Corrections Officials Ill-Prepared to Run Geriatric Facilities

The Gray Box: An investigative look at solitary confinement

A few weeks ago, on the fifteenth anniversary of his first day in prison, Osiel Rodriguez set about cleaning the 87 square feet he inhabits at ADX, a federal mass isolation facility in Colorado.

“I got it in my head to destroy all my photographs,” he writes in a letter to me. “I spent some five hours ripping each one to pieces. No one was safe. I did not save one of my mother, father, sisters. Who…

The Gray Box": An Investigation of Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons

Screen shot from "The Gray Box," via the Dart Society

The box. That's the name for the solitary confinement cell where as many as 80,000 U.S. prisoners live in seclusion.

A new multi-media report by the Dart…

Sunday, February 19, 2012 04:27

Profiting from Prisons

A man opposes private prisons at an Occupy protest in Valdosta, GA.

Photo by faul, via Flickr.

Early this year, the United Methodist Church Board of Pension and Health Benefits voted to withdraw nearly $1 million in stocks…

Monday, February 27, 2012 04:59

The World’s ‘Murder Capital,’ Transformed

Juarez Municipal Police have seen a decrease in crime after employing such tactics as stop-and-frisk, often employed in New York City.

Photo by Joseph J. Kolb

Juarez, the Mexican border city once…

Thursday, March 01, 2012 07:47

Will Ex-Inmates Who Get Jobs Commit Fewer Crimes?

The U.S. Capital Visitor's Center in Washington.

Photo via www.visitthecapitol.gov

The poor national economy has…

Pot smoking among teenagers is increasing while teen alcohol consumption has sunk to historic lows, according to a national survey. Of 47,000 American students surveyed, 36.4% of 12th-graders had used marijuana in the past year, up from 32% in 2007, as had 28.8% of 11th-graders and 12.5% of 8th-graders. One in 15 high school seniors smoked pot daily, and one in nine smoked "synthetic" pot at least once.…

There has been an alarming increase in prescription drug abuse reported by teens in recent years and that increase may be due in part to some of the myths…

This is the new formula for methamphetamine: a two-liter soda bottle, a few handfuls of cold pills and some noxious chemicals. Shake the bottle and the volatile reaction produces one of the world's most addictive drugs.

Only a few years ago, making meth required an elaborate lab — with filthy containers simmering over open flames, cans of flammable liquids and hundreds of pills. The process gave off foul odors, sometimes sparked explosions and was so hard to conceal that dealers often…

“Shake and Bake” Formula for Making Meth Leads to Influx of Burn Patients in Hospitals

A new method of producing methamphetamine called “shake and bake” is leading to an influx of burn victims in the nation’s hospitals, the Associated Press reports.

 A person making meth using this technique combines raw, unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle. If the cap is removed…

Department of Justice

THE 66TH ANNUAL ARIZONA GOLDEN GLOVES 2012 BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT WILL BE HELD IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA ON MARCH 1-3, 2012

Freed death row inmate tells his story

Juan Roberto Melendez was freed from death row in 2002. He'll share his story at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 at UMSL. (Photo by Voices United for Justice)…

Guy Fisher

The DVD cover to…

In May of 2010, Freeway Rick Ross filed a $10 million lawsuit against Rick Ross accusing him of profiting off of his name illegally.  As a result, the judge ruled that he couldn’t sue because his criminal acts in the past had destroyed “any possibility that he has any valid trademark rights in his name, that have been violated by defendants.” The case was dismissed in Federal Court in November of 2010.

Freeway Rick appealed the decision in a state court and the case is now ongoing. In…

I encourage you to pick up a pen and a piece of paper and jot down the goals you want to reach. Look at each goal and evaluate it. Make any changes necessary to ensure it meets the criteria for a SMART goals:

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Realistic

T = Timely

Specific

Goals should be straightforward and emphasize what you want to happen.…