Prison Guard Today » Law http://www.prisonguardtoday.com Do you want to become a corrections officer? Here's a discussion about it. Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:35:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Pennsylvania Civil Rights Violations in Luzerne County: Judges Plead Guilty http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/10/pennsylvania-civil-rights-violations-in-luzerne-county-judges-plead-guilty/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/10/pennsylvania-civil-rights-violations-in-luzerne-county-judges-plead-guilty/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:12:35 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/10/pennsylvania-civil-rights-violations-in-luzerne-county-judges-plead-guilty/ , most Pennsylvanians have heard or read about the two Luzerne County judges, Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan who pleaded guilty in February to sentencing juveniles to secure detention facilities from which they received $2.6 million in kickbacks. Others associated with these events have also been charged. The wrongdoings of the judges centered on the following: neither the juveniles nor their families were advised by the judges of their right to counsel, guilty pleas were accepted without explaining what the minors were charged with, and parents’ wages were garnished to pay for the costs of detention; the judges summarily and routinely ordered that youths who had committed relatively minor offenses be sent to residential youth detention facilities. The detention centers, with the two judges’ assistance, received more than $30 million in county contracts.

As part of the guilty pleas, the judges have agreed to spend 87 months in federal prison. For the juveniles who have endured this nightmare, is their any other recourse other than the knowledge that the judges who sentenced them without adhering to the juveniles’ constitutional rights are in prison? Yes. To date, three separate lawsuits have been filed on behalf of the juveniles for violation of their constitutional rights. The basis of those lawsuits stems from the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which holds that no state, state agency or state employee can violate an individual’s rights afforded by the U.S. Constitution. A specific federal statute, 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 is the ignition that allows a lawsuit to be filed. That statute provides that an injured party in these types of cases must demonstrate a violation of a right secured by the Constitution and the laws of the United States and that the alleged deprivation was committed by a person acting under color of state law. So how is someone injured when their rights are violated? The two disgraced Luzerne County judges did not physically injure the minors who they sentenced. Nevertheless, the law allows for monetary compensation.

Such cases frequently arise from police abuse/brutality cases (violation of the 4th Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures and 8th Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment), prisoner abuse by guards (8th Amendment) injury to a prisoner where a guard, warden, member of prison staff has knowledge of impending injury to a prisoner (8th Amendment). The hallmark of America’s civil rights is the protection from the State intruding upon its citizens. Individuals whose rights are violated have avenues that can be pursued.





By: Stuart Carpey ]]> http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/10/pennsylvania-civil-rights-violations-in-luzerne-county-judges-plead-guilty/feed/ 0 Inmates Have Rights Too. Protect Them With Closed Circuit Television http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/inmates-have-rights-too-protect-them-with-closed-circuit-television/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/inmates-have-rights-too-protect-them-with-closed-circuit-television/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:10:19 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/inmates-have-rights-too-protect-them-with-closed-circuit-television/ Technology has not spared jailbirds and jail guards. Prisoners can escape the humdrum of prison life via the television systems. They can learn and play from taped demonstrations. On the other side of the fence, the system can keep tabs on the guards. How’s that?

Technology Makes Life Easier for the Jailbirds

Closed circuit television is a televised monitoring system that works by attaching a cable to designated viewing sets. The cameras transmit the pictures through the cable, so each area that has a camera can transmit images. A microphone can send clear audio from the monitored area to the main system.

With this technology, prisoners need not face a horde of reporters or the glare of cameras when going to court. They will appear in the courtroom via closed circuit television. Police officers or jail officers can rest easy, even if they have 10 prisoners lined up for the day in court because they are not going anywhere.

Instead of waiting for hours along the hallways shackled and handcuffed, the prisoners can take it easier in jail. They can focus on the judge and answer the questions with ease and confidence. The closed circuit television provides clear images and the audio function of the system is excellent. In the courtroom, the judge can see and hear the prisoner. The use of the television system is preferred during arraignments when the judge reads the charges lodged against the prisoner and the accused pleads guilty or not guilty.

Although not all counties are using the strategy of Potosi, a Washington County, the idea of closed circuit television as a better alternative to transporting a number of inmates to court, is becoming popular.

Prisoner Safety, Education, and Recreation

In prison, even inmates need maximum protection at all times. Determined jail wardens and guards on duty can prevent the escalation of gang wars and riots inside the jail grounds if they are alerted by video surveillance through the closed circuit television system. Furthermore, it can also serve as outlet for the prisoners’ thirst for knowledge and recreation. The Prison Closed Circuit Television Director will have a hand in instructing inmates’ television program production and plan out educational activities using the technology. This way of thinking in jail management provides inmates a respite from their dreary life. They can learn new skills and hope for a better life outside the high brick walls and barbed wires.

Guarding the Guards

If private employers keep an eye on their workers, prison officials should do well to monitor jail officers and personnel through the closed circuit television. This will indeed maximize work efficiency and deter the unlawful treatment of prisoners by the guards.

Horror stories about the cruel maltreatment of inmates are not fabricated, in fact several jail guards have been sued over the death of inmates. Perhaps the jail guards are forgetting that their task is to protect and at the same time guard the prisoners against escape and abuse from other inmates.

Closed circuit television can turn the tide. Serious law makers and jail officers can use this technology to rein in abusive jail officers and guards. In chess, that’s checkmate!





By: Nahshon Roberts ]]> http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/inmates-have-rights-too-protect-them-with-closed-circuit-television/feed/ 0 The California State Prison System http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2008/12/the-california-state-prison-system/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2008/12/the-california-state-prison-system/#comments Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:40:29 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2008/12/the-california-state-prison-system/ California State Prison

Prisoners cycle repeatedly back and forth between prisons, where they do not receive sufficient treatment, and inpatient facilities, where they are permitted to stay for only a short while. Prisoners have been warehoused and locked down in overcrowded and brutal prisons – many due to the 3strikes law – for longer and longer time. Through the summer, groups of local, amateur baseball players gain access to the prison yard and play against the inmates in weekly games. The California Department of Corrections (CDC) operates 32 prisons and 40 fire and conservation camps comprising about 3,000 structures having 37 million gross square feet of building space. There are six major prison gangs that are recognized nationally for their participation in organized crime and violence. From 1975 to 1985, members committed 40 homicides in California prisons and local jails, as well as 13 homicides in the community. The machine shop at the prison, run by inmates, manufactures steel frames for double bunks-and triple bunks-in addition to license plates. As a result of these focus groups, we developed a two week, 8 session health promotion intervention for HIV+ inmates preparing to be released from prison. There have been 15 deaths at the prison this year; nine in 1999 and 10 in 1998. If the prison is filled to capacity, it will have about 500 full-time employees, most of them guards. Operation from the grounds of San Quentin, the Prison Law Office is an aggressive advocacy group that assists inmates in unanswered appeals, and is often involved in class action suits which are to the benefit of everyone. Provision of inadequate health care creates needless pain and suffering for the many prisoners who require such services. State prisons vary between 1 percent under capacity and 14 percent over capacity, while the federal prison system is 34 percent above capacity. But most experts agree that prisons have done little to make communities safer.

San Quentin Prison

San Quentin State Prison was opened in July 1852, and is the oldest prison in California. Less than a quarter mile from the old prison is the California State Prison at Sacramento, known as “New Folsom,” which houses about 3,000 Level 4 inmates. In just over a month, seven women have died at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. According to internally generated California DOC data, as of July 2002 the EOP system, which was designed to hold 2,481 prisoners, was catering to 3,179. The gangs, organized along racial lines, have historically been a major source of inmate friction and disorder within the California prison system. The court system in the state of California ought to be on death row too. More than 626 out of every 100,000 Californians are incarcerated. The California Department of Corrections supports the project by accommodating the program inside San Quentin. Built in 1852, San Quentin was an answer to rampant lawlessness in California. One of the issues was moving Death Row from San Quentin because it is no longer the optimal location for California’s condemned. The debate on prison overcrowding continues and is not likely to go away any time soon and while the media continues to overlook these issues and the politicians do their best to avoid them it looks like there is no solution coming anytime soon.





By: Ian Mate ]]> http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2008/12/the-california-state-prison-system/feed/ 0