Page 9 - Wanda Bertram News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Two companies shape what it’s like to be in prison in most of America. Their opacity gives them power.

Florida lawmakers are being asked to use the winter months to swiftly install air conditioning in prison housing units before the return of scorching summer temperatures. Ricky Dixon, secretary of the Department of Corrections, told a Senate committee 75% of Florida prison housing currently lacks air conditioning. Denise Rock, executive director of the advocacy group Florida Cares Charity Corp., a nonprofit working with people who are incarcerated and their families, said she is convinced the sweltering conditions in state facilities ultimately are unsafe. ...

North Dakota is releasing fewer prisoners on parole than it did before the coronavirus pandemic, but leaders are saying they believe they could get back to pre-COVID-19 numbers.

The lifetime likelihood of imprisonment for Black men has changed significantly from one generation to the next, according to The Sentencing Project's latest report. In 1981, one in three Black men was likely to be imprisoned at some point in his life. By 2001, the number decreased to one in five. ...

On this edition of Prison Pipeline: The Myths and Harms of Electronic Monitoring. The Prison Policy Initiative has released a report entitled “Not an alternative: The myths, harms, and expansion of pretrial electronic monitoring.” To learn more, host Doug McVay speaks with Wanda Bertram, Communications Strategist with the Prison Policy Initiative.