public enemy number one. While you may have earned brownie points with the wardens, you’ll pay for it in beatings later.

Assess who you can trust: Don’t give in to the temptation to jump at the first offer of protection. Instead, wait a few days, get a sense of the lay of the land, and establish who you can (kind of) trust.

Take nothing on credit: This includes drugs, food, toiletry items or dirty magazines. Being a debtor to someone in prison immediately makes you theirs -- in fact, you might as well put a dog collar around your neck and inscribe it with the word “bitch.” Prison is a game of power -- don’t give yours away.  

Avoid becoming a fellow inmate’s “girlfriend”: While being someone’s “girlfriend” will afford you protection from fellow inmates, this protection is fickle; inmates’ “girlfriends” are often traded, sometimes for something as superficial as a pack of cigarettes.

Your first day

Entering prison is not like your first day at school -- it’s worse. You’ll be taken off the prison bus and led inside. The noise will be tremendous and prisoners will be sizing you up, jeering at you and doing everything they can to intimidate you. Don’t let them see weakness; keep your eyes firmly ahead of you and walk confidently inside, but don’t swagger. You’ll have your photograph taken, you'll be asked a couple of questions, and you’ll almost certainly be strip-searched. Although being strip-searched can feel very invasive, you must remember that the prison wardens do this every day and it is a highly impersonal routine for them. Accept your staple supplies -- including your uniform and pillow -- and follow the warden to your cell.

Passing the time

Your time in prison is marked by seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years for the worst criminal offenders. Because there’s so much of this thing we call “time” in prison, it would be foolish to waste it. In prison, you don’t need to worry about the daily pressures of the outside world. Therefore, you should spend every minute of every day inside developing yourself as a human being.

Remember: While you may want to pass the time you spend inside as quickly as possible, it is still time out of your life and you wouldn’t want to throw that away, would you? Make a habit of waking up early and spending the day doing any jobs you are assigned, studying one of the courses available and reading as much as you can. As well as keeping yourself busy, you’ll beat the system -- even though you’re behind bars, they can’t imprison your mind. So many prisoners waste the day by watching television and sleeping. They learn nothing whilst inside, and emerge into the real world as inadequate human beings as they were when they went in.

Preserving your mental health  

All around you there’ll be prisoners with mental health problems. The likelihood is that your fellow inmates won’t make life easy for you. Similarly, some wardens won’t be as professional as they should be and will make your stay as uncomfortable as possible; they will taunt and bully you to see if they can make you crack. It’s little wonder why some prisoners are put on suicide watch; after days of being told they’re useless, they come to believe it.

Believe in yourself: Many of the negative thinkers inside will have you doubting yourself, but you shouldn’t. Explain to yourself that you’re not worthless, that you can’t change the past, that you’re paying the price, and that you plan to change your wayward ways. Spend some time thinking about the good person you want to become and want to be perceived as by others. Exert positive thinking over those niggling doubts and you’re halfway there.  

Try not to worry about anything you can’t control: What will be, will be. The woman waiting for you on the outside will either be faithful or she’ll jump into the sack with your best friend; your children will either be forgiving or tell their mother that they never want to see you again and mean it; and your pending appeal will either be successful or thrown out of court, while the judges and lawyers are falling over with laughter. Instead of wasting mental energy on issues like these, place focus on positive thinking.

Keep up prayer and meditation: Just because you’ve wound up in jail, it doesn’t mean the big man upstairs won’t listen to you anymore. In fact, now is the time to be repentant and gain that spiritual peace of mind that you’ve been searching for.

Preserving your physical health

Prisons aren’t known to be the most wholesome of places, so it’s up to you to ensure that you keep yourself in tip-top condition. With so much spare time on your hands, you can make sure you walk out like Wentworth Miller in Prison Break -- pumped, strong and ready to take on that big, bad world.

Look after your personal hygiene: Shower as often as you can, brush your teeth twice a day, shave, and comb your hair. As well as making yourself feel good, it will project a powerful message about you to others: You may be down, but you’re certainly not out.

Make sure your living quarters are clean: While you can’t help it if a rat crawls through the iron bars and into your bed, you can do something about it and alert a warden.

Give up your vices: Throw away the cigarettes, say no to booze and pass on the grass. Keep your mind clear and make sure that you break any habits beforehand if you know you’re due to start a sentence (not only will habits get you in trouble with wardens, but they’ll show a sign of weakness to fellow inmates and they’ll prey on them).

Keep eating habits to a minimum inside prison: Prison food is generally fatty, and contains little to no nutritional value. Drink plenty of water and eat fruit whenever it’s available.    

Release date

If your release date is coming up, don’t tell anyone. Some inmates take pleasure in stumping the release of other inmates by getting them in trouble. Don’t even tell the inmates you think you’ve become friend's with. Remember: Nobody is your friend inside prison. More to the point, don’t say any emotional goodbyes to anyone -- you certainly don’t want to maintain friendships with them on the outside and have them turning up on your doorstep when they’re released. You’ll need to surround yourself with positive influences if you’re determined not to get locked up again.

The Lockdown

There is no life inside jail -- just survival. If you can survive your jail sentence without your face being a permanent shade of black and blue, involuntarily embarking on a relationship with a fellow inmate in the shower and being put in solitary confinement for a fight you didn’t start, you’re doing well. Jail isn’t glamorous -- it’s mean, nasty and you sure as hell don’t want to run someone over on purpose just to get a taste of life inside. But if you do end up in the slammer, remember that jail has its very own subculture -- one that you must become a part of as soon as possible if you’re to emerge smiling.

Number 1

Carandiru Penitentiary

Brazil, South America

Description: If you’re looking for hell on earth, look no further than this god-forsaken hole of a prison. Carandiru is the home of the country’s worst prison massacre: 102 inmates were shot dead in 1992. The prison is plagued with atrocious health problems that are almost too horrid to describe. Almost one of every five inmates in the prison's health wing has been diagnosed with HIV, and prisoners are often denied “luxuries” such as anaesthetics for surgery. It has been reported that even the medical director for the jail hasn’t set foot inside the facility in years. As always, there are cries for help, but nothing has changed to combat the terrible conditions. Also, severe torture is very likely not just a rumor, since reports claim that it is on the decline.

The worst part: Like many terrible prisons, Carandiru is overcrowded; however, when you are at double the capacity, you have a very unstable situation. Walter Erwin Hoffgen, the House of Detention Director, has said: "Of course I don't have control of the situation. It would be ridiculous to say I did. The prison has 7,500 inmates and only about 1,000 prison officers, divided into four shifts."

What’s worse -- and perhaps even more shocking -- is the lack of public outcry; most civilians are completely indifferent.

Number 2

Administrative Maximum Unit Prison (ADX)

Colorado, U.S.

Description: ADX was designed to replace Alcatraz in 1963, and when it opened in 1994 it took imprisonment  to a whole new level. The prison strictly enforces repressive techniques of isolation and sensory deprivation. Those incarcerated are only allowed out of their cells for 9 hours each week, and all prisoners are required to eat, sleep and defecate in their cells. They even go so far as to severely limit the amount of sunlight and artificial light received by inmates, and it’s described as being locked in your bathroom for 22 hours a day.

The worst part: There is almost complete and total lack of human interaction. The steel and cement cages effectively destroy any possibility of communication between the prisoners, and even contact with guards is extremely limited. "These guys will never be out of their cells, much less in the yard," says Russ Martin, the Florence prison project manager. Oscar Lopez Rivera, a prisoner of war, states, "Isolation is perfected here, both in the structure of the cell and in the very limited communication. People don't realize the value of human intercourse until it's denied."

Number 3

La Sante prison

Paris, France

Description: You know that you’re in a bad place when you get so depressed or insane that you begin swallowing drain cleaner and rat poison to escape. With 124 suicides in 1999 -- compared to 24 in California’s jail population of 160,000 -- La Sante has remained a place of violence, depravity, and brutality, where the weaker prisoners are often turned into slaves. Inmates only spend four hours a day outside of their cells and those with prison-jobs usually work in their cells, which are only 30 square feet with tiny peepholes in the solid metal doors.

The worst part: According to Dr. Veronique Vasseur, a prison doctor, there have been numerous instances of intense abuse. Dozens of inmates are affected with skin disease due to having access to only two showers per week. The guards have kept prisoners with lung disease in poorly ventilated cells that are next to humid laundry rooms. There’s an instance where eight guards tried to hold a prisoner to administer a shot, and when he retaliated, he injured several guards. He was thrown into the punishment block and, 15 days later, he was found severelydehydrated because the guards had cut off the water pipes to his cell.

If you travel to Brazil, you may want to stay away from any trouble in the streets…

   Just waiting for my food tray.....

Inmates at the Anderson County Detention Center (South Carolina) eat lunch inside a crowded cell. Some cells have 12 inmates in a room designed for four.

Jail Media

Jail Media exists to create a network of sites to inform people on what to expect from their or their loved one's experience in a given jail. We spend hours gathering data from ex-inmates so we can give our viewers an accurate look at what they can expect from their experience.

This information is then laid out in a very user-friendly "virtual walkthrough" of jail, from pre-sentencing to the social atmosphere, daily wardrobe, and rules for getting time off for good behavior.

www.jailmedia.com
Check it out!

Free County Jail, State Prison and Federal Prison Inmate Locator

www.inmateplus.com

Lonely Attractive Inmates in the USA Seek Penpals

December 17, 2010
WEAU 13 News

Deputies say an inmate recently broke both of his ankles after jumping off a second-floor railing to win a bet.

Deputies say an inmate recently broke both of his ankles after jumping off a second-floor railing to win a bet.

The Eau Claire County Jail says 30-year-old Christopher J. Fischer told them he hurt his ankles by falling off the top bunk in his cell a few months ago but at least six witnesses told investigators he jumped about 14 feet off the railing to win a $20 to $25 dollar bet.

Fischer was serving two months in the jail and was released but has since been arrested again for the rail-jumping case.

Somebody should've told him to "drop & roll" when jumping from that height!!    

                           Sergeant Sandvig

Fact:  As of December 21, 2010 there were 717 inmates on California's Death Row

Man Arrested for Attempted Rape 24 Hours After Prison Release

It is my sincere hope that Mr. Mosley doesn't get raped when he goes back to PRISON....it must be an awful experience.
                                            Sergeant Sandvig

Dan Jovic
Fox8.com Reporter
December 23, 2010

WAYNE COUNTY, Ohio -- A man arrested for attempted rape had been released from prison for just 24 hours prior to committing the crime, authorities say.

Wisconsin inmate who damaged cell gets more than 7 years

(Doesn't "pay" to act out - or you may just end-up "paying" the price)  Good luck to you Mr. Riker!                 Sergeant Sandvig

Associated Press
12/23/2010

An inmate who caused nearly $5,500 in damage to the Racine County Jail when he broke out of his cell has been sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison.

Sean Riker of Waterford had been convicted of charges including escape and felony criminal damage to property. He was sentenced Wednesday.

Authorities say the 42-year-old was being held in January on allegations that he threatened his wife and her children. They say he bent the steel door of his cell, then smashed windows, lights and cameras in a common area.

Public defender Travis Schwantes suggested a two-year sentence, calling it appropriate for causing less than $6,000 in damage.

But according to The Journal Times of Racine, the judge said Riker's behavior and history of violent tendencies required a heftier sentence.

Hey!  We're all very lucky....here's another news article about Mr. Riker!!             Sergeant Sandvig

Prison time for inmate who broke out of his cell

Foul!  Sheriff cracks
down on Jail basketball

December 23, 2010
Barbara Hijeck
Sun-Sentinel

Inmates at Polk County jails who kept fit by playing basketball will have to do something else for exercise now, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

Polk Sheriff Grady Judd announced today that the county has almost completed the process of removing basketball paraphernalia from its jails. Basketball goals, posts and nets from the Central and South County jails will be donated to churches, according to the Sheriff's Office.

"I was tired of people driving by the jail and it looking like we were holding recreation for a bunch of criminals," Judd said.

"They can jog, they can do push-ups or sit-ups, they can do jumping jacks, they can do stretching routines," he said. "But they won't play basketball."

Although state law requires jails to provide inmates with opportunities to exercise, Judd said he didn't see any reason why basketball had to be part of the exercise.

Removing the basketball posts is part of Judd's goal to make the jails less comfortable for inmates.

"I think people should come to jail for an experience — and that experience should be 'I don't want to come back,'" he said.

Students Hear About the Results of Drunk Driving, Other Crimes

December 30, 2010
East Aurora Advertiser
Jeremy Morlock

Iroquois High School juniors and seniors last week heard firsthand accounts of the tragedies that drunk driving can create, as well as other dire consequences of criminal actions. The “Legally Scared” program was presented by the Iroquois district in partnership with Kids Escaping Drugs, with the aim of convincing teens of the seriousness of the choices they now make.

Chief among the speakers were Elizabeth Obad, president of the Erie County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), who has lost relatives and friends to drunk driving; and Gerald Balone, who served more than 37 years in prison after committing three murders in Buffalo in 1973, and spoke to students about the harsh realities of prison.

“I’ve lost eight people in my lifetime because someone chose to drink and drive,” Obad told students. Among those Obad lost was her father, killed in the Town of Hamburg when she was just an infant, and her eldest son, who died in a 1994 crash.

“Everything we do has a consequence. Drunk driving is a choice,” Obad said. She called drunk driving “the most frequently committed violent crime in our nation,” and told students, “You need to have a plan should you find yourself in a situation where you need to get home.” Students should not drink then drive themselves, nor should they ride in a vehicle driven by someone who is intoxicated, Obad said.

Obad shared the story of her neighbors, two young teenage girls, who were struck by a drunk driver while they were crossing a street. Obad was called to the scene as a paramedic and identified one of the girl’s bodies at the hospital.

She told of other friends killed, some who were drivers, others who were passengers. “Drunk driving is totally preventable; it’s not an accident,” Obad asserted. “Somebody makes a choice, they choose to get behind the wheel, and they kill, cripple and maim people… Not everyone dies; over 600,000 people are injured every year.

Obad spoke at length about her eldest son, George Obad, a Marine sergeant and Gulf War veteran. In 1994–just days after he was engaged to be married and a little while before he was set to deploy to Japan–George Obad died after riding on the back of a motorcycle driven by a friend who had reportedly been drinking. The driver also died in the crash. “My beautiful son… was basically decapitated,” Obad said. “… I never got to see him, I never got to say goodbye.”

George knew not to drink and drive, Obad said, and had often served as a designated driver for friends. “In an instant, in that split second at the door, [George] made a bad choice” and didn’t stop his friend from driving, Obad explained. “I don’t want this to happen to you; I don’t want you to do this to yourself or anyone else.”

Justice M. William Boller of the State Supreme Court and Elma Town Justice Robert Pierce spoke next, emphasizing the legal consequences of drunk driving as well as other illegal substance use.

“I came here with a chip on my shoulder today,” said Boller, an Iroquois alumnus. “I’ve been hearing things about drugs here at Iroquois, about people bringing drugs into the school.” He pledged to bring more resources to combat drug use and abuse, and stiff penalties for violators who come before him. “I want to give people help if they want it, but it’s not going to be what you think,” he explained, describing New York State's Shock Incarceration program.

Pierce urged students to take the warnings and the Legally Scared assembly seriously. “As town judge, you’re probably going to see me first,” he noted, promising zero tolerance for “criminal, stupid behavior” such as driving drunk. “I don’t take any excuses in my court… I don’t have any problem sending you to jail if you’re found guilty,” Pierce maintained.

Balone, with decades of firsthand experience in the penal system, told students just how awful prison could be, and promised the students that even the toughest among them wouldn’t be ready for it.

“On August 14, 2007, I was released from prison after having served over 37 and one-half years in 17 prisons across the state of New York,” Balone began. “And the reason I served 37-and-a-half years is because I killed three people in a robbery.”

Balone described angry, violent and criminal behavior in the years leading up to his crime, including his involvement in a street gang known as the Savage Ones. Indeed, he noted that his anger and behavior worsened during the first half of his time in prison.

As a photo of Balone’s 1973 mug shot was shown to students, he said, “As that picture was being taken, I was looking at the photographer, and I wasn’t mad that I had just killed three innocent people. I didn’t care if I was going to get the death penalty, I didn’t care that I would spend the rest of my life in prison. The only thing that I was thinking about was that I was a Savage One, and I would not be able to get those individuals who had jumped me [in an incident a few days before the murders].

“For approximately 20 of the 37-and-a-half years that I was in prison, every time a new draft of people would come into any prison that I was in… I would go down to the reception block and I would go from cell to cell, hoping, praying that one of those people who had jumped me would come to Attica or one of the other prisons I was in. Because if any of them had come to Attica, I would have either killed them right there in their cell, or I would have caught them in the yard or in the cell block.”

Born to an alcoholic mother and spending his youth in foster care, orphanages and detention centers, then going to prison, “I learned to become a vicious, evil person,” he said. Balone explained that he had been told he was mentally retarded, and used that for years as an excuse for his behavior. It wasn’t until decades later that he found the diagnosis was wrong.

Looking out among the crowd of students, Balone said, “I wonder how many of you would survive if you went to prison.” He described the sexual assaults and other forms of violence within prison, as well as drug use.

He warned female students, “Young ladies, you are becoming the fastest growing segment of the prison population.”

Balone detailed the humiliations of being an inmate, including strip searches, cavity searches, the loss of privacy, living in cramped and tiny quarters, and the necessity of following strict orders. “If you get arrested, you’re not going to have any rights,” he warned students.

Though he has seen people on the outside glorifying prison culture, they are wrong. “If you go, you are in for the shock of your life,” Balone stated.

Balone credited educational opportunities he had in prison, including GED and college courses, with helping him to change his outlook and his life. He now possesses an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees.

On his seventh visit before a parole board, Balone was granted a conditional release from prison. “I’m on lifetime parole with 29 conditions, and if I violate any one of my conditions of parole, I go back to prison for the rest of my life,” he explained.

He now works as a motivational speaker, hoping to dissuade people from the same sort of decisions that led him to violence and to prison. Despite his college degrees, Balone said he can’t find a regular full-time job, and warned the students of the damage that a criminal conviction could do to their prospects.

Christopher Kloc, funeral director at Paul A. Kloc Blossom Chapels in West Seneca, told students of the bodies of crash victims he has prepared for funerals. “I put the pieces together,” he said. “I’ve had mothers who will never see their daughter’s face; at some point with these accidents, I can’t put them back together.”

Deputy Jeffrey Ely of the Erie County Sheriff's Accident Investigation Unit spoke of the many accidents he’s seen that were caused by speeding, drunk driving, or both. He shared photos of crash scenes where the vehicles were mangled and sheets covered the bodies of drivers and other victims. Many of the cases he mentioned involved drivers the same age as the juniors and seniors sitting in the audience.

Among the last of the guests to speak was Elma Town Supervisor Michael Nolan, who said it is the duty of the leaders among students to take their classmates in the right direction. “Are you going to drink a lot, or are you going to do some decent things?” he asked. He noted that he believes there are promising leaders in the class who can do the right thing.

“We have state and federal resources, and we can come down as hard as we want to” on drug and alcohol probems, Nolan said. “I can tell you the number one priority in the town is this [senior] class at Iroquois Central. We’re going to make sure we keep an eye on the people who are leading this class in the wrong direction… We’re going to work diligently to keep a safe environment.”

Inmate had firearm inside Gregg County Jail

(Young man making "life changing" choices that may last a lifetime)

                                                                                              Sergeant Sandvig

January 3, 2011
KLTV.com

GREGG COUNTY, TX (KLTV) – An inmate at the Gregg County Jail was found in possession of a firearm.

On Saturday, Deputy Frank Bless was dispatched to the front receiving area of the jail in reference to an inmate with a gun. Upon his arrival to the front, jailer Andrew Chandler handed Bless a .38 special revolver, with five rounds in the chamber.

Chandler stated that the weapon was taken from inmate Demichael Johnson, 19, of Longview, prior to his placement in a holding cell.

Authorities stated the revolver was hidden in Johnson's left pant leg.

Johnson has been charged with possession of a deadly weapon in penal institution.

Murder suspects haven't been model Jail inmates

What happened to their standings for Jail Inmate's of the Year award?
                                       Sergeant Sandvig 

January 6, 2011
Hernando Today

BROOKSVILLE, Florida - Two jailed murder suspects haven't made life easy for correctional officers lately.

Based on their reported behavior since their arrests eight months ago, Angel Gonzalez and Stephen Horne have shown patterns of vandalism and violence.

Both were charged in August after breaking the overhead sprinkler system inside their cell, deputies said.

On Nov. 11, Gonzalez, 27, was charged with assault and battery on a detained person. Deputies said he and another inmate barged into the cell of an accused sex offender and attacked him.

Then on Dec. 12, Horne had to be subdued with pepper spray because he refused to follow orders, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office. An incident report revealed he cursed out a guard and slapped him in the face.

The guard confronted Horne, 19, after he had struck a visitors monitor that morning and told him to return to his cell, deputies said.

The small-statured Horne told him, "You better mind your own business, dog," before more words were exchanged and a skirmish ensued, according to the report.

After it was over, Horne was restrained and taken to the shower for "decontamination" from the pepper spray, deputies said.

"Since we've taken over, that's the first time we ever had a negative situation with that guy," said Lt. Shaun Klucznik of Horne.

Klucznik is operations commander at the Hernando County Jail. The sheriff's office took over the day-to-day operations of the facility in late August.

There are 15 inmates in the segregation unit of the jail and Horne is one of them, said Klucznik. They are permitted one hour of outside recreation time and one hour of day room privileges. During the remaining 22 hours of the day, they are confined to solitary confinement, he said.

After Horne's recent mishap, his day room privileges have been taken away and he is required to be shackled during his one hour of recreation time, Klucznik said.

Klucznik downplayed the inmates' perceived penchant for trouble. He said Gonzalez has remained a model inmate for a while and Horne has only been disruptive once since the sheriff's office took charge.

"This is the only report we've had on him since we took over," said Klucznik of Horne. "I guess he was in a bad mood that day."

Nonetheless, Horne is classified as a "red dot" inmate, which means he is "prone to violence." The inmates relegated to the segregation unit mostly have histories of disobedience, Klucznik said.

Horne was not charged after the latest assault accusation.

"We decided it wouldn't be worth the taxpayers' money to charge the guy with another felony," said Klucznik.

Horne, along with Gonzalez, is awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge.

The victim, who was Horne's father, was shot the night of May 3 behind a vacant home off Otter Drive in Ridge Manor, deputies said.

Horne is suspected of pulling the trigger. He shot his father once in the back with a shotgun and then three more times in the torso after he fell to the ground, according to the sheriff's office.

Both Horne and Gonzalez removed the victim's shorts and boots and left him in the yard wearing only his boxers, deputies said.

The two men shot the victim so they could steal his money and drugs, according to reports.

If convicted on their murder charges, Horne and Gonzalez could face the death penalty.

Scott Co. Jail inmates charged in contraband smuggling scheme

January 15, 2011
Thomas Geyer
Quad-City Times

Two Scott County Jail inmates have been charged in connection with a scheme to smuggle contraband, including marijuana, tobacco and razor blades, into the facility.

Walter Lee Miller, 34, of 3105 Homestead Ave., Davenport, is charged with solicitation-delivery of marijuana, possessing contraband-razor blade, possessing contraband-marijuana and tobacco, furnishing a controlled substance, ongoing criminal activity, conspiracy to commit a felony, money laundering, human trafficking and soliciting prostitution.

Leonard Fisher Jr., 20, of 1311 E. 11th St., Davenport, is charged with furnishing a controlled substance, ongoing criminal activity, conspiracy to commit a felony, possessing contraband-razor blade and possessing contraband-marijuana and tobacco.

According to the arrest affidavit filed by Scott County Sheriff’s Investigator Dan Furlong, Miller has been an inmate in the jail since Nov. 9. He had been arrested by Davenport police on a drug charge.

Miller arranged for packages containing chewing tobacco, cigarette tobacco, marijuana, lighters and razor blades to be delivered outside the Scott County Jail.

Miller then received the packages from Fisher who had access to areas outside the jail. In return, Miller put money into Fisher’s jail account.

Fisher has been an inmate at the jail since July 21. He was arrested on two probation violations on two separate felony convictions and sentenced to 180 days. He also was charged for failing to appear on a misdemeanor charge of operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent.

Miller used and sold the smuggled contraband to other inmates for commissary items and money, authorities said.

Also, while in jail, Miller called two females who worked as prostitutes for him. The women also helped deliver the contraband to Miller, according to the affidavit. The women applied proceeds from their prostitution activities to Miller’s jail account.

According to the affidavit, Miller instructed the women “to get their business cards out in Scott County areas to stay busy and make him some money.” Miller then gave the women certain numbers to call for business. Miller also released money from his jail account for the women.

Two people who left the contraband outside the jail for collection, Tiffany Lynn Burmeister, 21, and James Albert Gardner, 40, both of Davenport, were arrested Dec. 30, authorities said.

Burmeister is charged with conspiracy, furnishing contraband in a jail, furnishing controlled substance to inmates and possession with intent to deliver.

Gardner is charged with conspiracy to commit a felony, furnishing contraband in a jail, furnishing controlled substance to inmates, illegal possession of prescription drugs, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession with intent to deliver.

All involved in the smuggling scheme were being held Saturday in the Scott County Jail.

HOUSTON --Snitching could lead to up to $5,000 for Harris County Jail inmates as investigators encourage detainees to phone in tips to Crime Stoppers.

The Houston Chronicle reports Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia planned to announce the program Tuesday.

Garcia says inmates have crucial information that could help deputies solve or prevent crimes.

Garcia says the money can be used by the inmate to post bond or pay an attorney.

The jail will soon have monitors that flash Crime Stoppers contact information, in English and Spanish.

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos backs the program.

Released inmate back in Jail after trying to steal Correction Officer's car

Okay my fellow Corrections Officers....look-up "STUPID" in the dictionary and you'll see this dude's picture!!
                                                         Sergeant Sandvig
January 20, 2011
PostStar.com

Probe continues in Jail heroin bust

March 14, 2011
AthensNews.com

A probe into a major heroin interdiction inside the regional jail in Nelsonville is still underway, according to the county prosecutor’s office.

“The jail has done its own investigation, but ours is continuing,” assistant county prosecutor Keller Blackburn confirmed Friday.

Jail inmate Sean R. Vanness, 27, of Logan, was charged with second-degree-felony drug possession, after he was allegedly found with 158 “balloons” of heroin in his possession in the jail. This makes his arrest one of the biggest heroin arrests in the county in recent history, Blackburn suggested.

Vanness was in jail on drug charges out of Hocking County, and the jail site indicates he is also facing charges of driving under suspension and violating probation.

Blackburn said Vanness could also face charges of illegal conveyance of drugs into the regional jail, if investigators conclude he brought the drugs in himself; Vanness has reportedly claimed he was holding the heroin for another inmate.

Though Vanness has a case pending in Athens County Municipal Court, Blackburn said the case may go before a county grand jury for possible felony indictment today (Monday).

On March 7, Municipal Judge William Grim set bond on the new charge for Vanness at $158,000.

Blackburn said other charges may be forthcoming in the case, and that it’s not yet clear whether others were involved in transporting the heroin into the jail.

Prisoner calls 911 to report police

March 14, 2011
Sarah Weber
SanduskyRegister.com

Sandusky

Aspen Jail Will Offer Yoga Classes To Inmates

Yoga Helps Prisoners Deal With Stress, Officials Say

March 16, 2011
thedenverchannel.com

PITKIN COUNTY, Colo. -- The Pitkin County Jail is planning to offer a yoga program to its inmates.

The Aspen Daily News reported that jail officials believe practicing yoga will help prisoners deal with the stress of imprisonment.

They also hope it will positively influence future behavior and said a serene environment could mean a safer facility for staff and inmates.

Two volunteers will teach the classes.

Officials said the inmates seem very receptive to yoga classes.

Classes are scheduled to begin Friday.

In India, some prisoners who take yoga classes are given a sentence reduction of 15 days, according to ABC News.

"Yoga is a good thing to control the anger and to manage the stress," said Sanjay Mane, Madhya Pradesh state's inspector general of prisons. "The prisoners inside are under tremendous stress away from their families."

Austin Man Sentenced to 60 Years in Prison for DWI

March 24, 2011 (WLS) -- A Cook County Jail inmate is accused of trying to smuggle bullets and gunpowder into the jail.

David Sidener, 52, was awaiting trial for murder.

The Evansville, Indiana native now faces additional charges of possessing contraband in a penal institution.

Investigators found the ammunition hidden inside a film projector and a CD player in a room at the jail.

They are questioning a Cermak Hospital therapist who used that room to meet inmates.

Hays County Jail Inmate in serious condition after suicide attempt

March 28, 2011
Patrick George
Statesman.com

An inmate behind held at the Hays County Jail awaiting trial has been hospitalized after an apparent suicide attempt on Saturday, Hays County Sheriff’s Department officials said today.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Laurie Bain said that around 4 p.m. on Saturday, 25-year-old Eric Lloyd Dykes attempted to hang himself in his jail cell. Dykes was transported by ambulance to Seton Hays Hospital in Kyle, where he currently remains hospitalized in serious condition, Bain said.

Bain said Dykes was awaiting trial on charges of robbery, aggravated robbery, harassment, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the latter of which occurred in Travis County.

April 7, 2011
thestarpress.com

An inmate at the Delaware County Jail faces additional charges of intimidation and institutional mischief after authorities said he flooded the facility's four segregation cells Thursday.

Dennis Elmer Smith Jr., 25, 916 W. 17th St., then allegedly told jail commander Lt. Arlin Johnson that he would keep tearing up the jail and threatened to hurt Johnson "until he gets out of jail."

The probable cause affidavit for Smith's new charges were not specific on how Smith flooded the cells, though in the past inmates have clogged toilets.

Smith was in the Delaware County jail awaiting trials on charges including criminal mischief, escape, theft, resisting law enforcement, conversion, driving while intoxicated, driving with a controlled substance in blood and driving while suspended. He also faces a possible probation revocation in a Henry County case.

Since 2004, he has been convicted of criminal confinement, auto theft, check fraud, forgery, theft, convcition and driving while suspended (at least four times).

Lindsay Lohan: "Jail Is a Scary Place"

June 23, 2011
x17online.com