Jan 30, 2020Threading a Legal Needle — Sandy Hook Civil Cases ProceedOn November 12, 2019, after years of appellate delay, the United States Supreme Court cleared the way for a civil lawsuit on behalf of the parents and survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. …Sandy Hook9 min readSandy Hook9 min read
Nov 1, 2019Closing Private Prisons — California’s Bold (?) Pushback on the Corporate Warehousing of PeopleCalifornia has done what the federal government refuses to do: stop the incarceration of inmates for private corporate profit. …Prison Reform6 min readPrison Reform6 min read
Sep 5, 2019Collateral Consequences of Conviction — Civil DeathCollateral consequences of a criminal conviction arise at the time of reentry. The consequences are postsentence civil penalties with no relationship to a sentence imposed by a judge. Convictions involving drugs can have life-restricting consequences that affect the fundamental necessities of life — such as getting a job, housing, and…Criminal Justice Reform10 min readCriminal Justice Reform10 min read
Aug 8, 2019Pot in California Prisons: No Problem; Just Don’t InhaleWords are a part of language lawyers contort in the game of advocacy. Words are important when legislatures write bills that eventually become laws. Laws can be worded in ways that make all or some of their elements vague, ambiguous, or otherwise murky on intent. Loopholes live in the spaces…Marijuana10 min readMarijuana10 min read
Jul 30, 2019California’s New Police Accountability Law — Forty Years in the MakingBefore July 1, 2019, California law forbade police departments from sharing information about officers’ criminal backgrounds. The ACLU Center for Advocacy & Policy reports that “the majority of other states recognize that disclosure of records of [officers’] critical incidents is a basic element of peace officer oversight — peace officer…Police Brutality5 min readPolice Brutality5 min read
Jul 1, 2019Junk Mail: An Instance of Trying to Capitalize on Mass IncarcerationThe subject matter for a prison reform blog can come from anywhere, even a piece of junk mail. Usually, junk mail letters are instantly recognized as trash. However, some give enough compelling information on the outside to warrant being opened — so you can confirm its irrelevance. I recently received…Prison Reform5 min readPrison Reform5 min read
Jun 17, 2019What Price Freedom (Lost)?You spend years, even decades, in prison, knowing you’re innocent. Your conviction locks up your life and smothers your senses and ambitions. The quality of your life is limited — but you’re innocent! We’ve all seen reports about inmates’ being released from prison after exhaustive appeals and serving long stretches…Criminal Justice Reform6 min readCriminal Justice Reform6 min read
Jun 6, 2019I Won’t Be Seeing You in Court! Meet the PLRA: A Castaway LawCommon prison reform necessarily highlights the federal government’s smothering of inmates’ constitutional rights. The age-old patterns of violations of incarcerated persons are examples of legislative bullying designed to protect the security of prison officers and staff at the expense of inmates’ basic rights. Because prison communication to the outside is…Criminal Justice Reform7 min readCriminal Justice Reform7 min read
May 30, 2019Inmates’ Rights to Vote: Lipstick on a PigSenator Bernie Sanders recently announced a sweeping plan to allow incarcerated people to vote. According to Business Insider, Sanders said in April that “he supports voting rights for all US citizens, even if they’re ‘terrible people.’” But, is voting really what incarcerated people want? Not likely. Inmates I associated with…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
May 22, 2019The Thirteenth Amendment Exception Clause ScrewsLet’s take a simple test about the scope of the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution (ratified in 1865). True or false: the Thirteenth Amendment prohibiting slavery applies to all people. The correct answer is false. The thirty-two-word Amendment states the following: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment…BlackLivesMatter5 min readBlackLivesMatter5 min read
