Prison

Well, That's One Way To Stop Smoking

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:29:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.

Etta Mae Lopez needed help. She wanted to quit smoking. She decided she needed to go someplace where she could not go buy cigarettes. And the place that came to mind was jail. Ms. Lopez says this is the reason she went to a jail, walked up to a Sacramento sheriff's deputy and slapped him in the face. The deputy took her inside the jail, where she slapped him again. After pleading no contest to a misdemeanor, she faces 63 smoke-free days.

It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Colorado Weighs Reopening A Psychiatric Hospital To Serve the Homeless

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:16:00 +0000

Last summer's mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., led Gov. John Hickenlooper to call for stricter gun control and big new investments in mental health care.

Several significant gun bills passed, and a package of mental health reforms is moving forward.

Justice: Prison Compassionate Release Programs Inconsistent

Scott Neuman — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:36:00 +0000

"Compassionate release" programs that free inmates with terminal illnesses and limited life expectancies are poorly run and lack clear standards, the Department of Justice's inspector general said on Wednesday.

The Associated Press reports:

"The investigator's office found that in a study of 206 such requests from 2006 through 2011, the director of federal prisons approved 142 releases and denied

Study: Release Program For Terminal Inmates 'Poorly Managed'

Carrie Johnson — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:47:00 +0000

A new watchdog report (PDF) says a Federal Bureau of Prisons program designed to help terminally ill inmates get early release is "poorly managed and implemented inconsistently."

The study by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, which was released Wednesday morning, finds that in 13 percent of cases in which prisoners were approved for the program, inmates died before bureaucrats in Washington made a final decision.

Congress gave the Bureau of Prisons the authority to reduce an inmate's sentence for "extraord

On California Prisons, It's The Governor Vs. The Courts

Richard Gonzales — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:50:00 +0000

California Gov. Jerry Brown is locked in a legal battle over control of his state's prison system. Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling ordering the state to drastically reduce its prisoner population. Brown claims the state has made substantial progress, but the governor has stopped short of complying fully with the court order.

There's a long history of legal wrangling over California prisons.