Est. Oct. 3, 2010
Source: NYT. Lawyers for a disabled Islamic preacher jailed in Manhattan said on Monday that the Federal Bureau of Prisons had recently imposed harsh new restrictions on their client, which have made it harder for him to prepare for his trial.
Source: AP. Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said brief periods of isolation may be needed as a security measure. However, they contend that longer spans of solitary confinement can cause serious psychological and physical harm to young people, including heightened risk of suicide.
Source: InForum. Denying one inmate’s claims of discrimination, the Cass County Jail supervisor said the facility makes “every effort that we can reasonably make” to accommodate Muslims observing the holy month of Ramadan. Tyrone Jones, a 33-year-old Fargo man being held in the jail on charges of burglary, simple assault and violation of a protection order, recently sent a letter to The Forum claiming that Muslim inmates were being treated unfairly in their attempts to practice their religion through prayer and observe Ramadan through fasting during daylight hours.
Source: The Atlantic. Faced with two new federal lawsuits alleging prisoner mistreatment and abuse, one of which chronicles in grim detail the 2010 suicide of an inmate at the Supermax facility in Colorado, the Federal Bureau of Prisons last month sent an extraordinary “Suicide Prevention” memo to “all Bureau Inmates.” Charles E. Samuels, Jr., director of the BOP, urged prisoners “unable to think of solutions other than suicide” not to “lose hope” and urged them to “be willing to request help from those around you.”
Source: AP. John Walker Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence for aiding the Taliban during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, argues that the high-security prison’s policy barring such congregate rituals violates his and other Muslim inmates’ rights. His lawsuit cites a 1993 law that bans the government from curtailing religious speech without showing a compelling interest.
Source: AP. Allowing convicted Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and other Muslim inmates to pray daily in a group at their Indiana prison would be dangerous, unaffordable and unfair to other inmates, prison officials said Thursday during a trial in Lindh’s lawsuit that alleges his religious rights are being violated. Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence for aiding the Taliban during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, argues that the high-security prison’s policy barring such congregate rituals violates his and other Muslim inmates’ rights. His lawsuit cites a 1993 law that bans the government from curtailing religious speech without showing a compelling interest.
Source: USA Today. American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh testified Monday that the U.S. government is forcing him to sin by denying his federally protected right to religious expression. Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring to kill Americans and aiding Afghanistan’s Taliban government, said it’s “absurd” that he and other Muslims housed in a highly restricted federal prison are prohibited from praying together daily.
Source: Huffington Post. American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh says a federal prison rule barring him and other Muslims from praying together daily is “absurd” and contends the U.S. is causing him to sin against his religion by prohibiting such gatherings in the name of security.
Source: NYT. The District of Columbia made the switch on July 25 to video visitation, a growing trend in the corrections field. To proponents, the video systems provide a more convenient, safer, thriftier alternative to in-person visits. Some jurisdictions even make money, by charging for the video visits. Critics, including prisoner advocates and corrections officers concerned with how prisoners fare once they are released, fear that the video visits allow less meaningful contact with family and could hurt inmates’ morale.
Source: Urbanite Baltimore. More than a score of former or current Maryland prisoners and more than a dozen current or former Maryland correctional officers who—without exception— [have spoken] of the widespread and regular use of “administrative segregation” or “protective custody” in Maryland’s prisons—defacto practices of solitary confinement. Moreover, the former Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center (MCAC), known commonly as Maryland’s “Supermax” and Maryland’s North Branch Correctional Institution are facilities explicitly designed to facilitate prisoner isolation. MCAC is now called the Chesapeake Detention Facility which houses federal prisoners in the building’s Supermax conditions.
