The PA DOC Monitor

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.

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

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A special panel of federal judges tentatively ruled Monday that California must release tens of thousands of inmates to relieve overcrowding.

The judges said no other solution will improve conditions so poor that inmates die regularly of suicides or lack of proper care.

The panel said it wanted the state to present a plan to trim the population in two to three years.

Approximately two months ago the PA DOC Monitor experienced technical difficulties and lost all site content prior to August of 2007. Unfortunately, we did not keep good backups (a practice we plan to change). We are in the process of rebuilding and ask you to bear with us while we restructure. We have not stopped accepting submissions, or our prison outreach program. As always, any submissions or questions can be sent to editor@pa-doc-monitor.org. Thank you for your patience.

On July 13, 2007 Nancy Jean Calder was found dead in her cell at Muncy State Correctional Institution.   The PA DOC Monitor has received reports that Calder requested mental health treatment prior to her death, stating that she was hearing voices.   Despite her needs, and established history of mental illness, Calder was denied adequate treatment by prison staff.   Perhaps that as because, as one article states :

If one seriously examines both the American prison and military systems, he or she should immediately notice similarities, as well as some differences. The two systems share an operational strategy: hierarchical structure and security, both implemented through command and control, oftentimes in the form of discipline and force. Yet, while the American military has remained generally successful for years, American prisons fall into deeper turmoil each year, despite billions of dollars in funding and brand-new, state-of-the art correctional facilities.