Free Republic

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is set to appear in court again on Friday after being denied bail in the rape case against him on Monday. The French Socialist politician and International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief spent the night in New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail, where officials say he will not have contact with other prisoners for his own safety. Because of a perceived risk of attacks on famous people, Strauss-Kahn will only leave his cell accompanied by a prison-guard, the officials say. ______ Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers claimed in court that he left the hotel where the rape is said to have taken...

MYFOXNY.COM EXCLUSIVE - Fox 5 interviewed a Rikers Island...

NEW YORK - One of the nation's few jail dormitories specifically for gay or transgender prisoners is closing on Rikers Island, prompting complaints from some activists who say it is a needed safe haven. The unit stopped accepting new inmates last month at the direction of Department of Correction Commissioner Martin Horn. With only 56 inmates left in the unit Thursday, it could be shut entirely within the next few weeks, the department said. Plans call for the specialized unit to be replaced with a new protective custody system that would be available to prisoners who feel threatened, regardless of...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A Muslim chaplain who counsels inmates in the city's Rikers Island jail has been reassigned because of his ties to a mosque authorities say is linked to al-Qaida fund raising. Amin Awad, who was named president of the board of trustees at Al-Farooq mosque earlier this month, cannot have contact with inmates and has been reassigned to administrative duties, Tom Antenen, a spokesman for the city Department of Correction, said Friday. Awad, who has counseled Rikers inmates since 1998, is one of seven Islamic chaplains in the city's correctional system, Antenen said. The department has 23...

<p>A chaplain at Rikers Island has been banned from counseling inmates because of his ties to a Brooklyn mosque linked to al Qaeda fund-raising.</p> <p>Amin Awad, who was named president of the board of trustees at Al-Farooq mosque earlier this month, cannot have contact with inmates and has been reassigned to administrative duties, Tom Antenen, a spokesman for the city Department of Correction, said yesterday.</p>