Photo by Lightspring Via ShutterstockWith California’s high levels of recidivism in mind, Oakland-based nonprofit Creating Restorative Opportunities and Programs (CROP) is set to open a reentry campus there for formerly incarcerated people in early April.
A diverse group of voters casting their ballots. (Photo: SeventyFour, via Shutterstock)A pair of Nov. 3 ballot measures seeks to confer voting rights on two wildly disparate groups of Californians — prisoners and teenagers. Prop. 17 would amend the state constitution to restore voting rights to prison inmates who have completed their sentences. Prop. 18, another constitutional amendment, would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary and special elections if they become 18 by the next general election.
The watchtower at a California state prison (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock) OPINION: Fifteen years into a 41 years-to-life sentence, I arrived at San Quentin — the home of Death Row. I immediately noticed the difference between the treatment of condemned people and of general population people, like myself. Anytime condemned people left their cell they were shackled at the waist and feet. As they moved through the corridors and walkways, all general population people were told to face the wall.
Visitors in the former federal prison of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay. (Photo: Benny Marty, via Shutterstock)Former state and federal prisoners, including those on parole, would have the right to vote in California, under a constitutional amendment approved by an Assembly committee. The measure, ACA 6, was approved Wednesday by the Democrat-controlled Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee in a 6-1 vote. The final decision will be made by voters.
Inmates in the exercise yard at San Quentin Prison. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons)OPINION: California spends over $12 billion on its prison system each year. Given that stunning investment of public dollars, the residents of California deserve to understand the actual impact of incarceration: Does it create public safety and rehabilitate those who are incarcerated under its care?
U.S Census workers transfer birth data to punched cards, ca. 1940. (Photo: Everett Historical, via Shutterstock)The once-a-decade national census is still nearly two years away but it’s already generating heated discussion. Among the myriad concerns raised so far is that this survey will be the first conducted in part online. People are also expressing alarm over the inclusion of a new citizenship question, the wording for questions on race and ethnicity and the way prisoners are counted.
General population prisoners at San Quentin march in a line. (Photo: Eric Risberg/Associated Press)>Much of redistricting law is arcane and technical. But often what seems like a little detail can become a significant factor in how the lines will be drawn. Take, for example, prisoners. The U.S. Census counts prisoners just like any other part of the overall population. The Census captures people at their “usual residence,” meaning the place where they live and sleep most days.
The execution chamber at San Quentin PrisonRon Briggs was always an ardent supporter of the death penalty. His father John Briggs, former state assemblyman and senator, was a driving force behind a 1978 initiative that expanded the list of special circumstances required for a death sentence. But today, Ron Briggs is one the biggest opponents of capital punishment. He campaigned for Proposition 62, which would have ended the state’s death penalty and was rejected by voters this month.
Californians who thought Tuesday’s election would mark a dramatic change in the state’s culture and social fabric were right – half right. Anti-death penalty forces believed Election Day would be a game-changer. Nope. Marijuana advocates thought the same. Yep.
Caesar, a dog trained to sniff out cell phones, searches the state prison in Vacaville. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)The Marshall Project: Two years ago, a Belgian Malinois named Drako earned a flurry of press attention when his proud owners at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced he had found his thousandth contraband cell phone in the state’s prisons. He’d once found thirty stashed in a microwave, and one hidden in a jar of peanut butter.