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**SNIP** In a resignation letter received by the FEC Thursday, Pasley wrote that she has no direct contact with the campaign account and no knowledge of the money in the account. "It is impossible for me to prepare any campaign committee report," Pasley wrote. "I have no contact with any individual who prepared reports in the past, nor do I have a copy of any reports previously prepared. There is no current official in office, nor campaign staff in existence to facilitate the preparation of any campaign report." The next day, in a response letter sent to Jackson's campaign committee,...

SNIPPET: "Egyptian security forces have reportedly arrested a number of jihadists operating in the Sinai Peninsula who are linked to Ramzi Mowafi, a former physician for Osama bin Laden. Sources have told Egyptian media outlets that Mowafi's group has been responsible for numerous attacks in the Sinai over the past two years. Among those recently arrested are a Yemeni and a Palestinian who were found in the possession of maps and laptops. In August 2011, Egyptian security officials told CNN that Mowafi, who is also thought to be an explosives expert, was spotted in the Sinai. At the time, Mowafi,...

Officials said Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan was shaved after his move to death row and Texas legislators proposed a new compensation bill for shooting victims. Hasan, who was convicted in the 2009 shooting deaths of 13 people and injury of 31 others at the Texas military base, grew a beard for what he said were religious regions prior to the start of his court-martial. The move drew the ire of the judge, who found Hasan in contempt of court, causing a one-year delay of his trial. After Hasan, 42, was flown to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Friday to be put...

**SNIP** The ex-Chicago congressman is seen lounging by the pool at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel-- a popular outdoor gathering spot for the Hollywood Glitterati. According to an onlooker, Mr. Jackson was overheard singing to himself and talking with other guests on the veranda. When he was back in his room here, ABC7's Chuck Goudie had a conversation with Mr. Jackson about why he was in Beverly Hills, California. Jackson said: "I am covering my bases considering my near future."

Self-castration, suicide and waves of desperation are byproducts of the denial of sex hormones to inmates yearning to switch genders, advocates say. But outside the walls, debate has been stirred on whether the prison system is the right place to help chemically escort a man to womanhood, or vice versa, and critics question if any taxpayer money should pay for the hormones used to help inmates undergo sex changes. Thursday's revelation that convicted secret leaker Bradley Manning wants to live as a woman and begin hormone therapy ignited talk about what happens when prison doctors refuse hormones to inmates with...

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Many people say the federal crimes committed by former Illinois congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, former Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson are the latest examples of corruption in our state. Jackson Jr. will serve 30 months behind bars and remain on probation for three additional years. After her husband serves his time, Sandi Jackson will go to jail for 12 months without a chance for less time for good behavior. She was ordered to pay $22,000 in restitution and serve 200 hours of community service. The former congressman plead guilty to spending $750,000 in...

WASHINGTON – Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced today to 30 months behind bars and his wife, Sandi, got a year in prison for separate felonies involving the misspending of about $750,000 in campaign funds. The Jacksons will be allowed to serve their sentences one at a time, with Jackson Jr. going first, based on the wishes of the family as expressed by Dan Webb, an attorney for Sandi Jackson. Jackson Jr. will report to prison on or after Nov. 1, the judge said. In addition to the 2.5 years in prison, Jackson Jr. was sentenced to three years...

A New Lenox man found guilty of throwing punches that left his victim paralyzed, blind and unable to speak was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months of probation and ordered to turn over the $20,000 his family put up for his bond to the victim's mother. Joseph Messina, 25, faced up to 10 years in prison, but Will County Judge Sarah Jones said prosecutors failed to provide enough evidence to overcome the presumption of probation. Family members of Eric Bartels, the man left paralyzed by the punches, gasped when Jones said she was sentencing Messina to probation. "I'm very disappointed with...

WASHINGTON—If former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is ordered to spend time behind bars, he would like to go to either the federal prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., or the low-security portion of the federal correctional institution in Butner, N.C., one of his lawyers said today. **SNIP** In the request, defense lawyer William Drake said the facility in Alabama is the closest federal prison camp to Washington, D.C., and would “allow Mr. Jackson to maintain contact with his wife and children during incarceration.” The prison in North Carolina is within 500 miles of the nation’s capital and would serve the same...

U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning’s maximum prison sentence of 136 years was reduced to a maximum sentence of 90 years behind bars. Judge Denise Lind, an Army colonel, announced Manning’s reduced sentence during a closed session at Ft. Meade, Md., on Tuesday. Lind agreed in part to a motion proposed by the defense to merge various charges against Manning. “She merged two Espionage specifications for transmission of the Iraq and Afghan SigActs, the theft and transmission of the Guantanamo Bay Detainee Assessment Briefs (DABs), Kerry, Hagel and Russians Will Meet

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday paved the way for the early release of nearly 10,000 California inmates by year's end despite warnings by Gov. Jerry Brown and other state officials that a public safety crisis looms if they're forced to open the prison gates.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Friday to let California delay the release of thousands of inmates from state prisons to relieve crowding. In June, a lower court ordered California to release about 10,000 inmates — nearly 8 percent of all state prisoners — by the end of the year to improve to improve medical and mental health treatment. Gov. Jerry Brown last month asked the Supreme Court to delay the order, arguing that it would jeopardize public safety. Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, strongly dissented with the high court's 6-3 one-sentence order Friday, predicting a wave of...

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As part of the traveling Alcatraz exhibit that is now on its premises, “Alcatraz: The Last Day” photo exhibition by Life Magazine photographer Leigh Wiener, the Embarcadero Center Hyatt is doing a a special Alcatraz themed dinner menu from August 8 through September 2. The actual three-course prix fixe menu ($28) includes dishes like clam chowder, meatloaf and “lettuce salad.” Plan accordingly everyone. That promotion is all well and good, but we thought we’d take the opportunity to run a very cool menu from Alcatraz. Pictured below is a copy of the weekly Alcatraz menu from September 2 to September...

"We’re being locked away in a mass incarceration epidemic that is as bad as the Jewish holocaust." Dr. Boyce Watkins, in a commentary criticizing rap star Jay-Z for his disrespect of Harry Belafonte, made the above remark when lambasting Jay-Z for not doing more for the black community. I am sickened that someone can compare the attempted extermination of an entire group of people to the consequences of criminal actions leading to imprisonment. Not a soul commented on that passage via the website (which I stumbled across through a Facebook "friend.")

The hearing will address education, unemployment incarceration and other challenges.Young, African-American men are disproportionately more likely to be incarcerated. Their unemployment rate for June was 13 percent. A study by the Schott Foundation for Public Education found that just 52 percent graduated from high school in 2009-10. Black lawmakers on Capitol Hill in March established the Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys to raise awareness about issues like these that disproportionately affect this demographic. On July 24, the group will hold its first hearing, titled "The Status of Black Males: Ensuring Our Boys Mature Into Strong Men." The timing...

<p>OJ Simpson has only three months to live as a result of his extreme case of diabetes and unhealthy lifestyle behind bars.</p> <p>The combination of 'sky high' blood pressure, a vastly expanding waistline and a lack of physical activity as he serves a 33-year prison sentence have doctors concerned about his health.</p>

THOMSON – Thomson prison is one small step closer to opening. Thursday, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved $166 million to reactivate Thomson and two other prisons, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, said in a news release. In October, the federal government paid $165 million for the prison in Thomson, a town along the Mississippi River in Carroll County. The state built the 1,600-cell, maximum-security prison a decade ago, then decided it couldn't afford to run it. It had been looking for a buyer for years. The prison is expected to bring 1,100 jobs and...

Lahore - A Christian man in Pakistan's Punjab province has been sentenced to life imprisonment for sending blasphemous mobile phone text messages to some Muslim clerics. Additional District and Sessions Judge Mian Shahzad Raza of Toba Tek Singh district slapped the sentence and a Rs 2 lakh fine on Sajjad Masih yesterday. Masih, a resident of Pak pattan district, was arrested in December 2011 for allegedly sending blasphemous mobile phone messages to Muslim clerics of Gojra in Toba Tek Singh, some 200 kilometres from Lahore. The judge heard the case in the district jail and handed down the sentence to...

California prison doctors sterilized almost 150 women over a four-year period because they didn’t want the state to have to provide welfare funding to any children they might have in the future, one of the top doctors admitted this week. California taxpayers spent $147,460 on the procedures between 1997 and 2010. ”Over a 10-year period, that isn’t a huge amount of money,” Dr. James Heinrich, the OB-GYN at Valley State Prison for Women, told the Center for Investigative Reporting, “compared to what you save in welfare paying for these unwanted children – as they procreated more.” Heinrich’s argument recalls progressive...