jails

Woman Cleared After Two Years in Rikers Solitary to Sue City for $10 Million

Andy Cush · 05/09/16 09:35AM

Of all the stories to emerge about the horrors of life on Rikers Island in recent years, Candie Hailey’s is among the most horrifying. For two years, Hailey was kept in solitary confinement for a crime for which she was eventually acquitted, a time she says was filled with physical and sexual abuse from guards. Now, Hailey is filing a lawsuit against the city seeking $10 million in damages, the New York Daily News reports.

Ten Legitimately Good Uses For Empty Prisons

Hamilton Nolan · 10/15/14 02:46PM

As America's incarceration rate slowly declines, more and more prisons stand empty. Yesterday, we asked: what should we do with all these empty prisons? You came up with some good ideas, you people out there.

Arizona Now Charging $25 for Prison Visits

Max Read · 09/05/11 02:48PM

Arizona has, like, no money. Should it raise taxes? Cut services? Or—wait—what about this: Charge people $25 a head to visit friends and family members in its overcrowded jails?

Do You Know Who This Man Is?

Max Read · 07/25/11 08:15PM

Do you recognize this guy? If so, you should give the Utah County Sheriff's Office a call at a 801-851-4202. They've had him in jail for a month now and he won't tell anyone who he is.

This is What a Real Jail Escape Looks Like

Max Read · 07/10/11 01:09PM

If you ever need to escape from the Walker County Jail in Huntsville, Texas, this is the video you want to watch. Trent Archie managed to fight his way out—his fellow inmate, Davis McLeskey, wasn't quite so lucky—by telling officers he needed to use the phone and then attacking an officer and forcing his way through the door. (Archie's since been re-arrested.) It's a bit less involved than Prison Break, but at least it doesn't take 22 goddamn episodes. [ABC]

Jerk-Off Mags Behind Bars: The Debate Rages

Seth Abramovitch · 06/01/11 02:52AM

South Carolina's Hill-Finklea Detention Center for barring its inmates from enjoying the kinds of pornographic materials you and I take for granted every. Single. Day. [Note: The ACLU has responded, saying ABC's report is false. Updates below.]

Jailvertisements Coming Soon to New York State

Max Read · 03/27/11 10:01PM

New York's Erie County Holding Center will be playing advertisements on a television screen in its holding cells, apparently in an effort to plug the hole created by upcoming budget cuts. Obviously, the HDTV won't be for ads only—it will also "publicize general information about parking, the jail's policies and more," according to Anthony Diina, the advertising whiz who came up with the idea. ("What do people want they are in the Holding Center?" Diina asks, intriguingly, before settling on the rather obvious answer, "They want to get out.") "It strikes me as inserting a commercial aspect into something when I don't feel there is any place for it," says former prosecutor James Auricchio, which is a sweet thing to say, but get real, James, do you even know what "monetizing" is? Talk about "captive eyeballs," I am right? And listen to this:

Prison Full of Sex, Says Author of Prison-Sex Novel

Max Read · 03/20/11 10:38PM

"Sex-starved and promiscuous" female guards are constantly having sex with inmates at Rikers Island, the New York Post reports, based on an interview with former guard Yolanda Dickinson. Who just happens to have written a novel—titled Taboo—"based on the jail's out-of-control sex scene"! How "out of control" is the "sex scene" at Rikers? According to the Post itself: Since 2007, six out of the prison's 3,890 "sex-starved and promiscuous" female officers have lost their jobs over "undue familiarity," though only two were accused of actually having sex with prisoners. Sounds out-of-control! And... sexy. [NYP]