Free Republic

How small is the California prison population likely to become if Gov. Jerry Brown has his way? In three years, California's prison population would be 20 percent smaller. When we chatted on the phone on the issue last week -- always an experience -- Brown sounded more like his old self, a left-wing talk-show host of the 1990s, than the tough-on-crime Oakland mayor and state attorney general who followed. There are always two Jerry Browns. There's the talk-show Brown who likened American incarceration rates to "absolute oppression." A decade later, Attorney General Brown fought three federal judges, who ordered California...

On April 20, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a challenge from a Texas death row inmate who claimed his constitutional rights were violated because the jurors consulted the Bible in the sentencing phase of the trial. The jurors consulted a passage that stated that a murderer who used an iron object to kill should be executed: “But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death” (Num. 35:16). The defendant Khristian Oliver was found guilty for shooting and bludgeoning his victim to...

A Visit to Manila City Jail By Joseph Reylan B. Viray I will try to bring you friends to the Manila City Jail by just describing what the City Jail looks like and our telling experiences during our visit there. The Manila City Jail is located in a congested area in Quezon Blvd, Manila, few meters away from the Isetan Department Store and a stone’s throw away from the LRT Recto station. It’s easy to get there. There are several routes going to the place. However, I advise that if you come there to visit a friend or a client,...