"Eventually, science will kill capital punishment"

originally by: Sentencing Law and Policy
29th May 2011

We don’t know if the recently executed child rapist and killer Donald Beaty had the genetic defect that scientists call the “murder gene.” I’m pretty sure we didn’t want to know. We wanted him dead. Just as we wanted the murderer Jeffrey Landrigan executed last October, although Landrigan’s attorneys claimed he might have possessed the gene, which is believed to create a predisposition to violence when linked with other factors.

But the U.S. Supreme Court decided that Landrigan had waived his right to raise that issue, and there was no reprieve coming from the governor.

10 April 201116 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Stoke Heath young offender found hanged

all credits: BBC News
5th April 2011

A prisoner serving a sentence in Shropshire has died after being found hanged in his cell. Nicholas Saunders, 18, was at HMP Stoke Heath, which holds young offenders.

He was found hanging in his cell at 1330 BST on Saturday. Staff attempted emergency resuscitation and paramedics tried to save him, but Mr Saunders was pronounced dead at 1440 BST.

The Prison Service said as with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman would investigate.

12 March 201116 December 2022 4WardEverUK

War, Prisons, and Torture in the US & UK

originally by: Infoshop News
6th March 2011

Richard Haley is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has been active in Britain’s anti-war movement since 2003. He is a member of the Stop the War Coalition and is currently Chair of Scotland Against Criminalising Communities. Last December, on Human Rights Day, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities initiated a “Stop Isolation” campaign with an online statement arguing that solitary confinement is a form of torture that must be abolished.

The petition states that “We call upon the countries of the world to enact legislation that prohibits long-term prisoner isolation, and prohibits the transfer of prisoners to countries where they would be at risk of such treatment. Dungeons should not be tolerated in the 21st century.”