People in small counties are about 50 percent more likely to go to prison than people in populous counties

A bipartisan campaign to reduce mass incarceration has led to enormous declines in new inmates from big cities, cutting America’s prison population for the first time since the 1970s. From 2006 to 2014, annual prison admissions dropped 36 percent in Indianapolis; 37 percent in Brooklyn; 69 percent in Los Angeles County; and 93 percent in San Francisco, reported the New York Times.

But large parts of rural and suburban America — overwhelmed by the heroin epidemic and concerned about the safety of diverting people from prison — have gone the opposite direction. Prison admissions in counties with fewer than 100,000 people have risen even as crime has fallen, according to a Times analysis, which offers a newly detailed look at the geography of American incarceration.

Just a decade ago, people in rural, suburban and urban areas were all about equally likely to go to prison. But now people in small counties are about 50 percent more likely to go to prison than people in populous counties.

The stark disparities in how counties punish crime show the limits of recent state and federal changes to reduce the number of inmates. Far from Washington and state capitals, county prosecutors and judges continue to wield great power over who goes to prison and for how long. And many of them have no interest in reducing the prison population.

“I am proud of the fact that we send more people to jail than other counties,” Aaron Negangard, the elected prosecutor in Dearborn County, said last year. “That’s how we keep it safe here.”

He added in an interview: “My constituents are the people who decide whether I keep doing my job. The governor can’t make me. The legislature can’t make me.”

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Federal prison reentry programs failing inmates

Three federal prisons in California and others nationwide appear to be falling short in preparing inmates for safe release into society, investigators are warning, reported McClatchy Newspapers.

Most inmates don’t complete the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ formal pre-release program, investigators found. Individual prisons show “widely inconsistent curricula, content and quality” for the programs. Federal agency coordination is said to be poor.

“We found that the program’s overall effectiveness remains largely unknown,” the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General said in a report released Wednesday.

The findings rely in part on investigators’ evaluations of the Release Preparation Program at federal facilities in Victorville, San Pedro and Los Angeles, which are among 10 Federal Bureau of Prisons institutions in California.

The 48-page report also helps illuminate the prospects for nearly 125,000 federal prisoners released over the last three years. These ex-convicts are released directly into communities, home confinement or residential re-entry centers like those managed by a federal field office in Sacramento.

The California re-entry centers, commonly known as halfway houses, include a 27-bed facility in Fresno and a 25-bed facility in Bakersfield, among others.

Underscoring the high stakes for all these institutions, a March study cited in the new report found that 49.3 percent of federal offenders released in 2005 were later arrested for new crimes or violations of parole conditions.

Of the 68,695 federal prisoners released during fiscal year 2013, 16.4 percent had been returned to federal custody by 2015.

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GateHouse: The 1960s continue to impact on criminal prosecutions

Matthew T. Mangino

GateHouse Media

September 2, 2016

This fall, when the U.S. Supreme Court convenes to hear arguments, the docket will be filled, from top to bottom, with criminal cases. The court will take up, among other criminal issues, double jeopardy, federal bank fraud, insider trading, racial bias among jurors and malicious prosecution.

Next year, when the court is expected to publish its decisions, promises to be a banner year for criminal justice practitioners. If next year is a banner year, then 1960s was the banner decade for criminal justice and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Starting in 1961, the U.S. Supreme Court made a series of decisions regarding the rights of criminal defendants that still reverberate today. Starting with the decision of Mapp v. Ohio, the court issued four decisions that continue to be analyzed, interpreted and adjusted 50 years later.

In Mapp, Dollree Mapp refused to let the police enter her house without a warrant. The police returned several hours later with a document purported to be a warrant — it was not. They entered her home found some illicit material and arrested Mapp. She unsuccessfully challenged the evidence at trial. On appeal, the Supreme Court found in her favor and extended the “exclusionary rule” to state prosecutions.

The exclusionary rule prohibits the police from using evidence illegally obtained. The rule is the primary impetus behind improvements in police training and the general protection of individual constitutional rights.

As recently as this summer, the court was tweaking Mapp. In a case out of Utah, a defendant was stopped along the street and asked to identify himself without a legal basis to do so. It was learned that he had a warrant for a traffic violation and was arrested.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to throw-out his arrest. The court noted that it has recognized several exceptions to the exclusionary rule, three of which involve the causal relationship between the unconstitutional act and the discovery of evidence. “Evidence is admissible when the connection between unconstitutional police conduct and the evidence is remote or has been interrupted by some intervening circumstance.”

In 1963, the court decided Gideon v. Wainwright. The landmark decision held that state criminal courts must provide counsel to defendants in criminal cases without cost if they cannot afford an attorney. Although, most states were already providing free legal counsel to defendants facing a charge that could result in a prison sentence, Florida and a handful of other southern states were not.

Two years later the court decided Miranda v. Arizona and incorporated Gideon into the decision. The decision requires the police to inform a suspect who is in custody that he has the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.

Although the Miranda warnings are etched in nearly everyone’s consciousness, the decision is still evolving. In 2013, in a case out of Texas, a murder suspect who answered questions for almost an hour was then asked about some incriminating evidence. The suspect stopped talking.

The police made notes of his conduct once he stopped talking. According to the Supreme Court, the suspect “(l)ooked down at the floor, shuffled his feet, bit his bottom lip, cl(e)nched his hands in his lap, (and) began to tighten up.”

That conduct was used at his trial as evidence that he was hiding his guilt. The Supreme Court found that silence is not enough to invoke the right to remain silent.

Finally, in 1968, the Supreme Court decided Terry v. Ohio. The court found that it was not an illegal search and seizure if a police officer with reasonable suspicion — less than probable cause for arrest — stops a suspect on the street, asks her to identify herself and pats her down for a weapon. Terry is the basis for the controversial practice in New York City known as “stop and frisk.”

The 1960s continue to have an impact on the Supreme Court and more importantly on the fundamental rights of those accused of a crime.

— Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book, “The Executioner’s Toll, 2010,” was recently released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him atmattmangino.com and follow him on Twitter at @MatthewTMangino.

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Jacob Wetterling's remains found on Minnesota farm

For almost three decades, Minnesotans kept their porch lights burning, hoping Jacob Wetterling might find his way home.

Those hopes were crushed Saturday when they learned that a longtime suspect in the 1989 disappearance had led authorities to the remains of the 11-year-old, whose abduction from St. Joseph stunned Minnesotans and changed the way parents watch over their children.

The Jacob Wetterling Act required states, including Pennsylvania, to establish stringent registration programs for sex offenders – including life-long registration for certain offenders.

The registration of sex offenders in Pennsylvania, known as Megan’s Law, has had a tumultuous existence including a number of revision to comply with several successful challenges before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

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Reporter sues Missouri for excluding him from witnessing executions

A reporter sued Missouri's prisons chief in federal court for excluding him from being an execution witness, reported Jurist. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of Christopher McDaniel, a reporter whose stories have been critical of Missouri's death penalty procedures.

The suit asks a judge to block anyone other than Missouri's attorney general from serving as an execution witness until McDaniel's due-process claims are decided. McDaniel applied in January 2014 to witness a Missouri execution. He has stated he wants to "ensure that executions are carried out in a constitutional manner."

McDaniel has yet to receive a response to his request, while 17 executions have been carried out by the state. The Missouri Department of Corrections has "unfettered discretion" in deciding who may be among the at least "eight reputable citizens" to witness an execution. The ACLU alleges that records they obtained show that applicants to be execution witnesses were denied "if they expressed a desire to ensure that executions were carried out properly and constitutionally."

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President Obama grants greatest number of commutations ever in a single month

Earlier this month, President Obama granted commutation to 214 federal inmates,  the most commutations granted in a single day by any President in this nation’s history, according to a White House press release. With today’s additional 111 grants, the President has commuted the sentences of 325 people in the month of August alone, which is the greatest number of commutations ever granted by a president in a single month. The 325 commutations the President has granted in just one month is more than any president granted in a single year for nearly a century.

Today’s 111 commutation grants underscore the President’s commitment to using his clemency authority to provide a second chance to deserving individuals. To date, President Obama has granted 673 commutations: more commutations than the previous ten presidents combined. More than one-third of the President’s commutation recipients, or 232 individuals, were serving life sentences. 

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Chicago's deadliest month in 20 years

According to the Chicago Tribune, August has been the most violent month in the city in almost 20 years. The city hasn't seen a deadlier month since October of 1997, when there were 79 homicides. For the whole year, the count was 761, according to department numbers.

Chicago has recorded 487 homicides and more than 2,800 people shot so far this year, compared to 491 homicides and 2,988 people shot all of last year, according to Tribune data.

Chicago has a lower homicide rate than many other U.S. cities that are smaller in population. But this year, the city has recorded more homicides and shooting victims than New York City and Los Angeles combined, even though the two cities are larger than Chicago's population of roughly 2.6 million.

New York, with more than three times the population of Chicago, has recorded 760 shooting victims and logged 222 homicides, according to NYPD crime statistics through Aug. 21. In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million, 176 people have been slain and 729 people shot, according to LAPD crime data through Aug. 20.

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