Maine Jail Frees Wrong Inmate
Maine authorities are currently searching for an inmate who was mistakenly released from a maximum-security jail. The confusion on Wednesday at the Cumberland County Jail was due to someone arriving to bail out twenty-year-old Ismail Mohamed Awad, whose bail was set at $240. A correctional officer reportedly asked for “Ismail” to be brought to the [...]
Supreme Court to Look at Life Sentences for Juveniles
The Supreme Court is deliberating on whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison with no chance of parole is cruel and unusual punishment. Their considerations are focused particularly on cases where the crime was a homicide. The cases, which were heard on Monday, involve two convicted men from Florida. They were sentenced to live [...]
Ohio Fails to Find Doctors to Provide Execution Advice
The state of Ohio is having a difficult time finding medical professionals who will provide advice on how to put condemned inmates to death. Richard Cordray, Attorney General, said in a court filing that professional and ethical considerations have stopped doctors from giving advice on lethal injection procedure. The executions pending in Ohio have been [...]
Court Examines Ohio’s Injection Procedures
The failed execution of the Ohio inmate has caused a tremendous stir in the nation’s justice and corrections system – his execution was halted after technicians spent two hours trying to find a usable vein. This unprecedented failure has spurred a court in Ohio to examine the injection procedures used, and Governer Ted Strickland has [...]
Illegal Sex in Prisons a Nationwide Problem
The secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections recently reported that they have established procedures to document and report cases of illegal sex in Kansas prisons, though it is a nationwide problem that has been going on for some time. Roger Werholtz, the Corrections Secretary, responded on Monday to a newspaper investigation that suggested several [...]