Free Republic

Kendra Alleyne writes at CNSNews.com about Gary Harrington, an Oregon man who was convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his property who's just begun serving a 30-day jail sentence for it: "I'm sacrificing my liberty so we can stand up as a country and stand for our liberty," Harrington told a small crowd of people gathered outside of the Jackson County (Ore.) Jail.

A Phoenix pastor who was jailed for holding a Bible study group on his private property is now holding one behind bars. Michael Salman is serving a 60-day sentence in Maricopa County's notorious Tent City jail for allegedly violating his probation by holding religious services on his property in violation of zoning and building codes. He was arrested July 9, after authorities charged the one-time gang member hosted Bible sessions for as many 80 people on his 4-acre property, which he tried to claim as a tax-exempt church. [Snip] The married father of six is an ordained pastor of...

Carla and K Roundtree, parents of a 6-year-old rapper and Tyler Council, producer of the boy's “Booty Pop” music video should be legally charged with child sexual abuse, convicted and made to register as sexual offenders. The parental rights of his parents should be suspended, pending an investigation by child protective services. Why?

Cries of religious persecution rose in the Arizona desert after Phoenix pastor Michael Salman began serving a 60 day jail sentence on July 9 and faces a $12,000 fine after refusing to stop holding a Bible study at his home. But like any news story, it is important to get past the headlines making their way across the media and blogosphere and take a look at the facts. The Bible study, known as the Harvest Christian Fellowship Community Church, is actually held in a building, constructed in 2008, that seats 100 people in what used to be the backyard of...

A Phoenix man has been sentenced to 60 days in jail after he refused to stop hosting Bible studies in the privacy of his home – in violation of the city’s building code laws.

Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar – one of the leaders of the congressional inquiry into Operation Fast and Furious – told The Daily Caller he hopes Attorney General Eric Holder gets the message Congress sent him by holding him in criminal and civil contempt of Congress: give up the documents. On Thursday the U.S. House of Representatives voted on a bipartisan basis to hold Holder in both criminal and civil contempt of Congress. Despite shrieks of partisan motivations from some Democratic leaders, more Democrats voted in favor of holding Holder in contempt than Republicans voted for President Barack Obama’s health...

The FBI on Wednesday began its own investigation of allegations of misconduct at the Sedgwick County Jail, an FBI spokeswoman said. The development comes a day after the sheriff announced that jail deputy David Kendall, 21, had been arrested after being suspected of multiple sex crimes. Previously, attorneys have said that two inmates alleged that they had been raped by a jail deputy. “We have opened our own federal civil rights investigation,” FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said. Sheriff Robert Hinshaw said he welcomed the FBI investigation, adding that he has told the federal agency that if “their decision was to...

by John HillStand With Arizona A pro-illegal alien activist group announced what they promised to be a "massive" protest to "demand" that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's famous Tent City be "shut down", but then chickened out when Arpaio invited them to his office to discuss it. "Puente", a left-wing, Soros-funded  group which advocates for illegal alien amnesty and against Arizona immigration law S.B. 1070, declared their intention to "take on" the "racist Sheriff Joe" and show they are "unafraid". But that all changed after this Sheriff Joe Facebook post: Evidently Puente does not like my 19 year old successful tent...

Recently a Wisconsin judge seriously overreached her authority when she sentenced Philip Caminite, pastor of Aleitheia Bible Church to two years in prison for teaching his flock to discipline their children! Such illegal judicial actions are one reason many of us think many judges rank alongside used car salesmen, and I don’t mean to insult used car salesmen by the comparison. I suggest that Judge Maryann Sumi might improve her status by selling cars, not sending preachers to prison. The pastor is to be supervised for six years after serving his time and is forbidden to have any contact with...

North Las Vegas released 70 inmates from its jail Thursday, part of a plan to reduce the size of the facility brought on by a rash of correctional officers calling in sick last weekend, a city official said Friday. The release of inmates — all of whom were nonviolent offenders — comes days after city leaders told corrections officers their jobs were in jeopardy as the city tries to balance its budget. Nearly 50 shifts were not covered for three days last weekend due to correction officers calling in sick, he said. The sick calls forced the city to cover...

Putting illegal entrants in jail would be “undemocratic,” MK Dov Henin of the extreme-left Hadash party said Wednesday. “I was very sorry to hear what the Minister of the Interior said… We need to deal harshly with criminals, but we also need to provide solutions for those who aren’t criminals,” he said. Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai proposed putting all illegal entrants in detention facilities or prisons to await deportation after being giving a monetary grant. Refugees who fear persecution should be allowed to remain in Israel...

How did breast cancer survivor Lisa Lindsay end up behind bars? She didn't pay a medical bill -- one the Herrin, Ill., teaching assistant was told she didn't owe. "She got a $280 medical bill in error and was told she didn't have to pay it," The Associated Press reports. "But the bill was turned over to a collection agency, and eventually state troopers showed up at her home and took her to jail in handcuffs." Although the U.S. abolished debtors' prisons in the 1830s, more than a third of U.S. states allow the police to haul people in who...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The third suspect in the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy faced a judge Tuesday morning. Related U.S. Marshals and Louisville metro police tracked down and arrested Cannon Pendergrass on Monday. Pendergrass, 22, was formally charged Tuesday with in the slaying of 15-year-old Gregory Holt. Pendergrass was the third man arrested in the Holt slaying case and is now facing the same charges as the other two suspects, James Mallory, 29, and Anthony Hogan Jr., 18. Holt was found shot to death inside his home on Clover Street two weeks ago. All three suspects have been in...

<p>SANFORD, Fla. -- George Zimmerman is afraid of being killed while in jail facing charges of murdering Trayvon Martin, his lawyer said today.</p> <p>“There has been an upwelling of hostility and animosity towards him that can find its way to you in many different ways,” Mark O’Mara said outside the courthouse in Sanford, Fla.</p>

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - Old Fire arson suspect Rickie Lee Fowler was sentenced this week to three life sentences in his jailhouse sodomy case. Judge Stephan G. Saleson denied defense attempts to get a new trial and sentenced Fowler on Monday to three terms of 25 years to life in state prison, according to court records. Fowler, of San Bernardino, was found guilty in February of three felony counts of sodomy by force on another inmate at West Valley Detention Center. The incidents occurred in August 2010. Jurors also found "true" each of Fowler's two prior strikes, thus allowing each count...

Sheriff's captain took inmate on golf outing, deputy says A pro golfer turned jewel thief was escorted from the Catalina Island jail to a golf course, where he gave the captain pointers, the deputy and the former inmate say. The captain is under investigation. - A hillside overlooking Avalon Harbor in Catalina. (Christina House / For The Times) The tiny jail on Catalina Island is hardly Alcatraz. Just ask Frank Carrillo. The pro golfer turned jewel thief couldn't believe his luck when he was moved out of his bleak Men's Central Jail cell in downtown L.A. and allowed to do...

Calling solitary confinement "torture," California prisoners and advocates are asking the United Nations to investigate the segregated housing of gang members at prisons throughout the state. "We have California treating several thousand prisoners in much the same way the U.S. government treats enemy combatants held in Guantanamo," said Peter Schey, an attorney representing hundreds of inmates. Schey, who announced the petition at a news conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday alongside prisoners' relatives, said solitary confinement was devastating to the physical and mental health of prisoners and was likely to increase their risk of committing more crimes upon release. The...

California Congressman Darrell Issa has evidently gotten his “second wind” and in a Thursday evening interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper regarding Operation Fast and Furious and a similar project in Texas, accused the Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of lying to Congress. The interview came at the end of a lengthy report on illegal gun walking that appears to have been permitted under the Obama administration in 2009 and 2010 in more places than just Arizona. It may be seen here, and this is what Issa told Cooper: ‘We’ve been lied to by the Department...

by John HillStand With Arizona The Department of Justice is after him, La Raza is after him, and left-wing groups funded by George Soros have vowed to spend whatever it takes to defeat him for election this year. But if his enemies think this would cause Sheriff Joe Arpaio to keep a lower profile, they will be very disappointed. Today, Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, AZ erected a McDonald's-style sign outside the fence of his famous "Tent City" jail touting how many inmates - more than 430,000 - who have been "served" since he opened it 19 years ago....

Artist Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic "Hope" campaign poster featuring then-Sen. Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court on Friday to one count of criminal contempt for destroying documents, manufacturing evidence and other misconduct.See the story here. I know it's not spelled the same way, but it looks like Mr. Fairey may get a chance to live out his name behind the slammer (that's a lot of innuendo for one sentence!). I whipped up a couple of parting gifts for him... This one is from me to liberals