Lucinda F. Boyd's Blog – September 2012 Archive (19)

"When you drop out of a gang, you're less protected, but you still have all of your enemies," said The Barber, a former member of the Northerners gang, a street branch of the Nortenos.

PART 1: Take a look into gang life, meet the sources in this story

"I can't go to the same places anymore. Places as simple as the flea markets are hard to…

Police believe the 19-year-old shot in broad daylight as he sat on a bench may have been mistaken for a gang member. Security cameras for the park had been delayed.

A learning-disabled teenager was killed in a drive-by shooting

By Angel Jennings, Los Angeles Times…

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) reported better than expected earnings yesterday. CCA president and CEO, Damon Hininger, said in a conference call with analysts that earnings per share increased 10.8% for 2011, making, “11 consecutive years of EPS growth for CCA with the worst economic environment of our lifetime.” While I would not argue that these have been challenging economic times, I would argue that prison growth has been harmed by any economic downturn. It’s like saying…

It's a curious paradox: Crime rates continue to fall in California, but the number of people killed by the police keeps rising. In Los Angeles County, for example, the number of 2011 homicides was a historic low of 612 people. But the number of fatal police shootings skyrocketed by nearly 70 percent that same year, to 54. That number of fatal shootings by officers was almost equal to 10 percent of the county's homicides last year. Los Angeles is not alone. Nationwide, officer-involved…

Crime and punishment in America

Rough justice

America locks up too many people, some for acts that should not even be criminal



IN 2000 four Americans were charged with importing lobster tails in plastic bags rather than cardboard boxes, in violation of a Honduran regulation that Honduras no longer enforces. They had fallen foul of the Lacey Act, which bars…

SHANE REAMS' mother was practicing "tough love" when she encouraged neighbors to press charges. Shane had been stealing from the neighbors' garages. Those burglary convictions ended up serving as the basis for a three-strike sentence that sent her son away for 25 years to life. His third strike: aiding and abetting a $20 drug sale to an undercover officer.

Ronnie Villa, a grandfather of four, is doing 25 to life. His crime: stealing five bottles of Head and Shoulders shampoo. His…

Prison Spending Outpaces All but Medicaid

One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study.

Criminal correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance, based on state and federal data. Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending, which quadrupled in the past two decades, according to the report Monday…

Awesome news! U.S. Department of Justice reports show that violent crime has dropped by over half in the last 15 years. What incredible, uplifting news we can celebrate! But you haven't heard about this. Why was this news censored?

To verify this inspiring news, see the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) graph and information here and here. The biggest drop occurred between 1994 and 2004.

Unfortunately some key data on the DOJ website is not very up to date, but you can find more…

Prisons, Privatization, Patronage

2012-06-22, New York Times

Posted: 2012-06-26 11:12:00

Prisons, Privatization, Patronage

The New York Times has published several terrifying reports about New Jersey’s system of halfway houses — privately run adjuncts to the regular system of prisons. The horrors described are part of a broader pattern in which essential…

IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME!!

Say No to Prison Privatization!

A letter was sent recently to 48 U.S. governors announcing the Corrections Corporation of America's "Investment Initiative" to spend up to $250 million to buy prisons from state, local, and federal governments. The "initiative" requires a minimum commitment of 20 years for the facility, maintaining 90% capacity over the 20-year period. This outrageous offer strikes at the heart of a democracy grounded in human…

As state governments wrestle with massive budget shortfalls, a Wall Street giant is offering a solution: cash in exchange for state property. Prisons, to be exact.

Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest operator of for-profit prisons, has sent letters recently to 48 states offering to buy up their prisons as a remedy for "challenging corrections budgets." In exchange, the company is asking for a 20-year management contract, plus an assurance that the prison would…

by Laura Sullivan

Glenn Nichols, city manager of Benson, Ariz., says two men came to the city last year "talking about building a facility to hold women and children that were illegals."

Last year, two men showed up in Benson, Ariz., a small desert town 60 miles from the Mexico border, offering a deal.

Glenn Nichols, the Benson city manager, remembers…

By JUAN A. LOZANO 09/21/12 06:47 PM ET EDT



Rayford Tyrone Ellis Jr., Timothy Daray Ellis desciption Rayford Tyrone Ellis Jr., right, and Timothy Daray Ellis, left, leave the Liberty County Courthouse after a status update in their cases Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, in Liberty, Texas. Both men are among more than a dozen men accused of taking part in a series of sexual…

William Roy Wilson, 29, is charged with four counts of imposition of sexual acts of persons under supervision

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- A jail guard charged with sexually abusing three women at a West Virginia lockup since May has been accused of misconduct before and has been sued 11 times for similar allegations, a lawyer for alleged victims said…

AP | By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ

MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. is locking up more illegal immigrants than ever, generating lucrative profits for the nation's largest prison companies, and an Associated Press review shows the businesses have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying lawmakers and contributing to campaigns.

The cost to American taxpayers is on track to top $2 billion for this year, and the companies are expecting their biggest cut of that yet in the next few years thanks to…

A recent federal raid of a Smoke 911 shop in Sandy Springs highlights the rise in crimes related to synthetic marijuana and bath salts, but what are these drugs?

“We started hearing about bath salts around late 2009, early 2010,” said Detective Joseph Lane, with the Sandy Springs Police Special Investigations Unit. “It really was the new kind of designer drug. Not many people knew what it would do to you.”

According to DrugFree.org, bath salts are a synthetic compound of a…

09/14/12

It’s yet another reason why parents need to keep a close eye on their kids’ involvement with social networking websites—during a three-year period ending in March 2012, members of a violent Virginia street gang used some of these websites to recruit vulnerable high-school age girls to work in their prostitution business.

After a multi-agency state and federal investigation, all five defendants pleaded guilty to various federal charges related to the sex trafficking…

Cuicide Builds Suicide Awareness.



Compton, CA –

Struggling to survive and overcome violence and poverty is a common image seen in movies and music about those who live in Compton. For West Coast rapper Cuicide, it’s all just a part of his life.

He’s dealt with hardships from the moment he was born, from having been…