Prisonist.org

Please Join Us as Family ReEntry and Fairfield County LOOK Team to Bring Criminal Justice Awareness to Greenwich Polo on Sunday, August 27th, 1 - 5 pm. A wonderful, casual, comfortable afternoon done just right with great food, drinks, music, friends, families, children – and even dogs (well-behaved ones)! And we all “stomp the divots” after the first half. If you have never been to polo you will be in for a surprise – it is one of the most relaxing and enjoyable experiences ever. And all for an important cause! A portion of proceeds from each VIP ticket, table or front row lounge will be donated to Family ReEntry Greenwich Polo Club, One Hurlingham Drive, Greenwich, CT. Click image for information and tickets.

This pattern of racial differentiation — one drug policy for white users and another for black users — followed the format of the heroin crisis of the 1970s. The face of the heroin addict then, as the newspapers told it, was black, destitute and engaged in repetitive petty crimes to feed his or her habit. New York State’s infamous 1973 Rockefeller drug laws created mandatory minimum prison sentences of 15 years to life for possession of small amounts of heroin or other drugs — and served as a model for the federal cocaine law. More than 90 percent of those convicted under the Rockefeller laws were black or Latino, even though they represented a minority of drug users.

In the wake of the horrific events last weekend in Charlottesville, state legislatures are taking a second look at their hate crimes laws. Connecticut is ahead of the curve. Earlier this summer, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a new hate crimes bill, one of the strongest in the nation. The law, which was signed by Governor Dannel Malloy in June, increases the punishment for a hate crime from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Washington –  Connecticut may not be fertile ground for a white supremacist rally like the one that turned violent in Charlottesville, Va., but the state is not immune to hate. The Southern Poverty Law Center, headquartered in Montgomery, Ala., says there are several active hate groups in the state.

Attorney General urges White House to nominate judge once nicknamed ‘Hang ’Um High’ Henry Hudson to panel that issues sentencing guidelines

McGuire praised Scott Semple, the commissioner of the state Department of Correction, for reducing the number of inmates regularly held in solitary confinement from about 200 a few years ago to about 40 now. That’s out of a population of about 14,000 inmates.

The Justice Department took a farsighted step last year when it banned the use of solitary confinement for young people in federal prisons. The decision — based on research showing that isolation promotes mental illness and self-harm — followed the widely publicized suicide of Kalief Browder, a young man who had been unjustly accused of a minor crime and sent to New York’s infamous Rikers Island jail complex, where he spent two traumatic years in solitary confinement.

The Malta Justice Initiative works with many community service organizations and business associations with similar goals like CBIA (Connecticut Business and Industry Association), Career Resources and Family ReEntry. Founded by former New Canaan resident Terry Reed, Family ReEntry and its offshoot, Prisonist.org, now based in Bridgeport, emphasize the importance of family relationships, providing counseling to prisoners prior to their release, and job training afterwards, to facilitate an easier, more successful “ReEntry” into society after having been incarcerated.

Governor Dannel Malloy’s allies worry the policy changes implemented under his watch will be undone once he leaves office.