Criminal Injustice (27)
As McDonnell awaits Supreme Court, another governor watches from prison
Written by Robert Barnes | Washington Post
Along with the state officials and law professors who are happy that the Supreme Court this week is reviewing the corruption conviction of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell, add inmate No. 24775-001 at the federal prison in Oakdale, La.
Editorial: Don Siegelman deserves a pardon
Written by Editorial | The Anniston Star
Over the course of 2015, President Barack Obama used the clemency powers of his office to free more than 100 federal prisoners, most of whom were nonviolent offenders who had been sentenced by overly harsh narcotics laws. The releases were, Obama said in late December, “another step forward in upholding our ideals of justice and fairness.” Those “men and women … had served their debt to society,” he said.
Indiana takes a step forward on solitary confinement
Written by Editorial Board
INDIANA, HARDLY a bastion of bleeding-heart liberalism, became on Wednesday the latest state to curb the use in prisons of solitary confinement, an extreme, hellish and overused punishment. It follows President Obama, who on Monday announced reforms to prisoner isolation practices in federal prisons, and it joins California and New York as one of the latest states to submit to a legal settlement requiring changes. Indiana’s move is another sign of progress in ending a national scandal: the routine overuse of a practice that is akin to torture. But it took a class-action lawsuit to prompt the decision, and even then it promises insufficient change.
New Jersey Lacks Law Addressing Shackling of Pregnant Inmates Because Gov. Christie Wouldn’t Sign It
Written by Nicole Knight Shine | RH Reality Check
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed nearly 100 bills as the legislative session came to a close this January, but a measure to address the shackling of pregnant inmates wasn’t one of them.
Obama bans solitary confinement for juveniles and low-level offenders
Written by BBC News
US President Barack Obama has said he will ban solitary confinement as a form of punishment for juvenile and low-level offenders in federal prisons.
Letter From Political Prisoner Rev. Edward Pinkney
Written by Rev. Edward Pinkney | Popular Resistance
Rev. Edward Pinkney is a political prisoner in Michigan. He has been an outspoken, effective activist in Benton Harbor, MI for decades. The court has consistently tried to silence him. In 2012, he was even jailed for a time because he quoted Deuteronomy in a letter-to-the-editor!
Before being sentenced to seven years in federal prison - for something 113 State Attorneys General and the New York Times said was never a crime in America - I had the honor of delivering a eulogy for my dear friend Colonel Stone Johnson. The story of our friendship is worth taking note of, because it ultimately demonstrates how unjust a judicial system can be.
'Wife-Beating' Judge Mark Fuller Will NOT Receive Federal Pension After He 'Resigns in Shame': U.S. House Judiciary Committee Statement
Written by Brad Friedman | The Brad Blog
U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller "will not qualify for either a judicial salary or be eligible for a judicial pension," according to a statement just released by the bi-partisan leaders of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. His resignation from the federal bench "in shame", as the statement describes Fuller's stated intention to step down as of August 1, will disqualify him from any further payment for his role on the federal judiciary.
The fight for freedom and the struggle for justice needs you!.
Written by Gov. Don Siegelman
The recent denial of my appeal underscores the need for us to keep fighting for change.
Eleventh Circuit panel uses cheat job on Richard Scrushy to justify its latest cheat job on Don Siegelman
Written by Roger Schuler | Legal Schauzer
If the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals cannot uphold the law and dispense justice, it can at least provide consistency. That seems to be the lesson from the court's opinion yesterday that upheld convictions against former Alabama governor Don Siegelman by pointing to its earlier ruling against codefendant and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy.
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Dana Siegelman hopes to get word with President Obama about her father
Written by Mike Cason | AL.com
Dana Siegelman, daughter of former Gov. Don Siegelman, plans to try to talk to President Barack Obama about her father's case on Saturday in Selma. The president is coming to Alabama for the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the voting rights march.
50 years ago oppression was obvious - The Selma Diaries
Written by Elizabeth Warren | People Demanding Action
Today behind an invisible curtain, hidden in mounds of legal text, lives an insidious—and systematic—effort to return America to a time when average people, especially people of color, had no Constitutional rights.
Rev. Pinkney Now in Marquette Prison; Hearing Feb 24th at 1pm in St. Joseph, Michigan
Written by Diane Bukowski | Voice of Detroit
World-renowned political prisoner Rev. Edward Pinkney has been sent to Michigan’s Marquette Branch Prison, isolated in the Upper Peninsula. It houses maximum-security inmates at Level 5 along with minimum security Level 1 prisoners, the Level to which Rev. Pinkney has been assigned.
ACLU Michigan Files "Amicus Curtoe Brief" in support of Rev. Pinkney
Written by ACLU
The American Civil Leaders Union has filed an "Amicus Curtoe Brief" in support of Rev. Pinkney. The ACLU of Michigan is an affilate of a nationwide non-partisan organization of over 500,000 members dedicated to protecting the fundamental liberties and basic civil rights guarantee by the U S Constitution.