Florida prison officials argued they had a right to stop offering kosher meals if they got too expensive. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said no in a unanimous decision.
prisons and jails
Sharply Split Court Revamps and Complicates Challenges to Solitary and Restrictive Confinement
Giving more “deference” to the Florida Department of Corrections, a sharply divided appeals court Tuesday approved revamping the legal process for inmates who challenge disciplinary decisions that take them out of the general prison population.
At Flagler’s New Jail, Science of Self-Contained Cell Blocks To Make Captivity Safer for Inmates and Guards
It’s in the internal designs, the innumerable details and attention to logic, efficiency and security for inmates, guards and visitors that the jail–which opened today– impresses, and that its $17.3 million cost shows its value.
Media Groups Shut Out of Federal Lawsuit Over Prison Newspaper Ban
A federal appeals court has turned down a request by media groups to file a friend-of-the-court brief in a dispute about whether the Florida Department of Corrections can ban a publication from the state’s prisons.
In Florida, Court Rules, a 55-Year Prison Sentence For a Juvenile Is Not a Life Term
Anthony Julian Collins was two months shy of 17 when he was committed an attempted second-degree murder, carjacking with a firearm and attempted armed robbery.
Poll-Tax Redux: Millions Free From Jail Are Barred From Voting By Criminal Debt
Debt from fines starts at sentencing and can grow at interest rates of 12 percent or more while inmates serve their sentences. It continues to grow after they’re released and face the numerous barriers to finding work and housing.
Troubled Florida Department of Corrections Asks for 734 More Positions for Security. Lawmakers Say No.
The department has been reeling from a series of reports about issues such as contraband smuggling and abuse of inmates. The new jobs were part of an effort by the department to have corrections officers work eight-hour shifts instead of 12-hour shifts.
In “Fair Sentencing” Push, an Attempt to Reconsider Florida’s Get-Tough-On-Crime Laws
Fair Sentencing seeks to change laws of the 1990s, such as 10-20-Life, mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses and habitual-offender laws, as other states have done.
Congress Has Created An Average of 50 New Crimes Per Year for the Past Decade
In just the five years Congress created 439 new criminal offenses for a of 4,889 federal crimes. That’s in addition to the growing number of state and local crimes for which Americans can be prosecuted.
William Dillow, Serving 45 Years for Raping 2 Pre-Teen Flagler Beach Girls, Is Murdered
William Dillow, 29, was sentenced in April to 45 years and was serving at the Jefferson Correctional Institution near Tallahassee when he was killed by a fellow-inmate. He’d been arrested in February 2014.