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Tag: prison

  • Mexico Prison Stormed By Gunmen, Nine Dead

    An exchange of gunfire occurred on Friday at a prison in Guerrero, Mexico.

    Six men disguised as police officers commuted to the facility in a stolen pickup truck and pretended to transport an inmate.

    Once inside the doors of the prison, they started confrontation with some of the guards and inmates.

    Four inmates and five assailants were killed in the shootout. The sixth assailant suffers from injuries but is in stable condition. One prison guard is currently being treated for a gunshot wound.

    Following the event, army troops were immediately called to the scene and surrounded the prison’s vicinity.

    The motive behind the raid is still unclear, however, authorities believe that a Mexican gang may have carried out the attack. It is not uncommon for gangs to invade prisons to free their members or to seek revenge by killing those from rival gangs.

    As one of the worst states in Mexico, Guerrero has a high crime rate of gang activity.

    In September 2012, one of the deadliest shootouts happened on the streets of a small town patrolled by Mexican soldiers. (image)

    A heavily armed group of gang members, nine men and one woman, attacked the troops in a case most likely related to drugs. All attackers died in the shootout including one soldier.

    Furthermore, gang members are attacking leaders of the state. In July 2012, police chief of Ayutla was found shot to death.  Many deaths alike have sparked a movement of vigilantes wearing armed masks, carrying weapons and managing roadside checkpoints in an effort to protect their communities.

    As the one of the most popular tourist locations, Guerrero suffers terribly from excessive violence but citizen patrol continues to fight against that which is destroying the community.

    Images via Youtube, WochitGeneralNews

  • Mary-Louise Parker Fights for Troubled Son in “Jamesy Boy”

    In a sneak-peek clip of Mary-Louise Parker’s upcoming-featured film,” Jamesy Boy,” it shows a mother who fights to keep her gang-related son in school.  

    Based on a true story about James Burns, portrayed by Spencer Lofranco, the film illustrates the let downs a young 14-year-old teen experienced by the school system.

    The clip, however, shows a prelude to the administration’s admission rejection.

    “Miss Burns, let me be frank with you. We have some concerns. We’ve read your son’s record and we’re not convinced that our school is the right place for a student with his particular history,” said the admissions officer to Parker’s character in reference to her son. (image)

    The officer then goes on to elaborate on her son’s unstable violent behavior and list of convictions. She unashamedly admits that the school is afraid that Burns would be a danger to other students.

    Burns ends up joining a street gang, which eventually leads to his incarceration in a maximum-security prison. However, his relationship with a convicted murderer mentors him in changing his life around. (image)

    Throughout the movie, you can expect to see “…an education system resisting the wayward, failing a mother, and pushing a young person further into despair.” Other costars include James Woods, Taissa Farmiga, Taboo of Black Eyed Peas and Ving Rhames.

    Directed by Trevor White, “Jamesy Boy” is set to release on Demand January 3 and premier in theaters January 17.

    Image via Youtube, JoBlo.com

  • Alabama Terrorism: Two Men Receive Maximum Sentence

    Alabama seems an unlikely place for overseas terrorism, but this case proves that you never know where it can occur.

    Reuters tells us that Randy “Rasheed” Wilson and Mohammad Abdul Rahman Abukhdair were each sentenced to 15 years in prison today by U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose for “conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.”

    The two met online in 2010, and Abukhdair moved in with the Wilson family in Mobile, Alabama a year after. By this time, Abukhdair had already been jailed in Egypt on suspicion of terrorist-related activities, and by 2011 the FBI began recording the two new roommate’s conversations and emails. Authorities stepped in earlier this year after they both were found attempting to leave the country after settling on a place and action for, in the judge’s words, their “well-researched plan” for jihad.

    It has also been reported that Wilson was also friends with the recently killed prominent member of the al Shabaab (and Alabama native) Omar Hammami. The al Shabaab are connected to the recent Kenya and Somalia attacks.

    Attorneys asserted to the court that the accused only said disturbing things, and that one should not be punished for that. The final decision today, however, ended with both defendants receiving the maximum sentence for the charge.

    What do you think? Were Randy Wilson and Mohammad Abukhdair unfairly sentenced or was it just action performed by the United States?

    Image via Youtube

  • Pussy Riot And Greenpeace Members May Be Freed Early

    Pussy Riot released the video for Like A Red Prison earlier this year. Many wondered if the video served as a political statement in relation to last year’s imprisonment of members from the musical group who were punished for involvement in a “punk prayer” mocking Vladimir Putin. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina were sentenced to two years in prison with the original release being set for March; however, a new amnesty law might lead to an earlier release. The amnesty law was approved unanimously by the lower house of the Russian parliament (called the State Duma) on Wednesday. This law may also free 30 individuals previously charged with hooliganism, and imprisoned for participation in a Greenpeace protest condemning oil drilling in the Arctic.

    Irina Khrunova, who is the lawyer for Tolokonnikova and Alekhina, gave a phone interview shortly after the ruling. “According to the draft law passed today, my clients will be freed,” Khrunova said.

    (image)

    Lilia Shevtsova, who is a senior researcher for the Moscow Carnegie Center, spoke against the harshness of the initial punishment. “Putin himself must know that even by his standards, they have already been punished way beyond any reason, and they are coming out in three months anyway, amnesty or no amnesty. He can’t let out protesters who clashed with the police on the eve of his inauguration and spoiled his holiday, but he can let go of Greenpeace activists who already spent two months in jail for nothing,” Shevtsova said.

    Denis Sinyakov is a freelance photographer who closely followed the Greenpeace protest. “I and my Greenpeace friends did nothing wrong and committed no crime. I think this is how the authorities are trying to get out of the uncomfortable situation they drove themselves into with their lawless action against us all,” Sinyakov said.

    The amnesty will only apply to those imprisoned or held for crimes that are punishable by a term of no more than five years in prison. According to Sergei Markov, the underlying purpose behind the amnesty law is to free ordinary people who were punished for minor crimes and not necessarily to free members of the popular musical group Pussy Riot.

    Images 1 and 2 Via Wikimedia Commons

  • UK Prisoner Told To Clean Up Her Miscarriage

    Usually you lose your rights and sometimes your mind when you become a prisoner. And, for one woman in a private prison who had a miscarriage, it allegedly meant to be told to clean up after herself; the fetus lay dead on the prison cell floor.

    Nadine Wright, 37, had a nurse present with her when she miscarried on November 24; but, according to The Independent, she was left alone with the visceral mess in her prison cell.

    “The baby was not removed from the cell,” Nadine’s lawyer Philip Gibbs told Leicester Crown Court, United Kingdom.

    “There was blood everywhere and she was made to clean it up.”

    The private prison failed to address the serious matter, so the governor had to step in.

    “The baby was not removed from the cell. It was quite appalling. It was very traumatic. She only received health care three days later, after the governor intervened.”

    Wright had been arrested for stealing £13.94 ($24.17) worth of food from the Village Store – a crime she committed after not receiving welfare benefits, despite being under the program for 11 months; she was hungry.
    (image)

    Wright appeared for sentencing for breach of two court orders that were in place due to previous offenses of shoplifting and absence of attending. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in jail.

    (image)

    Though there have been no reports concerning how far along she was in the pregnancy, Wright miscarried no more than 24 hours after she arrived in HMP Peterborough.

    The court heard Wright, who has been addicted to heroin since her teens and suffers from mental diseases; she was said to be deeply traumatized by the incident, reported DailyMail. Wright not only had a “chaotic lifestyle” but her mother died in September, whose loss was difficult to cope with.

    Paul Trotter, for the probation service, said that Wright had failed to co-operate and did not attend appointments.

    A representative of Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Peterborough told a UK news agency that, “a prisoner received medical treatment on the day of her arrival in prison and was seen by a GP the following day.”

    “We have a duty of care to all prisoners that we hold. As part of that, we ensure that all prisoners have access to the same level of NHS services as those in the community.”

    Gibbs said an investigation into Wright’s alleged mistreatment was underway.

    (image)

    (Pictures via WikiCommons, Google, Meluk.co.uk)

  • Dying Inmate Paroled For Hospice Care

    Dying Inmate Paroled For Hospice Care

    Kristina Fetters, now 33-years-old, was convicted of murdering her great-aunt, Arlene Klehm, 73, in 1995 at the age of 14. She was the youngest inmate in Iowa to be serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. However, after Fetters was diagnosed with inoperable stage four breast cancer, the Parole Board granted her a “compassion release”, on Tuesday, so that she can receive the medical care she needs in hospice care.

    This marks the first time that Iowa will release an inmate based on the United States Supreme Court ruling last year that determined that life without parole was unconstitutional for juveniles. However, there are conditions for her parole release. Fetters is to remain under constant supervision and will have to meet with her parole officer frequently. Fred Scaletta, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections, says that Fetters is not currently a threat to society. “The parole board always looks at public safety. Considering her medical condition, she is not really a threat to public safety,” he said.

    Board member W. Thomas Phillips said that if her condition was to change the Parole Board would reassess the situation and would decide if she should remain on parole or return to prison. “Should things change, miraculously or whatever … the Board of Parole would reassess,” he said. “I do not see this necessarily being the final vote that the board would take.”

    Fetters and her family have been waiting for this decision since the Polk County District Judge, Douglas Staskal, resentenced her in November to allow parole to be an option. Fetters is scheduled to be released to a Hospice of Central Iowa facility within the next two weeks.

    “It’s now time for my family to have closure,” Darcy Olson, Fetters’ aunt, said. “Kris’ impending death cannot be denied, and while there have been negative comments, we believe, as the victims, that this family has suffered enough.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Gucci Mane Facing 20 Years on Federal Charges

    Rapper/actor/tattoo enthusiast Gucci Mane was charged in federal court Tuesday with two counts of possessing a firearm as a felon, after two incidents in September during which he brandished a gun and threatened police, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

    Mane, 33, whose legal name is Radric Davis, became “increasingly agitated,” during the September 14 incident, in which he spewed insults and threats at police officers. He was taken into custody after police found a handgun and a bit of marijuana in his possession. Though, according to CNN, federal prosecutors have just revealed in a press release that Mane was also arrested on September 12.

    “On September 12, 2013, Davis, who was a felon at the time, was found in possession of a firearm. Then, just two days later, on September 14th, he again possessed a firearm different from the earlier gun. On both occasions, Davis displayed the loaded firearm, acted erratically, and made threats to individuals, including police and his attorney,” according to the release.

    A felon in possession of a firearm charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, along with a fine of up to $250,000.

    Gucci Mane was also arrested in Atlanta in March, after clubbing a fan over the head with a champagne bottle, and faced charges for violating a number of traffic laws in the city in 2010. Mane was also charged in the shooting death of a man in 2005, but the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence.

    Mane was indicted on November 19, and made an initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Linda T. Walker. The rapper is detained in custody pending trial.

    Below is Gucci Mane in his video for Servin’:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0XUo5HVMyc

    Time will only tell if the Servin’ star might one day make a sequel called Servin’ 20 Yrs.

    Atlanta Police Chief George Turner commented, “We cannot tolerate convicted felons ignoring the law by carrying firearms and endangering our citizens.” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates added, “This is how people get hurt, and we are committed to ensuring that convicted felons not have guns.”

    Image via YouTube.

  • Zumba Instructor Released From Prison

    The Zumba Instructor whose prostitution scandal shook a quaint seaside town on the east coast, Alexis Wright, was released from prison yesterday after serving 6 months of her 10 months sentence. She was released early due to good behavior and her participation in a work program.

    “I have no comment”, she said as she walked past reporters wearing a gray suit dress and carrying an armload of large envelopes. She was convicted for engaging in and promoting prostitution, as well as several welfare- and tax-related charges, according to the AP.

    It’s amazing to think that only a year ago, the scandal fell upon the small town of Kennebunk, Maine near Kennebunkport, Maine. After complaints of groaning, loud music and a continuous stream of men in and out of the office she rented near to her Zumba studio, police began to watch her more closely. Soon it was discovered that her business partner, Mark Strong, watched several sexual encounters of Wright’s unsuspecting clients in real time from his office 100 miles away.

    Strong, a 58-year-old married father of two, admitted to having an affair with Wright and said he helped her start her Zumba business, but insisted that he didn’t profit from the prostitution business. Wright, on the other hand, made $150,000, and collected more than $40,000 in welfare benefits. Strong was convicted of 13 counts related to promotion of prostitution and sentenced to only 20 days in jail.

    Wright insisted that he had a bigger role than that. In a surprise move during her trial, she said that Strong had convinced her that she was an undercover agent, investigating allegations of sexual deviance. However, the court decided she was a willing participant.

    The two co-conspirators kept a list of about 150 men that were clients of her protitution ring as a security measure, according to Reuters. The reason her sentence was longer than his, is because she also pleaded guilty to collecting public assistance illegally, not paying taxes on the cash her prostitution business brought in and illegally collecting unearned tax refunds.

    Image via youtube

  • ‘Teen Mom’ Star Amber Portwood Released From Jail

    MTV’s “Teen Mom” is a show that was created to document the trials and tribulations that young mothers face. Amber Portwood was one of the original teen moms and we saw her spiral out of control throughout the three seasons.

    Portwood was sentenced to five years in prison after being arrested and charged with drug possession in December 2011. She served 17-months at the Rockville Correctional Facility in Indiana before being released yesterday for good behavior.

    Douglas S. Garrison, the chief communications officer of the Indiana Department of Correction confirmed her release. “She was released today and she’ll be going on parole,” he said. “Each parolee has a number of stipulations, and she may have to check in with her parole officer a couple times a month, possibly every week. That could last up to a year or so.”

    Portwood originally had a choice to serve out her term or enter a court ordered substance abuse program. However, she chose to go to jail. “I actually said to the judge, ‘Send me to prison,’ which is weird but I did,” she told Dr. Drew Pinsky during the MTV special “Amber Behind Bars.” “I knew, and I don’t know how, but I knew that I was going to die if I didn’t go to prison,” she said.

    After taking classes to help her cope with real-life and participating in a drug program, Portwood says she is a changed woman. It’s obvious by her brother, Shawn Portwood’s, Twitter posts, that she has a strong support system there to help her as well.

    Here is a video of Portwood coming home. Watch how her brother spills everything out of her prison bag. She laughed, which is a good sign. Hopefully things are looking up for her.

    Portwood’s is the mother to 4-year-old Leah. However, her ex-fiancé, Gary Shirley, currently has full custody.

    Image via Mugshots.com

  • Jesse Jackson Jr. Reports to Prison Early

    Jesse Jackson Jr. Reports to Prison Early

    Jesse Jackson Jr., the former congressman with a penchant for luxury, reported to a North Carolina prison on Tuesday to serve is 2 1/2 year sentence. Jackson had tried to report to the Butner Correctional Center on the previous day, but was not accepted into the prison at that time. His charge? The 48-year-old disgraced former congressman was found guilty of spending $750,000 in campaign money on personally-profitable items such as a gold Rolex watch, mounted elk heads, restaurant and bar tabs, and cigars.

    Jackson, who is now known as Inmate No. 32451-016, confronted his punishment, and was willing to start serving his time early in order to make arrangements to get back to life outside bars earlier as well.

    He already said his good-byes to his wife and children. His wife, Sandi, had also been charged and found guilty of filing false tax returns. Though required to serve a year, Sandi was granted to stagger her time differently than her husband in order to ensure that their school-age children have at least one parent present.

    According to Atlanta-based attorney C.K. Hoffler, “He was ready to pay his debt. The sooner he reported, the sooner he’d be able to get back home to his children to begin the process of healing.”

    U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield was with Jesse Jackson Jr. when he presented himself to the prison. “I am happy to report that he is in good spirits, all things considered,” Butterfield shared through a statement.

    Though the man with the historically-renowned father was once a prominent member of the Illinois Democratic Party, Jesse Jackson Jr. will be completing some less-than-glamorous tasks while in prison. His daily activities at the beginning of his time will presumably consist of rising at 6 a.m. and completing janitorial work.

    Much discussion has already been raised about Jesse Jackson Jr.’s eligibility for governmental assistance while in prison. The news ruffled some feathers, and people have been vocal about the matter.

    [Image and Video Via YouTube]

  • Supermax Prisons: Created in Response to Aryan Murders

    Slate crime correspondent Justin Peters wrote a story last week that explored the origins of the Super-maximum-security prison.

    In 1983, the Marion Penitentiary in Illinois was the toughest prison in the federal system. In Marion’s maximum-security complex, the most dangerous and violent federal inmates were held; the worst had to live in the “control unit,” which Peters equated with being buried alive. Those prisoners’ few moments outside the control unit were spent shackled and under constant watch.

    Two of the Aryan Brotherhood gang in Marion’s control unit, Thomas Silverstein and Clayton Fountain, had managed to successively murder two black inmates in spite of the increased control. Their first victim, Robert Chappelle, was strangled during an exercise period.

    Former Washington Post reporter Pete Earley describes their second in-prison murder on his site: “Silverstein [and Fountain] broke out of an exercise area and caught [black gang leader Raymond “Cadillac”] Smith as he was leaving a shower area. They stabbed him 67 times and then dragged his body up-and-down the prison tier so that other prisoners, still locked in their cells, could see the bloody corpse.”

    Following the killings, Silverstein became obsessed with a prison guard named Merle Clutts whom he believed to be unduly harassing him. On Oct. 22, 1983, in-transit from Silverstein’s cell to the showers, a prisoner slipped him a shank, and the keys to his shackles. Clutts was stabbed 40 times by Silverstein, and within mere hours, Fountain had murdered a second guard.

    The aftermath was horrific: since Marion officials believed these men to be truly uncontrollable, beatings became routine, and the entire prison was placed in a, 24-hour, 23-year state of lockdown. Inmates only got 90 minutes of exercise per day, compared with the 13-hour recreational average for federal prisoners.

    The federal government saw the harsh action as fundamentally necessary. Former Bureau of Prisons director Normal Carlson told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1998 that “There is no way to control a very small subset of the inmate population who show absolutely no concern for human life. [Silverstein and Fountain] had multiple life sentences. Another life sentence is no deterrent.”

    Commissions in the 1990’s recommended ending the lockdown, and even Amnesty International had said that, in Marion, “There is hardly a rule in the [United Nations] Standard Minimum Rules [for the Treatment of Prisoners] that is not infringed in some way or other.” But Marion remained in a state of lockdown until 2006, and the methods pioneered there became a prototype for prisons today.

    Almost every state in the Union now has at least one dedicated “control unit.” The largest today is ADX Florence in Colorado, whose more famous inmates include Ted Kaczynski, Ramzi Yousef, and Zacarias Moussaoui. Silverstein is also at ADX Florence.

    Here is an interview on YouTube with former prison guard David Hale, who was employed at the prison during Fountain and Silverstein’s rampage (some of the language is NSFW):

    [Image via a YouTube interview with David Hale]

  • Cat Caught Smuggling Weed into Moldovan Prison

    A wily cat was recently discovered to have been smuggling marijuana into a Moldovan prison, after guards noticed its strange collar.

    The cat had routinely entered and left the prison through a hole in a fence. Upon closer inspection, guards discovered two bags of weed attached to its collar.

    According to The Department of Penitentiary Institutions, someone in the village of Pruncul was using the cat as a courier, to supply inmates with their wares at the prison. Here’s the patsy in question:

    High Times Magazine can appreciate this covert cat tactic:

    In related news, guards had found another cat with cellphones and chargers taped to its stomach in June, which were being carried to inmates in Penal Colony No. 1, near Syktyvkar, in northern Russia. Here is a picture of that cat, nabbed while on his clandestine mission:

    In related cat news, Cats + Something Adorable = Internet domination. Of course prison smuggling is adorable and again worldwide news, because it’s… cats.

    Image via Twitter.

  • Angola 3 Inmate Dies Days After Being Released

    Herman Wallace, just three days after being released from prison, died on Friday morning. He was 71 years old and died after a tough battle with liver cancer. Just days ago, he made news when he was released from solitary confinement after four decades of being locked up for a crime that he did not commit.

    Wallace was one of the “Angola 3,” a group of inmates who protested what they said were injustices at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Wallace and two other inmates were convicted of armed robbery in 1971 and sent to Angola Prison. The next year, the three men were charged with the stabbing of prison guard Brent Miller, which resulted in his death. As a result, the three of them were placed in solitary confinement and while there were no fingerprints found, they were found guilty.

    In addition to Wallace, the Angola 3 was made up of Albert Woodfox and Robert King. It has been said that the targeting of these men was race related and while at the prison, Wallace founded a chapter of the Black Panthers. CNN states that both Wallace and Woodfox claim to have been targeted because of their activism with the Black Panther party. The Angola 3 was also the subject of a documentary called In The Land of The Free, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson.

    It was previously said that he was not likely to live for more than a couple months and his time was cut much shorter than that. After many years of being locked up, he was only given a few days to live on the outside, but at least he died a free man. In the decision to release Wallace from prison, the judge said on Tuesday that his petition was granted because women were excluded from the grand jury in his case four decades ago, which violates the 14th amendment of the US constitution, according to NBC News.

    Wallace’s attorney, George Kendall, said that he died at a friend’s home with friends and family near his bedside. He also mentioned that “He was determined that (solitary confinement) was not going to break him.” Wallace was able to prevail after a long struggle of a prison sentence and die peacefully, where he was comfortable and surrounded by loved ones, as Kendall mentioned. The other Angola 3 members have had a very different fate, with King being released in 2001, after 29 years of isolation and Woodfox’s case is still pending before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

    Upon his return to home, he was greeted by a large number of people in the street, chanting in his honor.

    Image via Youtube

  • Tim Robbins in Prison, Teaching Acting

    Tim Robbins is in prison, but don’t worry, he’s not walking in the footsteps of his infamous Shawshank Redemption character. This time, he is working with the group he founded in 1981 and funds himself, called the Actor’s Gang. He teaches acting to prison inmates as a way to help rehabilitate them. CBS News’ Serena Altschul joined him in a Norca, California medium security prison to see what it’s all about. See the interview here!

    When asked how he would respond to those who say prison isn’t about having a good time, he stated, “It’s not a good time. It’s tough work they’re doing. It’s physically demanding, it requires discipline. We want full commitment from them. What we’re asking them to do they haven’t been asked to do before. It takes a lot of courage. They’re actually putting on makeup and putting on costumes. It creates this place, particularly important in prison, where people can step outside of what’s expected of them and try to explore new emotions, create new realities, create new truths for themselves.”

    Tim Robbins’ first experience of prison was playing Andy Dufresne in the 1994 film “The Shawshank Redemption.”
    “I spent some time in solitary, to prepare for ‘Shawshank.’ I asked to be locked up. It gives you a good idea of what the isolation is, and what the loneliness of it is.”

    “I never thought I’d be happy to tell another man I put makeup on!” said prisoner Yousef, who told Altschul preparing for a performance was liberating.”You can always say ‘ We’re acting, that’s not really me.’ But the truth is, this is us. We’re not all bad people.”

    “A lot of people are afraid to show they could be sad, or they could be happy,” said another inmate, Yoshi. “They gotta have this mad mug all the time.”

    Robbins recalled one inmate telling him, “I didn’t realize ’til I took this class that I’ve been wearing a mask on the yard for the last eight years.”

    image via IMDb

  • ‘Orange Is The New Black’ Author And Cast Members Talk Stereotypes And Real-Life Prison

    Over the weekend, Kate Mulgrew, Uzo Aduba, Laverne Cox, cast members of the new Netflix series Orange is the New Black, along with Piper Kerman, who wrote the memoir on which it is based, appeared on Melissa Harris-Perry’s show on MSNBC to discuss the show, the stereotypes it deals with, the real-life prison system, etc.

    The Network has shared a few segments from the discussion on its site:

    Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    Orange is the New Black has already been renewed for a second season. Filming began a week ago, and several pictures from the set have been released. The show has also picked up a new cast member, and promoted a couple of others to regulars.

    Many of the cast member beyond those who appeared on MSNBC have been doing interviews, and I would imagine we’ll be seeing quite a few more, as the show has generated a great deal of buzz. It appears to be Netflix’s most popular original series so far.

    Naturally, now that a lot of people have had time to breeze through the first season, a lot of speculation and questions are coming out surrounding plot points of the forthcoming season (due in 2014). Dascha Polanco, who plays Dayanara Diaz on the show recently discussed a key part of her character’s storyline with Vulture last week, for example. It will be interesting to see if we can make it to the second season without too many spoilers coming out.

  • Captives Found in Houston “Prison Room”

    Four elderly men, and possibly four more women, have been found living in a converted garage in Houston, Texas, in what police are saying looks like a “prison room”.

    CNN reports that the Houston Police Department received an anonymous 911 call about men being held against their will at a home in North Houston. When the police arrived at the duplex to do a welfare check, they found 4 elderly men held captive in a garage that had been modified to keep them in. There were burglar bars on the windows, the door was locked, and there were no furnishings in the room except for a single chair.

    Houston Police Department spokesperson Jodi Silva said that three of the four men — who are ages 80, 74, 65 and 50 — were found in the garage and were severely malnourished. Police described the three men as suffering from a combination of physical disabilities and mental illness. Those three were taken to the hospital for treatment. The fourth has been called a caregiver, and was detained at the police station to give a statement about what was happening at the home.

    “What the men initially told us was they were lured there with the promise of cigarettes and food,” Silva said.

    Once the men got there, they were not allowed to leave.

    “They were apparently given scraps to eat. Very little food was being provided to them,” Silva said.

    Authorities suspect that the men may have been being held there for the purpose of receiving and cashing their welfare checks. They have not released the names of the men found there. And they are still investigating whether women found in the home, not the garage, were also being held there for the same reason.

    Officers say they do not know how long the men had been held there. One man told police that it “felt like ten years”, though police do not yet know if it was anywhere near that long.

  • Rickie Lawrence Gardner: Bank Robber Says, “Arrest Me, Please”

    Lyndon McWhorter, Police Chief of Moulton, Ala., has announced the capture of bank robber Rickie Lawrence Gardner.

    Don’t care?

    That’s because Rickie Lawrence Gardner wasn’t really a bank robber. Gardner, age 49, was worried that he’d suffered a career-ending leg injury and was destined for the streets. “Three hots and a cot” sounded pretty good to a guy who was about to be out of hearth and home.

    So he pulled up to the Bank Independent branch in Moulton, walked in, and offered up a note that said he had a weapon and wanted money. The clerk handed over roughly $4000 and Gardner walked out, put the cash in his car, locked the vehicle, and sat down on a bench to wait for the cops to arrive.

    McWhorter said Gardner told authorities that he robbed the bank because he had hurt his leg and wasn’t able to take care of himself. “So,” said McWhorter, “he decided to get arrested to have a place to live and someone to take care of him.”

    Arresting authorities report that he had no weapon on him other than a pocketknife but he believed that threatening the clerk with a hypothetical weapon would increase his jail time, hence a longer-term stay in the clink.

    “When the officers got there, he was just sitting on the bench, waiting on them,” McWhorter said. “The money was locked up inside his truck, which was parked in the handicapped spot in front of the bank.”

    For what it’s worth, his leg injury had warranted a handicap parking sticker, which probably won’t help him at sentencing if he’s looking for a long stay. “He had a handicap sticker on his vehicle so he even parked legal,” according to McWhorter.

    Some family members are speculating that the pain medication that went along with the leg injury may have influenced Gardner’s actions.

  • New Sesame Street Character’s Father is in Jail

    Among other things, the children’s TV show Sesame Street is famous for addressing sensitive topics that touch many children’s lives, but that may not be addressed well by the adults in their lives. Topics such as death, AIDS, and nutrition have all been taken up by the show, which has won 143 Emmy Awards in its over 40 years on television. Last year, the show took on the topic of divorce with a 13-minute webisode.

    Now Sesame Street is taking on the sensitive topic of parents being in jail. Like when divorce was addressed, the programming will be shown online as part of the Sesame Workshop’s Little Children, Big Challenges initiative, which attempts to provide comfort and resources to young children dealing with tough issues. the Incarceration “tool kit” includes tips, a storybook, and activities for both children and parents.

    Of course, there is also the classic deconstruction of the topic using muppets. A blue-haired, green-nosed muppet named Alex is depicted as having his father in jail. The muppet is used to both educate children on how tough it can be for children with incarcerated parents, and to show those same children that they aren’t the only ones who have experienced it.

  • Lenny Dykstra to Leave Prison on Sunday

    Lenny Dykstra to Leave Prison on Sunday

    Former Major League Baseball star Lenny Dykstra is set to be released from prison on Sunday, just 15 months into his three-year prison sentence.

    The Philadelphia Inquirer, which first reported the news, quotes a Dykstra biographer as saying he is “surprised” that the ballplayer was released so soon, since he had “blatantly disobeyed the court.”

    Dykstra was sentenced to three years in prison in March 2012 for three counts of grand theft auto and one count of filing a false financial report. Dykstra had pleaded no contest to the charges and attended a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

    Dykstra was drafted by the New York Mets in the 13th round of the 1981 MLB Draft. He had a successful stint in the minor leagues before moving up to the Mets roster in 1985 to replace the team’s injured center fielder. He won the World Series with the team in 1986.

    In 1989 Dykstra was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. He led the team to a National League pennant win in 1993.

    After retiring in 1996, Dykstra turned to business, running car wash companies, serving as president of other private companies, and managing a stock portfolio. His business ventures began failing in the mid 2000s, and he suctioned off his 1986 World Series ring in 2009.

    Dykstra’s legal troubles began in 2011, when he was convicted of bankruptcy fraud and sentenced to house arrest. The MLB star had hidden or destroyed hundred of thousands of dollars worth of assets to be used in his 2009 bankruptcy filing.

    (via the Philadelphia Inquirer)

    (Image courtesy BaseballBacks under Creative Commons license)

  • Tiller Killer Punished For Intimidating Abortion Clinic

    Scott Roeder, the man convicted of killing Dr. George Tiller, has now been disciplined for intimidating those who have reopened Tiller’s abortion clinic.

    According to a Reuters report, Roeder has been punished with 45 days of solitary confinement for comments he made in a telephone interview back in April. A prison hearing determined that his statements could intimidate members of the now-renamed South Wind Women’s Center. According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, he will spend 23 hours per day in his cell for 45 days, and have “reduced privileges” for 60 days.

    Roeder’s interview was with David Leach, a well-known anti-abortion activist based in Iowa.

    “To walk in there and reopen a clinic, a murder mill where a man was stopped, is almost like putting a target on your back saying, ‘Well, let’s see if you can shoot me,’” said Roeder.

    Roeder was convicted in 2010 for the murder of Tiller, one the only doctors in the U.S. who performed late-term abortions. Roeder shot Tiller in the head at point blank range while Tiller was attending a worship service at a Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 50 years.

  • 13 Officers Indicted In Prison Drug Gang Scheme

    13 female state prison guards have been indicted on charges of federal racketeering after it was discovered that they were all aiding prisoners in drug trafficking and money laundering in Baltimore.

    The guards used their position of power to help members of the Black Guerilla Family smuggle in contraband such as pills and cell phones, which they hid in their hair and underwear. But they didn’t just aid the gang in their illegal operations; some of them were carrying on relationships with the members. Reportedly, one inmate got four women pregnant.

    “The inmates literally took over ‘the asylum,’ and the detention centers became safe havens for BGF,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt.

    Prosecutors say that the conditions and staff of the prison system in Maryland is severely lacking and are blaming these incidents on a lack of control by those in charge, saying that procedures were not in place to prevent smuggling.

    As of now, all 13 officers have been suspended and are facing termination, but many are wondering if these indictments will preclude a major–and much needed–change in the prison systems.

    This isn’t the first time a female prison guard has been caught abusing her position; a woman in Brooklyn was recently brought up on charges after admitting she was pregnant by an alleged cop killer who was under her watch.