Daily Corrections Clips

NEWS:

AB 109

Realignment played no role in in Yuba rape suspect's early release
By Rob Parsons, The Appeal Democrat-- An Olivehurst man accused of sexually assaulting a woman at knife-point last week served seven months of a two-year sentence, with credits for time served, and was released in late December, authorities said, but Joseph Scott Mason did not receive an early release from prison, the California Department of Corrections said Thursday.

Public Officials Talk About Public Safety Realignment
KERO-- Public officials and advocates talk about the 2011 Public Safety Realignment, here's what they're saying...

REDLANDS: Step-by-Step adds Program Coordinator
The Press-Enterprise-- Local nonprofit Step-by-Step has intensified its focus on public safety in Redlands through the recent addition of Teal Bohrer as its first program coordinator.

Going Green

CDCR says its 34K PCs are going green
By Elise Armitage, TechWire.net-- Agency chief information officer Joe Panora says that green IT is a “key strategic priority” for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). By installing a system that remotely controls the power use of 34,000 PCs at preprogramed times when they are not active, Panora’s department will save $750, 000 in annual energy costs.

California Inmates

Number of Older Inmates Grows, Stressing Prisons
By Timothy Williams, The New York Times--  The number of Americans in prison older than 55 is growing at a faster rate than the group’s share of the population at large, and many prisons are unprepared to provide them with health care, which can cost as much as nine times more than for younger inmates, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Friday.

Prison dilemma: surging numbers of older inmates
The Associated Press-- In corrections systems nationwide, officials are grappling with decisions about geriatric units, hospices and medical parole as elderly inmates — with their high rates of illness and infirmity — make up an ever increasing share of the prison population.

Prison Program Helps Community
KYMA-- The inmates have raised $4,600 this year alone for several organizations.

Calipatria Prison's Straight Life Program Makes a Difference
By Felicia Martinez, KSWT-- More often than not people think inmates are just doing their time and paying the price for whatever crime they committed. However, for members of the Calipatria State Prisons Straight Life Program, it's become much more than that.

California Institutions

New acting Warden at CCI
By Ed Gordon, the Tehachapi News-- Newly appointed Acting Warden Kim Holland was introduced at the Jan. 17 meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee at the California Correctional Institution.

California Parole

Judge strikes down standards for revoking paroles
By Jon Ortiz, The Sacramento Bee-- A Sacramento federal judge has struck down California's voter-approved standards for revoking paroles.

Parole agents rush to keep track of sex offenders after campsite eviction
By Leigh Paynter, NEWS 10-- The Stockton city government had a highly publicized eviction of homeless squatters at a shanty town down in Mormon Slough last week. However, further down the Slough, by Jefferson and A Streets, a different campsite was quietly dismantled; it was the long time home to dozens of sex offenders.

CDCR Related

Bill on media access to prisoners advances
By Josh Richman, Ibabuzz-- The Assembly voted 47-22 today to pass a Bay Area lawmaker’s bill that would lift the ban on media interviews with specific inmates in California’s prisons.

New letter prompts search
By Scott Smith, The Stockton Record-- Frustrated by a lack of action from officials, death row inmate Wesley Shermantine provided new information Thursday that he says will lead to a murder victim he buried in 1999.

OPINION

Seize the Moment -- Shut the Youth Prisons Down
By Jakada Imani, The Huffington Post-- Governor Brown has done it again. He has proposed in the state budget to close the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) once and for all.

My Word: Protecting and serving is much harder than it looks
By Paul Lind, The Oakland Tribune-- Cops have it hard, very hard. "To serve and protect" is, in the abstract, doable; in reality, it is very difficult.