Read the revised CFR details here:

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-9373.pdf

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/Prisoners_Win_Right_to_Work_as_Reporters_100427

Prisoners Win Right to Work as Reporters
Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Inmates in federal penitentiaries will now be able to publish articles with bylines in magazines and newspapers, following a court-ordered change in Federal Bureau of Prisons’ regulations.

Three years ago, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the bureau’s policy of disallowing prisoners from being published. Federal prison officials insisted the ban was for the good of inmates, who might endure retaliation from other prisoners for the stories. But an appellate judge ruled the restriction limited inmates’ free speech.   The Bureau of Prisons did not officially change its regulations affecting prisoners and publishing until just recently.   The legal case was brought by Mark Jordan, who was punished by prison officials for publishing articles in “Off!” magazine in 2001. Jordan was originally imprisoned for a bank robbery committed in 1994, when he was 18 years old. In 1999, he was convicted of stabbing a prisoner to death.   Jordan was aided in his freedom of speech legal appeals by a team of law students from the Universityof Denver. -Noel Brinkerhoff

http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/04/26/26703.htm

Inmate Wins Right to Write from Prison

By TRAVIS SANFORD 
WASHINGTON (CN) – Three years after the 10th Circuit struck down Bureau of Prisons regulations prohibiting federal inmates from working as reporters or publishing under a byline, the Bureau has removed the offending language from the Code of Federal Regulations.

In 2001, convicted murderer Mark Jordan published two articles in “Off!” magazine, for which officials at the federal “supermax” prison in Florence, Colo. punished him by taking away his TV viewing and commissary privileges for 180 days.

Acting pro se, with free assistance from local law students, Jordan took his case to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, where U.S. District Judge Marcia S. Krieger ruled that the byline prohibition could have a chilling effect on the speech of federal inmates, as the only way they could avoid punishment was not to publish, even under a pseudonym – as Jordan had done for his second article.

Krieger found that the prohibition would also have a chilling effect on news organizations, because many would not publish articles without a byline. Journalists hold that attribution helps the reading public evaluate the credibility of the information in an article.

The Bureau of Prisons argued that inmates who published under a byline jeopardized security, by creating a threat to themselves if other inmates didn’t like what they wrote, or through establishing celebrity status, by which an inmate exert influence over other prisoners or prison officials.

 The Bureau of Prisons did not appeal Judge Krieger’s decision.

The post The Freedom to Write appeared first on Prison News Blog.

Check out: http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/990

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34p0YiSp8g&feature=player_embedded

What it’s about:

1. Alienation of people: We are creating refugees amongst our own people. Inmates come back not feeling like they are part of their own community; not knowing “we the people” means them too.

2. Break up of families: unreasonable prison policies and a culture of oppression is further tarring up families and communities. How can this system support fathers in taking responsibility?

3. Transparency in government: We are turning one group of people to another (great majority of inmates are minorities) With Media barred from facilities and no independent oversight there is no accountability in Massachusetts DOC. Why isn’t media allowed in? If they want to investigate abuses and mismanagement why are they are constantly denied access.

4. President’s Leadership needed: How can President go and see Guantanamo Bay but doesn’t look into his own prisons? Can he assume that everything is right here? How come he can address schools, Middle Eastern countries, but will not address prisons?

5. System accountability: Every prison is different; there is no “system.” So who is responsible for outcome? Each State should be accountable about its prison system to the President. Focus on one place at a time. Find what’s wrong in MA to pass it on to another institution.

http://obamaanswerthis.com/

The post President Obama… Answer This appeared first on Prison News Blog.

I was touched by this story in multiple ways: as the wife of a long-term prisoner, as the mother of a soldier being deployed to Iraq in weeks, as a nurse, and as a dog lover.

Please take a moment to look at the story posted below and watch the videos to see the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritutal rehabilitative benefits achieved for all participants through this very worthy program. It is a beautfiul story of love and redemption and rehabilitation.

There is much more to be gained by implementing positive programs like this in our prisons- in which hope, freedom, and rehabilitation become the tri-part outcome – than there is in implementing longer, more punitive prison terms.  We need prison reform like this.

 Check it out  – (from Oprah’s web site  – thanks Oprah!) :

Watch an emotional Puppies Behind Bars reunion.  

Go inside a training session.  

Where do these service dogs get their start? For some, it all begins behind prison walls…

Now, a groundbreaking program called Puppies Behind Bars is transforming these offenders. Inmates are given 8-week-old puppies and taught to train them to become service dogs for the disabled, including wounded soldiers. The puppies and prisoners are together 24 hours a day. The puppies sleep in crates in the inmates’ cells.

In return, the puppies give the prisoners something many of them have never experienced before—unconditional love. “I’m going to make my family and those around me proud of me again. Joining this program, it helped me to give myself a sense of pride again. To know that by nurturing and raising these dogs to their fullest potential, that I could give back.”

“We know the bond that can be created between humans and animals. And there is common knowledge that it’s a healing quality,” she says. “The bond that’s created between inmates—who never knew love, never knew responsibility, have only been told that they’re worthless—and the bond that they then train their dogs to establish with these wounded returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan is changing their lives.”

Roberto was chosen for Puppies Behind Bars and immediately bonded with his yellow lab, Frankie. “From the moment I got her, it was amazing,” he says. “There was some beautiful moments in here that I shared with my puppy.”

Eventually, Frankie had to move on—and Roberto had to say goodbye. “The first night I was without Frankie, I have to say it was a long night,” he says. “It was hard for me to realize that the next morning I was going to wake up and not actually feed her that morning.”

After a few months together, Sgt. Hill and Frankie return to Fishkill to meet Roberto. When Frankie sees Roberto, she takes off running. “She looks beautiful,” Roberto says.

Roberto is moved. “This is an overwhelming feeling, and to see you is breathtaking,” he says. “And to see what Frankie had done in your life.”

Now paroled, Roberto is expected to be released from prison this summer, but what he learned from Puppies Behind Bars will stay with him forever. “Being able to be involved in the puppy program has taught me to be a responsible person,” he says. “It has taught me patience.”

Gina says she’s starting to see her husband’s playful, energetic side come through once again. “We’re starting to see that side of him again that we haven’t seen in the year and a half he’s been home from Iraq,” she says. “Frankie has brought my sons their daddy home. She has lit the light back in him that had been so dark.”

Related Resources

From The Oprah Winfrey Show Amazing Animals

The post Puppies Behind Bars program appeared first on Prison News Blog.

 Re: Michael G. Santos, #16377-004

Dear President Obama:

I write this letter in support of the Petition for Commutation of Sentence submitted by my husband, Michael G. Santos, federal registration number 16377-004.

President Obama, you will find no better candidate deserving of a Presidential commutation.  Michael lives as an extraordinary example of leadership, of hope, and of accomplishment despite the adversity and obstacles erected by the prison system. Michael deserves to have his petition granted. He is well prepared to lead a law-abiding, contributing life as a taxpaying citizen.

Michael has been imprisoned since 1987. During the past 21-plus years of his confinement, he has built an extraordinary record of accomplishments that is unmatched by any other prison inmate. He educated himself, earning both undergraduate and graduate degrees. He is a respected contributor to academia, and a published author of six books describing prisons, the people they hold, and strategies for growing through confinement. Michael writes about the need for those who are in prison to accept responsibility, to make amends with society, and to earn their freedom by preparing for a contributing, law-abiding life upon re-entry to society.

Michael is a different man today than he was in 1987. His commitment to values, to discipline, and his efforts to grow into the best human being possible motivate and inspire those around him as well as those who study his work. With determination and discipline, his commitment to contribute to society-despite two decades of confinement in prison-is evident in everything he thinks, everything he says, and everything he does. Michael receives hundreds of letters and electronic messages from university students, leaders in business, leaders in society, academic scholars, citizens of America, and citizens of the world that are written in support of his efforts to earn his release from prison.

Michael is now 45-years old. He embodies the concept of rehabilitation in tangible ,extraordinary, and incomparable ways. He is no longer a reckless twenty-two-year old. In me, he has a loving, supportive wife. His family has remained by his side throughout his imprisonment, and the expansive network of academic, professional, and community support he continues to attract during his confinement includes solid offers for employment upon his release. We all will be there to assist him upon his release.

What benefit to society and to taxpayers is achieved by Michael’s continued confinement? Please grant my husband a Presidential commutation so that he may come home now.

Yours truly,

Carole Santos

The post An Open Letter to President Obama from a Prison Wife appeared first on Prison News Blog.

In late March, Michael submitted an updated petition for commutation of sentence to the US Pardon Attorney. His petition has been on file since 2003, but this is the first action he is aware of since filing it six years ago.

Now we know that someone in the US Pardon Attorney’s office is looking at Michael’s petition. As Michael’s wife, it’s hard not to feel hopeful at this development. I want him to come home. For more than 21 years, Michael has consistently produced extraordinary achievements from prison.  He has earned his freedom in every way it is possible to measure such an accomplishment.  

President Obama could find no better candidate who is deserving of a Presidential commutation. Michael lives as an extraordinary example of leadership and hope and accomplishment despite the adversity and obstacles erected by the prison system. Michael deserves to have his petition granted. 

With this newest development, if you support Michael’s efforts to earn his freedom, please contact the US Pardon Attorney’s office by letter or by email and voice your support for Michael’s immediate release. Letters advocating a Presidential commutation for Michael should be directed to the President of the United States and mailed to the Office of the Pardon Attorney.

Letters must reference Michael’s full name (Michael G. Santos) and registration number (16377-004). The following example can be used as a guide for beginning a letter.

Date:

Re: Inmate Michael G. Santos #16377-004

Petition for Commutation of Sentence

Dear President Obama:

(body of letter follows)

Phone: (202) 616-6070

E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Thank you for your support!

The post Action on Michael’s Petition for Commutation appeared first on Prison News Blog.

America has too many people languishing in prisons for too many years, causing social and financial consequences that are destructive and wasteful.

 ****** Read Senator Webb’s Message to American Citizens****** 

http://webb.senate.gov/email/criminaljusticereform.html

The National Criminal Justice Act of 2009 that I introduced in the Senate on March 26, 2009 will create a blue-ribbon commission to look at every aspect of our criminal justice system with an eye toward reshaping the process from top to bottom. I believe that it is time to bring together the best minds in America to confer, report, and make concrete recommendations about how we can reform the process.

Why We Urgently Need this Legislation:

    * With 5% of the world’s population, our country now houses 25% of the world’s reported prisoners.

    * Incarcerated drug offenders have soared 1200% since 1980.

    * Four times as many mentally ill people are in prisons than in mental health hospitals.

    * Approximately 1 million gang members reside in the U.S., many of them foreign-based; and Mexican cartels operate in 230+ communities across the country.

Post-incarceration re-entry programs are haphazard and often nonexistent, undermining public safety and making it extremely difficult for ex-offenders to become full, contributing members of society. 

America’s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation’s prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives.

We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration. 

The post Senator Jim Webb Brings a Voice to Prison Reform appeared first on Prison News Blog.