Another example of the inmates running the asylum…or at least the prisons.

Or maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion. OK, I can see letting prisoners have email, as long as it can be monitored. These people will organize unlawful acts with any communications. Music, books, fine, but you must be very careful with communications with the outside.

110,000 Texas prison inmates to get computer tablets with apps, radio and email

Tablets will create efficiencies for the state, TDCJ said, and a consistent connection to the outside world might also reduce recidivism, as well.

DALLAS — The Texas Department of Criminal Justice will soon distribute computer tablets to almost all of its prison inmates across the state.

“We have 118,000 inmates. There will be a few categories, some of the disruptive inmates, that we may not be able to issue to… but at this point, we would have well over 110,000 tablets issued within the system,” said Bryan Collier, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Collier made the comments in Tuesday’s "Virtual Re-entry Symposium" hosted annually by Unlocking Doors, a non-profit organization that prepares inmates to re-enter into society.

“Inmates will be given a tablet that will be preloaded with education materials, some e-books, some religious materials,” Collier added. “They have radio. They can also have music on it. It’ll come pre-loaded with some music. They will have an opportunity to buy some additional things to add to it.”

In addition, inmates can send and receive email – not real-time – but within 24-hours, Collier explained. They can even file a grievance on their tablets.</> Perhaps more importantly, he said, this creates a smart, safe way for prison administrators to put specific content in front of every inmate’s eyes...

I hope it does make the prison more manageable. Good luck Texas Department of Corrections.

Oh the horror. The cops killed a man with a knife to another man's neck. In jail!

As I'm getting older, I have less tolerance for members of the 4th Estate and their clueless commentary on law enforcement. Case in point.

Police fatally shot a jail inmate after an officer was taken hostage and cells were unlocked

Brittany Shammas

In a video apparently live-streamed on Facebook, a corrections officer knelt on the floor of a jail, an inmate in a black-and-white striped uniform standing over him.

“It ain’t nothing against the C.O., man,” said another detainee, who was filming from inside a cell. “We ain’t got no mirrors in here. The water don’t work, toilet backed up. This is what we dealing with.”

As a quick aside of the main point, we don't give prisoners mirrors. They will be broken and the pieces used as weapons. 

The scene unfolded Saturday at the Oklahoma County Detention Center after the guard was “overrun” by at least one inmate, officials said. It ended with police shooting and killing the suspected hostage-taker, who allegedly held a makeshift knife to the officer’s neck. Inmates also used the guard’s keys to open cell doors...

...With up to 2,700 inmates on a daily basis, the 268,000 square-foot Oklahoma County Detention Center is the largest in the state, according to the sheriff’s office...

...Saturday’s unrest began just after 4 p.m. in a tenth floor, 37-person pod that houses those considered most difficult to manage, jail administrator Greg Williams said. At least one inmate overpowered the corrections officer as he was distributing medication and took his radio and keys, he said...

“...We ain’t got no showers in two weeks,” he said. “Our power was just out two days. Ain’t got nothing to do with this C.O. He just so happens to be a product of the situation.”

Tactical officers from the Oklahoma City Police Department and the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene. Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said they tried to de-escalate the situation but the inmate had the corrections officer “in a hostage position, with something held to his neck.”

Sheriff’s office spokesman Aaron Brilbeck described the item as “a makeshift knife...” 

No kidding Ms. Shammas, we have a prisoner threatening the life of a corrections officer with a knife. Or bladed object, to be more accurate. It is amazing how prisoners fashion weapons of simple medal they pull off of objects in the jail. And when he is threatening the life of a third person, the cop can use deadly force to stop it. 

I don't know if the prisoner was accurate in his statements on "no showers in two weeks." It may shock some people, but prisoners lie (I know, can't believe it!). But my answer to them would be the same as the one I gave a sixteen year old thief I was transporting to juvenile hall, who hated the handcuffs. 

If you don't like handcuffs, don't steal! 

Hey guys, don't like jails or prisons, don't be a criminal!

Nice work Oklahoma City! 

Angola does it again...

Early last year I posted on how the inmates from Angola, the most famous of Louisiana's prisons, had a carpentry program that built custom made caskets. And they had prepared the caskets for American's pastor, the Reverend Bill Graham. Now more good news on the least of God's children:

Inmates in Angola's new PAWS program train service dogs for veterans: 'It's a win-win'

Timothy Gray hasn’t been in Iraq for years, but his time in combat with the U.S. National Guard still affects him. His back and shoulder injuries make it hard to change positions, especially moving from sitting to standing — but mostly he is overwhelmed by what’s in his head. The night terrors. The anxiety. The panic that comes with a simple trip to the grocery store.

For four years, Gray had his self-trained service dog at his side, helping him get through the daily aftermath of his time at war, but in October the dog’s cancer left the Gonzales man alone.

“It’s been rough without him,” Gray said. “Still to this day I see demons in my sleep. … It’s difficult but with the right support, it makes everything a lot easier.”

And less than two months later, Gray found a surprising place —the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola — to provide him with just the support he needs.

There, a group of inmates is training rescue dogs to be service animals to help veterans like Gray deal with day-to-day activities like taking medication or navigating crowded rooms and handle the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, traumatic brain injuries or other physical injuries.

And it was there that Gray met Magnum, his new highly-trained service dog and companion.

“He is huge,” Gray said, laughing as he crouched down to meet the large, black animal, who was a rescue. “(He) gives me life back.”

Magnum, a black Labrador/mastiff mix, worked with an inmate for about a year, becoming trained in more than 30 obedience commands and seven tasks, some specific to the needs of Gray, said Maj. Keavin Tanner, who runs the service dog academy for the Department of Corrections. The dog is trained to wake Gray up if he’s having a nightmare, intervene when it senses Gray is becoming anxious and be a brace for Gray when stands up.

Tanner, the prison’s unofficial "dog whisperer," works at least once a week with the dogs and inmates, all of whom volunteered to be in the PAWS programs — Prisoners Assisting Warriors Service. He said they slowly build on the progress the trainers make each week as they work and live with their dogs. Gray was the third veteran to receive a service dog from the program since it kicked off in July 2017. All the dogs come from the Department of Corrections PenPals program, a shelter for rescued animals at the Dixon Correctional Center in Jackson.

The PAWS program operates solely on donations and volunteer work, with the support of the corrections department, but no state funding.

“It’s a win-win, for the animal, for the inmate and for whoever ends up with the dog,” said state Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc. “It’s a really unique opportunity for everyone...”

...Like most of the inmates at Angola, Strogen is serving a life sentence; he was convicted of second-degree murder almost two decades ago. But he said being a part of PAWS has felt like a positive way to spend his time in prison — and this program hits close to home for him...

...And Angola Warden Darrel Vannoy said he can see the difference the dogs are making around the prison. Right now, only about a dozen dogs are in the program, but as the program expands, Vannoy hopes to keep some of the trained dogs at the prison to support and give comfort to those inmates who could most benefit, like those with disciplinary issues or mental illness.

A great effort in a most noble cause. I've got many friends who use comfort dogs after traumatic experiences, and they are worth their weight in gold. Thank you gentlemen, please keep up in your work.

Reaching out to to least of God's children to the end....

I never met the Reverend Billy Graham in my life, and I do regret that. I missed an opportunity for mass with Pope John Paul II in 1987, again, something I do regret. But Graham, like John Paul II, to the end, was preaching the all of God's children, great, and not so great. Reverend Graham had no issue with going into the prisons and spreading the Word of God to the men and women who needed it most.

As his funeral approaches this Friday, I found this article interesting. His (and his late wife's) casket was assembled by the prisoners of Angola State Prison, Angola LA. From Channel 9 in Baton Rouge.

WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge

ANGOLA, LA (WAFB) -
Inmates at one of the country's most well-known prisons will have a hand in laying Reverend Billy Graham to rest. At his request, Angola inmates built his casket back in 2006.

Louisiana State Penitentiary is known as the "Alcatraz of the south." It’s home to the state's most notorious criminals, but is also home to a renowned prison ministry.

“I feel there is a great outpouring of the holy spirit behind bars at this time,” said Clifford Bowman.

Bowman is in bible college at Angola. He was selected to be part of a special team on a special mission: to build a casket. It’s a regular casket for a not so regular man: evangelist, Billy Graham.

“We of course prayed before we started and that's something that does not happen every day when they are doing it in the regular work. Where God is working the devil's gonna’ be there working, so he's gonna’ try and get his licks in, too,” said Bowman.

“This was a great honor. Because this is a great man of God and he wants him an inmate to build his coffin and get the inmate preachers involved and it's mind-boggling. It sends a great message,” said Burl Cain.

Richard Liggett constructed the casket for Graham with a couple of modifications from his usual work.

“I respect the man. I've listened to him. I know what he preaches. You know, but other than that, I just wanted to do the best job I could,” said Liggett...

...“It’s so symbolic, even though the prisoners have committed horrible crimes... God loves them, too,” said Cain.

And so did the Reverend Graham. Thank you Mr. Cain, and the rest of you for preparing this great casket:

Rest In Peach Reverend Billy Graham. You received The Calling at age 14, and spent a lifetime spreading His Word. Now He will receive you in His Glory.

Drones and smuggling into prison. What to do?

From the "I never saw this one coming" file, prisons are having to deal with prisoners getting contraband into the prison. And they are limited to what they can do, which is understandable. Shotguns? Besides the FAA saying we can't shoot at them, I'll bet the guards have their weapons loaded with buckshot, more useful for large slower moving target. If anything, they would need bird shot to get the drones! :) And the FCC will have a hit if they try to interferer with the communication system.

Over the Wire: Prison Guards Handcuffed in Battle With Drones

Like firefighters and those who just want to relax in the privacy of their own backyards, U.S. prisons have a drone problem.

Guards at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C., recently found 17 illegal cellphones in one inmate’s cell — all of them (according to a report in the New York Times) smuggled in using drones.

In Mansfield, Ohio, a drone delivery of tobacco and drugs caused a near riot in a prison yard as inmates fought over the payload. In Cumberland, Md., officers had better luck, arresting two men in a car outside the Maryland state prison there. In the car were tobacco, pornography, and drugs — and a drone.

Similar reports have come in from Oklahoma and Georgia, as well as places outside the U.S., including Canada and Russia.

Breaking into jail

The point is that these unmanned aircraft systems are clearly capable of delivering contraband over prison walls. Furthermore, it’s hard to spot them, much less find out who is controlling them.

Worse, when it comes to policing the problem at federal prisons, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BoP) is severely handcuffed. Despite having tons of shotgun-armed guards at its prisons, the bureau can’t simply shoot down any drone that happens to appear near a prison; the Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t allow it.

Guards can’t blast drones with radio waves to interfere with the control signals from their operators either: Intentional interference of that sort is illegal, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

All of which is why the BoP has issued an RFI (request for information) looking for a solution.

The RFI — a preliminary step before the agency actually hires someone to implement a solution — is soliciting ideas that will help the BoP detect and neutralize drones trying either to conduct surveillance of prisons and the areas around them or to deliver contraband (such as weapons, drugs, or pornography).

(While the BoP has jurisdiction over federal prisons only, the solutions it finds should also be available eventually to state and local facilities.)

Unfortunately for the BoP, other federal government agencies aren’t being particularly helpful. The FAA would not discuss the issue, except to say that if anyone were to drop something into a prison, that person would be guilty of violating the law. The Department of Justice would not discuss the issue of drones on the record, except to say that Yahoo Tech should contact the FAA. The FCC did not respond to requests for comments.
Complicating matters, the BoP’s RFI seems to be attracting little interest. So far, only one question has been posted regarding the issue, and that was to find out whether the BoP will fund research. (It won’t.)

Detection and registration

Still, the agency does have some options. The law does not prohibit the deployment of sensors at prisons to alert guards that a drone is approaching. Nor does it prohibit sensors that would detect a drone launch at its source. This could allow law enforcement to get to the site of the drone launch and arrest those involved.

And, it should be stated, sending a drone into a prison does violate a long list of federal laws and, if it’s a state prison, state laws as well...

Good read all in all. I spent a year as a jail supervisor and we never had this issue to deal with because we did not have an outside area for the inmates. The only times they saw outside was when they entered and left the facility. Not much of an issue for the county prison but defiantly can be something for Texas Department of Corrections. Then again they can ask the locals for a little help, "Hey, you keep what you kill, no limit, we'll lose you in the pursuit..." :<)

Prisoners and their obituaries.

An interesting read. More than a few students have been tasked to write then own obituaries, tell the stor about what would you say about you at the end of your life. Last year my wife did it for an English class in college. But I gotta say this is interesting. Often the last meal of a prison inmate is written, but not the obit. Worth a read.

Inmates writing their own obits reveal regrets, failed dreams

In the wrong writer's hands, an obituary can be a dull collection of biographical facts, the type of article that journalism professor William Drummond calls the "lowest common denominator" of newspaper writing.

But on this day, he hoped for something more profound from his students, even if his classroom wasn't filled with the high-achievers he was accustomed to teaching at UC Berkeley. Drummond was across the bay in San Quentin State Prison, where he was introducing inmates to the basics of covering the news.

The obituary assignment came with a twist. Instead of writing about a pop star's overdose or a political leader's assassination, Drummond told his incarcerated students they would be writing about a different death: their own.

They would choose how they would die, and they would sum up their own lives however they wanted.

"I did it as a way to find out how these guys had reconciled their crimes," Drummond said. "Were they able to take a critical look at what got them in trouble?"

The inmates, he recalled, were uncomfortable. These were people who were best known for their worst decisions — stabbing a man to death, gunning down a bystander, robbing banks.

Now Drummond wanted to know: "What is your real value?"

The resulting obituaries were reflective, outlandish, candid, evasive, aspirational. Above all, they showed how people who have wronged society would like to be remembered.

Phoeun You's heritage is tattooed on his neck — "the killing fields." He escaped the genocidal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia when he was a child, reaching Utah as a 5-year-old refugee with the rest of his family.

Phoeun You is one of several inmates at San Quentin who wrote his own obituary for a class project. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
"It snowed, and there was nothing but white people," the 41-year-old recalled....

...In his obituary, You doesn't mention his crime. Instead, he describes a heroic death — being stabbed while trying to break up a racially charged fight in a prison classroom.

"Mr. You observed what was about to take place and stepped in front of Mr. Bryant in hopes of diffusing the situation," he writes. He is stabbed and dies immediately...

...Sitting in the prison yard, You explained his choice of death: "My incarceration, the reason I'm here, is by taking a life. When I leave this world, I would love to leave saving a life."...


...Since Julian Glenn Padgett arrived in 2006, he's enrolled in academic classes and played Shylock in a prison production of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." Even while sitting in a cramped storage closet during a break from his work at the inmate-run newspaper, he spoke with the intensity of an actor on stage. Asked about committing murder, he cited a Walt Whitman poem.

Padgett stabbed and killed a man he believed was a romantic rival. Therefore, his victim cannot "contribute a verse" in "the powerful play" of life.

"I don't want to be remembered as the man to do that," he said. Like You, he doesn't mention his crime in his fictional obituary.

Padgett, a 51-year-old Ethiopian Jew who wears a knit kippa over his dreadlocks, was convicted in 1997 in Sacramento and isn't eligible for parole until 2023.

His obituary is brimming with passion for outdoor activities that are out of reach.

But most of the 57-year-old's obituary focuses on his childhood in San Diego, including a wrestling match victory and a stint as junior class president.

The longest quote in the article comes from a classmate testifying to his high school leadership skills.

"He built the treasury from just a couple of dollars, to several thousand. His biggest accomplishment was at Homecoming, our float was the biggest one, and our Junior Class Ball was held at a big fancy hotel. The seniors were somewhat jealous."

Despite his candor about his conviction, the obituary focuses on his younger days....


...George Burns envisioned a noble end in his obituary. In the early morning darkness, he would stop by the side of the road to help someone with a flat tire, only to be struck and killed by a speeding driver.

"George was the type of person that loved helping those that were less fortunate and needed help," Burns wrote. "His heart was made of gold."

Although he wrote about his desire to be a positive influence, Burns was also upfront about his crimes in the obituary.

"Mr. Burns early life was rocky he was in and out of jail," he wrote in one fragmented sentence. A gang member in Sacramento, he was convicted of robbery and firearms charges in 2001 and sentenced to prison for 31 years and eight months.

In his obituary, Burns wrote about enrolling in college classes and trying to turn a corner while in prison....

I guess one thing strikes me. I just finished a year as a jail supervisor and a point I've made more than once, "There is not a guilty man in this place." These men own up to what they did, to a point.

Drones and other issues....

I've posted on drone use before, how they are becoming the small police department's helicopter unit or even how one got shot at by hunters in South Carolina, but I gotta say I didn't see this one coming.

Rise of the drones has police and regulators scrambling to catch up

Wardens at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopsville, South Carolina, were taken aback a few weeks ago when they conducted a routine sweep of the prison grounds. They discovered quantities of marijuana, cigarettes and cellphones scattered among the bushes in the no man’s land that surrounds the maximum-security institution.

The guards were even more astonished to find in the middle of the stash of contraband a small, lightweight object, with propellers attached. Closer inspection revealed the item to be an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), better known as a drone, whose operators had evidently made an audacious attempt to breach the prison walls that had come unstuck when it crash-landed.

Another day, another drone controversy. The failed smuggling attempt in Bishopsville, disclosed this week, is just one among an ever-intensifying rash of stories relating to the remote-controlled devices as they make their onward march into American civilian life...

...DJI Phantoms of the sort flown over the George Washington bridge sell on Amazon for under $500, and if you add to it a high-definition video camera it still comes in at just $1,300.

“Interest is exploding because you can put eight hundred dollars on a credit card and walk out of the store with a DJI Phantom, charge a battery and fly. The good news is that more and more people are getting involved. The bad news is that they include some who misuse the equipment or just don’t know any better,” said Steve Cohen, a drone enthusiast who organises the New York city drone user group.

A powerful driver of the new fad for flying drones is the high-definition video camera that can be attached to the UAVs. Many of the new enthusiasts pouring into the hobby are not coming for the thrills and challenges of aviation, but for the photography. The technology has opened up new vistas, such as the dramatic footage captured on 4 July by drones flying through Independence Day firework displays...

I remember an article last year on the how the National Park Service was moving to ban drone use over their sites as this was causing a possible hazard. Hate to say it guys but technology will not be stopped. If you can't stop drones in a confined secure area like a prison, what makes you think you stop it in the over 1900 square miles of Grand Canyon National Park.

An interesting punishment

The issue here, IMHO, is not the punishment. He could have spent five years in jail for failing to pay child support but he agreed to have a vasectomy to avoid a good hunk of that. And a vasectomy is not like castration, it's not mutating the body. But it's preventing him from impregnating other women and leaving more children without a father. And that is the issue.

This POS has no issue with sex without consequence and leaving women to raise his children alone. There is a growing subculture where young males (I refuse to call them men) see no obligation with raising, or even supporting the children they father. Or straddling the women with chidden they will have problems raising.

If this punishment insures Mr Herald never spreads his seed further, more women will not be left with children they will have to raise alone. Sounds just to me. Comments?

Vasectomy or jail: A Virginia man’s choice

Last month, an Ohio appeals court upheld a decision barring Asim Taylor from having more children until he paid nearly $100,000 in overdue child support for the ones he already has. He had been put on probation for five years — and forbidden from reproducing during that time.

Now there’s Jessie Lee Herald — a 27-year-old Virginia man who allegedly fathered seven children with six different women. And, as part of a plea deal that will shorten by up to five years his prison term in a child endangerment case, he agreed to get a vasectomy.

Shenandoah County Assistant Prosecutor Ilona White said her motive in making the deal was to keep him from fathering more children.

“He needs to be able to support the children he already has when he gets out,” she said, according to the Associated Press.

Herald was sentenced this month to 20 months in prison for child endangerment, hit and run and driving on a suspended license in a crash in which police said his 3-year-old son was bloodied but okay, the AP said.

The agreement, offered earlier this month, states Herald must have the procedure within a year of his release. It also states that he cannot reverse the vasectomy while he is on probation. And he will have to pay for it.

But some argue that this unusual plea agreement is reminiscent of the 20th century’s eugenics programs in which a handful of states forcibly performed surgical sterilizations on thousands deemed genetically inferior.

“This takes on the appearance of social engineering,” Steve Benjamin of Richmond, past president of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, told the AP.

White disputed any suggestion that the deal has similarities to eugenics.

“I would never agree with that line of thinking. That was nowhere in my thought process,” White told the AP....

That is a wrong comparison. Unlike the mentally retarded women who were subject to involuntary hysterectomy in the early 1900s, he can have the procedure reversed. And he doesn't have to take the vasectomy, he can simply serve the full term. But the needs of society are better served in knowing Mr Herald cannot spawn anymore.

Fighting cells phones in prison

A major problem is communications from prisoners to others in the outside world. It is supposed to be restrained but cell phones are smuggled in. Now from all places California there is an effort to fight this.

California prisons to block use of smuggled cellphones

A private company has agreed to pay millions to install technology in California prisons to block Web searches, text messages and phone calls by inmates using smuggled phones.

The deal won't cost taxpayers a dime, state officials insist, because the company, Global Tel Link, also owns the traditional pay phones prisoners can legally use. Company officials are betting that once the contraband cell devices are disabled, demand for pay phones will skyrocket.

Like other states, California is battling a plague of phones smuggled to inmates. Many are used by lonely prisoners to stay in touch with family and friends, but they've also been used to run criminal enterprises on the streets, organize assaults on guards and intimidate witnesses, prison officials say.

Last year, California prison guards confiscated more than 15,000 contraband phones, nearly one for every 11 inmates. Five years ago, only 261 of the devices turned up behind prison walls. Even Charles Manson, arguably the state's most notorious inmate, has twice been caught with contraband phones...

...Visitors go through security stations similar to those at airports as they enter the facilities...

...Jamming of cellphone signals in a particular area, such as the space surrounding a prison, is prohibited by the Federal Communications Commission. Last year, when Global Tel Link's contract to provide pay phones in state lockups came up for renewal, Cate said the next vendor would have to pay for a legal way to prevent cellphone use.

Basically, each prison will get its own cell tower, which prison officials will be able to control. They'll make a list of approved phones that can send and receive signals, and all others will be rendered useless. Installing the systems at all 33 California prisons could cost between $16.5 million and $33 million, Cate estimated last year...

...Use of pay phones, which are recorded and monitored by prison guards, went up 64% in the days after the test.

A solution to a real problem, should work, no cost to the taxpayers. Logical, useful and efficient. Naturally the usual suspects are against it.

Inmate advocates argue that the vast majority of prisoners use their smuggled phones for communication with friends and family, and that keeping those ties strong is essential to their successful reintegration to society after they're released.

"Aside from cases where an inmate is confined for child abuse or molestation, the lines of communication between inmates and their families should be as open as possible," said Rebekah Evenson, an attorney for the Prison Law Office in Berkeley. She noted that federal prisons allow inmates secure email accounts and suggested those might be a better way to monitor prisoners' communications.

No Ms Evenson, a prisoner doesn't have a right to an illegal cell phone in prison. You may have noticed the word illegal. They cannot have it. If they want to communicate with the family and friends they can use the payphone. I can believe the feds do something as stupid as giving prisoners secure email but California doesn't have to be that insane. You may not get this but there are prisoners. They don't have rights to unmonitored communications. If they don't having limited communications with the family, etc, maybe they should take the advice of Jim Carey.

Chess and prison

Generally when I visit the VA in Houston they have a group of vets playing this game. I used to be good...used to be. When I was a kid my buddy Eric and I were taught by his older brother to play the game. That young man had come in second in the state competition.

Never would have thought of this but what the hell, if it learns them something and keeps them out of trouble, it's gotta be good.

CHICAGO — Call it the Sheriff’s Gambit.


A sheriff in Illinois is turning to kings, queens and rooks to help teach inmates at his jail not to behave like pawns.


Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart launched a chess program at the county jail in Chicago. The law enforcement officer, known for making unusual moves in the name of justice, hopes inmates can take what they learn from a game that rewards patience and problem-solving and apply it to their own lives.


“We see it day-in and day-out that people want instant gratification and that often individuals do not think before they act,” Dart said Monday. “Thoughtless actions will hurt you while playing chess and hurt you more on the street.”...


...With the jail chess program, the sheriff got help from Mikhail Korenman. The longtime teacher of the game, whose chess club includes one of the sheriff’s children, came up with the idea.


“I thought it would be good for any people,” said Korenman, a member of the United States Chess Federation Council.


He broached the subject with Dart earlier this year. And on Monday, he accompanied the sheriff to the jail to watch some inmates play.


“It helps kids and it should help the people in the prisons get back to a normal life, make good decisions,” Korenman said, adding that he knows of no other similar jail program in the U.S.


He sees chess as being about making decisions with an eye toward how they will affect the ultimate outcome of the game. “(Players) have to make decisions and analyze their decisions,” Korenman said...


...Dart’s office said 100 inmates are participating now. Ultimately, about 150 are to take part.

And the problem is??????

Prisoners say they starve themselves to death. And people have an issue with this?

October 13, CNN – (California) Hunger strike ends, California prison officials say. A 3-week hunger strike by some California prison inmates has ended, the state department of corrections said October 13. More than 4,250 inmates in eight state prisons were involved in the strike September 29, 3 days after it began, but only 580 at three prisons were still participating October 13, the department said in a news release. On October 6, when the department said 811 were still taking part, a spokesman for Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity questioned that number, though he acknowledged participation had likely dropped. Prison officials consider inmates to be on a hunger strike if they have missed nine straight meals. The corrections department said October 13 it had received a letter from inmates 2 days earlier regarding the strike. "Officials agreed to meet with inmate representatives to discuss its ongoing review of and revisions to its Security Housing Unit policies that began in May 2011," the department said in its news release. The prisoners made five demands, including a change in the policy that makes inmates go through an interrogation process in which they have to incriminate themselves — and identify other inmates who are involved in breaking rules — in order to get out of solitary confinement. They also demanded an end to group lockdowns, and wanted more privileges for those in solitary confinement, such as winter clothes and nutritious meals.