By Bill Mears
CNN Supreme Court Producer
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former death row inmate in Tennessee has been cleared of murder, three years after the Supreme Court raised repeated questions about his conviction.
State prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to drop all charges against Paul House, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to die in 1986. Special Judge Jon Blackwood accepted the request.
While we try to address reader mail, it's not quite so easy. While we realize it's impossible for inmates to use the Internet, we'd like to encourage many family members or other readers to submit their requests and information on-line. It is much easier for us to work electronically. You can send any info to editor@pa-doc-monitor.org.
We received the following request from an on-line reader. If anyone can be of assistance to her or her son please leave a comment. We would like to take note of three points in her story though. Firstly, when someone is incarcerated it is understood that some freedoms will be forfeited, and we do not dispute that necessity. However, some elements of this submission illustrate how inmates are brushed aside into a never ending bureaucracy. There is a certain amount of frustration that prisoners face when they follow procedures, but the procedures are ignored by staff.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A special panel of federal judges tentatively ruled Monday that California must release tens of thousands of inmates to relieve overcrowding.
The judges said no other solution will improve conditions so poor that inmates die regularly of suicides or lack of proper care.
The panel said it wanted the state to present a plan to trim the population in two to three years.
By Jean L. Dell’ Aquila & Moniem A. El-Ganayni
Approximately two months ago the PA DOC Monitor experienced technical difficulties and lost all site content prior to August of 2007. Unfortunately, we did not keep good backups (a practice we plan to change). We are in the process of rebuilding and ask you to bear with us while we restructure. We have not stopped accepting submissions, or our prison outreach program. As always, any submissions or questions can be sent to editor@pa-doc-monitor.org. Thank you for your patience.
The following information was obtained from the PA DOC's Monthly Institutional Profile and is current as of December 31, 2006. The complete document in PDF form can be viewed here .
Maximum Capacity:
38,547 (over capacity by 14.9%)
The PA DOC Monitor is in need of volunteers with a legal background. This may include practicing lawyers, students of law, or individuals with prior experience in law. Your time and effort will be spent toward the examination and reform of Pennsylvania's Department of Corrections, and also to safeguard the rights of prisoners and their family. Currently we are seeking individuals who can obtain a complete breakdown of the PA DOC budget through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Some key information we are seeking includes:
The PA DOC Monitor is a project of the Center for Civil Liberties and Justice (CCLJ), an organization focusing on balancing civil liberties and social justice.
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