The PA DOC Monitor

I am writing this letter on behalf of the thousands of men and women who are currently incarcerated within the PA DOC. The advertisement I read said the purpose of your website was to re-evaluate the direction of the PA DOC. I would say it is pretty obvious that it is all about warehousing inmates. If it weren’t then they would be doing something more to release those who have completed the recommended programs and who have remained free of misconduct. Currently, the DOC rarely gives their support for parole.

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Inmates at an overcrowded California prison tore doors from their hinges and broke off toilets and sinks in a four-hour riot Saturday that injured 175 people, and many fear the crowding that may have helped escalate the brawl will only get worse with $1.2 billion in budget cuts.

A national expert warned 20 months ago that the Chino prison, which held nearly twice as many men as it was designed for, was "a serious disturbance waiting to happen" because of crowding.

U.S. prisons are too punitive and often fail to rehabilitate, but targeting prisoners' behavior, reducing prison populations and offering job skills could reduce prisoner aggression and prevent recidivism, a researcher told the American Psychological Association on Saturday.

"The current design of prison systems don't work," said criminal justice expert Joel Dvoskin, PhD, of the University of Arizona. "Overly punitive approaches used on violent, angry criminals only provide a breeding ground for more anger and more violence."

By Maia Szalavitz
Time Magazine

Parents have always warned teenagers against falling in with the wrong crowd, those kids they consider bad influences. Now a new study of juvenile detention in Montreal adds to the evidence that Mom and Dad may have a point.

By Bill Mears
CNN Supreme Court Producer
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former death row inmate in Tennessee has been cleared of murder, three years after the Supreme Court raised repeated questions about his conviction.

State prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to drop all charges against Paul House, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to die in 1986. Special Judge Jon Blackwood accepted the request.

While we try to address reader mail, it's not quite so easy. While we realize it's impossible for inmates to use the Internet, we'd like to encourage many family members or other readers to submit their requests and information on-line. It is much easier for us to work electronically. You can send any info to editor@pa-doc-monitor.org.

Published on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 by TruthDig.com
by Amy Goodman

We received the following request from an on-line reader. If anyone can be of assistance to her or her son please leave a comment. We would like to take note of three points in her story though. Firstly, when someone is incarcerated it is understood that some freedoms will be forfeited, and we do not dispute that necessity. However, some elements of this submission illustrate how inmates are brushed aside into a never ending bureaucracy. There is a certain amount of frustration that prisoners face when they follow procedures, but the procedures are ignored by staff.