OLTRE LE MURA
info point on: prison, death penalty and human rights

Back to the Italian version
Torna alle News
Back to the News

Warning! Addresses or data (web, mail, phone, bank/post giro numbers, etc.) in our archives may be old and no longer working

ARCHIVE 2007

25.12.07

Korea Recognized as

Death Penalty-Free Nation

Read it here

22.12.07

Follow New Jersey, repeal death penalty

Read it here

21.12.07

Kenny Richey

Kenny Richey is finally free!

Kenny Richey è finalmente libero!

Per evitare la pena di morte ha accettato un patteggiamento "No contest" e visto che gli anni che gli sarebbero rimasti da scontare erano già arrivati al termine uscirà presto dal carcere.

E' atteso il suo arrivo a casa a Edimburgo per oggi 21.12.07

From Sky News http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1297724,00.html

Death Row Briton 'Home For Christmas'

Updated:20:21, Wednesday December 19, 2007

A Scot who has spent 20 years on death row is expected to be home for Christmas after striking a deal with US prosecutors.

Kenny Richey, 43, has agreed a plea deal which will allow him to walk free and return to Britain, his lawyer said.

Earlier this year the former US marine's conviction for starting a fire in 1986 which claimed the life of a two-year-old girl in Ohio was overturned.

News of Richey's impending release was welcomed by human rights campaigners and politicians, with his lawyer describing it as a "complete victory".

Richey is expected to fly from Ohio to Edinburgh on Friday.

At a court hearing on Thursday he will plead no contest to attempted involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and breaking and entering.

He will be sentenced to time already served.

Richey's lawyer, Ken Parsigian, said: "It is a complete victory.

"He is a little nervous as he now has to find a way to get back into the real world."

Richey was put on death row in January 1987 after being convicted of starting a fire in which two-year-old Cynthia Collins died.

Prosecutors claim he began the fire as a jealous attack on his former girlfriend and her new lover, who lived in the flat beneath.

Richey, who has always protested his innocence, refused a plea bargain which would have led to an 11-year sentence for arson and manslaughter.

At one point during his detention, 13 years ago, he came within an hour of execution.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but a statement that no defence will be presented. It is treated like a guilty plea by courts.

Anti-death penalty campaign group Reprieve's legal director, Clive Stafford Smith, said his plea deal followed an "insane" legal process.

He said: "An innocent man gets a death sentence because he had an incompetent lawyer at trial, his conviction is reversed two decades later, and then he has to enter a plea to avoid a second death sentence."

13.12.07

New Jersey legislature votes to end death penalty Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:21pm EST

_____________________________________________________

AFTER THOROUGH STUDY, NEW JERSEY LEGISLATORS MOVE TO REPEAL DEATH PENALTY Dec. 10, 2007

11.12.07

New Jersey Senate Approves Abolition Bill 21-16

After hours of debate and testimony, the New Jersey Senate today approved bill S-171 which will replace the state's death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. The measure was approved by a vote of 21-16 and now moves to the State Assembly, where approval is also expected in a vote on Thursday. The governor has indicated he will sign the bill into law, making New Jersey the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty in over 40 years. Around the country, the death penalty is declining in use and other states are examining their own capital punishment statutes. (See DPIC's Press Release; see also N.J. Star-Ledger, Dec. 10, 2007).

5.12.07

US Supreme Court grants stay of execution for Thomas Arthur

12/5/2007, 4:02 p.m. CST

The Associated Press

http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-32/119689255971870.xml&storylist=alabamanews

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay of execution for Alabama death row inmate Thomas Arthur.

The 65-year-old Arthur was facing lethal injection Thursday at Holman prison, but the high court blocked his execution Wednesday afternoon.The court already is considering a challenge to lethal injection in a Kentucky case. A ruling in that case is expected next year and a stay for Arthur was anticipated by attorneys on both sides.

3.12.07

Blogcritics.org

Families of Inmates Pay For Their Loved One's Crimes Read it here

19.11.07

U.S. prison system a costly and harmful failure: report http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1841666120071119?rpc=24 or read it here

30.10.07

ABA calls for halt of executions
by: Chicago Tribune 10/29/2007

_____________________________________________________

Justices Stay Execution, a Signal to Lower Courts

by: New York Times 10/30/2007 You can read both the articles here

19.10.07

seattlepi.com

Children In Prison: Locked-up forever

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/336139_prisoned.html or read here

_____________________________________________________

From our expert Claudio Giusti: advice

19/10/07 19.26 INNOCENCE read the book review here

17.10.07

What's Wrong With Florida's Prisons?

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1672366,00.html or read it here

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A dying man on Death Row read here

15.10.07

Blackwater Training US Police

http://www.rense.com/general78/blackwater.htm or read here

8.10.07

Kevorkian: Jail reform is his new cause

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071008/METRO/710080323/1409 or read it here

5.10.07

Police can be sued for sloppy investigations, Supreme Court rules read here

3.10.07

Read here the desperate appeal by Sherry Stone, Thomas Arthur's daughter, to President Bush, the main newspapers, media and abolitionist associations in defence of her father who has a new date for november 15th. Alabama Governor Bob Riley wants to murder him and will surely do it not to disappoint his electorate in spite of all doubts on this case. Riley won't grant Arthur a DNA test although even the victim's family asked for it. But Riley doesn't care if for each innocent executed there's a guilty one free outside. Here's the American justice!

1.10.07

Exoneration Using DNA Brings Change in Legal System

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/us/01exonerate.html or read here

30.9.07

Aging inmates clogging nation's prisons

By SHANNON McCAFFREY, Associated Press Writer Sun Sep 30, 1:06 AM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070930/ap_on_re_us/aging_prisoners or read here

28.9.07

OFFICE OF GOVERNOR BOB RILEY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 27, 2007

Governor Riley Issues 45-Day Stay of Execution

MONTGOMERY – Governor Bob Riley granted a brief stay of execution to Thomas Arthur, a death row inmate who was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday. [...] The decision to grant a brief stay is being made only because the state is changing its lethal injection protocol [...]

*****

Il Governatore dell'Alabama Bob Riley ha concesso una sospensione dell'esecuzione di 45 giorni a Thomas Arthur, unicamente per valutare se l'iniezione letale celi un' intollerabile sofferenza per il condannato ed eventualmente cambiare il protocollo dell'esecuzione perchè l'attuale viola le norme della costituzione USA.

23.9.07

Life sentence

It's a government program whose impact rivals the New Deal. It pushes whole communities out of society's mainstream. It costs tens of billions of dollars a year. Scholars are just beginning to understand how prison is reshaping the country.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/09/23/life_sentence or read here

30.8.07

Texas governor spares getaway driver
8/30/2007, 6:03 p.m. ET
By MICHAEL GRACZYK - The Associated Press

About Kenneth Foster in English. Read it here

22.8.07

Texas executes 400th inmate since 1982

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20398934/ or read it here

Click for related content

Fact file: State-by-state glance at capital murders

18.8.07

Great-grandmother dies in prison

86-year-old N.C. woman was serving time on cocaine charge

Read it here

13.8.07

Prison spot:

Prison Privatization at its Best

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) designs, builds and manages prisons, jails and detention facilities and provides inmate residential and prisoner transportation services in partnership with government.

http://www.correctionscorp.com/

____________________________________________________

Books:

American Furies:

Crime, Punishment, and Vengeance in the Age of Mass Imprisonment
Author: Sasha Abramsky

Sasha Abramsky decries the present state of American prisons in his book, "American Furies." He argues that for largely political reasons, prisons focus not on rehabilitating inmates but instead on vengeance. Mr. Abramsky contends that mandatory minimums, long sentences for non-violent offenders, private prisons and other criminal justice issues have large social costs and demean American culture.

Sasha Abramsky is a freelance journalist and senior fellow at the Demos Foundation. Born in the United Kingdom to an American mother and British father, he moved to the United States for graduate school and today lives in California.

12.8.07

Brown:

Prevention, not prisons, best serves public safety

Behind bars, no one gets rehabilitated; costs unsustainable
by Robert Brown Jr.

Read it here

6.8.07

From Claudio Giusti: quite a must!!!

"Who Survives on Death Row?"

http://www.aclu.org/capital/unequal/31183res20070802.html

http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/capital/report_who_surviveson_deathrow.pdf

A new study indicates that among those who have been sentenced to death Blacks & Latinos who kill whites are far more likely to be executed than whites who kills whites; the study is "Who Survives on Death Row?", American Sociological Review, 2007,

VOL. 72 (August:610–632).

26.7.07

From our expert Claudio Giusti: advice

Trashing the truth: the hidden story of lost DNA (video)

http://www.denverpost.com/evidence

Teen crime, adult time

http://www.denverpost.com/teencrime/ci_3636564

Special reports

http://www.denverpost.com/specialreports

Images of the death penalty. Photographs by Scott Langley (+ video)

http://www.langleycreations.com/photo/deathpenalty/video.html

20.7.07

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
One county, 100 executions
Harris County and Texas – A lethal combination

Read it at http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr511252007 or here

_____________________________________________________

Peacereporter - la rete della pace. Quotidiano online e agenzia di servizi editoriali. Storie, dossier, interviste, reportage, schede conflitto, schede paese e buone notizie da tutto il mondo.

Lebanon - Beirut - 20.7.2007

Phosphorus or Metane, they're all dead

The corpses of some victims of israeli bombs raise suspects: they are blackened but not burned to death.

http://www.peacereporter.net/dettaglio_articolo.php?idc=0&idart=8435 or read it here

9.7.07

No Quality of Mercy

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Letter threatens life of

death-penalty foe

Read the article above at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070709a5.html

You can also read both the articles here

29.6.07

From prison warden to anti-execution advocate

By Bill Berlow ASSOCIATE EDITOR - http://tinyurl.com/2b3nmd or read it here

28.6.07

US juries get verdict wrong in one of six cases: study

by Mira Oberman Thu Jun 28, 9:55 AM ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070628/ts_alt_afp/usjusticejuries or read it here

27.6.07

From: Linda Tant Miller

Everyone, I invite you to visit the re-vamped and (partially) updated Prison Murder site. Even if you just look at the Menu buttons on the home page, you will find it a very sobering experience. Please check it out and forward this message as far and wide as possible, so I can continue to provide a venue for grieving families to tell their stories and show the world what our prisons are doing to human beings on BOTH SIDES OF THE BARS.

http://www.geocities.com/prisonmurder

23.6.07

Judges Digging Their Own Pit

By Ron Branson - National J.A.I.L. CIC

____________________________________________________

Press Frets as More Judges Sue for Libel

http://www.law.com/jsp/law/LawArticleFriendly.jsp?id=1182416757114

By Tony Mauro - Legal Times (You can read both the articles here)

22.6.07

From: Lauren Melodia LMelodia@ccr-ny.org

NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE AGREES TO STOP UNJUST PRISON PHONE CONTRACT

Legislation Will Permanently Disconnect Unfair Rates

For more than ten years, families of inmates have had no choice but to pay phone rates 630 percent higher than normal consumer rates to speak with their loved ones in New York State correctional facilities. Read the article here

21.6.07

From: Joanna Ferris from ACLU

A message from Joanna Ferris JoannaFerris@comcast.net

Dear Friend,
Fairness. Justice. Due process. These are the values that define America.
Last October, Congress and the President brought them under attack by passing the Military Commissions Act (MCA).
If the government puts you in jail, you have a right to know why. And you have a right to challenge your imprisonment in court. The principle is called habeas corpus, and the Framers thought the concept so important they wrote into the body of the Constitution.
The MCA eliminates habeas corpus for certain people detained by the federal government, and it gives the President the power to decide -- without review by Congress or the Courts -- who is branded an “enemy combatant.”
The ACLU is fighting to repair the damage done by the MCA and stop this and other unacceptable erosions of our freedoms and our Constitution, but they need your help. Please visit findhabeas.com today.
You’ll meet Mr. Habeas Corpus himself, and learn how he disappeared last October, just as Congress passed the MCA.
Most importantly, you’ll learn how you can help find Habeas Corpus and take action to restore America’s Constitutional values.
Please visit findhabeas.com today.
Thank you.

findhabeas.com

Click here to view a printable version of this eCard.

Click here to send your own eCard.

11.6.07

The Death Penalty Has No Beneficial Effect On Murder Rates

Read it here

_____________________________________________________

State Secrets: China's Legal Labyrinth

June 11, 2007 - A report by Human Rights in China (HRIC)

http://hrichina.org/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=41506&item%5fid=41421 or read it here

10.6.07

Articles and readings, in English, suggested by our expert Claudio Giusti:

USA: Death and democracy (10.5.07)

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510842007?open&of=ENG-USA

-------------------------------------

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Prisoner-assisted homicide – more ‘volunteer’ executions loom (17.5.07)

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510872007?open&of=ENG-USA

---------------------------

Same Crime, More Time (29.5.07)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/317682_blackfamily30.html

------------------------

Women in the Criminal Justice System (30.5.07)

http://www.sentencingproject.org/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=425

-------------------------------------

ODDITY IN PICKING JURORS OPENS DOORS TO RACIAL BIAS

By ADAM LIPTAK - The New York Times - June 4, 2007

Read it here. At the foot of the page you can find a study entitled

BLACK STRIKES

A Study of the Racially Disparate Use of Peremptory Challenges - A Report of the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center

Click here http://www.blackstrikes.com/resources/report/black_strikes_report_september_2003.doc

or read it here

----------------------------------------------

NEW DPIC REPORT and POLL: "A Crisis of Confidence"

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2360&scid=64 or read it here

30.5.07

When Worlds Collide

Amanda Rogers

May 30, 2007

Confucius once said, “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=28315 Or read the article here

29.5.07

USA: INMATES LEARN LIFE LESSONS SAVING DOGS

Read it here

9.5.07

Official: Guards made inmates lick toilets clean

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/09/guards.charged.ap/index.html or read it here

26.4.07

Interview with Capital-"X"

A Hip Hop Artist Who Advocates for Prison Reform and Abolishment of the Death Penalty Through His Music

http://www.associat edcontent. com/article/ 219037/interview _with_capitalx. html or read it here

_____________________________________________________

Lawyer: Inmate Died After Being Left Alone, Covered In Feces read it here

___________________________________________________

Alabama:

Article by Patrick Swiney 1999 - Mercedez Benz coming to Alabama

read it here

23.4.07

Study: Execution drugs sometimes fail to work, causing inmates to die slow, painful deaths Read it here

5.4.07

FOOD NOT BOMBS VOLUNTEER ARRESTED FOR FEEDING THE HUNGRY
Keith McHenry
April 5, 2007

Read it here

4.4.07

Spring Lake Township man witnesses Texas execution

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/paid/288578755123461.bsp or read it here

1.4.07

Curtains for 'the Cut'
Maryland shuts a prison and ends a nightmare

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/31/AR2007033100957_pf.html or read it here

31.3.07

Bad justice on display

http://lethal-injection-florida.blogspot.com/2007/03/bad-justice-on-display.htm or read it here

19.3.07

Homeless in the US: Underfunded and brutalized

By Naomi Spencer - 19 March 2007

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/mar2007/home-m19.shtml or read it here

22.2.07

Affidavit: McVeigh had high-level help

According to Oklahoma bombing conspirator, ranking officials were involved in the attack

_____________________________________________________

New OKC Revelations Spotlight FBI Involvement In Bombing
Nichols' claim that McVeigh had government handlers supported by huge weight of known evidence

http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/okc_bombing_new_revelations_spotlight_fbi_involvement.htm or read both the articles here

21.2.07