On March 17, Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released her findings on the case of Darren Rainey, who died at Dade Correctional Institution in 2012 after being placed by prison guards into a shower so hot that, upon his death, skin was separating from his body. She is not charging anyone in his […]

Thank you everyone for your incredible work these past few weeks. You made calls, wrote letters, and even visited your legislators on behalf of the movement for parole justice. The message we heard from many in Albany is that your voices were loud, clear and persistent. We write with exciting news and an update on […]

On March 17, Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released her findings on the case of Darren Rainey, who died at Dade Correctional Institution in 2012 after being placed by prison guards into a shower so hot that, upon his death, skin was separating from his body. She is not charging anyone in his death, which she ruled accidental, saying he was not burned, but simply showing signs of decomposition.

Over the past week, the Prison Ecology Project, the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons and our allies have been reviewing the Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed 2018 budget and listening in on budget hearings in D.C. After three steady years of our nationwide grassroots organizing, including a march to the doorsteps of the DOJ last […]

Spring 2017 Newsletter Revised 3

Recently, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Accords, and that’s a devastating blow to international efforts to slow global warming through environmental protections. Meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed federal prosecutors to file harsher charges against federal offenders, even if they’ve been accused of low level nonviolent […]

Recent conditions at Parnall have been literally poisoning people through prolonged exposure to emissions from human feces.

by Panagioti Tsolkas / Prison Legal News Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson County, Michigan, doesn’t have an official gas chamber. In fact, it’s considered a low-security prison. But recent conditions at Parnall have been literally poisoning people through prolonged exposure to emissions from human feces. Last year, Kevin Blair Sr. watched his son, also Kevin […]

One way prisons cause catastrophic harm is by adversely impacting the health of the incarcerated and their families, forcing an already economically burdened population to sink deeper into poverty and isolation. A state representative in Florida deserves plaudits for trying to help. Representative David Richardson has been taking on a privately run women’s prison in […]