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Minnesota Counties Pay Out More Than $10 Million For Prison and Jail Settlements

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 12, 2021 in Featured, Mental Illness, Other Issues, War on Drugs | 0 comments

Just part of the BILLIONS of your tax dollars wasted each year nationally due to entirely preventable prison abuse!

 

Excerpts from the Article:

“In the last 10 years, Minnesota counties have paid out more than $10 million in settlements and legal fees following lawsuits accusing jails of providing inadequate to non-existent health care to inmates,” KARE 11 reported in a major investigative report on October 29, 2020.

One of the major cases discussed in the story was of Todd County settling with the family of Brett Huber, Jr. for a total of $1.8 million in December 2018 after Huber, Jr. hanged himself in the county jail in June of the prior year. Brett, Jr. had a history of drug abuse and mental health issues that the suit claimed the jail failed to treat.

Brett Huber Sr. said his son was a gifted child growing up in Spearfish, South Dakota. He breezed through school with a straight A average, volunteered his services to nonprofit organizations and was active in the church. He was tall, muscular and athletic. A varsity wrestler and a certified master scuba diver. Brett, Jr. had one serious problem: an addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Brett, Jr. had a job working at the state Senate. His father believed he turned to drugs as a way to fit in. He was battling with his addiction in March 2017 when he left his job at the Senate with the intent of committing himself to rehab.

Before he made it to the treatment center, Brett, Jr. went on a last bender. A police report said that Brett, Jr. showed up at an Alexandria hospital high on drugs. Before the hospital was able to get him to detox, Brett, Jr. ran out and stole a car, driving it into a pond. He then stole a second car, which he crashed on I-94. Social media video ultimately showed Brett, Jr. on top of a semi with his shirt off, howling at traffic.

Police arrested Brett, Jr. and took him to the Todd County jail. Brett, Jr. spent several weeks in the jail showing signs of instability and possible suicide before he was finally taken to CentraCare Health Clinic where he was diagnosed with a “severe episode of recurrent major depressive disorder, with psychotic features.” He was placed on antipsychotic medication and referred for a full mental evaluation.

Brett, Sr. said he visited his son regularly. Some days he appeared sane and rational and other times he seemed wild-eyed and cried through the entire visit. Concerned for his son’s health, Brett, Sr. stayed in constant contact with jail administrator Scott Wright. Wright continued to assure Brett, Sr. that his son was okay and well cared for. It was not until after Brett, Jr.’s death that the Huber family found out that Brett, Jr. was disorderly, attempted suicide on several occasions and suffered episodes of hallucinations and paranoia.

A records request as part of the lawsuit’s discovery process filed by the family’s attorney, Andy Noel, revealed Brett, Jr.’s battle with his mental health while at the county jail. It also revealed the jail’s history of problems dealing with detainees with mental health issues. The state had been previously cited for falsifying logs, failing to conduct regular well-being checks, understaffing and inadequate suicide prevention training.

The Hubers found that the security logs were falsified three times on the day Brett, Jr. hung himself, including one at the time when Brett, Jr. was already successful in strangulating himself. “I was led to believe he was in a good facility, that he was being monitored, that they were doing their job, that he wasn’t having any issues, and that the court evaluation would begin soon,” said Brett, Sr. He had the ability to make his son’s bond, but thought it best to leave Brett, Jr. in the county jail, believing it was the safest thing for his son until he could receive the treatment he needed.

Brett, Jr. is not the only person to receive inadequate care while in custody in Minnesota. Fifteen lawsuits have been filed against county jails and prisons around the state since 2015. The state’s suicide rate accounts for 60% of the deaths in custody annually, twice the national average. “It tells me, as a whole, we need to do a whole lot better at assessing suicidal ideation and risk, and then aggressively taking action to make sure we are providing the level of care and oversight and intervention necessary to prevent suicidal actions,” said Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell. (See: Huber, Sr. v. Todd County, Case No. 0:18-cv-02317, U.S.D.C. (D. Minn.).

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2021/mar/1/minnesota-counties-pay-out-more-10-million-prison-and-jail-settlements/

Governor announces historic slate of judicial nominees in Delaware

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 11, 2021 in Featured, Other Issues | 0 comments

Good job, Governor Carney.  The only bad apple in the group is Carl Danberg, who is a lazy, legal idiot!

 

Excerpts from the Article:

Gov. John Carney announced a new group of judicial nominations Friday, potentially including the first woman to serve as chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Kathaleen McCormick, the current vice chancellor, was nominated to replace Chancellor Andre Bouchard, who plans to retire, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

“Vice Chancellor McCormick has the experience and good judgment necessary to serve as the next Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery and make sure Delaware’s preeminent business court is well prepared for the future,” Gov. Carney said in the press release.

He also nominated Wilmington lawyer Lori Will of the firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to replace Ms. McCormick as vice chancellor.

The governor nominated six other candidates to judicial posts.

Sen. Darius Brown, D-Wilmington, commended the governor’s picks. “The judicial nominations put forward today by Gov. John Carney will bring much needed racial and gender diversity to the Delaware judiciary,” he said.

The governor also nominated Reneta Green-Streett, a personal-injury and workers’ compensation lawyer, to be the Superior Court judge in Kent County.

Sen. Brown said Ms. Green-Streett “is the fourth Black woman nominated to the bench by Gov. Carney in less than three years. If confirmed, she would become the first Black woman to serve as a Superior Court judge in Kent County.”

The governor nominated Judge Jeffrey Clark to be the resident judge of Superior Court in Kent County, as well. If confirmed, he will replace Judge William Witham, who plans to retire. Judge Clark has served Superior Court since 2015.

Judge Carl Danberg was nominated as chief judge of the Court of Common Pleas to replace Chief Judge Alex Smalls, who is retiring. Judge Danberg was nominated to serve on the Court of Common Pleas in 2013, then confirmed by the Delaware Senate.

Gov. Carney also announced his nomination of Commissioner Katharine Mayer as a judge on the Court of Common Pleas. She has served as a Superior Court commissioner since 2016.

Emily Ferrell, a justice of the peace court magistrate, was nominated to serve as commissioner on the Court of Common Pleas. Ms. Ferrell has served as a justice of the peace since 2015.

Judge Anne Hartnett was also nominated for reappointment to the Court of Common Pleas in Kent County, where she has served since 2009.

“Together, these appointments demonstrate Gov. Carney’s commitment to ensuring Delaware’s judiciary is reflective of its people and their values. He deserves tremendous credit for this historic progress, and I look forward to confirming these eight highly qualified and well-vetted nominees later this month,” Sen. Brown said.

“These are all committed public servants who will serve Delawareans well, and I’m proud to submit their nominations to the Delaware Senate for consideration,” Gov. Carney said. “I look forward to the Senate considering these nominees.”

The Whole Story

 

Gun Rights Advocates sue Lawmakers over Virtual Meetings

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 11, 2021 in Featured, Other Issues | 0 comments

I predict that whichever judge gets this case will promptly dismiss it as “without merit”! Ms. Murray has filed ludicrous lawsuits before.

 

Excerpts from the Article:

Gun rights advocates have filed a federal lawsuit challenging continued virtual meetings of the Delaware General Assembly after Democrats rammed two controversial gun-control bills through the state Senate.

The lawsuit was filed Friday against Democrat and Republican leaders of the House and Senate. It comes amid partisan bickering over the Democrat-controlled legislature continuing to meet online rather than in person. The decision by Senate Democrats to fast-track passage of the gun control bills last week served only to fan the flames.

Republicans are particularly upset about a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that drew more than 800 online attendees. Only about 30 or 40 people were allowed to speak on the gun bills during the two-hour hearing, and they were limited to one minute. Many of them were cut off in mid-sentence after 60 seconds.

The plaintiffs say they have been “aggrieved” by being denied the opportunity to speak against the bills or, in the case of Mitch Denham, president of a group called Delaware Gun Rights, being allowed only one minute to speak.

One of the bills outlaws magazines capable of holding more than 17 rounds. The other requires anyone wanting to buy a handgun to first take a training course, be fingerprinted and obtain a permit from the state. The bills are currently awaiting action in the state House.

“For two key pieces of legislation that substantially infringe on Delawareans right to bear arms to be assigned to committee, ‘debated’ and voted on by the Senate in less than one week is an affront to the U.S. Constitution and the Delaware Constitution,” the lawsuit states.

“Due to the virtual format, the General Assembly is able to be keyboard warriors and silence opposition with the click of a mouse,” it adds. “This is chilling.”

The complaint also alleges that Democrat leaders are using COVID-19 as an excuse to avoid having to face their constituents in person.

The plaintiffs contend that lawmakers are violating provisions of the state and federal constitutions regarding peaceful assembly and due process, as well as a constitutional requirement that the General Assembly “meet and sit in Dover.” They are seeking a restraining order to prohibit lawmakers from continuing to conduct the legislative session virtually. They also want the court to declare that the gun control bills – and all bills passed by the House and Senate in the current legislative session – are “null and void because of the serious constitutional violations.”

The lawsuit was filed by Julianne Murray, a Sussex County attorney and last year’s Republican nominee for governor. Before entering the governor’s race, Murray sued incumbent Democrat John Carney over a ban on short-term rentals he imposed because of the coronavirus. The ban, which was later lifted, temporarily prevented Murray and her husband from renting out their beach condominium.

Senate Democrats responded that they would not be “bullied” into delaying legislation supported by Delawareans of both parties. They also said the committee meeting on the gun control bills may have been the most well-attended committee meeting in the history of the General Assembly.

“More than 800 people were able to attend that meeting – four times the fire code occupancy limit of the largest room in Legislative Hall,” they noted.

The Whole Story

 

Victim Compensation and Restorative Justice as Alternatives to Sentencing Enhancements for Hate Crimes

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 9, 2021 in Featured, Other Issues | 0 comments

We should use restorative justice practices much more in our criminal justice system.

 

Excerpts from the Article:

During the decades dominated by the tough-on-crime movement, 48 states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government all adopted “hate-crimes” legislation. These statutes called for sentencing enhancements requiring longer periods of punitive incarceration for crimes motivated by a perpetrator’s bias toward a protected group based upon race, religion, sexual orientation, or other characteristics.

The goal of these enhancements was to express society’s unique condemnation for crimes of bias due to the impact of those crimes not only on the direct victim but also the impact upon all members who identify with that particular group.

But in a recent change of national dialogue toward restricting the scope and punitive approach of America’s criminal justice system, the effectiveness of these statutes is being questioned. The glaring flaw of these statutes is the fact that they have helped create a carceral system that disproportionately punishes people from those groups that the hate-crimes legislation was meant to protect.

Professors Sinnar and Colgan suggest that instead of sentencing enhancements, the shift should be toward compensation for victims and practices of restorative justice. But for these to work as viable alternatives, reforms are needed. For example, most victim compensation statutes unnecessarily preclude coverage of harm done to property. Consequently, when buildings of worship are destroyed because of the perpetrator’s bias toward people of that religion, the victims are not compensated.

Also, most victim compensation statutes too narrowly define “victim.” In 2017, three young Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina were murdered. Dr. Suzanne Barakat — the sister of one of the victims — testified to the “horrific trauma that [would] continue to forever haunt” her family. But North Carolina’s statute permits only the dependents of the deceased victims to be compensated.

Restorative justice includes “a set of ideas and practices” that “has emerged as a leading alternative to the existing criminal legal system.” It encompasses “apologies, restitution, and acknowledgements of harm and injury, as well as … other efforts to provide healing and reintegration of offenders into their communities, with or without additional punishment.”

In the context of hate crimes, it is argued that the guided process of offenders meeting with victims helps to determine the necessary reparative steps, validates the survivors’ pain, gives the survivors an opportunity to be heard, and restores the survivors’ sense of control and safety. As to the offenders, it replaces conventional punishment with a more meaningful form of accountability and appreciation of the harm they inflicted, forcing them to face the consequences of their actions and take steps to repair the harm.

A restorative proceeding would also permit survivors to request forms of reparation not otherwise available from the traditional punitive approach, e.g., survivors could request an apology; they could request an admission that the crime was motivated by bias against a particular group; and they could request a promise from the offender that such crimes would never be repeated.

However, restorative justice is viable only when particular limitations are recognized. For example, there is a societal expectation that certain victims forgive perpetrators rather than demand punishment. (Many commentators argued that society “improperly expected” a Black man to embrace the White Dallas police officer who was convicted of murdering his brother.) There is also the risk that offenders may revictimize survivors, offer insincere apologies, or blame the victim.

But each of these concerns can be addressed by a thorough vetting of all parties before any meeting between offenders and survivors occurs. Restorative justice proceedings could be an “option,” meaning that they occur only if the victim or survivors agree, in lieu of more traditional punitive sanctions. And if offenders are unrepentant or avowed members of a particular hate group, then they would, of course, be ineligible.

Professors Sinnar and Colgan conclude that victim compensation and restorative justice may benefit some victims of hate crimes and affected communities; subject offenders to a more meaningful form of accountability; and preserve the message of society’s unique condemnation of hate crimes without linking that message to additional time in prison. But questions remain as to whether these alternatives can sufficiently mitigate concerns where the offenders are unrepentant or from a dominant group that victimizes those of a subordinate group. The professors suggest further experimentation and study.

The Whole Story

 

LOCAL NEWS Racial bias detected in housing, punishment at King County jail, audit finds An audit found Black inmates received 23% more infractions than white offenders in King County corrections from 2017 to 2019.

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 9, 2021 in Featured, Other Issues, Prison Abuse | 0 comments

The same racial bias is rampant nationwide. Racism permeates every aspect of our criminal justice system.

 

Excerpts from the Article:

An audit of King County corrections found racial bias evident in housing and discipline and made recommendations to decrease disparities.

The audit, which was presented Tuesday to the King County Council Law and Justice Committee, examined data and incidents from 2017 to 2019 at the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle and Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Black people in custody were overrepresented in higher security housing and were more likely than white people to be infracted for violent incidents, according to the audit.

Although Black people make up 36% of the jail’s population, auditors found they made up half of the two highest security levels at the jails.

Black inmates also received 23% more infractions than other people, and the punishment was more severe. The audit found Black women were punished with 70% more days in restrictive housing compared to other women; Black men received 24% longer punishments. Indigenous women also faced harsher punishment, spending 18% more days in restrictive housing compared to other women.

The audit also examined violent incidents. Between 2017 and 2019, investigators found the rate of violent incidents was nearly three times higher and the rate of incidents targeting staff was nearly four times higher at the Seattle jail than in Kent.

However, the report found social distancing was key in reducing incidents last year. When the pandemic hit, the adult King County jail population decreased from about 2,000 inmates to 1,300, and the Seattle jail stopped double-bunking inmates. Although the inmate population dropped 47%, fights and assaults plummeted 63%, according to the audit.

Though auditors found pepper spray was sometimes misused by staff, excessive use of force among officers was “rarely found” with four cases of excessive and unnecessary force documented over the audit’s three-year period.

The audit made 25 recommendations, including several to reduce bias. Those recommendations include making changes to the sanctions process and revising its management risk scoring rubric to reduce bias as well as monitoring the racial makeup of incident data to detect disparities.

The Whole Story

 

Tech Company Enables Total Surveillance

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 9, 2021 in Featured, Other Issues | 0 comments

Like so many things, this can be good or bad. It depends on who is using it and for what purpose.

Excerpts from the Article:

A little-known tech company in Texas has dramatically altered the landscape of digital police surveillance. Hawk Analytics, headquartered in Bartonville, Texas, has developed software that streamlines the process police use to turn the huge quantities of information they obtain from cellular companies into intelligence while simultaneously gathering data on hundreds or even thousands of uninvolved private citizens, according to a report by The Intercept.

In the past, police had to engage in a painstaking process to track movements via cellphone records. Unlike how it’s depicted on television and movies, this process involved hand-drawn plots on maps as analysts sifted through reams of data. The Hawk Analytics product CellHawk can, on the other hand, “process a year’s worth of cellphone records in 20 minutes,” The Intercept reports.

Police routinely receive massive datasets from cellular carriers through a variety of request types. The two most common are “geozone” requests, which gather complete records of cellular activity within a specified radius of a particular geographical location, and “tower dumps,” which is the record of all activity on a particular cellular tower. These datasets usually come in the form of vast spreadsheets, and they rarely require a warrant. A single tower dump can include 150,000+ phone numbers.

The CellHawk software, according to company brochures, can analyze the vast trove of data in search of particular patterns or contacts of interest to police.

The “unique animation analysis tool” can then plot particular phone calls and locations over time, essentially creating a map of where the phone was and who it contacted. Once CellHawk is locked onto a phone, it can track it, relaying information about when a phone moves from a particular location. As the brochure puts it, CellHawk can help “find out where your suspect sleeps at night.”

The capacity of this technology to invade the privacy, not to mention First Amendment rights, of the public is immediately evident. When, for example, protests erupted in Minneapolis after the killing of an unarmed Black man in neighboring Wisconsin, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, where Minneapolis is located, used phone data from several protesters who were arrested to create a virtual map of the network of activists responsible for the protest, even though these activists were not accused, or even suspected, of a crime. Hawk Analytics touts this network analysis capacity as a primary feature of its software, and when the Hennepin Sheriff’s Office was asked whether products like CellHawk undermine the presumption of innocence, spokesperson Andrew Skoogman dismissively replied, “This is the investigative process.”

CellHawk can be used to analyze ride hailing and GPS usage in addition to general cellphone use, and while it offers a significant advance in surveillance technology, products from companies like the Twitter affiliate Dataminr and the already commonly available array of surveillance technology from license plate readers to drone surveillance were already vastly expanding the reach of police.

There is no evidence the police have been slow to utilize that reach to the fullest possible extent. Verizon, for example, received more than 260,000 subpoenas, warrants, and emergency requests for cellular data in 2019, including 24,000 for locating particular phones. Some places, like Minnesota, can retain this type of information, building maps with products like CellHawk, for years.

Hawk Analytics has dozens of police clients across the country, including the FBI. Courts have thus far been divided on the legal contours of the new datamining tools in the hands of police. Julia Decker, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Minnesota, observed, “I think this highlights how the rapid development of surveillance tech outstrips existing laws … In this moment of talking about police reform, use of surveillance tech needs to be part of the discussion.”

The Whole Story

 

California Starts Phase-Out of Most State Juvenile Prisons, but Loophole Allows Two to Remain Open

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 8, 2021 in Featured, Mental Illness, Prison Abuse | 0 comments

A smart move; get rid of the loopholes!  Numerous studies have shown that 75% kids sent to juvenile prisons end up in adult prisons!

 

Excerpts from the Article:

Beginning in July 2021, California will stop accepting nearly all youth offenders at three facilities operated by the Division of Juvenile Justice (“DJJ”). This resulted from an August 2020 deal between Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature whereby the majority of offenders age 25 and younger will be confined in detention centers operated by local governments to permit them to serve their time closer to their homes, families, and communities.

However, the deal contained a loophole: two state-operated facilities in San Joaquin and Ventura counties will remain open for youth who are at risk of being prosecuted as adults.

Two decades ago, around 10,000 youth ages 12 to 25 were confined in state facilities. But juvenile crime has since plummeted, with DJS facilities now holding about 775 youthful offenders (and county facilities confining another 2,250). The cost of housing offenders in the DJJ had skyrocketed to more than $300,000 per person annually.

The DJJ also had a dismal performance record. A 2017 evaluation reported that 75% of youth discharged were rearrested within three years of release. The report reflected a similar finding made in 2002. Generations of people who had been confined in the DJJ’s facilities spoke at a 2020 meeting in Salinas, stating that when they were released they were “ill-prepared for life outside, not knowing how to open a bank account or find a job,” The Imprint reported. Assemblyman Phil Ting said of the new plan, “This is about providing some sunshine on a system that is not working.”

The new program established an Office of Youth and Community Restoration (“OYCR”) as part of California’s Health and Human Services Agency instead of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The OYCR will be charged with the task of providing consistent standards and greater accountability for California’s 58 county juvenile justice systems. The OYCR is to “promote trauma responsive, culturally informed services” and will include the state’s first-ever ombudsman for youth justice to investigate complaints about harmful conditions or practices at juvenile facilities in California.

The new plan has faced much opposition and criticism. Assemblyman Jim Cooper said “this entire program is set up for failure for most of the counties.” Of primary concern is the challenge of how small, rural counties will have constitutionally adequate structures and programming to handle youth offenders.

Further, young people with mental health problems who had committed sex offenses or who had a history of involvement with violent gangs were previously sent to the DJJ because county facilities are not equipped to house them. But a new Juvenile Justice Realignment Block Grant will give counties $40 million in 2021 to make improvements, and that amount is set to jump to almost $209 million in the 2024 fiscal year.

Edgar Ibarra, a student of the University of California, Davis (who was also incarcerated in DJJ’s facilities from 2008 to 2012), said, “We can’t afford to mess this up. We need to set these guys up for success so they don’t have to go back to prison or get locked up again like we did.”

The Whole Story

 

STAR Program Redirecting Mental Health Emergency Calls Away From Police a Success in Denver

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 8, 2021 in Featured, Mental Illness, Other Issues, Uncategorized | 0 comments

This program or policy should be in EVERY major city!

 

Excerpts from the Article

USA Today reports that Denver, Colorado, is showing success with a new program that directs emergency 911 calls that deal with mental health issues, drug abuse, and homelessness to a two-person civilian team composed of a medic and clinician called the Support Team Assistance Response (“STAR”) pilot program.

Originally managed by the city’s safety department but since transferred to its public health department, STAR is the product of a group of members from the police department, health department, Denver 911, the Caring for Denver Foundation, Mental Health Center of Denver, and the Denver Alliance for Street Health Response (“DASHR”), which traveled to Eugene, Oregon, to examine that city’s Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (“CAHOOTS”) initiative. Eugene’s program was launched in 1989 to respond to a range of mental health issues as a technique of reducing the harm that had resulted from police encounters with the same. As of 2017, CAHOOTS responders answered 17% of the total volume of police calls, eliminating any possibility of police violence in any of those responses.

Denver coordinated with several other Colorado cities to draft a new type of crisis response unit, one that might not end in the unfortunate death of someone suffering a mental health breakdown such as happened with 23-year-old Elijah McClain of Aurora, Colorado. The city launched the pilot program in June with a one two-man team staffed in a van roaming the streets from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Washington Post reported that police fatally shoot hundreds of people experiencing mental health crises every year, nearly 1,400 since 2015. In the first six months of STAR in Denver, the ‘‘person-centric mobile crisis response’’ unit answered 748 of the 2,500 emergency calls that came their way. Not one response resulted in any abuse or arrest. Most of the calls were for the homeless (68%) and mental health issues (61%). Correspondingly, police answered 95,000 calls during the same timeframe. Fully operational, STAR could potentially take 3% or more of the police department’s total case load.

This year, the city has allocated $1.4 million to the program, enough to purchase four more vans, six two-man teams, and a full-time supervisor to expand the program’s response. “Overall, the first six months has kind of been a proof of concept of what we wanted,” stated Vinnie Cervantes, a founder of DASHR. “We’ve continued to try to work to make it something that is truly a community-city partnership.”

Denver follows several other cities developing similar programs as people call for defunding police due to the number of recent fatal shootings of people experiencing mental health issues nationwide. Los Angeles and San Antonio partnered police and mental health professionals as “co-responders” to answer mental health incidents. Chicago, Illinois, and Louisville, Kentucky are expected to follow suit this year. Aurora launches its STAR program this month.

The Whole Story

 

Woman sues MN Department of Corrections, says officer sexually assaulted her during transport

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 8, 2021 in Backgress - Sessions, Featured, Prison Abuse | 0 comments

This is the entire article from Prison Legal News.  I wish I had a dollar for every case of such abuse; pray that she wins!

 

Woman sues MN Department of Corrections, says officer sexually assaulted her during transport
Randy Beehler, a defendant in the civil case, pleaded guilty last week to third-degree criminal sexual conduct in the state’s criminal case.

A woman is suing the Minnesota Department of Corrections and former corrections officer Randy A. Beehler for damages after Beehler allegedly traded lunch from McDonald’s for sexual favors while transporting her as an inmate in September 2019.

The lawsuit, filed in January by the woman, alleges that the state, its Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell and Beehler violated the woman’s constitutional rights and Minnesota law.

The lawsuit also argues the state was negligent in allowing a single male correctional officer to transport a female inmate alone and without direct supervision.

Letter to the Editor or Op Ed Submission -Expand the Court NOW – 4/8/21

Posted by Ken Abraham on Apr 8, 2021 in Featured, Other Issues | 0 comments

Letter to the Editor or Op Ed Submission -Expand the Court NOW – 4/8/21

The United States Supreme Court has been notoriously understaffed for decades. In fact, the Court accepts 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review each year. With a couple of arcane exceptions, like treaty disputes, it is entirely within the justices’ discretion which cases to take.

Right now, your chances are about 1 in 70. Let’s improve those odds by expanding the Court to 11 members. Now is the time to do this, while President Biden has an opportunity to appoint some really smart justices.

Frankly, some recent appointments have been relative mental midgets; let’s face it: Brett Kavanaugh is no Holmes, Cardozo, or Brandeis!

Urge your elected officials to call for expanding our Supreme Court!

Ken Abraham, founder of Citizens for Criminal JUSTICE, former Deputy Attorney General, Dover, DE 302-423-4067

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READ this article and do what it says; with easy to follow instructions. Practical Tip – Get Empowered! How YOU Can Create a Powerful, Effective Force for Reform – http://www.citizensforcriminaljustice.net/practical-tip-how-you-can-create-a-powerful-effective-force-for-reform-of-our-criminal-justice-system/

WRITE A LETTER ABOUT WHATEVER YOU ARE POSTING ABOUT!

 

 

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Articles

  • Minnesota Counties Pay Out More Than $10 Million For Prison and Jail Settlements
  • Governor announces historic slate of judicial nominees in Delaware
  • Gun Rights Advocates sue Lawmakers over Virtual Meetings
  • Victim Compensation and Restorative Justice as Alternatives to Sentencing Enhancements for Hate Crimes
  • LOCAL NEWS Racial bias detected in housing, punishment at King County jail, audit finds An audit found Black inmates received 23% more infractions than white offenders in King County corrections from 2017 to 2019.

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