OSSINING, N.Y. — Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin is standing inside Sing Sing Correctional Facility for the first time since he was incarcerated here 12 years ago. In this very chapel, he reminisces, he once sold drugs — a backup plan for when the yard was closed. Not many men pine to return to the prisons … Read more
PRATTVILLE, Ala. — An Alabama sheriff evacuated his county’s jail Thursday, citing a need to prevent unspecified “health and safety issues.” Autauga County Sheriff Mark Harrell said in a statement posted on Facebook that deputies began transporting inmates from the Autauga County Metro Jail to other facilities in the morning. His office’s website currently lists … Read more
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Rapper and singer Sean Kingston is back in South Florida, where he and his mother are charged with committing more than a million dollars’ worth of fraud. Kingston, 34, was booked into the Broward County jail on Sunday, according to jail records. He was arrested May 23 at Fort Irwin, an … Read more
TOKYO — The incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, including children, labeled enemies during World War II is an historical experience that has traumatized, and galvanized, the Japanese American community over the decades. For George Takei, who portrayed Hikaru Sulu aboard the USS Enterprise in the “Star Trek” franchise, it’s a story he is determined to … Read more
Walt Longmire and his deputy are poking around in his basement when she spots a relic of his youth, a hundred-pound Bob Simmons-model surfboard. “You’re too big to surf,” she says. “I didn’t used to be,” he says. She notices that the front of the board is heavily dented. “Tell me about that,” she says. … Read more
RICHMOND, Va. — On paper, Vince Gilmer was granted freedom more than two years ago. Later this week, he may actually leave prison. The former small-town North Carolina doctor and convicted murderer whose medical mystery captured widespread attention after being documented in a popular radio program and a book, was conditionally pardoned in January 2022. … Read more
TALLINN, Estonia — A Russian court on Monday opened the trial of a theater director and a playwright accused of advocating terrorism in a play, the latest step in an unrelenting crackdown on dissent in Russia that has reached new heights since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. Zhenya Berkovich, a prominent independent theater director, and … Read more
Canadians deserve to know more about why corrections officials make decisions on things like high-profile prison transfers, a former watchdog says. But Howard Sapers, a corrections policy consultant and former Correctional Investigator of Canada, says that transparency should still be limited to prevent the sharing of personal information about prisoners and anything else that’s not … Read more
RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia State Police investigator seemed puzzled about what the inmate was describing: “unbearable” conditions at a prison so cold that toilet water would freeze over and inmates were repeatedly treated for hypothermia. “How do you get hypothermia in a prison?” the investigator asked. “You shouldn’t.” The exchange, captured on video obtained … Read more
PHOENIX — Blas Sanchez was nearing the end of a 20-year stretch in an Arizona prison when he was leased out to work at Hickman’s Family Farms, which sells eggs that have ended up in the supply chains of huge companies like McDonald’s, Target and Albertsons. While assigned to a machine that churns chicken droppings … Read more
