By Boston Woodard Much has been written and said about Nelson Mandela since his passing on Dec. 5, 2013, at 95. President Barack Obama called Mandela “a giant in history” as he talked about the [...] Continue Reading
Police
Growing Marijuana Banned in Fresno County: The People Fight Back
By Michael Green In a move that could have statewide impact, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted to ban the cultivation of medical cannabis anywhere in the unincorporated county. Cannabis [...] Continue Reading
The Prison Press: “Justice Reinvestment” Gets Billions for Reform
By Boston Woodard A reform movement is taking hold in the country. It’s called “justice reinvestment,” and it aims to harvest the billions spent on incarceration and redirect the money to social [...] Continue Reading
The Justice Factory
By Vic Bedoian This year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark judicial decision regarding the right of everyone to a fair, speedy and effective day in court regardless of their economic [...] Continue Reading
National Recognition for Local Activist: Nancy Hatcher Wins Prestigious Social Work Award
By Richard Stone Nancy Hatcher is known to many of us for her seemingly innumerable involvements in peace and social justice activities. Sometimes it’s prison work, like gathering and assembling [...] Continue Reading
POPS (The Club): Pain of the Prison System – The Prison Press – December 2013
By Boston Woodard Of those in for nonviolent crimes, America has the largest prison population in the world, with 2.5 million men and women in prison and more than seven million on some sort of [...] Continue Reading
Public Defense in Peril
By Vic Bedoian In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been [...] Continue Reading
Memoirs of a Public Pretender
By Scott Baly With hands chained to their waist and feet shackled, they shuffle into the courtroom six at a time. When I see them I know there are more waiting in a cell not far behind. I wear a suit [...] Continue Reading
The Prison Press: Poetic Justice Project — A Prisoner Reentry Program for the Arts
By Boston Woodard “Every human being has a spark of something in them that can be ignited for the good of mankind…Someone getting out of prison has to make their own choices. Whether they end up [...] Continue Reading
The Prison Press — Within Spartan Cells: Security Housing Unit Anguish
By Boston Woodard It should be noted that all prisoners involved with the mass hunger strike in California’s security housing units (SHUs) are not the irretrievable miscreants (“gang members”), as [...] Continue Reading
California Inmates’ Hunger Strike Against Solitary Confinement Spreads
By Eduardo Stanley (Editor’s note: This article was originally published by VOXXI (www.voxxi.com/calif-hunger-strike-solitary-confinement/)). About 500 people recently traveled from all over [...] Continue Reading
The Fungus Among Us
By Maria Telesco At the time of this writing, a serious medical crisis is looming in two California prisons. Valley fever, which is caused by the sometimes-lethal aspergillus fungus, may be [...] Continue Reading