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The Human Rights Defense Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit human rights organization that advocates, litigates and educates the public and policy makers about issues pertaining to the rights of people involved in the criminal justice system, from initial police-citizen encounters to post-incarceration release. |
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From the May 2020 edition of PLN: Prison Postcards: Prisoners Write About Fears, Incompetence, at Their Facilities |
On April 15, President Donald Trump announced that the coronavirus pandemic had peaked in the United States. That same day, nearly 2,300 people in the country died from COVID-19, the disease cause by the virus, which was the highest tally in a single day. The following day the number nearly doubled. That brought the nationwide death toll to more than 35,000 and the number of cases to about 650,000. The U.S. has slightly more than 4% of the world population but, rather astonishingly, nearly one-third of all global cases and more than one-fifth of all deaths as of April 16. All this raises serious doubts about whether or not the incidence of coronavirus will decline significantly any time soon, as the president optimistically stated. Predicting how a global pandemic will unfold is a fool’s errand, as the coronavirus outbreak has well demonstrated. The media has trotted out “scientific” models that show sharply different outcomes, with some allegedly reputable experts having claimed up to 2 million Americans will die while others say the death count will be around 60,000. One thing that’s absolutely clear, though, is that the situation is particularly dire in America’s carceral complex, with the country’s prisons and jails having become “petri dishes” for coronavirus, as a CNN headline put it. The New York City Department of Correction found in mid-April that 287 prisoners and 441 employees had tested positive for coronavirus. |
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A WOMAN DIED OF COVID-19 IN A NEW JERSEY PRISON AFTER BEGGING TO BE LET OUT OF A LOCKED SHOWER |
A 43-YEAR-OLD WOMAN died of coronavirus complications in a New Jersey prison after officials moved her from an area of the prison where she was quarantined for Covid-19 symptoms into solitary confinement even though her symptoms persisted. Tiffany Mofield died on April 29 at the troubled Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women after begging to be let out of a locked shower, saying “she could not breathe,” a fellow incarcerated woman who witnessed her death told The Intercept. Mofield had spent about two weeks quarantined in an infirmary after becoming ill with symptoms consistent with Covid-19, but she was moved out even though “she was clearly not better, as she was visibly short of breath and extremely lethargic,” said Michelle Angelina, who is housed in the same administrative segregation unit where Mofield died. “She died right in front of my neighbor’s door and just diagonally from my door, about five feet away,” said Angelina, who declined The Intercept’s offer for anonymity to protect her from retaliation. “Many inmates are frightened for our lives and safety as a result of us witnessing Ms. Mofield die.” |
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Prisoner Subscription Sponsors Needed How would you protect yourself from the coronavirus pandemic if you were trapped in a 6 by 8 foot cell with another person or assigned a bunk in a dormitory with 80-100 other people? As we watched this situation rapidly escalate in severity, we leapt into action. Starting with the April edition, we increased our coverage of the pandemic as it relates to those in prisons and jails. We have employed the assistance of medical professionals to provide coronavirus prevention methods that are plausible for those in confinement. We promise to continue working hard to provide timely reporting of the ever growing COVID-19 crisis, but we need your help to get this valuable information to those that need it most. Through reader surveys we learned that every issue of PLN passes through approximately 10 sets of hands. A $30.00 donation provides a one-year subscription. Know someone in prison, now is the time to purchase a subscription for them? We know that times are tough, every dollar you can give counts in the battle to keep information flowing. Do you know anyone that might be able to help, please share this with them? |
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From the May 2020 edition of CLN: Chicago Police Department Ordered to Release 49 Years of Misconduct Files |
| On January 10, 2020, a judge in Cook County, Illinois, ordered the Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) to produce by the end of 2020 all misconduct files from 1967 to 2015. Judge Alison Conlon noted that the CPD had “willfully and intentionally failed to comply” with the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). The FOIA lawsuit was brought by former Illinois state prisoner Charles Green. He was incarcerated for over two decades after being convicted of a quadruple murder that occurred on Chicago’s West Side. Green has continuously maintained his innocence. Green filed the FOIA request with the CPD in 2015, six years after he was released from prison. He requested all closed complaint register files from 1967 to 2015. According to Green’s attorney, Jared Kosoglad, the request was made “in order to help him discover evidence of his innocence and to preserve and disseminate evidence of innocence to others wrongfully convicted.” Kosoglad said the files would be published on the website of the Invisible Institute — an organization that has previously publicized FOIA releases from law enforcement agencies. As of January 16, 2020, the CPD had only turned over about 100 of the 174,900 responsive documents it claims to have on hand. Instead of producing the documents as ordered, it appeared to be focusing on publicly complaining about the decision, possibly with an eye toward an appeal. The CPD claims the production of documents will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. |
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| 'Second Chance' grant will allow Claflin Univeristy to help those incarcerated |
The program which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, provides need-based Federal Pell Grants to individuals incarcerated in federal and state prisons. ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Transforming the lives of people willing to learn is what Claflin University seeks to do as they are one of 67 colleges across the nation to be selected to participate in the 'Second Chance' Pell Grant Pilot program. The program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, provides need-based federal Pell grants to individuals incarcerated in federal and state prisons. The grants give those in prison a chance to receive federal funding to enroll in postsecondary programs offered by local colleges and universities or distance learning. Dr. Belinda Wheeler, Director for the Center of Social Justice and the 'Pathways to Prison' program at Claflin, talks about how the benefits of an education will not only help those in prison but their future communities |
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House pitches justice system changes in new COVID-19 relief bill Bill aims to keep fewer people locked behind bars during the pandemic |
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House Democrats proposed more than $1 billion in additional spending to address the coronavirus outbreak in the nation’s prisons in a new relief bill unveiled Tuesday, along with provisions for sweeping changes to how the justice system handles prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes focus on keeping fewer people locked behind bars while the pandemic moves through the nation. They include the release of certain non-violent prisoners and detainees into community supervision, as well as the end of practices such as cash bail requirements for those arrested for crimes and required probation revocation for some technical violations. In a 44-page section called the “Pandemic Justice Response Act,” the bill would require the release of prisoners and those in the custody of U.S. Marshals Service who are within a year of being released, or those who are juveniles, over 50 years old or have a health condition such as diabetes, heart disease, HIV, cancer or are pregnant. |
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Human Rights Defense Center staff are available to provide expert commentary on all aspects of the U.S. criminal justice system. They are widely recognized as authorities on prison and jail issues, including litigation and prisoners' rights, prison privatization, prison labor, the First Amendment in the prison context, felon disenfranchisement and public records/Freedom of Information Act issues. HRDC staff members have been interviewed and quoted by news media across the nation and internationally and are available for phone, radio, television and in-person interviews. |
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| HRDC's monthly magazines are subscription publications. We have thousands of subscribers nationwide to our print publication, around 65-70% of these are incarcerated. Our online subscriptions provide full access to the content on our website and in the archives. |
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Please note that the content of our newsletter mainly consists of news reports from third-party sources. We are not responsible for the accuracy or content of third parties, nor do their statements or positions necessarily reflect those of HRDC/PLN/CLN. Our newsletter content is for informational purposes only. |
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