Tag Archives: prison

One month after he was sentenced to more than 1000 years in prison, notorious Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro has hanged himself in his cell. Castro, 53, was in a cell by himself in protective custody at the Correction Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, wrote JoEllen Smith with the state corrections agency. Castro was found at 9:20 p.m. ET in the …

From the New York Times editorial board: Of course, the Manning case presents other issues as well, starting with whether the all-male prison at Fort Leavenworth is the right institution for Private Manning. Transgender inmates are especially vulnerable to sexual assaults, and special care must be taken to ensure their safety with accommodations like private showering. The nature of Private …

With an interview with Allyson Robinson.

ACLU LGBT Project In response to Chelsea Manning’s disclosure that she is female, has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and will be seeking hormone therapy as a part of her transition during her incarceration, public statements by military officials that the Army does not provide hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria raise serious constitutional concerns. Gender dysphoria is a serious …

Sesame Street has introduced a new Muppet whose father is in prison. From today’s New York Daily News: The popular children’s television series hasn’t shied away from tough topics in the past, and has introduced a new muppet named Alex as a way to talk about the stigma of having a parent in jail. “I just miss him so much,” …

Indiana megachurch Pastor Jack Shaap, a noble and Godly defender of marriage and family, has been sentenced to twelve years in prison on federal charges of sex with a sixteen year-old girl. Disturbing details emerged earlier this month regarding the sex case, with the court noting that Schaap, a married father of two, had tried to justify his relationship with …

Infamous Maryland-based televangelist Robert Freeman, known on television as Dr. Shine, has been sentenced to prison for doing what all televangelists do. Robert J. Freeman, a.k.a Dr. Shine, is going to jail for 27 months and was ordered to pay $630,000 to four church members. The Washington Post reports that the ‘Gods Top Gun of deliverance’ pastor lied to bankruptcy …

Hate group spokesdouche Peter Sprigg thinks Watergate felon Chuck Colson should be back in prison. We agree.

The New York state Department of Corrections announced yesterday that gay inmates who are legally married or in civil union partnerships will be granted conjugal visits with their spouses. Fewer than one-third of New York’s 67 prisons allow such visits for anyone and gay inmates applying for a visit must be housed in one of those facilities. Cutler said the …

Brandon Sanchez, 21, has been sentenced to four years in an Oregon prison after attacking another man for having a supposedly “gay hairstyle.” Sanchez apparently targeted Mark Bryant, 20, because he showed up at an Aug. 11 party with his hair gelled into a faux hawk, or fake mohawk. Bryant was in a coma for 22 days, had part of …

Former GOP House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been sentenced to three years in prison for funneling corporate money to Republican candidates. The sentence comes after a jury in November convicted DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. DeLay was once one of the most powerful men in U.S. politics, ascending to the No. 2 …

Not only are LGBT youth highly overrepresented among the nation’s homeless, they are imprisoned at a much higher rate than their heterosexual peers. And once behind bars they continue to be victimized. The Nation examines their plight in an online article and the below accompanying video. An excerpt: Across the United States, the brutal and dysfunctional juvenile justice system sends …

The Governator thinks it might be good idea for California to build prisons in Mexico and ship the state’s undocumented immigrant criminals there. “We can do so much better, in the prison system alone, if we can go and take inmates – for instance, the 20,000 inmates that are illegal immigrants that are here – and get them to Mexico,” …

Several times in recent weeks, commenters on this and other LGBT blogs have feuded over reader statements that the perpetrators of hate crimes deserve to get raped in prison. This has generated a number of complaining emails to me, including a couple from LGBT prisoner activists. Pertinent to that issue, the photos above are part of a new awareness campaign …

Until an investigation by reporters, a women’s prison in Virginia had been segregating inmates perceived to be masculine in order to break up butch/femme relationships and curb sexual activity. Two current guards and one of their former co-workers said targeting masculine-looking inmates was a deliberate strategy by a building manager. Numerous inmates said in letters and interviews that they felt …

One bright light in all these economic woes – states are realizing that it’s cheaper to incarcerate a prisoner for life than to put them to death. Death penalty advocates have always argued that a single shot from a needle is “pennies per prisoner” justice, but that is light years from the truth and states are finally getting the picture. …

Gay prison inmates in California will be able to marry their non-imprisoned partners. Gay inmates in state prisons and county jails will soon be able to marry their partners, as long as their spouse is not also incarcerated, prison and jail operators said Thursday. State prison and county jail overseers were putting finishing touches on the new policy to follow …

California does not permit proxy marriages, both parties must be present. Therefore male and female prisoners have not been allowed to marry each other. But what if both parties are in the same prison? If prisoners in the same prison apply for permission to marry, the California proxy law doesn’t apply. State officials are scrambling to come up with a …