The Center for Media and Democracy’s ( http://www.prwatch.org/ ) “ALEC Exposed” page contains an eye-opening roster of how bad prison and juvenile justice legislation took off like wildfire around the country beginning in the 1980s. The Center obtained more than 800 pieces of “model legislation” circulated to lawmakers by the secretive, corporate/lobby-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), including many concerning prison and juvenile justice policy. Those interested in laws…
San Francisco’s Executive Committee of the Community Corrections Partnership has been devising a plan for realignment and presented their model for implementation to the Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety Committee at a public hearing yesterday at City Hall. California’s Criminal Justice Realignment Bill (A.B. 109) was approved on April 4, 2011 and is set to take effect October 1, 2011. Their plan focuses on collaboration between agencies in order to best serve the new population of inmates…
I recently read an article in Yes Magazine’s “Beyond Prisons ” issue entitled, “Recipes for Recovery,” highlighting San Francisco’s own Delancey Street Foundation . Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Delancey Street is a program unlike any other– a reentry center for ex-prisoners and addicts, where the residents run the day-to-day, from housing, therapy sessions, businesses, such as their moving company and restaurant. I first learned about Delancey Street four years ago, when I…
Blog Jul 14, 2011
New report, same problems: DJF’s prolonged progress
Last week, just prior to the Farrell hearing, the Office of the Special Master released the 18th report documenting DJF’s efforts to comply with the remedial plans’ minimum standards of care. It covers the following: “¢ Ventura Youth Correctional Facility (VYCF) audit “¢ Sexual Behavior Treatment Program (SBTP ) update “¢ Integrated Behavioral Treatment Model (IBTM) “¢ ‘Use-of-force’ report “¢ Closure of Preston Youth Correctional Facility In her report, Special Master Campbell…
I have been around long enough to remember the OJ Simpson trial and many other trials that fall under the category of what Samuel Walker calls “celebrated cases.” These are those rare cases that exceed normalcy, largely because of the nature of the offense (one recent example is the kidnapping of 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard by Phillip Garrido who was held prisoner for 18 years) and often because of the celebrity status of those involved. Another thing many of these kinds of cases have in…