U.S. Department of Justice’s Post

Inspector of Custodial Services Report for Mannu & Glen Innes correctional centres - NSW, published February 2024. In total, 30 recommendations were made by Fiona Rafter - Inspector of Custodial Services in which covered both minimum security open camps. It would be advisable that correctional centres are inspected every 2 -3 years to ensure that recommendations are being implemented and providing the opportunity for both correctional staff and inmates to raise matters of concern and significance with the Inspector of Custodial Services and its staff. At times when a final report is presented to parliament, it will highlight significant deficiencies and areas of concern within the correctional centres operational capability and capacity. Rather then being viewed as a criticism of the management and staff of the centre, it needs to be accepted that on-going enhancements and improvements to the safe operations and humane management of inmates within the centre, can only result in positive changes in the work place for all parties to benefit from (correctional staff and inmates). Correctional centre staff should be encouraged to participate in these types of inspections by the Inspector of Custodial Services without any type of concern in voicing there views and opinions. Extract from report (page 2) 'Inspection provides independent information gathering and analysis concerning what is working well and which areas require improvement. Prior to, and after the onsite inspection, a range of information was obtained (through meetings and in documentary form) from CSNSW and JH&FMHN. During the onsite inspection, observations were made, documentation was obtained, and discussions were held with individual and groups of men in custody (including the inmate development committee) and CSNSW and JH&FMHN staff at Mannus CC and Glen Innes CC'. #correctionalofficer #prison #correctiveservices #prisonreform #inspectorcustodialservices #csnsw

As HUMAN BEINGS continue to die within our correctional facilities across this country, the correctional officers responsible for the deaths, due to neglect or excessive force, continue working with ZERO accountability. The culture within correctional facilities often normalizes violence, making excessive force seem routine or justified. This cultural acceptance of violence further complicates efforts to hold officers accountable for actions leading to inmate deaths. Incarcerated individuals are often dehumanized or viewed as less deserving of rights, which can influence how their deaths are treated legally. This dehumanization can lead to a lack of public outcry or pressure to pursue serious charges against corrections officers. Its important to highlight the power dynamics within the justice system and how they often favor law enforcement, making it difficult to secure indictments or convictions. Courts and juries may exhibit deference to corrections officers, viewing their actions as necessary to maintain order in a volatile environment. Prosecutors may be reluctant to bring charges against corrections officers due to their close working relationships with law enforcement. This can lead to conflicts of interest, reducing the likelihood of murder charges being pursued. This was proven when Soleiman Faqiri died due to homicide, very similar to William Ahmo, and no charges came after a homicide was declared in Soleiman Faqiri's inquest. Deaths in Custody need more PUBLIC OUTCRY! https://lnkd.in/gmJWGhPJ

Oklahoma is turning to body-worn cameras as a key strategy to improve prison conditions and enhance accountability within its correctional facilities. Frustrated by the lack of transparency in the information she was receiving from the state, advocate Butler took matters into her own hands, pushing for a transformative initiative already adopted by many police departments: equipping corrections officers with body-worn cameras. This push for transparency aims to foster greater accountability, protect both inmates and staff, and provide an unfiltered record of daily interactions—setting a new standard for how correctional institutions operate. Oklahoma’s move is poised to be a game-changer in prison reform, signaling a proactive approach to addressing longstanding concerns about conditions and oversight. #transparency #accountability #drjennifermatthews #corrections #oklahoma https://lnkd.in/gPCdA6bv

US Department of Justice to investigate civil rights violations in privately-run Tennessee prison The US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced on Tuesday that it will launch an investigation into the conditions at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center for the potential abuse of civil rights. The Center is operated by CoreCivic, an American company that plays a significant role in private correctional facilities in the US. Trousdale Turner Correctional Center faced multiple reports suggesting the facility is understaffed and poorly equipped. In 2023, Families for Justice Reform wrote to the Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice, urging them to look into the “mounting evidence of unsafe conditions, violence, deaths, and understaffing at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center.” Furthermore, the DoJ stated that reports regarding conditions of the facility include physical and sexual assaults. The DoJ affirmed that it is committed to protecting the constitutional rights of the Trousdale Turner prisoners. Speaking about the investigation, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke stated, “In our country, people do not surrender their constitutional rights at the prison door. Every person held in a jail or prison retains the fundamental right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. In our legal system, proper punishment does not, and cannot, include violence and sexual abuse.” The power to investigate is drawn from the Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons Act. Private prisons are used by multiple countries throughout the world. It is primarily a solution to the inability of the state to develop and maintain correctional facilities by itself, due to a lack of resources. Outsourcing the work to private entities is a less resource-intensive alternative. However, a common criticism of this alternative is that it is unethical and opens the door to human rights violations of those incarcerated within these facilities. Sourcing a task of such immense public importance to a private entity lowers the threshold of diligence with which the facilities are run and obscures their social and moral purpose with economic considerations. American Civil Liberties Union has previously criticised the system of “locking people in cages for profit,” and pointed out that “[t]hese private prisons have also been linked to numerous cases of violence and atrocious conditions.”

#Do_You_Know_Why_Men_Are_Scarce? One of the reasons why it seems reasonable men are few is because men occupy 99.9% of the correctional center(prison). Last week, at J. A Abi & Solicitors Chamber was a learning period with first-hand and practical knowledge impacted. This is in connection with the classroom theories of sentencing and the administration of the criminal justice system in Nigeria. The administration of criminal justice is the process by which justice is carried out. The penalization of criminals is the focus of the criminal process. Ensuring incapacitation, prevention, retribution, deterrence, restoration, and rehabilitation are its main goals. The primary institutions of administering criminal justice consist of the police, courts, correctional centers, and other law enforcement agencies. THE CORRECTIONAL CENTER Opara defined prison as a place delimited and declared as such by the law of the state and created to ensure restraint and custody of individuals accused or convicted of violating the criminal laws of the state. On August 15, 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari changed the name of the Nigerian Prisons Service to the Nigerian Correctional Service after signing the Nigerian Correctional Service Act of 2019. Nigeria has 240 prisons as of 2021, according to statistics. Having visited the correction center around my axis in the company of two Counsels from the Chamber, to get the information and take the brief of a client, I read through the statistics of the Correctional Center for that day. There were a total of 120 prisoners, consisting of 119 male and one female inmate. The percentage of men incarcerated is relatively high. This has a detrimental effect on the country in many ways because competent people are burdening the government rather than adding to it, especially since the majority of them are still relatively young. Males need to take responsibility for their actions and abstain from criminal activity. Nevertheless, the fact that crimes are unavoidable has been established since the time of the Holy Book. Even though the laws were still very much fresh in their minds when God gave the children of Israel the new commandments, Mr. Achan was still free to go and steal from the battle. The principle of the maxim "Nullum crimen sine lege" implies that there is no crime without the law, in corroboration with section 36(12) of the constitution of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria 1999 (as repealed), which provides thus; “a person shall not be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty, therefore is prescribed in a written law....” is very much applicable in the administration of criminal justice. This will bring us to yet another point of contention. Have a blessed week ahead! ________________________________ Kindly connect with me in this space. #Legalintern #Buildingthelifeofa360° #Lawstudent #Correctionalcenters #Crimes #Techlaw #Personaldevelopment

PRESS RELEASE: INTERNATIONAL PRISONERS JUSTICE DAY The Foundation commiserate with the inmates in 253 correctional centres in Nigeria, particularly, the 56,072 awaiting trial, representing 68% of the total population who are unlawfully incarcerated, dehumanised, stigmatised, and who have paid the ultimate price due to the deprivation of their fundamental rights. Many of these injustices stem from a lack of access to legal representation during their trials. As an organization dedicated to defending the rights of indigent persons and prisoners across Nigeria, we call on the government and stakeholders in the sector to address the systemic issues with the administration of criminal justice, ensure humane treatment, and provide access to education, healthcare, and rehabilitation programs for prisoners. We specifically call on all states in the Federal pass laws that will give effect to Fifth Alteration No.15 which deleted prison from the Exclusive List and has allowed states to own and manage correctional services. We urge state governments to implement the latter, the provisions of Section 121 (4B) and (4C) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) which provide sufficient and sustainable funding to enable the Judiciary to perform its functions to the highest standards. We feel it is crucial to remind the Minister of Interior about the dilapidated conditions of our correctional centres. Many of the facilities in these centres are obsolete and excessively overstretched. The 25th of April Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre incident is still very fresh in our memory. The Foundation also stands in solidarity with the protesters who lost their lives in recent demonstrations against #EndBadGovernance protests. We condemn the actions of the armed forces who, in their recklessness, have caused unnecessary loss of life. We urge the government to ensure that those responsible are held accountable. Further, we call on the Nigeria Police to conduct a quick methodical investigation and if need be, prosecute the hundreds arrested in connection with the protest or release them conditionally or immediately. This must not take the form of #EndSARs protesters. Their continued incarceration contributes to the overcrowding of our correctional centres, which has led to the untimely death of many inmates. The time for action is now! We call on the Nigerian government and the concerned stakeholders to take immediate steps to ensure that inmates enjoy the constitutional safeguards provided for while awaiting trial or serving their sentence. #PrisonersJusticeDay #10thofAugust

Is there a connection between prison populations, correctional supervision and crime? Based on the best available evidence from the US Department of Justice, it seems plausible. The total adult community supervision population has decreased 23% since 2012. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice using the National Crime Victimization Survey, violent crime increased 44 percent in their last official report released in 2023. https://lnkd.in/egAWgb7a #crimenews #crime #violentcrime #violence #crimestatistics #police #lawenforcement #criminaljustice #corrections #prison #recidivism #reentry #offenderrecidivism

Latest research article, published in Canadian Geographies: "Examining the intersection of carceral space and well-being: Correctional officers' perspectives on old and new prison design". Abstract: In the current study, we explored the prison design and infrastructural changes that Canadian correctional officers consider to be essential in the construction of a new provincial correctional institution intended to replace Her Majesty's Penitentiary (HMP) in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Analyzing 28 semi-structured interviews conducted with correctional officers employed at HMP, we found the poor working conditions within HMP are, at least in part, related to the physical design of the prison, including inadequate lighting, poor air quality and temperature, high sound levels, and other spatial limitations. Building on the prison design literature, findings suggest that while prison design requires attention to physical security at the forefront, there are ways to improve the space, recognizing how an uncomfortable workplace and living conditions also pose a potential threat to the well-being and safety of correctional officers and people who are incarcerated. #prisons #carceralspace #corrections #prisondesign https://lnkd.in/et8ppam6

Akpabio claims that renaming the prison service was a mistake, leading to an increase in jailbreaks. During the Senate session on Tuesday, concerns were raised about the surge in jailbreak incidents nationwide in recent years. Senate President Godswill Akpabio criticized the renaming of the Nigeria Prisons Service to the Nigeria Correctional Service, attributing the increase in jailbreaks to this decision. He emphasized the importance of both punishment and rehabilitation within the correctional system. Akpabio expressed support for a comprehensive review of the bill to amend the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act to prevent similar mistakes. Notably, since the name change in 2019, there have been at least 10 jailbreaks, with over 4,000 inmates escaping between 2021 and 2022 alone. Incidents include the large-scale escape of inmates from various correctional facilities across different states due to attacks or structural damage caused by natural disasters.

I can relate to this woman and what she experienced during her incarceration in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. She is right. You can’t run from it. You are stuck there and praying someone will do something. Often, no one does for fear of retaliation from correctional staff. The staff supporting you are retaliated against by their colleagues. WHY is this environment so toxic? She states that officers wouldn’t give her and other incarcerated women their sack lunches unless they showed them their private parts. This is the same predatory behavior by some COs at FCI Tallahassee. Especially the male officers working the SHU. They withheld female hygiene products and toilet paper unless given a nude peep show. No one should have to experience that kind of abuse. Retaliation against individuals who report misconduct or abuse within correctional facilities is prohibited by law. Under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which was enacted in 2003, any form of retaliation against incarcerated people who report sexual abuse or harassment is illegal. This act emphasizes the importance of safeguarding the rights and safety of incarcerated individuals, particularly those who bravely speak out against their abusers. Protecting these individuals is so important, especially women, who represent a vulnerable population often subjected to sexual exploitation by the legal custodians responsible for their care. Such predatory and law-breaking behavior undermines the integrity of the correctional system and violates the fundamental human rights mandated by both national and international law. Correctional employees who engage in retaliatory actions, such as harassment, threats, or punitive measures against those reporting abuse, not only breach ethical standards but also violate federal regulations designed to ensure a safe environment for all incarcerated people. We need stronger protections and accountability to ensure those reporting misconduct do so without fear of retribution. Correctional facilities must prioritize the safety and dignity of all individuals within their care, including their employees. To see true reform, the corrections culture and environment must transform into one of trust, safety, compassion, and dignity. https://lnkd.in/gxFYGxg3