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Hard Times after Hard Time for the Formerly Incarcerated

Once the cell door slams shut, a life is severed. For the individual, a prison sentence imposes a "social death" in the form of isolation from family, social networks, and the economy. Less visible is the collective punishment that prison metes out against the families on the outside, broken up by the state and shattered by economic crisis.

more...Hard Times after Hard Time for the the Formerly Incarcerated

Four Corners and Nowhere to Turn - San Diego Magazine - September 2010 - San Diego, California

Ex-offender programs and substance-abuse treatment faccilities — halfway houses — help provide the transition into society that keeps recently released prisoners from reverting to previous criminal behavior. But state budget cuts threaten their continued existence.

Parents: End the War on Drugs -- for Your Kids | | AlterNet

from Alternet (CA), July 29, 2010

Julia Negron, a recovering addict, mother and grandmother with 20 years in the addiction treatment field, argues that it's time for parents to say enough is enough when it comes to the war on drugs. She says that we are smarter and more educated than we used to be with regard to drugs, that we've seen what works and what doesn't - and the war on drugs just doesn't work. (Link to Story)

State agrees to discuss prison lockdowns with rights group

By Michael Montgomery, California Watch -- Facing a threatened legal battle over alleged racial discrimination, California prison officials have agreed to meet with the Prison Law Office over the department’s controversial use of lockdowns on general population inmates. In a July 17 letter to the secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Matt Cate, the Prison Law Office threatened to sue the department over lockdowns that singled out entire races for punishment – sometimes for months. "The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is working with the Prison Law Office on the issue they identified," CDCR spokesperson Terry Thornton said..
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9th Circuit Declares Actual Innocence Irrelevant

9th Circuit Declares Actual Innocence Irrelevant
July 8, 2010 12:02 PM, by Ed Brayton

In one of the most appalling court rulings imaginable, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that the fact that a convicted criminal can now be proven to be innocent does not matter if he filed an appeal in 16 months rather than the 12 months allowed by the statute of limitations. Actual innocence simply does not matter, only technicalities do. You can see the full ruling here.

We have previously refrained from deciding whether there is an actual innocence exception that serves as a gateway through the AEDPA statute of limitations to the merits of a petitioner's claims. Instead, we have assumed such an exception and have evaluated the actual innocence claims themselves, waiting until a state prisoner shows actual innocence to answer the legal question.

1/5 Of Inmates Get Drug Treatment; Total May Drop In Budget Crunch

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 4:50 am

Of the 2.3 million inmates in the U.S., more than half have a history of substance abuse and addiction, says Newsweek. Not all those inmates are imprisoned on drug-related charges (although drug arrests have been rising steadily since the early 1990s; there were nearly 200,000 in 2007). Josiah Rich, a professor of medicine and community health at Brown University, is worried that, by refusing or neglecting to provide treatment to these addicts, many U.S. prisons are missing the best chance to cure them—and in the process to cut down on future crime.

Treatment can reduce recidivism rates from 50 percent to something more like 20 percent, yet it is not widely provided. “Our system has taken the highest-risk and most ill people and put them in a place where they have constitutionally mandated health care,“ Rich says. “What a great opportunity to make a difference. Are we just trying to punish people? Or are we trying to rehabilitate people? What do we want out of this?” The National Institute on Drug Abuse says that just one fifth of inmates get some form of treatment. That number may be lower in the near future: tight budgets are forcing many states to reduce or close existing treatment programs. Kansas and Pennsylvania have already done so; California and Texas may may follow suit.

Link: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/29/the-case-for-treating-drug-addicts-in-prison.html