Jus' Mom
08-20-2003, 04:44 AM
I was just browsing the web and found this really good website and thought I'd share....! Here's just a sample of what you will find.
www.middlegroundprisonreform.org/main/
UPCOMING SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION ON CORRECTIONS: We have been advised that there will be a special legislative session called by the Governor sometime in mid to late September to deal with overcrowding/corrections. At this session, expected to last only a few days, bills will be introduced which will deal with sentencing reform, proposals to reduce mandatory sentencing (probably for DUI offenders, etc.) At the present time, however, NO law has been passed to reduce sentences or to revert our sentencing code to its previous 2 for 1 earning of release credits. Such proposals MAY be considered in September, but a specific proposed legislative bill has not yet been introduced. This message is posted July 24, 2003. We will keep our members/constituents updated as more information becomes available.
Bad And Dangerous Case Law: On June 16, 2003, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in a Michigan prison visitation case called Overton v. Brazzetta. The majority opinion was written by Justice Kennedy, and delivers a heart-breaking and potentially dangerous defeat to families and supporters of prisoners. The ruling upheld several severe restrictions placed on prison visitation rules by the Michigan Department of Corrections. Some of the provisions allow the Michigan DOC to prevent prisoners from participating in even non-contact visits with their own children (when parental rights have been terminated), as well as with extended family members (nieces, nephews, etc. can't visit only children, step-children or grandchildren of an inmate can visit). If a prisoner violates prison rules regarding drug use, the Court upheld a ban on ALL contact visits to that prisoner for a period of two-years. The Court explicitly stated that its decision did not rule out recognition of ``some right'' of intimate association retained by a prisoner, and the Court suggested that individual challenges to the loss of visits for a much longer period, or a ban arbitrarily applied to a prisoner, would present different considerations. Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer concurred in the majority opinion, but wrote separately that the opinion does not signal a return to the earlier ``hands off'' era on prisoner rights during which federal courts refused to recognize any constitutional limits on prisoners' conditions of confinement. Justices Thomas and Scalia concurred in the majority opinion, but added that they believe prisoners have no right to any visitation unless a state affirmatively gives them such a right. (In Arizona, there is no such affirmative right).
www.middlegroundprisonreform.org/main/
www.middlegroundprisonreform.org/main/
UPCOMING SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION ON CORRECTIONS: We have been advised that there will be a special legislative session called by the Governor sometime in mid to late September to deal with overcrowding/corrections. At this session, expected to last only a few days, bills will be introduced which will deal with sentencing reform, proposals to reduce mandatory sentencing (probably for DUI offenders, etc.) At the present time, however, NO law has been passed to reduce sentences or to revert our sentencing code to its previous 2 for 1 earning of release credits. Such proposals MAY be considered in September, but a specific proposed legislative bill has not yet been introduced. This message is posted July 24, 2003. We will keep our members/constituents updated as more information becomes available.
Bad And Dangerous Case Law: On June 16, 2003, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in a Michigan prison visitation case called Overton v. Brazzetta. The majority opinion was written by Justice Kennedy, and delivers a heart-breaking and potentially dangerous defeat to families and supporters of prisoners. The ruling upheld several severe restrictions placed on prison visitation rules by the Michigan Department of Corrections. Some of the provisions allow the Michigan DOC to prevent prisoners from participating in even non-contact visits with their own children (when parental rights have been terminated), as well as with extended family members (nieces, nephews, etc. can't visit only children, step-children or grandchildren of an inmate can visit). If a prisoner violates prison rules regarding drug use, the Court upheld a ban on ALL contact visits to that prisoner for a period of two-years. The Court explicitly stated that its decision did not rule out recognition of ``some right'' of intimate association retained by a prisoner, and the Court suggested that individual challenges to the loss of visits for a much longer period, or a ban arbitrarily applied to a prisoner, would present different considerations. Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer concurred in the majority opinion, but wrote separately that the opinion does not signal a return to the earlier ``hands off'' era on prisoner rights during which federal courts refused to recognize any constitutional limits on prisoners' conditions of confinement. Justices Thomas and Scalia concurred in the majority opinion, but added that they believe prisoners have no right to any visitation unless a state affirmatively gives them such a right. (In Arizona, there is no such affirmative right).
www.middlegroundprisonreform.org/main/