Publications

ACU Update

MEMBERS OF NEW MEXICO COUNCIL 18 ARE DRIVING HOME THEIR VIEWS ON PRIVATIZATION
by sporting bumper stickers saying, “Support Your New Mexico Correctional Workers. Privatization Endangers Lives!”....

OREGON AFSCME CORRECTIONS ONLINE. The site, which is part of Council 75’s Web site, includes members’ pay scale, contract and home pages for each of the state’s corrections locals....

BLENDED SENTENCES ARE OFFERING MINNESOTA’S JUVENILE OFFENDERS ONE LAST CHANCE,
according to The New York Times. Offenders who have committed violent, but not extreme or murderous crimes, are given two sentences: one juvenile, one adult. If they comply with the strict terms of the juvenile sentence, they are eventually released without an adult criminal record. If they violate the sentence in any way, they can be sent immediately into the adult system. Minnesota is one of a dozen states that are experimenting with blended sentencing and officials say the results seem cautiously promising....

SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS ARE ANGRY THAT PRISON LABOR CREATES UNFAIR COMPETITION, reports Working Woman magazine. They point to not only the ridiculously low labor costs of prison industries, but also the federal laws requiring government agencies to buy from these industries if they make what the agencies need....

OUR NATION’S PRISONS ARE BECOMING MENTAL INSTITUTIONS, according to The New York Times. Though more than one in 10 inmates suffer from schizophrenia, manic depression or major depression, COs generally do not receive training in diagnosing or handling the mentally ill.

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