Fresno State News A new program offered by Fresno State will allow incarcerated students at Valley State Prison and Central California Women’s Facility, both in Chowchilla, to earn a bachelor’s degree in social science, expanding access to higher education among one of the most marginalized populations in the state....
Walters: Will Reducing Criminal Penalties Reduce Crime?
California is conducting an immense sociological experiment, testing whether reducing prison time for criminal acts will, in the long run, mean less crime. Over the last decade, politicians and voters have lowered penalties for dozens of serious and minor crimes, reduced state prison populations by about 40% and adopted multiple...
Walters: Court Upbraids Jerry Brown on Ballot Measure
A political saga that began more than four decades ago came full circle last week when the state Supreme Court, including four Jerry Brown appointees, indirectly upbraided the former governor. Unanimously, the court declared that Proposition 57, a major criminal justice overhaul sponsored by Brown and overwhelmingly passed by voters in...
COVID-19 Spikes Follow in Prisons After Inmate Transfers
DETROIT — Families of men incarcerated at Michigan’s Kinross Correctional Facility believed its remote location would spare it from a deadly COVID-19 outbreak. For a while, they seemed to be right. Kinross, built on the grounds of a former Air Force base in the Upper Peninsula, is closer to Canada...
California Man with Aryan Brotherhood Prison Gang Ties Pleads Guilty in Drug Case
SACRAMENTO — A man affiliated with the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood prison gang pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to distribute heroin and methamphetamine inside and outside California's prisons, federal officials announced. Samuel Keeton, 41, of Menifee, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise and to conspiracy to...
California Man Ran Kidnapping Scam From Mexican Prison, Feds Say
LOS ANGELES — A California man imprisoned in Mexico ran a “virtual kidnapping” scheme that duped dozens of Americans into paying ransoms to free family members who were never actually kidnapped, according to federal prosecutors. Julio Manuel Reyes Zuniga, 48, appeared in a Los Angeles court on Thursday after being...
Avenal Inmate Becomes State’s 79th Prisoner to Die of COVID Complications
An inmate at Avenal State Prison died of complications from the coronavirus Saturday, authorities said, becoming the state's 79th person to have a fatal case of COVID-19 while they were incarcerated. The inmate died at a hospital, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a news release. The...
Actor Lori Loughlin Reports to Prison in College Scam
BOSTON — “Full House” actor Lori Loughlin has reported to a federal prison in California to begin serving her two-month sentence for her role in the college admissions bribery scandal, authorities said Friday. The U.S. Attorney's office in Boston said Loughlin was being processed at the federal lockup in Dublin,...
Judge Blocks Federal Executions; Administration Appeals
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — A U.S. district judge on Monday ordered a new delay in federal executions, hours before the first lethal injection was scheduled to be carried out at a federal prison in Indiana. The Trump administration immediately appealed to a higher court, asking that the executions move forward....
California Officials Blasted for Prison Coronavirus Outbreak
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers harshly criticized state corrections officials' “failure of leadership” Wednesday, saying they botched their handling of the coronavirus pandemic by inadvertently transferring infected inmates to a virus-free prison, triggering the state’s worst prison outbreak. A third of the 3,500 inmates at San Quentin State Prison near San...