For some of us, a life spent behind bars is nothing more than a scary thought. Yet, there are others who have lived through or are living that life. If prison can mean rock-bottom for most people, it can be even more so if you're a women. Studies suggest that the US Criminal Justice System are dealing women with harsher punishments than their male counterparts. Let's take the case of Tondalo Hall as an example. She and her child were physically and verbally abused by her boyfriend. When police got wind of the child's plight, both of them were arrested. What makes it more interesting though is her boyfriend was sentenced to only two years. Meanwhile, Hall has to spend 30 years in prison for failing to protect her child from her abusive boyfriend. This is just one out of the th
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Life in Women’s Prison
For some of us, a life spent behind bars is nothing more than a scary thought. Yet, there are others who have lived through or are living that life. If prison can mean rock-bottom for most people, it can be even more so if you’re a women. Studies suggest that the US Criminal Justice System are dealing women with harsher punishments than their male counterparts. Let’s take the case of Tondalo Hall as an example. She and her child were physically and verbally abused by her boyfriend. When police got wind of the child’s plight, both of them were arrested. What makes it more interesting though is her boyfriend was sentenced to only two years. Meanwhile, Hall has to spend 30 years in prison for failing to protect her child from her abusive boyfriend. This is just one out of the thousands of cases where women got the shorter end of the stick. Even if several prison reforms have been instituted in the past years, the number of women in custody are growing faster than men. Here are other truths about life in women’s prison that will shock you. 1. It Can Be Boring If your idea of what’s life […]
Freedom to Love: How Inmates Married Their Pen Pals
Marrying the love of your life is everyone’s dream. But what if the love of your life is set to spend the next few years (or their entire lifetime) behind the cold bars of jail? Will you still marry them? This was the dilemma faced by the brave souls who have shown the world that love knows no bounds. They married inmates and proved that not a thousand mile distance, handcuffs, nor society’s disapproval can hinder love. Incarceration in the US Prison is often described as a cold and depressing place. A seemingly apt punishment for people who have broken our laws. A place where we banish people we don’t want to live among us. Yet, not all prisoners are guilty of the crimes they are imprisoned for. In fact, the US has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. It houses only 4.4% of the world’s population yet it’s prisoners account for around 22% of the world’s total number of inmates. As of May 2018, the country has 655 prisoners for every 100,000 residents. Canada, it’s neighbor, has more than five times lower incarceration rate. Prison Pen Pal System With these statistics, several initiatives have been made to […]
High Cost of Prison Calls May Worsen Mental Health of American Inmates
A study conducted in 2010 reported that, in the US, there are more mentally ill people in jails than hospitals. Lack of proper contact with family members due to overpriced prison calls can further inflate this statistic. The study also found that the percentage of inmates and prisoners with serious mental illness had shoot up to 16% from 6.4% in 1983. They are mostly diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression. This dilemma is compounded by the difficulties inmates and their families face to keep communication lines open. With no family or friends to talk to, most prisoners tend to feel heightened anxiety leading to hallucinations and other mental health problems. Effect of Isolation on Mental Health Social isolation can have devastating effects on an individual’s mental well-being. It is much more so for people living behind bars. While free individuals can reach out to friends and family members anytime they want, prisoners are legally required to be isolated from society. Several case studies reported that lack of human contact for prisoners in solitary confinement can lead to a cognitive breakdown. This means that if an otherwise mentally healthy person spends time in jail, there is a high chance […]
Prisoners Are Given Keys To Their Cell In The Netherlands
In the Netherlands prisoners are given keys to their cells as crime rates fall, prisons close, and inmate populations dwindle. This is all part of a rehabilitation scheme that aims to treat prisoners better and with more humanity. In Dordrecht, Heerhugowaard, Zaandam, and Arnhem inmates have keys to their cells where they can come and go as they please so long as they are back by 9:30pm. Additionally, they have a digital computer that lets them order things like groceries and make appointments with other prisoners and staff. Prison guards are no too keen on the move as they complain that there is too little supervision for the inmates. They also claim that the move fails to vindicate the victims of the crimes these inmates have committed. They are afraid that prisoners are using their newfound freedom to run criminal enterprises outside of prison. These complaints have found a home at the Dutch Department of Justice. It is not hard to imagine that criminal businesses are being run with the freedom these prisoners are afforded. Long periods of the day are spent in places other than their cell meaning criminal meetings and drug trades could be taking place regularly. The […]
NYC Inmate Starts Newest Exercise Craze Among Prison Inmates
In New York City there looms the hottest new exercise craze among those currently locked up. An ex-con/ex-soldier runs a boot camp style exercise camp for the overweight individuals looking to burn off a couple new pounds. Chris Marte is a business owner/inmate/personal trainer thanks to his combination of current dilemmas. An inmate of New Yorks prison system he began training people to become the best that they can be several years ago. Since then he’s helped inmates lose thousands of pounds in total. He used to be a cocaine dealer, overweight himself, and close to death before a drastic change, getting locked up, made him turn his life around. ConBody is the name of his new company and thanks to the prison’s entrepreneur program his work is now legal and official. Doctors used to tell him that he could die of his health issues if something wasn’t done. He weighed 230lbs and his cholesterol levels were high enough to scare anyone. So he began exercising by running in the prison yard each day. Before he knew it he had lost 70lbs and people were calling him Forest Gump. Other inmates took notice and wanted in on his exercise regime. […]
Life Inside A North Korean Prison
Life inside a North Korean prison is far from ordinary and verges on barbarian. A former guard describes what life is like for the inmates of North Korea with grueling detail. They face beatings, starvation, rape, and summary executions for dissenting from the government or trying to escape. Lim Hye-jin has seen people set on fire, beheaded, and mass shootings in a group punishment after foiled escape attempts. There is no easy way to deal with the dissenters of the North Korean government as they sit on par with some of the most disturbing prison systems of all time. The prison guard Lim was herself imprisoned before she escaped after she was caught illegally training. She now lives in South Korea safe and home free. She escaped 15 years ago but the images of the treatment and punishments still make her uneasy. She claims she was manipulated to not feel any sympathy for the prisoners as they had committed great crimes against the government. She now says that they were in fact just normal people and she feels terrible and very guilty. In one extreme case a pair of brothers successfully bid for their freedom temporarily. Seven members of their […]
Prison Families Pay More For Insurance After Convictions Of Family Members
The families of prisoners suffer not just in the sense that their family member has been convicted and locked up. They suffer not just in the sense that their loved one is going through a tough time but also in the sense that insurance companies are now treating them differently. Even after their loved ones are sent back home the financial penalties continue. Gordon Dewar is someone who speaks out about the excessive penalties insurance companies penalize inmate’s families with. He is the managing director of the Salvation Army General Insurance Corporation and says innocent families become guilty simply by association. These charges can take the form of a wife not being able to insure her home because of her husband’s criminal record or being charges much more than a family otherwise would. Even the children of a ex-convict will have to deal with penalties as they are assumed to carry higher risk from their home criminal connections. The families of sex offenders may have the hardest time getting home insurance however as they carry higher risk of vigilante attack. They are often denied home insurance altogether. Gordon says that innocent families have suffered enough and that they shouldn’t have […]
No Relief In Sight For High Cost Of Prison Phone Calls
After a federal court overturned a national limit on the price of the calls, activists turn to state and local governments. Five years ago, when her nephew was sentenced to a second stint in prison in Arizona, Blu Dux began a twice-a-week ritual of talking to him on the phone. To make it work, Dux had to set up a landline to accept collect calls and pay an average of $5 per call — the expense totals nearly $100 a month. “I’m trying to create a bond with him, and it gets broken any time we don’t have communication,” said Dux, who lives on Kauai. “I know it helps his sense of support — being anchored by having somebody on the outside who is concerned for his welfare.” In Hawaii, the cost of a 15-minute call from prison can now be as much as $9.10, including the fees. Read more
Private prison stocks up 100% since Trump’s win
Thanks to President Donald Trump, America’s private prisons appear to be entering a golden age. The stocks of the two biggest private prison operators — CoreCivic (formerly know as Corrections Corp. of America) and Geo Group — have doubled since election day. CoreCivic (CXW) is up 140% since Trump won in November; Geo Group (GEO) has risen 98%. For all the talk about how good Trump has been for big banks like Goldman Sachs, he’s been even better for private prison investors. Read more here:
Costly prison fees are putting inmates deep in debt
Jeremy Barrett remembers very little of the assault that would change his life. He was at the end of a three-year sentence in a Florida state prison when he was caught stealing potatoes from the prison kitchen. As punishment, he was sent to confinement with a cellmate who, according to court filings, was “severely mentally ill.” The man attacked Barrett in a violent rage, ultimately gouging out one of his eyes. “I went into shock,” Barrett said. When he got out of prison one month later, Barrett, 36, sued the Florida Department of Corrections for negligence. The department responded with a counterclaim or a “cost of incarceration lien” of $54,750 — the total cost of Barrett’s 1,095 day stay in the prison at $50 a day. “They charged me for me being in prison,” Barrett said. “Yeah I was surprised.” Read more here:
After almost a decade, FCC has yet to rule on high cost of prison phone calls
Almost a decade ago, a petition by the families of inmates tired of paying sky-high rates for prison telephone calls landed at the Federal Communications Commission. Martha Wright-Reed of the District, an 86-year-old former nurse who’s blind, and other petitioners didn’t think it was right for their incarcerated sons and daughters to pay so much more than everyone else to keep in touch. Phone companies that charge high rates say most of their revenue goes to governments in the form of commissions that help pay for their criminal justice systems. Read more here:
Prison Phone Calls: Trump May Cut The Lifeline
The cost of a phone call today is no more of a thought than the air we breathe. The cost of a phone call from prison, however, can take your breath away. For those who must pay such costs, which can easily average as much as a monthly luxury car payment, breathing just got a lot more labored. Phone calls between prisoners and their loved ones on the outside often represent the only contact inmates have with the world beyond prison walls. Recent studies and common sense have shown that maintaining these outside ties is a vital link to successful prisoner reentry, and thus key to reducing recidivism rates. But high prison phone rates have dramatically restricted the amount of meaningful contact that prisoners can have with those who care about them. Read the full story here