Salon.com > Jail

Are California state prisons racist?

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:45:00 +0000

In several men’s prisons across California, colored signs hang above cell doors: blue for black inmates, white for white, red, green or pink for Hispanic, yellow for everyone else.

Though it’s not an official policy, at least five California state prisons have a color-coding system.

On any given day, the color of a sign could mean the difference between an inmate exercising in the prison yard or being confined to their cell. When prisoners attack guards or other inmates, California allows its corrections officers to restrict all prisoners of that same race or ethnicity to prevent further violence.

Bobby Brown sentenced to 55 days in jail for DUI

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:45:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bobby Brown has been sentenced to 55 days in a Los Angeles jail and four years of probation for a drunken driving case.

City attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan (mah-tell-JIN') says Brown was sentenced Tuesday after pleading no contest to charges he was under the influence and driving on a suspended license when he was arrested in October.

Brown was on probation for another DUI case at the time.

The 44-year-old "New Edition" singer was ordered to report to jail March 20. He also was placed on four years of informal probation and will be required to complete an 18-month alcohol treatment program.

Brown's attorney Tiffany Feder had no immediate comment on the sentence.

The sentence was first reported by celebrity website TMZ.

Assange supporters to pay £93,500 after WikiLeaks founder flees

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:07:00 +0000

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is wanted in Sweden where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault, instead broke his bail conditions and fled to London's Ecuadorean embassy in June and was granted political asylum. Now, nine of his supporters are being ordered to pay £93,500 for not fulfilling their promise to "guarantee Assange would abide by bail conditions."

The Guardian reports:

A court ruled on Monday that the payments must be made within a month by nine friends and backers who in 2010 pledged £140,000 to guarantee Assange would abide by bail conditions during a failed legal challenge to extradition proceedings brought by authorities in Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Chief magistrate at Westminster magistrates court Howard Riddle said of the ruling that, "I accept that they trusted Mr Assange to surrender himself as required." He added, "I accept that they followed the proceedings and made necessary arrangements to remain in contact with him. However, they failed in their basic duty, to ensure his surrender."

h/t The Guardian

Fiona Apple and her captors: The saga begins

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:05:00 +0000

After being held overnight on $10,000 bail in a Texas county jail cell Thursday, singer Fiona Apple narrated for a Houston audience, a cryptic version of her experience after her arrest:

Now, most of the people were very nice to me. There are four of you out there, and I want you to know that I heard everything you did. I wrote it all down with your names and everything you did and said stupidly thinking that I couldn’t hear or see you. I then ripped the paper up, but not before I encoded it and– I got two lock boxes. We’ll call them 'holding cell one' and 'holding cell two.' In 'holding cell one' is the encoded version of the shit that you did that I know was inappropriate and probably illegal. In 'holding cell two' is the decoder. I’m the only one who holds the key, and you and I will be intimate forever because I will hold that secret forever. Unless of course the celebrity that you had so much interest in but you wanted to accuse me of bringing up while you laughed at me all night? Unless you’re interested in being a celebrity, I’ll make you fucking famous any time you ask and I’ll open those boxes. So why don’t you stay in your fucking holding cell?

Russian PM calls for Pussy Riot’s release

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:20:00 +0000

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday called for three members of the punk band Pussy Riot to be freed, a sign that the women's release could be imminent as their case comes up for appeal on Oct. 1.

The women were arrested for performing a raucous prayer inside Moscow's main cathedral asking Virgin Mary to save Russia from Vladimir Putin as he headed into the election that handed him a third term as president. They had already spent more than five months in jail when they were convicted in August of "hooliganism driven by religious hatred" and sentenced to two years in prison.

Medvedev remains subordinate to Putin. But by being the one to call for the women's release, the prime minister, who has cultivated the image as a more liberal leader, could allow Putin to put the case behind him while not appearing weak.

Medvedev said the women's appearance and the "hysteria" accompanying them made him sick, but keeping them in prison any longer would be unproductive.

"In my view, a suspended sentence would be sufficient, taking into account the time they have already spent in custody," he said during a televised meeting with members of his United Russia party.

Can we predict a wrongful conviction?

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 14:00:00 +0000

While the law enforcement community widely views American jurisprudence as being rich with built-in safeguards, from the right to counsel to the right not to be physically abused by police officers, citizens’ protections aren’t always up to the task. People are sometimes convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.

Analyzing the errors that led to wrongful convictions, recurring themes emerge. Steven Drizin, clinical professor at Northwestern University of Law, and cofounder of its Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, and social psychologist Richard Leo posit that the errors are sequential. And as they stack up, says Drizin, they “develop a momentum that is very difficult to stop.” Safeguards in the system become “like speed bumps at best. They don’t do anything to really slow down that momentum towards a wrongful conviction.”