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A serial killer was put to death Thursday in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his lawyers' demand that the state release information about where it gets its lethal injection drug. Tommy Lynn Sells, 49, was the first inmate to be injected with a dose of newly replenished pentobarbital that Texas prison officials obtained to replace an expired supply of the powerful sedative. Sells declined to give a statement. As the drug began flowing into his arms inside the death chamber in Huntsville, Sells took a few breaths, his eyes closed and he began to snore. After less than...

The good news is that they’re only overrepresented 200% in London prisons. An investigation into British prisons has revealed that over a quarter of prisoners in the London are Muslims, more than double their population proportion in the UK capital.Data collected by lawyer and shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan revealed that even though Muslims made up just 12% of the population of London, they made up for 27% of the city’s prison population.Furthermore, it was noted that while Muslims in the UK constitute 4.8% of the population according to a 2011 census, 14% of inmates in the country are Muslims....

Woodville, Texas - As of this afternoon 7 Texas Department of Criminal Justice Employees have been arrested and booked into the Tyler County Jail in Woodville in what is being described by an anonymous source to The Backgate as an alleged sexual assault against an inmate housed at the Gib Lewis Expansion Cellblock. The Gib Lewis Unit is a 2,200 bed prison facility east of Woodville and is home to some of over 850 of Texas' worse inmates who are housed in the high security expansion cellblock. The high tech expansion cellblock was built in 2000 next to the Gib...

Ray Jasper, a Death Row inmate in Texas scheduled for execution in two weeks, has written a lengthy letter from prison where he blasts the justice system and the specter of racial disparity. Jasper, who was a young rap artist at the time, was accused of the brutal robbing and killing of a recording studio owner in 1998. Convicted in 2000 and later sentenced to death, Jasper has used a platform provided to him in where he lashes out at the prison system, likening it to slavery. Gawker Media began a Letters From Death Row series in 2012, in which...

Officials tell lawmakers that a growing number of dangerous prisoners are being housed in the facilty and they pose a higher escape risk. An increasingly dangerous inmate population at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham warrants allowing officers to shoot at prisoners who are trying to escape, says the director of security for the Maine Department of Corrections. click image to enlarge This Oct. 17, 2013, photo shows the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where Corrections Department officials say a growing number of dangerous prisoners are being housed. Gordon Chibroski / Staff Photographer Select images available for purchase in the...

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For decades, California's criminal justice policies ensured that murderers and others sentenced to life, with the possibility of parole, could expect to die in prison. And most of the time, they did. Since Gov. Jerry Brown assumed office in January 2011, a record number of inmates with life sentences are winning parole. Brown has allowed the release of nearly 1,400 lifers, while going along with the parole board about 82 percent of the time.

Nearly 1,400 lifers in California’s prisons have been released over the past three years in a sharp turnaround in a state where murderers and others sentenced to life with the possibility of parole almost never got out. Gov. Jerry Brown has let a record number of inmates with life sentences out since he took office in January 2011... This dramatic shift in releases under Brown comes as the state grapples with court orders to ease a decades-long prison crowding crisis that has seen triple bunking, prison gyms turned into dormitories and inmates shipped out of state. Crime victims and their...

They called themselves "the Helpful Union Guys" - "THUGS" for short - and woe awaited any contractor who dared cross them by hiring non-organized workers. For, federal authorities alleged Tuesday, this "goon squad" of members of Ironworkers Local 401 set fires, started riots, and took crowbars to the competition in an effort to protect union jobs. FBI agents arrested 10 of the union's leaders Tuesday morning, including longtime head Joseph Dougherty, in a racketeering conspiracy case that appeared to affirm long-standing business complaints over the tactics employed by Philadelphia unions.

A former Congressman has accused President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder of a racial ulterior motive in a massive early prison release planned for up to 10,000 drug dealers. Ernest Istook, a former U.S. Congressman and writer for the Washington Times, pointed out on his radio program that “Obama claims minorities usually get longer terms than whites, so he wants to shorten their time served. He says letting them out of prison early will save taxpayers money.” Most of the prisoners were convicted for crack cocaine violations, almost always for dealing or possession with intent to sell. Istook...

One out of every three African-American men will be incarcerated at some point in their lives. In order to place this into proper context, one in every 111 white women will ever see prison walls. In accordance with the Cress Theory extolled by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, the fear of genetic annihilation at the hands of African men continues to drive the world’s most cruel and disparate prison system. African-American men comprise 40% of America’s prison population yet make up roughly 6-7% of the total population. Black men are not inherently criminal and Black America has to begin any discussion...

Original Title:Florida Man Who Tricked Girlfriend Into Taking Abortion Pill Sentenced to Nearly 14 years in Prison A twisted Florida man was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for tricking his ex-girlfriend into taking an abortion pill last year and killing their 6-week old fetus. John Andrew Welden, 29, apologized Monday for his actions as a federal judge in Tampa handed down the 13 year, 8 month sentence. But his victim, former girlfriend Remee Jo Lee, demanded the judge show the calculating fiend “the same amount of mercy that he showed me during my pregnancy,” the Tampa Tribune reported....

TORONTO — Media outlets are reporting Canadian pop star Justin Bieber could be deported from the U.S. if convicted of felony vandalism in connection with an alleged egg attack on a neighbour’s house — but are they getting the facts scrambled? “Bieber could be sent packing to Canada if convicted of felony after vicious egg attack on neighbour’s house,” declared the UK’s Daily Mail. “Justin Bieber’s Egg-Throwing Police Probe Dilemma: Possible Felony Conviction Could See Pop Star Deported Back to Canada!,” screamed RadarOnline. “Justin Bieber bust could mean jail time, deportation if convicted,” Fox News reported. Not so fast. First,...

There’s outrage in Michigan after the union, Michigan Education Association, began fighting to win a $10,000 severance payment for a convicted child rapist. Neal Erickson, 39, was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced up to 30 years in prison. Erickson was the 12-year-old boy’s teacher, and molested him for three years.

"Amanda Knox has reportedly told an Italian newspaper that if she is again convicted of murder, she will become a fugitive rather than return to an Italian prison."

The 32-year-old Tunisian, who was under house arrest for drug dealing, went to the police on Tuesday afternoon and asked to serve the rest of his sentence in jail. “Living with his wife was particularly difficult and unbearable,” police in the city of Livorno said in a statement. Police said he was “tired of continuously fighting with his wife” and “asked explicitly to be put back in prison". Not wanting to disappoint him, staff at the local court issued an imprisonment order on the same day. As requested, he was then taken by police to the district prison where he...

President Obama on Thursday commuted the prison sentences for eight people convicted of crack cocaine offenses and pardoned 13 others, surpassing in the fifth year of his presidency all the acts of clemency from his entire first term. “I am commuting the prison terms of eight men and women who were sentenced under an unfair system,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “Commuting the sentences of these eight Americans is an important step toward restoring fundamental ideals of justice and fairness.” [Snip] “We are excited for the families of those who were granted commutations today, and we are glad that...

The sheriff of Houston's Harris County has adopted a sweeping policy designed to protect and guarantee equal treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender inmates, including allowing transgender individuals to be housed based on the gender they identify with instead of their biological sex. The new policy, which Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia's office believes to be one of the most comprehensive in the country, states "discrimination or harassment of any kind based on sexual orientation or gender identity is strictly prohibited," and outlines how such inmates will be searched, booked and housed, according to a copy of the policy...

The Rev. Jesse Jackson says he has not visited since his son reported to federal prison late last month. **SNIP** "Well his health has been recovering and that has been, as father, the most important thing to me. He has been diligent in doing his work. And I have nothing further to say about that," Rev. Jackson said at the Capitol Thursday (11/7).