Posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Friday, March 11, 2022
Amber Graduates College
The student has been awarded an AA in American studies and an AA in Social & Behavioral sciences for the Fall 2021 semester.
We have CC’ed our graduation office to notify the student via mail.
Friday, January 28, 2022
Another Child Dies In Custody
Kansas governor orders investigation into death of Black teen restrained at juvenile center
"This situation is tragic, and we must find a way to ensure something like this never happens again," Gov. Laura Kelly said.
The governor of Kansas ordered an investigation into a private foster care agency following the death of Cedric Lofton, 17, a Black foster child who became unresponsive as he was being restrained facedown for more than 30 minutes at a juvenile center in Wichita.
Lofton was a foster child at the foster care agency, DCCCA, according to a report by Sedgewick County District Attorney Marc Bennett
Lofton was described as being "paranoid," and he was "behaving erratically," the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said.
A struggle ensues, the video shows, and Lofton is put into a "wrap" restraint, which is used to hold down a person's legs and torso, officials have said. Lofton was taken to the juvenile center and seated upright on the floor in a holding room. The officers removed all the restraints before they left the room, the bodycam video shows.
A coroner ruled the death a homicide, listing the cause as "complications of cardiopulmonary arrest sustained after physical struggle while restrained in the prone position."
His family has demanded charges, but the district attorney has said no charges would be filed because of the state's "stand your ground law" and because staff members were defending themselves.
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
10 Innocent Kids Sentenced To Life In Prison
10 Innocent Kids Sentenced To Life In Prison >
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RirOyRSCe0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RirOyRSCe0k
Florida holds highest rate of juveniles in adult prison
Florida holds the highest rate of juveniles in adult prison
By Alicia Adams
Northwest Florida Daily News
@aliciaNWFDN
Posted Apr 26, 2018 at 6:15 AM
MILTON — Since leaving her family practice, retired physician Dr. Paula Montgomery spends her time advocating for juvenile delinquents along with the League of Women Voters. Florida has the highest number of juveniles in the adult prison system in the country.
According to data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Circuit 1 — Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties — has the highest rate of direct-filed children, compared to all eligible for a direct file, at 24.4 percent. The state average is 8.8 percent. The state’s direct-file statute allows prosecutors to move a range of juvenile cases to adult court without a judge’s input.
“That will blow your mind,” Montgomery said. “Why is it that way?”
According to the 2017 report on Florida by the State of America’s Children, a total of 131 children were in adult jails or prisons in Florida in 2015. That same year, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that juveniles not convicted of murder may not be sentenced to life in prison, and those convicted of murder may not be sentenced to life without parole, citing that children are less liable and more agreeable to rehabilitation.
But is the adult prison system rehabilitating these children? Montgomery says no.
“The juvenile system is set up to include education and rehabilitation,” Montgomery said. “There’s really no arrangement for that in the adult prisons. Some of them have a way the kid can get a GED eventually... In Florida, you’re not eligible for [college coursework] until three years before your release... The adult system is keyed in on punishment.”
Montgomery said she talks to different organizations — most recently, the Milton Rotary Club — and people are resistant to believe these facts. Montgomery gets some of her data from the Florida Legislature Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, which shows that the average age of juvenile cases directly filed into adult criminal court by the state attorney is 16.4, and the most common offense is burglary.
The 2017 Florida Policy Institute Report found that 63 percent of youth in prison are incarcerated for drug use, disorderly conduct, probation violations, property crimes and status offenses, such as running away.
“Research has shown that committing every youth offender to prison runs counter to the dual goals of making Florida safer and rehabilitating offenders to become productive and contributing members of the community,” the report said. “Youth imprisonment is ineffective and has produced a range of negative outcomes for affected youth, communities and taxpayers.”
This is the same stance Montgomery has and continues to fight for. So why are the juvenile delinquents of Circuit 1 continuing to be filed into the adult prison system?
“The reason that my numbers are higher is a number of things,” Bill Eddins, State Attorney of Circuit 1, said. “If you go back 13 years since I’ve been in office, you will see that the number of juveniles that were transferred from juvenile court to adult court initially went down until a few years ago when it trended back up.”
Eddins cites a crisis in the first circuit approximately three years ago where juvenile gangs burglarized cars and homes.
“I decided to take a very aggressive approach about transferring juvenile gang members who committed a large number of burglaries... or who committed violent crimes to adult court,” Eddins said. “As a result, the numbers... increased pretty dramatically. However, those numbers have now begun to trend back down.”
Eddins said in the past, he transferred a lot of older juveniles — teens up to 19 years old the juvenile justice system was overseeing for crimes they committed before they turned 18 — to adult court. However, he has recently changed his philosophy.
“I decided that unless it’s a violent crime, or... they have a bad record, I’m not going to be as aggressive about transferring older juveniles to adult court,” Eddins said.
According to Eddins, transferring a child to the adult court system does not mean they will be sent to an adult prison rather than a juvenile justice facility. Under state law, the judge has the final say on the child’s sentence.
The number of direct-filed children has been decreasing statewide — down 24 percent in the last five years — but the numbers in Santa Rosa County are beginning to rise again after a decline. Santa Rosa’s rate is down 2 percent from five years ago, but up 6 percent since last year.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/20180426/florida-holds-highest-rate-of-juveniles-in-adult-prison
By Alicia Adams
Northwest Florida Daily News
@aliciaNWFDN
Posted Apr 26, 2018 at 6:15 AM
MILTON — Since leaving her family practice, retired physician Dr. Paula Montgomery spends her time advocating for juvenile delinquents along with the League of Women Voters. Florida has the highest number of juveniles in the adult prison system in the country.
According to data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Circuit 1 — Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties — has the highest rate of direct-filed children, compared to all eligible for a direct file, at 24.4 percent. The state average is 8.8 percent. The state’s direct-file statute allows prosecutors to move a range of juvenile cases to adult court without a judge’s input.
“That will blow your mind,” Montgomery said. “Why is it that way?”
According to the 2017 report on Florida by the State of America’s Children, a total of 131 children were in adult jails or prisons in Florida in 2015. That same year, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that juveniles not convicted of murder may not be sentenced to life in prison, and those convicted of murder may not be sentenced to life without parole, citing that children are less liable and more agreeable to rehabilitation.
But is the adult prison system rehabilitating these children? Montgomery says no.
“The juvenile system is set up to include education and rehabilitation,” Montgomery said. “There’s really no arrangement for that in the adult prisons. Some of them have a way the kid can get a GED eventually... In Florida, you’re not eligible for [college coursework] until three years before your release... The adult system is keyed in on punishment.”
Montgomery said she talks to different organizations — most recently, the Milton Rotary Club — and people are resistant to believe these facts. Montgomery gets some of her data from the Florida Legislature Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, which shows that the average age of juvenile cases directly filed into adult criminal court by the state attorney is 16.4, and the most common offense is burglary.
The 2017 Florida Policy Institute Report found that 63 percent of youth in prison are incarcerated for drug use, disorderly conduct, probation violations, property crimes and status offenses, such as running away.
“Research has shown that committing every youth offender to prison runs counter to the dual goals of making Florida safer and rehabilitating offenders to become productive and contributing members of the community,” the report said. “Youth imprisonment is ineffective and has produced a range of negative outcomes for affected youth, communities and taxpayers.”
This is the same stance Montgomery has and continues to fight for. So why are the juvenile delinquents of Circuit 1 continuing to be filed into the adult prison system?
“The reason that my numbers are higher is a number of things,” Bill Eddins, State Attorney of Circuit 1, said. “If you go back 13 years since I’ve been in office, you will see that the number of juveniles that were transferred from juvenile court to adult court initially went down until a few years ago when it trended back up.”
Eddins cites a crisis in the first circuit approximately three years ago where juvenile gangs burglarized cars and homes.
“I decided to take a very aggressive approach about transferring juvenile gang members who committed a large number of burglaries... or who committed violent crimes to adult court,” Eddins said. “As a result, the numbers... increased pretty dramatically. However, those numbers have now begun to trend back down.”
Eddins said in the past, he transferred a lot of older juveniles — teens up to 19 years old the juvenile justice system was overseeing for crimes they committed before they turned 18 — to adult court. However, he has recently changed his philosophy.
“I decided that unless it’s a violent crime, or... they have a bad record, I’m not going to be as aggressive about transferring older juveniles to adult court,” Eddins said.
According to Eddins, transferring a child to the adult court system does not mean they will be sent to an adult prison rather than a juvenile justice facility. Under state law, the judge has the final say on the child’s sentence.
The number of direct-filed children has been decreasing statewide — down 24 percent in the last five years — but the numbers in Santa Rosa County are beginning to rise again after a decline. Santa Rosa’s rate is down 2 percent from five years ago, but up 6 percent since last year.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/20180426/florida-holds-highest-rate-of-juveniles-in-adult-prison
Monday, July 23, 2018
7 Juveniles Sentenced To LWOp In Minneapolis
List Of Juveniles Sentenced To Life Without Parole In Minn.
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – There have been seven juveniles in Minnesota sentenced to life in prison
without parole since the year 1996. All were sentenced on first-degree murder charges, among others.
Timothy Chambers, now 33,
Tony Roman Nose, now 29
Jeffrey Pendleton, Jr., now 23
Lamonte Martin, now 23
Prentis Jackson, now 23,
Brian Flowers, now 21
Mahdi Hassan Ali, now 19,
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/06/26/list-of-juveniles-sentenced-to-life-without-parole-in-minn/
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – There have been seven juveniles in Minnesota sentenced to life in prison
without parole since the year 1996. All were sentenced on first-degree murder charges, among others.
Timothy Chambers, now 33,
Tony Roman Nose, now 29
Jeffrey Pendleton, Jr., now 23
Lamonte Martin, now 23
Prentis Jackson, now 23,
Brian Flowers, now 21
Mahdi Hassan Ali, now 19,
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/06/26/list-of-juveniles-sentenced-to-life-without-parole-in-minn/
Isolation & Abuse : New York Teens
By Ashley Southall and Jan Ransom, New York Times
NATIONAL NEWS
New York City’s Young Inmates Are Held in Isolation Upstate Despite Ban
Posted 11:49 p.m. yesterday
NEW YORK — Three years ago, when New York City banned solitary confinement for inmates younger than 22 and curtailed it for others, Mayor Bill de Blasio held up the policy as a model for reform.
But since the rules were approved, the city has stepped up a long-standing practice of transferring some inmates to correctional facilities elsewhere in the state where no such restrictions exist. Dozens of New York City inmates, including several teenagers, have ended up in solitary confinement
Transfers of inmates 21 and younger increased sharply starting in 2015, the year the city adopted the solitary ban, and except for a drop in 2017, the number of such transfers has remained well above the levels seen before the ban, according to Correction Department data.
At least 10 young inmates have been transferred from New York City this year, including eight who are in solitary at one upstate jail, the Albany County Correctional Facility, according to their lawyers.
Defense lawyers say transferring inmates allows city officials to avoid responsibility for harsher conditions of confinement. A few of the lawyers are challenging the transfers in court on the grounds that they violate inmates’ due process rights, as well as state law and city rules.
Isolation of inmates has been shown to heighten the risks of suicide and depression, especially among young people, and the city has not only limited the use of solitary confinement but has begun moving 16- and 17-year-olds off Rikers Island to comply with a new state law that raised the age at which a person could be charged as an adult to 18. But some of the reform efforts have faced resistance, most notably from the union representing guards, which has said serious sanctions like solitary must be preserved for violent inmates.
All the inmates sent to Albany said through their attorneys or in interviews that they have been beaten by guards and put into solitary confinement for months.
Steven Espinal, 19, said guards stomped and kicked him so badly when he arrived that he lost hearing in his left ear and passed blood in his urine. He was hospitalized, then sentenced to 600 days in solitary confinement for violating jail rules, his lawyer said.
Currently, 10 young New York City inmates are being held in outside jails, according to the Correction Department. There are 811 inmates younger than 21 in the city’s jails.
Detailed information about how transfers have been used under de Blasio was not available because orders granted for safety reasons were destroyed three years after they expired. That practice ended in April, when the state Commission of Correction, which approves transfers
Since city jails implemented alternatives to solitary confinement for inmates 21 and younger, officers have complained they lost an effective tool for controlling young inmates.
Inmates sent to the Albany jail described a pattern of abuse that begins with made up misconduct and weapons violations. In written complaints and in interviews with The New York Times and their lawyers, they said the charges serve as a pretext for beating and isolating them.
https://www.wral.com/new-york-city-s-young-inmates-are-held-in-isolation-upstate-despite-ban/17714114/
NATIONAL NEWS
New York City’s Young Inmates Are Held in Isolation Upstate Despite Ban
Posted 11:49 p.m. yesterday
NEW YORK — Three years ago, when New York City banned solitary confinement for inmates younger than 22 and curtailed it for others, Mayor Bill de Blasio held up the policy as a model for reform.
But since the rules were approved, the city has stepped up a long-standing practice of transferring some inmates to correctional facilities elsewhere in the state where no such restrictions exist. Dozens of New York City inmates, including several teenagers, have ended up in solitary confinement
Transfers of inmates 21 and younger increased sharply starting in 2015, the year the city adopted the solitary ban, and except for a drop in 2017, the number of such transfers has remained well above the levels seen before the ban, according to Correction Department data.
At least 10 young inmates have been transferred from New York City this year, including eight who are in solitary at one upstate jail, the Albany County Correctional Facility, according to their lawyers.
Defense lawyers say transferring inmates allows city officials to avoid responsibility for harsher conditions of confinement. A few of the lawyers are challenging the transfers in court on the grounds that they violate inmates’ due process rights, as well as state law and city rules.
Isolation of inmates has been shown to heighten the risks of suicide and depression, especially among young people, and the city has not only limited the use of solitary confinement but has begun moving 16- and 17-year-olds off Rikers Island to comply with a new state law that raised the age at which a person could be charged as an adult to 18. But some of the reform efforts have faced resistance, most notably from the union representing guards, which has said serious sanctions like solitary must be preserved for violent inmates.
All the inmates sent to Albany said through their attorneys or in interviews that they have been beaten by guards and put into solitary confinement for months.
Steven Espinal, 19, said guards stomped and kicked him so badly when he arrived that he lost hearing in his left ear and passed blood in his urine. He was hospitalized, then sentenced to 600 days in solitary confinement for violating jail rules, his lawyer said.
Currently, 10 young New York City inmates are being held in outside jails, according to the Correction Department. There are 811 inmates younger than 21 in the city’s jails.
Detailed information about how transfers have been used under de Blasio was not available because orders granted for safety reasons were destroyed three years after they expired. That practice ended in April, when the state Commission of Correction, which approves transfers
Since city jails implemented alternatives to solitary confinement for inmates 21 and younger, officers have complained they lost an effective tool for controlling young inmates.
Inmates sent to the Albany jail described a pattern of abuse that begins with made up misconduct and weapons violations. In written complaints and in interviews with The New York Times and their lawyers, they said the charges serve as a pretext for beating and isolating them.
https://www.wral.com/new-york-city-s-young-inmates-are-held-in-isolation-upstate-despite-ban/17714114/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)