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Myanmar journalist jailed for 20 years for reporting on aftermath of storm
‘His sentencing is yet another indication that freedom of the press has been completely quashed under the military junta’s rule,’ says Myanmar Now editor-in-chief By Alisha Rahaman Sarkar On September 7, 2023 A military tribunal in Myanmar sentenced a photojournalist to 20 years in prison with hard labour for covering the destruction in the aftermath of a…
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With cash bail eliminated in Illinois, the Cook County Jail population shrinks
It’s one of the jail’s smallest populations in decades, but it could swell again as defendants deemed too risky to release remain locked up. By Chip Mitchell On October 11, 2023 The Cook County Jail population has dipped below 5,000 for only the second time in nearly four decades, a drop experts are linking to…
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Texas prison guards put inmate into potentially permanent coma
By Paul Flahive On October 10, 2023 Kiheem Grant attacked a guard, according to prison officials and was subsequently beaten so bad he has yet to wake up. His mother wants to know why. Thirteen were fired or resigned in the aftermath. Get TPR’s best stories of the day and a jump start to the…
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Prisoners Say New Jersey’s Alternative To Solitary Confinement Is Pretty Much The Same
Progressives celebrated a 2019 law meant to reform solitary confinement. But the state’s Department of Corrections doesn’t seem to be following it. By Christopher Blackwell & Nina Zweig On October 7, 2023 This story is part of the Inside/Out Journalism Project by Type Investigations, which works with incarcerated reporters to produce ambitious, feature-length investigations, with support from…
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Inmate Deaths Raise Questions About Temperatures in Oklahoma Prisons
By Keaton Ross On October 5, 2023 During the early morning count on Saturday, Aug. 26, state corrections officers found Vincent Willis dead in his cell at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy. The 59-year-old prisoner died overnight in his sleep, according to an offender death report obtained through the Oklahoma Open Records Act.…
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What’s behind a surge of deaths at one Ohio jail?
Montgomery county jail’s population is only 600 people – and all seven deaths happened within days of entering the facility, during pre-trial detention By Stephen Starr On October 5, 2023 Days after Steven Blackshear was booked into Montgomery county jail in downtown Dayton, Ohio, in January, a nurse found him shaking, in a fetal position and…
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US prisons rife with human rights abuses, especially against Black people, UN says
By Hassan Kanu On October 4, 2023 A U.N.-appointed panel issued a report last week documenting “shocking” violations of basic human rights and pointing to “staggering” racial disparities that place the U.S. criminal justice system in a singular category on the world stage. Practices that are routine in U.S. prisons, like shackling women during childbirth and unpaid forced…
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WA Prisons Clear All Guards to Carry Narcan. Not All Intend to Do So.
By Jonathan Kirkpatrick On October 4, 2023 Washington State Department of Corrections (WDOC) staff are now permitted to carry Narcan while on duty. Though the change is not reflected in WDOC’s emergency medical treatment policy, some corrections officers (COs) have been carrying the opioid overdose antidote since at least September. Narcan is still not available to…
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Pennsylvania Solitary Unit Pushes People to Suicide, Lawsuit Alleges
Within months of entering the Security Threat Group Management Unit at SCI Fayette, one man says he smeared, “Kill me, I’m ready to go,” on the cell in his own blood. By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg On October 3, 2023 When T. Montana Bell arrived at SCI Fayette, a Pennsylvania state prison, he says he stepped off…
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