prisons

A top corrections official offered a stark picture of Florida’s prison system Wednesday, warning that lawmakers must boost salaries of corrections workers to avert a looming disaster as the system grapples with high turnover rates, dangerously low staffing levels and fatigued employees.

As part of civil lawsuit settlement, the New Jersey Department of Corrections has agreed to make it customary for prisoners to be assigned a prison stay in line with their gender identity.

The Senate and House lawmakers are reintroducing legislation to create "one stop" shops for formerly incarcerated individuals to reduce crime and keep people out of prison once they leave.

Since March of last year, some 25,496 inmates have been placed in home confinement, including those who have already completed their sentences. But, on Jan. 15, just a few days before the Trump administration ended, the office of legal counsel in the Department of Justice issued a memo saying that the CARES Act requires inmates who got extended home confinement to go back to prison once the pandemic emergency ended.

Prisoners like Kent Clark who broke the law before 1987 should have a chance at parole, unlike more recent inmates. But there are dozens of men in their 60s and older who have little hope of release.

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated several lower court orders blocking her execution by lethal injection, clearing the way for the first federal execution of a female inmate in more than 67 years.

Four Democratic legislators called for the removal of some upper-level administrators and for mental-health evaluations of staff at Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, which was the focus of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and Florida federal prosecutors.

Bidding for the construction of the new complex is expected to start next month.

Prisons, jails and detention centers have much higher coronavirus case and fatality rates than the general public. But attitudes toward inmates mean bank tellers may get vaccinated before they do.

The investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and Florida federal prosecutors found reasonable cause to believe “varied and disturbing reports” of sexual abuse --- including rape --- by sergeants, correctional officers and other staff at Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala.

In a bipartisan effort, Congress is close to a deal to simplify the federal financial aid form, or FAFSA, a major policy goal of retiring Republican senator Lamar Alexander.

This post will be updated today, Thursday, Aug. 27, and through the week with the latest information on COVID-19 in South Florida.