Beware Visiting Girls At Harvard University. Can Lead to Jail

Owen Labrie was taken into custody today (pictured Friday) to begin serving a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old classmate.

[From article]
A New Hampshire prep school graduate who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old classmate was led from court in handcuffs on Friday, after he admitted violating his bail agreement by missing curfew.
Owen Labrie was sentenced to a year in jail by a judge in Merrimack County Superior Court - after authorities became aware he had been breaking his curfew by visiting his girlfriend at Harvard for brunch - among other activities.
Labrie was caught out when he bumped into a journalist on the train and told her about his life after being convicted.
After finding him in violation of the curfew, Judge Larry Smukler scolded the 20-year-old before having him taken into custody.
'There have been credibility issues throughout this trial.
'You are unlikely to abide by any conditions. I don't relax conditions because you can't comply with them.'
'Since that's the way you're going to consider these conditions I am making the finding and I think I'll leave it at that. So be it. 'Judge Smukler said Friday just before Labrie was led out of court in cuffs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3499393/Prep-school-student-convicted-sexual-assault-jailed-YEAR-breaking-curfew-eight-times-brunching-girlfriend-Harvard.html

Prep school sex-assault student is led away in cuffs as he's jailed for a YEAR after breaking his curfew by 'brunching with his girlfriend at Harvard'
Owen Labrie was cuffed and taken into custody for violating 5pm-to-8am curfew 8 times since being convicted of sexual misconduct last October
On February 29, a reporter spoke with him while he was returning from a date with his girlfriend at Harvard and he said he was rushing home for 5
In court papers Monday, the prosecutor asked that his bail be revoked
Labrie's attorney Jaye Rancourt wrote in response that her client was meeting with his legal team and 'pursuing educational endeavors'
On Friday the judge says while revoking bail, 'I don't relax conditions because you can't comply with them'
He has been living with his mother in Tunbridge, Vermont
By CHRIS SPARGO FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and SNEJANA FARBEROV FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and KALHAN ROSENBLATT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 15:31 EST, 18 March 2016 | UPDATED: 17:24 EST, 18 March 2016

White House Continues To Give Away The Store To Iran

[From article]
The deal led to the release of four Americans being held in Iran: Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian as well as Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, the official said.
While an official confirmed Obama issued seven grants of clemency in the deal with the Iranians, spokespeople at the Justice Department and the White House did not immediately release the names of those spared in the U.S. legal system.
However, Iran’s Fars news agency released seven names, which correspond with U.S. court records on pending or recent cases.
Obama appeared to have granted rare, pre-trial pardons to three men awaiting trial in Houston for violating U.S. export laws by shipping high-tech equipment to Iran: Bahram Mechanic and Tooraj Faridi of Houston and Khosrow Afghahi of Los Angeles.
On Saturday, prosecutors moved to drop charges against Matin Sadeghi, a fugitive in the same case who was being sought in a wanted poster available on the FBI website. A court filing said the move was undertaken “based on significant foreign policy interests of the United States.” Until Saturday, Obama had never granted a pre-trial pardon to anyone, nor had his predecessor, President George W. Bush.

[. . .]

Three people already serving prison time appeared to have had their sentences cut short through the president's commutation power Saturday: Arash Ghahreman of New York, serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence for planning to send fiber optic gyroscopes and electron tube to Iran and due for release in 2020; Nader Modanlo of Potomac, Md., serving an eight-year sentence for providing satellite services to Iran and due for release in 2021 and Ali Saboonchi of Parkville, Md., serving a two-year sentence for providing high-tech industrial parts to Iran and due for release in November of this year.
Prosecutors in San Diego also moved Saturday to dismiss charges against another individual charged in the same case as Ghahreman, Koorush Taherkhani, as well as a company, TIG Marine Engineering Services. Prosecutors called Taherkhani and the company “fugitives.”
[. . .]

"The United States also removed any Interpol red notices and dismissed any charges against 14 Iranians for whom it was assessed that extradition requests were unlikely to be successful," the official said.
A hacker who admitted to breaking into the computers of a Vermont-based engineering firm also was on the list of those winning clemency from Obama in the Iran deal. Nima Golestaneh was extradited from Turkey to the United States in February to face the charges in federal court in Burlington, Vt.
Just last month, Golestaneh pled guilty to wire fraud and unauthorized access to computers. He was awaiting sentencing next month. Now, that sentencing will apparently not take place, but as of mid-afternoon Saturday there was no indication in the court’s docket of any action by Obama or the Justice Department.

[. . .]

And in 2010, the U.S. and Russia brokered a prisoner swap that led to 10 people charged with acting as agents for Russia being given unusually short sentences of "time served." They were immediately flown to Vienna and exchanged for four people being held in Russian jails.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/01/iran-deal-obama-grants-clemency-to-seven-217879

Obama grants clemency to seven in Iran deal
By Josh Gerstein
01/16/16 03:38 PM EST

Social Worker At Immigrant Detention Facility Says It Is Like Jail And Like Torture

Silvia Lopez, Social Worker

[From article]
She described a facility where guards isolated mothers and children in medical units, nurses falsified medical reports, staff members were told to lie to federal officials and a psychologist acted as an informant for federal agents.
[. . .]
The facility is operated by the nation’s second-largest for-profit prison company, Boca Raton, Fla.,-based GEO Group, and overseen by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
López’s story is a troubling counter narrative to the accounts given by federal officials and company representatives who describe the facility as a safe and comfortable place where mothers and children can stay during their asylum proceedings.
[. . .]
But López said nothing changes the fact that the children were locked up and under the threat of being deported at any moment.
[. . .]
Her masters’ thesis looked at the living conditions of immigrants. Her dissertation for her Ph.D. focused on immigrant women and health.
She was not naive to the mothers’ immigration status. She knew many would be deported, but López felt she could make a positive difference by helping them with the transition either back home or into the United States.
It was not her expertise that company officials sought, she said. They hired her to help give the appearance of a well-supported medical unit, she said.
[. . .]
López said she quit in April because she could no longer work in a facility that asked her to withhold information from federal officials, punished residents who required medical treatment and required her to follow policies that she said were in violation of her license.
“What is happening there is tantamount to torture,” she said.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article28696174.html

JULY 27, 2015
Exclusive: Family detention social worker speaks out
BY FRANCO ORDOÑEZ
fordonez (at) mcclatchydc.com

Ill Mother of Eight Dies in Mount Vernon, NY Court Holding Cell, After Visit To Prison Hospital

[From article]
someone within the DA’s office advised him that sometime between Turner’s arrest and Monday morning, she complained of being ill and was taken to Mount Vernon Hospital — across the street from the holding cell — for treatment before being returned to custody.
A law enforcement official confirmed that the victim had spent time at the hospital before being returned to custody.
The source was unable to provide a detailed chronology of what happened, but noted that the victim once again became ill early Monday, delaying her expected appearance in court that day — and that she was later found dead in her cell.
“Right now, it doesn’t appear to be criminal, but rather someone who got sick and then died,” said the official.
Gonzalez suggested that officials could have done much more to address Turner’s health issues and were aware that she was in distress before she died.
He added that on Monday, Turner’s husband, Harold, appeared in court for his wife’s expected arraignment and was told by a woman court worker, “Your wife is not feeling well. She needs to see a doctor.”
The court worker, who was employed by Pre-Trial Services, advised the husband that the agency would recommend to the judge that Turner be released on her own recognizance so she could consult with a doctor, Gonzalez said

http://nypost.com/2015/07/28/jailed-mom-found-dead-in-cell-under-mysterious-circumstances/

Jailed mom of 8 found dead in cell
By Philip Messing
New York Post
July 28, 2015 | 3:51pm

Frisky Florida Couple Punished For Public Sex

Frisky Florida couple, Jose Caballero, 40, and 21-year-old Elissa Alvarez, punished for public beach performance.

[From article]
A man convicted of having sex on a public beach in Florida in front of a child was sentenced on Monday to 2½ years in prison, a state prosecutor said.
Jose Caballero, 40, was arrested in Bradenton Beach in west central Florida last July after other beachgoers complained that he was fondling and starting to have sexual intercourse with a woman on the beach in the middle of the afternoon.
A 4-year-old child saw the activity, which was videotaped by a witness, a police report said. When her mother asked him to stop, Caballero responded confrontationally, which factored into the sentence requested, said Assistant State Attorney Anthony Dafonseca.
[. . .]
Caballero, who previously served about eight years in prison for cocaine trafficking, faced as much as 15 years in prison. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Both he and the woman involved, 21-year-old Elissa Alvarez, were found guilty of lewd or lascivious exhibition in front of a child, a second-degree felony. Both must register as sex offenders.

http://nypost.com/2015/07/07/man-sentenced-to-2-5-years-in-prison-for-having-sex-on-beach/

Man sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for having sex on beach
By Reuters
July 7, 2015 | 12:43pm

New York Post

NYC Man, 22, Held Without Trial For Three Years in NYC Kills Himself

Kalief Browder, 22, Took His Own Life After Being Held Three Years Without Trial In Rikers Island, NYC Jail

[From article]
In May 2010, 10 days before Kalief’s 17th birthday, he and a friend were arrested after a man accused them of stealing his backpack and Kalief of striking him in the face, which led to Kalief being charged with robbery, grand larceny and assault.
His friend was not held behind bars. Although Kalief insisted he’d done nothing wrong, a judge set his bail at $3,000, a sum his parents were unable to raise, because he was on probation. After his indictment, another judge ordered him held without bail because of his probationary status. He was locked up in the vast city jail on Rikers Island — for three years — awaiting a trial that never came.
He was held in solitary confinement for about two years, punishment for fighting and other infractions, his lawyer Paul Prestia told me.
A security video from inside Rikers showed him being slammed to the ground and pummeled by a correction officer as his hands were cuffed behind his back. Another showed him being beaten by about 10 teen inmates.
[. . .]
A prosecutor offered him a deal allowing him to plead guilty to felonies in exchange for a sentence of 3½ years in prison, then 2 ½.
Then a judge offered to let him plead guilty to two misdemeanors and go free immediately.
In each case, he refused. He wanted to stand trial.
Then by 2013, the guy who’d accused Kalief and his pal of robbing him had returned to Mexico and could not be located by authorities.
Charges were dropped. Kalief was sent home.
But he never really was free.

http://nypost.com/2015/06/11/the-tragedy-of-kalief-browder-must-never-happen-again/

The tragedy of Kalief Browder must never happen again
By Andrea Peyser
New York Post
June 11, 2015 | 11:19pm

Rikers Island (NYC) Inmate Saves Guard From Rape By Fellow Convict

[From article]
A skinny inmate slipped inside the so-called “A station” bubble through the small crack and opened the security door. A team of inmates then took down the assailant, Raleek Young, 27, until other officers arrived.
During the attack, Young, who is 5-foot-9 and weighs 290 pounds, pulled down his pants and began masturbating while choking the officer, court records show.
He dragged the officer into an adjacent bathroom and blocked her from opening the security door.
[. . .]
The majority of the attack was caught on video, a source who watched the tape said.
[. . .]
“There must be accountability,” Seabrook fumed Monday. “Officers are assaulted every day, and (Bronx DA Robert Johnson) has the audacity to say, ‘Not today, bring him back at another time.’ I will not tolerate it. I will not stand for it.”
Young was arraigned Monday in Bronx Criminal Court. He is facing a slew of new charges, including: attempted rape, sexual abuse, forcible touching, and assault and harassment.
The criminal complaint says Young ripped off the correction officer’s sweater and “placed his lips on her mouth and about her face.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/exclusive-rikers-island-inmates-save-prison-guard-rape-article-1.2135187

EXCLUSIVE: Rikers Island inmates save prison guard from rape by fellow convict
BY REUVEN BLAU 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 2:30 AM

NJ Police Force Woman In Custody To Pee On Floor Of Cell, Laugh At Her

[From article]
A New Jersey woman settled with police for $180,000 over a lawsuit alleging officers laughed while they forced her to urinate on the floor of a jail cell, documents showed.
Rosa Badalamenti, of Brooklawn, sued Westville and two of its officers back in 2011, claiming police would not allow her to use the bathroom after a March 2010 arrest, forcing her to drop her pants and pee in the cell.
Officers claimed that Badalamenti had been handcuffed to a bench for the officers' safety after entering the station yelling and screaming.
[. . .]
According to court documents, Badalamenti admitted she was intoxicated that night in 2010, having had two to four drinks in about an hour while at Schileen's Pub, a 10-minute walk from her home.
After stepping out for a cigarette, she approached officers making a traffic stop outside the bar and said she 'stood there' asking what was going on while Officer Michael DeNick told her repeatedly to leave, documents noted.
[. . .]
Badalamenti was arrested, and left with bruises on her chest, wrists and arms. In the patrol car she repeatedly said she needed to use the bathroom, the lawsuit stated.
At the station, she said she repeated her request to use the bathroom, and was told she could 'as soon as she gave [police] her name,' documents stated.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3086666/New-Jersey-woman-receives-180-000-settlement-lawsuit-alleging-officers-laughed-forcing-pee-floor-jail-cell.html

Woman 'forced to drop her pants and pee on the floor of jail cell by laughing officers' receives $180,000 compensation
Rosa Badalamenti claimed Westville officers ignored requests to use the bathroom and told her to urinate on the cell floor during a 2010 arrest
She sued in 2011, claiming officers laughed at her during the incident
Officers claimed Badalamenti was screaming and denied telling her to pee in the cell
By PETE D'AMATO FOR DAILY MAIL ONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:41 EST, 18 May 2015 | UPDATED: 13:31 EST, 18 May 2015

Updated: Eleven Atlanta Educators Jailed For Test Cheating For Bonuses, Eight Sentenced To Prison

Posted April 2, 2015 6:22 PM ET; Last Updated April 14, 2015 9:13 PM ET


Former Deerwood Academy assistant principal Tabeeka Jordan, center, is led to a holding cell after a jury found her guilty in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating trial, Wednesday, April 1, 2015, in Atlanta. Jordan and 10 other former Atlanta Public Schools educators accused of participating in a test cheating conspiracy that drew nationwide attention were convicted Wednesday of racketeering charges. 

(AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kent D. Johnson, Pool)


[From article]

Eight former Atlanta public school educators were ordered on Tuesday to serve between one and seven years in prison for their convictions on racketeering charges in one of the nation's largest test-cheating scandals.
The lengthy prison sentences, unusual for educators, contrasted to the treatment of two defendants in the case also found guilty by a jury this month. Both accepted responsibility under a deal with prosecutors that spared them significant time behind bars.
[. . .]
"There were thousands of children that were harmed in this thing," Baxter said during a rancorous hearing.
"It’s like the sickest thing that's ever happened to this town," he later said of the scandal that raised national alarm about high-stakes testing.
[. . .]
Erasing wrong answers was part of the cheating by the educators under pressure to meet test targets, prosecutors said during a nearly six-month trial.
Student achievement helped the former principals, teachers and administrators to secure promotions and cash bonuses.
A Georgia grand jury in 2013 roiled the community by indicting 35 Atlanta educators, including former school Superintendent Beverly Hall, on conspiracy and other charges.
[. . .]
While cheating has been reported in 40 states and Washington, D.C., in recent years, educators do not usually serve prison time,

http://news.yahoo.com/pleas-mulled-former-atlanta-educators-test-cheating-scandal-120733406.html;_ylt=AwrBJR8ROi1VG0YAVUTQtDMD

Prison sentences for eight former Atlanta educators in test-cheating scandal
By David Beasley
April 14, 2015

* * *

[From article]
A group of former Atlanta educators convicted in a test cheating scandal were locked up in jail Thursday as they await sentences that could send them to prison for years.
In one of the nation's largest cheating scandals of its kind, the 11 defendants were convicted Wednesday of racketeering for their roles in a scheme to inflate students' scores on standardized exams.
They include teachers, a principal and other administrators, who were accused of falsifying test results to collect bonuses or keep their jobs in the 50,000-student Atlanta public school system. A 12th defendant, a teacher, was acquitted of all charges by the jury.
The racketeering charges carry up to 20 years in prison. The convicted former educators are set to be sentenced later this month.
"This is a huge story and absolutely the biggest development in American education law since forever," University of Georgia law professor Ron Carlson said. "It has to send a message to educators here and broadly across the nation. Playing with student test scores is very, very dangerous business."
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/58447a404ff34413be536de642a38a99/former-atlanta-educators-jailed-test-cheating-scandal

Former Atlanta educators jailed in test cheating scandal
By KATE BRUMBACK
Apr. 2, 2015 12:21 PM EDT

Oregon Man held in Jail 900 Days, Did Not Commit A Crime

A Washington County Jail inmate walks around an enclosed rec area in his unit. Benito Vasquez-Hernandez, who is housed in general population, has access to a similar space during the day. 

Photo: Benjamin Brink/Staff

[From article]

At 897 days and counting, the 58-year-old may be the longest-held material witness in Oregon and perhaps the nation. He's waiting to testify in a murder case.
Legal experts are aware of no other witness jailed for so long. While no one appears to systematically track such cases, a law professor recalls only one similar instance - more than a century ago, in California.
In Oregon, a judge can keep material witnesses in custody until they testify, or release them pending trial. Under state law, material witness holds have no expiration, but detention typically lasts less than a week.
Civil rights advocates say a witness should never be locked up for long - certainly not more than two years. But it's not only the extraordinary length of Vasquez-Hernandez's imprisonment that disturbs them.
It's also his staggering disadvantages. He's poor. He's had no formal education and can't read or write. He's an immigrant who doesn't understand the American justice system. He's had no contact with his family.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/03/oregon_man_commits_no_crime_bu.html

Oregon man commits no crime, but held in jail for 900 days
By Emily E. Smith

The Oregonian/OregonLive
on March 12, 2015 at 12:18 PM, updated March 13, 2015 at 5:34 PM

NY Rikers Island Officers Seek Protection From Inmates, Whose Lawsuit Says Guards Poisoned Them

[From article]
Some 50 members of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association — including its president Norman Seabrook — blasted the city’s jails commissioner for not doing enough to protect rank-and-file workers.
Correction officers in full uniform stood behind the coffin to show what could happen if Correction Commissioner Joe Ponte doesn’t address safety concerns in city jails.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/09/correction-officers-someone-is-going-to-die-at-rikers/

Correction officers: ‘Someone is going to die’ at Rikers
By Michael Gartland
New York Post
March 9, 2015 | 4:19am

* * *



[From article]
A group of Rikers Island inmates say seething guards purposefully spiked their meatloaf with rat poison , possibly to avenge the attempted rape of a female jail guard last wee k .
The 19 prisoners allege in a new Brooklyn federal lawsuit that they fell violently ill after being served meals in their housing unit on March 3 during a three-day lockdown stemming from the attempted sex assault, court papers state.
[. . .]
“Some of the inmates kept the food as evidence,” she told the Post Monday. “I personally saw what looked like blue pellets – especially in the meatloaf – that are consistent with rat poison.”
Squillace said that a prisoner is usually assigned to assist Rikers staff in preparing and distributing meals. But that inmate – Ellis Wilson – claims he was suspiciously barred from taking part in the process on the day of the incident.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/09/rikers-guards-poisoned-inmates-meatloaf-out-of-revenge-suit/

Rikers guards poisoned inmates’ meatloaf ‘out of revenge': suit
By Selim Algar
New York Post
March 9, 2015 | 5:12pm

Ohio Court Judge Avoids Jail During Appeal

Suspended juvenile court Judge Tracie Hunter
(Photo: Enquirer file/Liz Dufour)

[From article]
Singleton filed an emergency request asking the court to postpone or suspend her jail sentence. A Hamilton County judge and the First District Court of Appeals already denied the request.
Earlier this month, Hunter was sentenced to spend six months in jail after being convicted of having an unlawful interest in a public contract.
Singleton said the Ohio Supreme Court's decision sets the appeals process in motion. He said the conviction appeal could take one year to be complete and legal briefs could be due in the spring.
Three jurors have recanted their guilty verdict since the trial, which Hunter supporters have used as fuel to question the process used to convict her.
[. . .]
Just before the early December sentencing hearing, Croswell and fellow Special Prosecutor Merlyn Shiverdecker wrote to Judge Norbert Nadel that "If Tracie Hunter does not receive sufficient punishment, it will only confirm to the community what Tracie Hunter believes; she is above the law and for whatever reason, is allowed to play by a different set of rules than the rest of us."
[. . .]
Hunter, 48, was convicted in October of interfering with the firing of her brother, juvenile court worker Stephen Hunter, after he punched a teen inmate in the face. She was convicted for using her position as a judge to obtain documents regarding the medical and mental history of the teen inmate punched in the face by her brother. He later used those documents, which are supposed to be protected by privacy laws, to try to save his job.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/12/26/supreme-court-rules-tracie-hunter/20918031/

Ohio Supreme Court: Tracie Hunter can avoid jail for now
Bowdeya Tweh, btweh (at) enquirer.com
10:24 a.m. EST December 27, 2014

CA Woman Lawyer Banned From Jail For Allegations of Sex With Her Client

Banned: Amber Lunsford has been banned from a county jail in California after allegedly engaging in a sexual encounter with one of her clients. She is accused of sitting on the man's lap while he put his hand up her skirt.


Show the video.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2874610/Lawyer-banned-visiting-clients-jail-caught-engaging-sexual-encounter-inmate.html

Lawyer banned from visiting clients' jail after 'she was caught sitting on inmate's lap with his hand up her skirt'
Amber Lunsford allegedly sat on client's lap with his hand up her skirt
She has now been banned from Stanislaus County jail in California
Lunsford says she is victim of smear campaign after making a complaint
By Mia De Graaf for MailOnline
Published: 10:24 EST, 15 December 2014 | Updated: 16:35 EST, 15 December 2014
* * *

[From article]
A deputy alleges he saw Lunsford sitting on an inmate’s lap with her hand down his jumpsuit and his hand up her skirt while she was meeting with him regarding a pending case.
“We believe that there’s been a false police report prepared, we have not seen the police report so we don’t know what lies have been told,” said Lunsford’s attorney, Mary Lynn Belsher.
[. . .]
Belsher says the sheriff’s department is trying to make her client look bad because Lunsford filed a court order against the department involving recently implemented jail restrictions that she says violates her client’s rights.
“It had to do with deprivation of health care, deprivation of proper writing utensils like paper and pencils for the inmates and the fact the inmates were being denied the opportunity to have access to their discovery delivered by the attorney so they could prepare and know what was going on in their cases,” said Belsher.
The sheriff’s department has now revoked Lunsford’s access to any of her clients at the jail.
“I think they are trying to gain an unfair advantage in court by disparaging her reputation before the court,” said Belsher.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/12/14/lawyer-allegedly-caught-during-sexual-encounter-with-jail-inmate-fires-back/

Lawyer Allegedly Caught During Sexual Encounter With Jailed Inmate Fires Back

December 14, 2014 11:19 PM
CBS News Sacramento CA
Anjali Hemphill

CA Democratic State Senator Jailed for Perjury

CA Democratic State Senator Roderick Wright 

[From article]
Democratic State Senator Roderick Wright was sentenced on Friday to 90 days in jail, three years of probation, and 1,500 hours of community service after being convicted on federal perjury and voting fraud charges in January. Wright is also banned for life from holding public office.
While running to represent California's 25th State Senate district in 2008, Wright lied about his residence to qualify for the ballot, according to the Desert Sun. He claimed he lived in an Inglewood apartment complex within the 25th District, but prosecutors were able to show that Wright's true residence was a Baldwin Hills home outside the district.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/09/12/State-Sen-Rod-Wright-Gets-90-Days-for-Perjury

STATE SEN. ROD WRIGHT GETS 90 DAYS FOR PERJURY
by DANIEL NUSSBAUM

12 Sep 2014

NYC Woman Corrections Officer Reveals Institutional Sex, Drugs and Physical Abuses

[From article]
A federal probe branded the 11,500-inmate jail a “broken institution” where guards routinely use excessive force and violate teen inmates’ rights. Less than a month after the Aug. 4 report, Florence Finkle, the commissioner overseeing investigations at Rikers, resigned.
[. . .]
“I see these female officers who came in with me. They’re in here giving [oral sex] and stuff so they don’t have to work with these prisoners and work those areas,” Miller says.
[. . .]
“Most females in my jail that were in office positions either had a family member with clout or was screwing a boss or someone with, as we would call it, ‘juice.’
[. . .]
Drug-dealing officers could pull in an extra $2,000 minimum a week.
[. . .]
“[In] every jail there was an officer dealing drugs,” she said. “And it’s no secret they were getting high off cocaine, smoking weed and drinking. From officers up to chiefs.”

http://nypost.com/2014/08/31/sex-drug-abuse-rampant-at-rikers-retired-officer/

Drugs, sex, and violence: My hell as a Rikers guard
By Gary Buiso
New York Post
August 31, 2014 | 6:07am

WA Teacher Jailed For Having Sex With Students

Inappropriate: Powell told police the relationships began when she was intoxicated and sent a text to the students

[From article]
A 25-year-old former math teacher who had sexual contact with two students at a Tacoma high school has been sentenced to six months in jail.
The News Tribune reports that former Lincoln High School teacher Meredith Powell cried and apologized Friday in court.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frank Cuthbertson says he believes Powell is remorseful, which is why he suspended all but six months of a five-year sentence and ordered her into a sex offender program open to first-time offenders.
[. . .]
Powell was arrested in February after being accused of having sexual contact with several students. She later admitted she'd engaged in sex acts with two boys between the ages of 14 and 16. Both were students at Lincoln High School.
She told police she had performed sex acts with multiple students, one as young as 15 years old, inside her locked classroom, as well as sending them sexualized pictures of herself.
She resigned and surrendered her teaching certificate shortly after her arrest.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2738560/Female-teacher-sex-students-sentenced-six-months-jail.html

'She made a lot of bad choices': Female teacher who had sex with two students and bombarded them with naked photos is sentenced to six months in jail
Meredith Powell, 25, has been sentenced to six months jail
She was arrested in February after students told police they had had sexual contact with the teacher
She then confessed to performing sex acts with multiple students
Her attorney said she made 'a lot of bad choices, regrettable choices'
In July, she admitted two counts of rape of a child in the third degree
Her teaching license has been revoked
By LEON WATSON and ASSOCIATED PRESS
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 11:50 EST, 30 August 2014 | UPDATED: 17:41 EST, 30 August 2014

Pennsylvania Woman Jailed For Child's Truancy Dies In Custody

[From article]
Hundreds of parents, some impoverished and overwhelmed, have been jailed in Pennsylvania for failing to pay court fines that arise from truancy hearings after their children skip school, creating what some call a "debtor's prison" for people like Eileen DiNino.
DiNino, 55, of Reading, was found dead in a jail cell Saturday morning, hours after she surrendered to serve a 48-hour sentence.
[. . .]
More than 1,600 people have been jailed in Berks County alone - where Reading is the county seat - over truancy fines since 2000, more than two-thirds of them women, the newspaper reported. Charges are sometimes lodged against the students rather than their parents.
[. . .]
the fines handed down by judges were typically small, perhaps $20. The debt adds up, he said, over court costs and fees. In one case alone involving DiNino, her bill included a laundry list of routine fees: $8 for a "judicial computer project"; $60 for Berks constables; $40 for "summary costs" for several court offices; and $10 for postage.
"In recent years, the government has found all sorts of interesting ways to extract money from people. The fines can be $20 and the courts costs can be $150," Guida said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUANCY_SENTENCE_PRISON_DEATH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Jun 11, 1:38 PM EDT
WOMAN JAILED OVER TRUANCY FINES FOUND DEAD IN CELL
BY MARYCLAIRE DALE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mental Patients Not Safe in NYC Jails. Really?

Jail suicide is not unique to New York City jails. (Associated Press, "Jail system under scrutiny after 2 gruesome deaths," New York Post, May 22, 2014) Mitigating crime due to an arbitrary system of psychiatry makes no sense and is unfair. The law addresses the idea of mental illness as a defense to crime. Without meeting that criteria one is simply guilty. Drug corporations with their enablers in the psychiatric industry promote drug treatment in jails, forced drugging. They call it treatment. But often it is punishment, especially when required by courts. 

Inmates self mutilating is not limited to mental patients. Nick Freudenberg, a professor of public health at City University of New York who ran programs at Rikers for 15 years, said “Another level is the sorry state of mental health services in our society.” Negligence and negligent training of officers is a matter that can be addressed. The brutality of corrections officers responding in kind to the violence directed at them is an issue that may be beyond fixing. Increasing taxpayer money for psychiatry is wasting taxpayer funds. 

http://nypost.com/2014/05/22/jail-system-under-scrutiny-after-2-gruesome-deaths/

Jail system under scrutiny after 2 gruesome deaths
By Associated Press
New York Post
May 22, 2014 | 5:34pm

Cambridge Weakly Editors Want More Clemency

Editors state, "the U.S. government is waking up to the realization that it cannot jail its way out of a drug problem." (EDITORIAL: "Facing up to the failed War on Drugs," May 10, 2014, CAMBRIDGE Chronicle) Yes, but government policy makers still believe it can jail its way out of it's troubled persons problem, by jailing any and all persons they do not like or do not understand. Some believe that persons they do not trust should be jailed too. These are the people that they say are "crazy." If drug dealers and users will no longer be jailed someone has to fill the empty cells. Ready and waiting are the crazy people. Do the editors suggest disbanding prison guard unions? Who will fund the luxurious lifestyles of union leaders? And then there are the prison guards themselves, who will be unemployed. No way, Jose. Bring on the crazies to keep the cells filled. Best of all Due Process is unnecessary to incarcerate crazy people. 

The editorial notes "Congress, locked in dysfunction, hasn't [. . .] done anything else toward meaningful drug reform." Is it dysfunction that prevents them from acting? Or is it opposition to legalizing recreational drugs? Are there no downsides to legalizing marijuana? Perhaps US Congressmen are not "cool." Maybe they have different (elderly) ideas than the editors and the lawless Obama-Holder team. If the majority of the population wants to legalize murder for offensive speech should Congress make it legal?

The editors celebrate clemency and encourage the lawless Obama-Holder leadership to increase its use. They say, "More than half of Americans favor legalizing marijuana. And the issue is increasingly a bipartisan affair." Oh? More than half of Americans oppose Obamacare and want it repealed. Do the editors support repealing that too?

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20140510/NEWS/140519940

EDITORIAL: Facing up to the failed War on Drugs
Posted May. 10, 2014 @ 12:17 pm
CAMBRIDGE Chroncile

Father Of Infant Son Charged With Killing Him While Mother Was Jailed For Unpaid Traffic Fines

[From article]
The baby was left in the care of his dad after Perusse was arrested January 4 for racking up $628 in traffic fines.
Most recently, the young mother was cited in January of last year for driving on a suspended license without a proof of insurance and not wearing a seatbelt.
[. . .]
The 25-year-old mother, who also has two older children from a previous relationship, described her late son as a healthy and affectionate baby who just wanted to eat, smile and be loved.
Perusse and Young, who has three other children of his own living in Tennessee, met two years ago nd soon moved in together. On New Year's Eve, the couple got engaged.
‘We were going to make a family right in God's eyes,' she said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545447/My-heart-shattered-broken-Mothers-anguish-fiance-burned-infant-son-death-hot-bath-jail-unpaid-traffic-tickets.html

'My heart is shattered and broken': Mother's anguish after fiance 'burned their infant son to death in too-hot bath' while she was in jail for unpaid traffic tickets
By SNEJANA FARBEROV
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 12:33 EST, 24 January 2014 | UPDATED: 17:38 EST, 24 January 2014