federal prison

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Kaczynski's Death Appears to Be Suicide
Kaczynski Apparently
Killed Himself

Kaczynski Apparently Killed Himself

Official cause of Unabomber's death will await investigation

(Newser) - The death of Ted Kaczynski, who once terrorized the nation with a yearslong series of bombings, apparently was suicide. Called the Unabomber by the FBI, Kaczynski died Saturday at a federal prison medical center in North Carolina after being found unresponsive in his cell . Three people with knowledge of his...

Bureau of Prisons Closes Notoriously Violent Unit

At least 7 inmates have died by homicide or suicide since Thomson unit opened in 2019

(Newser) - One of the most notorious units in the federal prison system is being shut down after a series of inmate deaths. There have been at least five suspected homicides and two suspected suicides since the Special Management Unit at the Thomson federal penitentiary in northwest Illinois opened in 2019, NPR...

Guards 'Running on Fumes' at Violent, Short-Staffed Prison

'All signals are blinking red,' warns union official at USP Hazelton

(Newser) - A federal prison complex in West Virginia is desperately short on staff, and it's not hard to see why the Hazelton facility might be having trouble attracting workers: Union officials say short-staffing has made the notoriously violent prison even more dangerous, and mandatory overtime is so common that the...

Prison Chaplain Sentenced for 'Egregious' Abuse

James Highhouse abused female inmates at FCI Dublin

(Newser) - Behind a closed chapel office door inside a federal women's prison in California, a chaplain forced inmates seeking his spiritual guidance to have sex with him, exploiting their faith and their powerlessness behind bars for his own gratification, prosecutors said. James Theodore Highhouse was sentenced Wednesday to seven years...

Ghislane Maxwell Sent to Low-Security Florida Prison

FCI Tallahassee wasn't her first choice

(Newser) - After years of protesting conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Ghislaine Maxwell has been sent to a low-security federal prison in Florida. The British former socialite, who was sentenced last month to 20 years in prison for procuring underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse, arrived at the...

Put on Suicide Watch, R. Kelly Sues
Put on Suicide Watch,
R. Kelly Sues

Put on Suicide Watch, R. Kelly Sues

Lawyer calls treatment by detention center 'purely punitive'

(Newser) - R. Kelly has begun his 30-year prison sentence on suicide watch, and he's gone to court to change that. Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Kelly, said the suicide watch at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn was imposed for "purely punitive reasons," NBC News reports. "MDC Brooklyn...

Family Backs Derek Chauvin's Prison Choice
Federal Judge Accepts
Chauvin Plea Deal
UPDATED

Federal Judge Accepts Chauvin Plea Deal

Ex-officer will serve 20 to 25 years for violating George Floyd's civil rights

(Newser) - Update: A federal judge has accepted a plea deal in the civil rights case against Derek Chauvin and will sentence him to 20 to 25 years in prison. The former police officer pleaded guilty in December to violating George Floyd's civil rights during the arrest that led to the...

Man Going to Prison for Post About COVID, Grocery Stores

He falsely said an infected person was licking groceries

(Newser) - A Texas man who posted a COVID-19 hoax on social media in the weeks after the pandemic was declared will spend the next 15 months in federal prison. FBI agents in San Antonio launched an investigation in April 2020 after authorities were sent a screenshot of a Facebook post in...

DOJ Report: Federal Prison Camp Security Is a Joke

Guards were fooled by dummies left in beds

(Newser) - The fact that four inmates could leave a low-security federal prison camp in Texas to pick up whisky and have their escape undetected for more than 12 hours is a sign of major flaws in the system, according to a report from the Department of Justice. The report states that...

Dustin Higgs Asks Trump Not to Put Him to Death

His lawyers call the sentencing 'arbitrary and inequitable'

(Newser) - A federal death row inmate who is due to die on Jan. 15 has petitioned President Trump for clemency. The Guardian explains the case Dustin Higgs is trying to make: Essentially that it was "arbitrary and inequitable" to sentence the man who murdered three woman who had been abducted...

Feds Plan 3 Executions During Transition Period

They will be the last for at least 4 years

(Newser) - The Justice Department plans to go ahead with three executions during the presidential transition period, including one scheduled for Thursday, despite President-elect Joe Biden's opposition to the death penalty. A federal appeals court cleared the way Wednesday for the Thursday execution of 49-year-old Orlando Hall, who raped and murdered...

Inmate 77827-112 Starts Her Sentence Early

Lori Loughlin reports for two-month sentence in college admissions scandal

(Newser) - Lori Loughlin, inmate 77827-112, has begun serving her two-month prison sentence in the college admissions bribery scandal. The Full House actress, who wasn't due at the federal prison in Dublin, California, until Nov. 19, turned herself in Friday, NBC News reports. Her term is to begin with a coronavirus...

Native American's Last Words: 'No, I'm Good'

Lezmond Mitchell has died by lethal injection in Indiana

(Newser) - The only Native American on federal death row was put to death Wednesday, despite objections from many Navajo leaders who had urged President Trump to halt the execution on the grounds it would violate tribal culture and sovereignty, the AP reports. With the execution of Lezmond Mitchell for the grisly...

Inmates Warned of Alarming Conditions. Now, an Outbreak

More than 500 test positive for COVID-19 at Texas federal medical prison

(Newser) - More than 500 women at a federal medical prison in Texas have tested positive for the coronavirus, in one of the largest confirmed outbreaks at a federal prison, the Bureau of Prisons said. The number of confirmed cases at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth jumped to 510 on...

Report: Feds Are Working Hard to Prevent Maxwell Suicide

Sources say she has had bedsheets taken away

(Newser) - After the death of Jeffrey Epstein in federal custody last year, authorities don't want to be be embarrassed by another high-profile suicide—and they don't want Ghislaine Maxwell to escape justice. A source tells the AP that after Epstein's former girlfriend was moved to a federal detention...

Former Trump Lawyer Goes Home After a Year in Prison

Michael Cohen is released to home confinement because of the pandemic

(Newser) - After serving just over a year in a federal prison, Michael Cohen was released Thursday and returned to his home in New York City. After winning his release because of concern he'd contract the coronavirus in prison, President Trump's former lawyer will serve the rest of his three-year...

Lawyers: Sending Manafort Home Is 'Imperative'

They request move to home confinement for Trump's former campaign manager

(Newser) - Paul Manafort, currently serving a 7.5-year sentence for tax evasion, fraud, and other crimes, wants to go home early—and stay there. Lawyers for President Trump's former campaign chairman have asked the Bureau of Prisons to transfer their client to home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic, USA ...

146K Inmates to Spend at Least 2 Weeks in Cells

Federal prison lockdown begins Wednesday

(Newser) - Federal prisons are officially under lockdown. In an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19, 146,000 federal inmates in 122 facilities will be confined to their cells for the next two weeks beginning Wednesday, per Politico and USA Today . "Limited group gathering will be afforded to the extent...

Criminal Charges Expected Against Epstein Guards
2 Jeffrey Epstein
Guards Are Charged
UPDATED

2 Jeffrey Epstein Guards Are Charged

They're accusing of falsifying records after failing to check on the prisoner

(Newser) - Two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself have been charged with falsifying prison records, per the AP . A grand jury indictment made public Tuesday accused guards Toval Noel and Michael Thomas of failing to perform checks on Epstein every half hour, as required, and...

Chelsea Manning Freed, but Maybe Not for Long

She has been ordered to appear before a new grand jury May 17

(Newser) - Chelsea Manning has been freed after 62 days in jail—but she might be returning soon. Manning was sent to jail for contempt of court in March for refusing to testify in front of a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. Her lawyers say that grand jury's term has now expired,...

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