There is an article in the Las Vegas City Life magazine that talks a little bit about the segergation at HDSP. The title of the article is Prison segertaion may be a thing of the past. It was written by Cathy Scott. Go to www.lvcitylife.com and if you go half way down the page you'll see it. Just thought I would pass it on.

Here is the article - thanks for pointing it out!!
By Cathy Scott


Prison segregation may be a thing of the past

The U.S. Supreme Court has indicated it might do away with one of the last examples of intentional government segregation by race: the California prison system's practice of housing new inmates in cells with prisoners of the same race as a way of preventing conflict.

The upcoming ruling will be precedent-setting, which may force Nevada prison officials to follow suit.

Prison spokesman Howard Skolnick recently confirmed that segregating blacks, whites and Hispanics is now practiced at the medium-security High Desert State Prison near Indian Springs.

Skolnick noted that it wasn't intentional segregation, and that inmates are moved around because of behavior problems.

An inmate housed in the prison strongly disagreed with that depiction.

"That's straight B.S.," said the inmate, who asked that his identify be withheld because he feared retaliation. "Unit 3 is all Mexican with 332 inmates; Unit 4 is all white inmates with another 332. I'd call that segregation, wouldn't you?"

Even in the chow hall, the inmate said, segregation exists: "You only sit and eat with those of your own race. It's not pretty, but that's how it is."

Segregation behind the gates at High Desert began after a July riot, when inmates in the exercise yard stoned a fellow prisoner to death. The inmate said the riot was racially motivated - even though prison officials have denied it - "and so are most incidents in here."

The riot started, he said, "because a Mexican accidentally bumped into a black. The black inmate ended up calling the Mexican a 'bitch.'"

He explained: "There are two things you don't call another man in here: bitch and punk. Those are the highest forms of disrespect."

In California, after confirming that a convicted murderer had intentionally been housed in an all-black cell, several Supreme Court justices appeared sympathetic to a complaint that California's policy is a violation of the anti-discrimination provisions of the 14th Amendment.

Justice Stephen Breyer said during a hearing that racial segregation, even in prison, is a "terrible symbol."

Aspiring attorney visits courtroom

Twelve-year-old Joey Lanuti has always wanted to be an attorney - since he was at least 9, his mother said. So when school was in recess on a recent weekday, Joey, with his mother by his side, headed to Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom to see for himself how a high-profile case is litigated.

Joey's mother, Marianne Lanuti - a practicing attorney - said they may spend one more day in court watching the retrial of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, accused of killing casino heir Ted Binion, if the trial is still in session when her son has another day off.

During his day in court, Joey shook hands with J. Tony Serra, a San Francisco attorney famous for championing his clients' civil rights. After he met Serra, who represents Tabish, Joey said the 60-something attorney told him, "Don't do it unless you want to work six days a week. It's a lot of hard work being a lawyer."

Joey, beaming after meeting Serra, said he didn't care; he still wanted to be an attorney.

Stories changing in Binion Trial II

A pattern of changing one's testimony had emerged during the retrial of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish.

So far, a handful of witnesses for the prosecution have elaborated on their earlier testimony from the first trial. In the case of Kurt Gratzer, an admitted drug addict and a disgruntled former Tabish employee, it changed enough to make it difficult to tell fact from fiction.

Murphy and Tabish, who were convicted after the first trial in 2000, were granted a second trial after the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the verdicts.

With the state resting its case on Nov. 4, and the defense now presenting its side, it'll be interesting to see whether defense witnesses develop the same habit of changing their stories.

Tourist questions LV medical center's ethics

A U.K. woman who got the flu while in Las Vegas says she keeps getting billed for her medical care.

The tourist, identified only as "M.U." from Sheffield, England, wrote a letter to the editor of the Observer published on Nov. 7.

In it, she said: "Soon after arriving last October, I developed a respiratory tract infection. The medical centre prescribed antibiotics and gave me a bill for $111, which I paid in cash."

Nine months later, she received another bill from the Las Vegas clinic saying she owed an additional $74.40 and that she had 10 days to reply.

"If I don't pay," she wrote, "I am concerned that I may have problems if we want to go to the U.S. again. Also, if I had paid by credit card, would they just have helped themselves to the money?"

Yeah, I thought we passed on segregation a LONG time ago, but in my humble opinion, if this is what it takes to keep our men safe and get them home in one piece, then so be it. Prison is hard enough,as it should be, without having to worry about getting killed over some bulls*** slight.
Personally, I'm beginning to have ZERO tolerance for people who cause trouble just for the sake of,well, causing trouble cuz' they're too dam* immature or too stupid to figure out how to get along. Everybody loses in that case.