inmates

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Now OK in Prison: MP3 Players
 Now OK in Prison: MP3 Players 

Now OK in Prison: MP3 Players

Many inmates to get OK to carry devices, pick songs from pre-approved list

(Newser) - The music industry will soon have another chart to keep track of: jailhouse rock. The Bureau of Prisons plans to allow many of its 200,000+ federal inmates to own MP3 players and pick their own soundtrack to prison life, USA Today reports. The devices will be sold in prison...

Inmate Secretly Adds Pigs to Vermont Police Cars
 Inmate Secretly Adds Pig 
 to Vermont Police Cars 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Inmate Secretly Adds Pig to Vermont Police Cars

Crests altered on dozens of cruisers

(Newser) - Vermont state troopers have been driving around with a picture of a pig on their cruisers, courtesy of a creative inmate. A state trooper inspecting his vehicle found that one of the spots on a cow in the Vermont state crest decal on the door had been changed to the...

Your Call Center Helper Might Be an Inmate

Prisoners often staff centers in private and public sector

(Newser) - Talk to any prison inmates lately? The answer might be yes if you've called a call center for help or to register a complaint. MSNBC profiles a little-known but long-running federal program called Unicor under which inmates staff call centers in both the public and private sector. One example:...

5.4-Mag Aftershock Sparks Prison Riot in Turkey

Prisoners set fires, guards fire tear gas

(Newser) - Smoke and flames swirled out of a Turkish prison today when an aftershock from Sunday's earthquake sparked a riot among inmates, the BBC reports. The 5.4-magnitude aftershock prompted prisoners to ask for air, according to a lawmaker who joined family members outside: "When they couldn't get...

Texas Prisons Cut Lunch on Weekends

Measure is designed to save money

(Newser) - Texas prisons are taking some heat over a decision to keep cooks out of their kitchens. Since April the state has been serving prisoners just two meals a day on weekends in some prisons, in an effort to cut food service costs, the New York Times reports. (Amusingly, the meal...

'John Doe' Inmate Baffles Utah Police

Older man won't, or can't, reveal his identity

(Newser) - A mystery man believed to be in his 70s has been locked up in a Utah jail for more than three weeks and has baffled investigators because he refuses to reveal his identity or provide any details about his life. The graying, disheveled man with blue eyes and a scruffy...

After Failed Attempts, Inmate Sues for Sex Change

Ophelia De'lonta, born Michael Stokes, argues sex change is a medical necessity

(Newser) - Crouched in her cell, Ophelia De'lonta hoped three green disposable razors from the prison commissary would give her what the Virginia Department of Corrections would not—a sex change. She’s tried herself many times, but failed to get rid of "that thing" between her legs. De'lonta...

Hundreds of Violent Calif. Inmates Freed by Mistake

High error rate found in unsupervised parole system

(Newser) - California has been ordered to release tens of thousands of prisoners over the next two years to relieve overcrowding, but it's already failing to release inmates safely, according to the state's inspector general. Some 450 inmates "with a high risk of violence" were mistakenly released on unsupervised...

Quadriplegic Rapist Denied Parole

Calif. board rejects first inmate considered under medical parole law

(Newser) - A convicted rapist paralyzed from the neck down after he was stabbed by another inmate a decade ago has been denied parole in California. Steven Martinez was the first inmate to be considered for medical parole under a new state law aimed at saving the expense of providing medical care...

Supreme Court: California Must Release 46K Inmates

Upholds federal panel's decision on poor prison conditions

(Newser) - In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has upheld a panel’s order that California release 46,000 inmates over the next two years to reduce overcrowding in state prisons. In 2009, a three-judge panel called on the state to reduce its prison population to 137% of capacity; overcrowding was...

Osama Intel Boosts Waterboarding Fans

'Enhanced' interrogation may have led to terror mastermind

(Newser) - Did waterboarding finally nail Osama bin Laden? Intelligence leading to the killing of the terror mastermind gleaned from prisoners, possibly during "enhanced" interrogation techniques, is reigniting debate about waterboarding. US officials learned the identity of bin Laden's key courrier from Guantanamo Bay inmates, and tracking that courrier led...

NY Inmate Breaks Up Guard Fight

Officers suspended after battle over bag of chips

(Newser) - Embarrassed officials in upstate New York say an inmate was injured when he stepped in to separate two guards fighting over food. The inmate lost a tooth when he tried to stop the guards fighting over a bag of chips, workers at Erie County Correction Facility tell the Buffalo News...

San Quentin Inmates Rescue Boaters
San Quentin Inmates
Rescue Boaters

San Quentin Inmates Rescue Boaters

Prison firefighters pull couple from San Francisco Bay

(Newser) - If he were alive today, Johnny Cash might be surprised to learn that San Quentin did some good. Inmates from the California prison's fire department rescued a man and woman whose boat capsized in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay, reports CNN . The woman, who was wearing a...

Inmate Demands California Pay for Sex Change

Lyralisa Stevens sues for surgery to move to safer women's prison

(Newser) - A murderer is suing California, demanding the state pay for her sex change operation and move her from a men's prison to a safer women's prison. The state has provided Lyralisa Stevens, who lives as a female, with sex hormones since 2003 when she began a 50 year-to-life...

Charles Manson Caught With Cell Phone

Calif. prison phone problem out of control, lawmakers say

(Newser) - California prison authorities are having a hard time keeping cell phones out of the hands of even the most notorious inmates. The number of phones confiscated in the state since officials started keeping track has jumped from 1,400 in 2007 to 8,675 so far this year, and prisoners...

Facebook Yanks Jailed Killer's Page

Oklahoma inmate posted pics of himself with booze, weed

(Newser) - In many ways, Justin Walker was a typical Facebook user who turned to the site to post gripes about everyday life and pictures of himself partying with his buddies. Problem was, Walker is serving 30 years in an Oklahoma jail for murdering a sheriff. Walker—a member of the Aryan...

FBI Investigating Idaho 'Gladiator School' Prison

Video of inmate beaten into coma underscores level of violence

(Newser) - The FBI launched an investigation into a privately run Idaho prison after the AP published a video of an inmate savagely beating another as guards looked on. The inmate, who banged on a guard station window to plead for help and suffered brain damage in the attack, is one of...

San Francisco Jail Gets Condom Dispensers

Sheriff says inmates' health trumps controversy

(Newser) - Technically speaking, sex between inmates is illegal at the San Francisco County Jail's San Bruno facility. But that hasn't stopped the sheriff from installing 16 condom machines as part of a safe-sex program, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . "It may be controversial," he says, "but I think...

SC Cop Fired After Breaking Handcuffed Inmate's Leg

Hit unresisting prisoner 27 times with baton

(Newser) - Generally if you're a cop, hitting an unresisting prisoner's leg with your baton—even pausing to get a bigger baton—27 times until it breaks isn't the best career move, to say the least. Especially if you do it on videotape. South Carolina deputy Oddie Tribble has been relieved of...

Inmates Got $9.1M in 'Homebuyer' Tax Credits

IRS working to recoup money

(Newser) - Almost 1,300 prisoners, including 241 serving life sentences, filed for the Obama administration’s First Time Homebuyer Credit on their taxes, claiming they’d bought homes while incarcerated, according to a Treasury Department report released today. The IRS paid out $9.1 million on those claims, money it now...

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