Hope for community corrections

In this month's Washington Monthly:

Jail Break - How smarter parole and probation can cut the nation’s incarceration rate

If we want to end the era of mass incarceration and replace it with a regime of less punishment and less crime, drug testing is only one of the ways to apply the central lesson of HOPE ("Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement"): that clearly communicated threats of swift, certain punishment really can change behavior, even when the punishment is modest. By thinking creatively, we could transform the entire range of community-based punishments into effective alternatives to incarceration. That would have a profound impact on offenders’ lives, on the number of people behind bars, and on the crime rate...

The book is When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment, by Mark Kleiman.

Via The Second Road, "where life intersects with recovery."

ID: "while a person's clean and sober we should be helping them with options"

From the Times-News:

Program progression - Twin Falls County Jail tries treatment to ease crowding

A rare look at the Twin Falls County Jail and a new drug program that will be available for those serving time for drug crimes...

ID: Canyon jail due for a cleaning

The ACLU is suing Canyon County over jail conditions, from the Idaho Press Tribune:

ACLU files suit against Canyon County jail

Officials expected jail lawsuit

County plans response to lawsuit

See Caldwell Guardian for more.

MT: right to counsel, nickel and dimed

From the Missoulian:

Sheriff, public defenders at odds over free calls

After allowing toll-free telephone calls between Missoula County jail inmates and their public defenders for more than two years, Sheriff Mike McMeekin says lost revenue has forced the arrangement to cease. As of July 1, indigent inmates must call their attorneys collect if they want to chat about their legal embroilments over the phone. Ed Sheehy, Missoula's regional deputy public defender, is crying foul...

"Lost revenue"?:

The phone provider to the Missoula County Detention Facility, AGM Telecom, charges a connection fee of $2.60 per call...

Damned Sixth Amendment doesn't comport with Sheriff's business plan.

Kid wisdom: "I know what lawyers do now"

At Nachiket's Corner, Nachiket Deshpande's daughter Tanu has great insight for one so young:

There is a very big tall tree, on top of that there is a jail. There is a police monkey who takes lawyers up the tree and puts them in the jail. The lawyers can't climb down the tree so they can never get out!

NM: enough with the physical attacks on p.d.'s, now

From KOAT, Albuquerque:

Public Defenders Assaulted At MDC

Two members of the public defender's office are recovering at home Thursday night after being assaulted by a Metro Detention Center inmate, jailers said...

From KOB (with broadcast video):

Inmate attacks women at metro detention center

Two women from the public defenders office survived a brutal beating Thursday morning at the Bernalillo County Metro Detention Center...

This sh*t has to stop.

ID: the sting of jail at Christmas

From the Twin Falls Times-News:

Christmas in custody - Inmates find peace, sobriety behind bars

Lights on a small Christmas tree twinkled Tuesday behind two officers booking inmates into the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center. A female guard wearing a red Santa hat assessed a new prisoner for any medical conditions. Beside her, another officer booked-in an elderly man wrapped in blankets - until the inmate apparently spit on the counter.

Christmas is just another day in jail. But there's an upside to the holiday for two state inmates doing hard time for meth crimes. "I'm grateful to be here. It's a sober Christmas this year," said inmate Penni Andoe...

Blissed-out bad guy

From the Twin Falls Times-News, my nominee for happiest inmate of 2007 (and my wife's for best mugshot ever):
Dude sort of looks like Charlie Brown once he finally snapped and stuck a shiv in Lucy.

"And nobody comes to support them"

Law student Gopherlawyer has an F. Scott - inspired epiphany on a trip to juvenile detention:

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

'Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.'"

AS: "Anytime"

Court news from American Samoa, from Sean the Idahoan's Potatoes to Papayas blog:

I've discussed the prison system several times already. Well, here's another not-so-great story about our inmates:

Inmate walks out of court and out of sight under TCF watch
By La Poasa Samoa News Staff

Immediately after District Court Judge John L. Ward II continued his case yesterday afternoon to another date, inmate Atoa "Anytime" Sipili walked away from where he sat with his attorney, told the TCF officer in the courtroom that he was going out for a smoke and disappeared...

(O)nce outside, Sipili took off his orange jumpsuit uniform, which easily identified him as an inmate, and told the officer that the judge had released him and that he was free to go...

WA: trusty library, library trusty

Greetings from Whitman County, Washington, more precisely, from the Whitman County Library in Colfax, where I've just seen something remarkable: a person in black and white striped clothes, tops and bottoms, with "WHITMAN COUNTY JAIL" clearly printed in red on the back, circulating through the stacks, not bothering anybody.

I love being back on the Palouse (sadly, Ferdinand's is closed on Saturdays, but I'm guessing that my old law school will be open).

Bonus link to one definition of trusty.

ID: intrepid reporter lasts 21 hours in jail

What's the worst part about doing time in Blaine County? It's not the pink elephants. From the Times-News:

A day on the inside - Journalist wants to see if county really needs new jail

My plan was to spend a full day - 24 hours - as an inmate in the Blaine County Jail. I didn't make it.

With 21 hours down, I left my cell for a quick visitation with a coworker, and after getting out from behind the bars and hearing a familiar voice, I couldn't stand the thought of another three hours.

The problem wasn't my cell mates - who were nicer than I ever would have expected - or the quality of the food. It was the boredom...

ID: "you can't stop just by saying no"

From the Idaho Statesman:

Canyon jail program aims to curb drug addictions - Sheriff started the program after more than half the inmates polled said they were on drugs when arrested

The Canyon County jail's substance abuse education program began a year ago to target a growing problem with drug addiction, specifically meth, in local communities. In the past, drug abusers would serve their jail time but wouldn't receive anyhelp combating the greater problem: addiction. Inmates say the advice on rehabilitation resources and jobs, consistency, and the concern from a trained substance abuse counselor has made more of a difference than jail time alone...

UT: suspect has identifying marks...

How could I have missed this, when I've been on the look-out for uplifting stories of tattoo 'ed Americans? This news from back in November, on KUTV:

Utah’s Public Enemy Number One Arrested

Lt. Chris Bertram of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s office says he’s a very dangerous person and that’s why he was public enemy number one. "It was some of the things he was engaged in," says Bertram. "He was a member of a white supremacist gang..."

'Course the defendant made that bit of police deduction a little easier:

LA: orphans of the storm

Recommended by Raymond P. Ward of Minor Wisdom, read this if you haven't read it yet -

Justice on Katrina Time - Hundreds, if not thousands, languish behind bars without their day in court

(I)n post-Katrina New Orleans(,) (a)n untold number of people got "lost" in the prison system in the weeks immediately after the storm... Many are still among the 3,000 active criminal court cases. At least 85% of them qualify for representation by a public defender...

The city's indigent defense system has long been plagued by negligent attorneys who provide haphazard and deficient representation. But in the months after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, the program spiraled into chaos...

Ray observes that the characterization of the attorneys "...is probably an unfair criticism of people who did their best in impossible circumstances."

See also Do Not Pass Geaux.

UT: iron bars, big hearts

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Inmates knit to help children worldwide
Jail charity: From Cache County jail comes warmth in the form of hats, blankets and hearts

Cache County inmates have found themselves bound in a work of the heart. These hardened, tattooed men are spending their hours with yarn unraveling at their feet, knitting stocking caps, blankets and booties for children in need...

"We might all be criminals, but some of us have big hearts," said David Evans, 25, of Blackfoot, Idaho...

AS: prisoners in paradise

A report on doing time fa'a Samoa, from fellow Idahoan Sean at Potatoes to Papayas:

Another interesting part of American Samoa is the jail... Our neighbors down the street are both public defenders. They inform us that the front gate of the jail is never locked. Nice. Apparently, the rule has been that if a prisoner is not back to the jail by curfew, the police go to their house and take them back. It's a simple system...

Another attorney friend... told us that before one of the hurricanes that hit the island, the prison guards, afraid they were unable to take care of the prisoners, sent them all home. On one condition. They all must come back after the hurricane. And they all did...

"This 'jail calendar sucks' wherever it is"

From Public Pretender, a place we've all been one time or another, at two minutes per client:

"Today will not be the day to fight your case. Today is the day I am going to try to get you out of jail. What I ask you is what I have to know in order to make the best possible argument to get you out of jail."

I wish there was a better way to do it too.

WA: editorial on unconstitutional jail booking fees

The Olympian goes way out on a limb with this headline:

Inmates have their rights

... then commenters show up to debate the proposition.

ID: work crew rather than jail

From the Twin Falls Times-News:

Two days in jail or a walk in the park

When Magistrate Judge Randy Stoker asks a defendant to choose between working two days or spending two days in jail, the pause is short.

"I have never had anybody opt for jail," he said...

Judge Stoker is a former criminal defense lawyer.