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Virginia prison officials won’t divulge complaints about facility where inmate died
By Denise Lavoie and Sarah Rankin On August 9, 2023 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Department of Corrections, under scrutiny over the death of an inmate that raised broader questions about conditions at a southwest Virginia prison, is refusing to release public records documenting inmate complaints about the facility. Allegations that multiple inmates were treated for…
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Alabama Parole Board seat remains vacant with monthly release rate down to 4%
By Alexander Willis On August 7, 2023 MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The three-person Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles has had a vacant seat for more than a month, with the board’s monthly parole grant rate plummeting to just 4.1% in July, nearly 10 percentage points lower than in June. An Alabama Bureau of Pardons and…
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Massachusetts Is Poised to Make Communications Free for Incarcerated People
By Alex Burness On August 4, 2023 The reform would eliminate the exorbitant charges people face to keep in touch with loved ones in jail and prison, removing a heavy financial burden for thousands. Annalyse Gosselin would like a new coat. Hers is ripped, and its zipper doesn’t work anymore. She’d also like a new…
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Federal Judge Eyes a ‘Last Resort’ Fix for New York City’s Jails
By Beth Schwartapfel On August 5, 2023 Last month, a federal judge overseeing a court settlement seeking to make New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jails safer signaled that she is losing patience with the city’s corrections department. After years of dysfunction and disorder at the complex, Judge Laura Taylor Swain said she was beginning to question whether city officials “are capable of…
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5th Circuit panel strikes down Mississippi’s lifetime felony voting ban
By Bobby Harrison On August 4, 2023 A three-judge panel of the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down Mississippi’s lifetime ban on voting for people convicted of certain felonies, saying it is unconstitutional because it inflicts cruel and unusual punishment. In a 2-1 ruling released Friday, the panel sent the case back…
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North Carolina lawmakers override veto on bill limiting LGBTQ instruction in early grades
By Hannah Schoenbaum August 18, 2023 RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s Senate and House voted minutes apart Wednesday to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill limiting LGBTQ+ instruction in the early grades, immediately making it law. The law, which is expected to face a legal challenge, requires public school teachers in most circumstances to…
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Transgender and nonbinary patients have no regrets about top surgery, small study finds
By Jen Christensen On August 9, 2023 Some arguments in favor of laws that restrict gender-affirming care claim that patients may some day regret any irreversible or semi-irreversible part of their transition, but a small new study found that satisfaction with one such surgery is significant, even over the long term. The study, published Wednesday in the…
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Weight Loss Drug Cuts Risk of Heart Problems, Maker Says
By Benjamin Mueller On August 8, 2023 A clinical trial was the first to demonstrate that a new obesity drug could also improve patients’ heart health. A new obesity drug, Wegovy, slashed the risk of serious heart problems by 20 percent in a large trial, the drug’s maker said on Tuesday, a finding that could…
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China: UN experts demand information on nine imprisoned human rights defenders
On August 10, 2023 The experts sounded the alarm on the lack of information provided by Chinese authorities – deeming it a deliberate attempt to “make the world forget” about the individuals who are spending year after year in isolation. Between 2010 and 2019, nine environmental human rights defenders were arrested and imprisoned after they protested against allegedly illegal…
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