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July 3, 2024
While we were SCOTUSing: rounding up some non-Supreme Court sentencing stories
I have been pretty consumed the last couple weeks just trying to keep up with all the notable criminal justice stories surrounding the end of the Supreme Court's Term. But the criminal justice system keep chugging on elsewhere, and here is a partial round-up of some stories and commentaries from the last few weeks that seemed worth flagging:
From the AP, "Child rapists can be sentenced to death in Tennessee starting July 1"
From the AP, "Hearing set to determine if a Missouri death row inmate is innocent. His execution is a month later"
From Capital B, "The Growing Crisis of Heatwave Deaths in America’s Prisons"
From the Carolina Journal, "NC Chamber polling says voters want criminal justice reforms"
From CBS News, "Biden pardons LGBTQ+ service members convicted for sexual orientation"
From The Guardian, "Will it stay or will it go? California voters decide fate of ‘momentous’ criminal justice law"
From NPR, "What to know about Louisiana's new surgical castration law"
From the Providence Journal, "'Time to release him': RI Supreme Court rules Mario’s Law applies to its namesake."
From Radio IQ, "Virginia Sentencing Commission debates 'possibly unconstitutional’ post-release system"
From Reason.com, "Republicans Upset by Trump's Conviction Should Embrace Criminal Justice Reform"
From the Salem Reporter, "Governor revokes over 20 commuted prison sentences from Salem area"
From the San Diego Union-Tribune, "As homicides plummet, experts look to the pandemic for answers"
From the Seattle Times, "After reforms, racial inequity in WA 3-strikes law remains, report finds"
From the Tallahassee Democrat, "After a flurry of executions during his presidential campaign, DeSantis now pauses"
From the Tennessee Lookout, "How CoreCivic stands to benefit as Tennessee pushes harsher prison sentences"
From WFTS (Tamba Bay), "Pay to stay: State law charging inmates for prison cells being applied differently from county to county"
July 3, 2024 at 06:03 PM | Permalink
Comments
Your suggested article from Tampa about how some Florida counties try to collect the costs of incarceration from former inmates after they are released brought back old memories from here in Kentucky. See, David Jones, et al. v. Clark County, Kentucky, et al, 635 S.W.3d 54 (Ky. 2021). David Jones spent 14 months in the Clark County (Winchester), Kentucky Jail as a pretrial detainee before he made bond; 6 months later, his charges were dismissed and he was convicted of nothing. Jones was originally charged with felonies related to allegedly downloading child porn. But investigators who seized every electronic device from Jones' apartment searched them and never found a single image of child pornography. Investigators eventually concluded that a third party (probably parked at the curb or in the parking lot) had used Jones' unsecured Internet router to download child porn onto a laptop computer (which Jones was completely unaware of). So, imagine Jones' shock when he received a bill for more than $4,000 from the County Jail for his jail stay after he was released. The Jail alleged that under Kentucky law, they were entitled to collect, even though all of his charges were eventually convicted. Jones found lawyers who were eager to fight for him and other inmates similarly situated. Initially, the Circuit Court and the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled against Jones and his attorneys. But the Kentucky Supreme Court finally got the point and reversed, by a 9 to 0 ruling. The Supreme Court noted that the statute provides that jail fees and expenses can only be charged by a sentencing judge. Those whose charges are dismissed are never sentenced, because they were never convicted of any crime, so they cannot be charged a per diem or any other jail fees (such as the $35 booking fee upon arrest). Not only was Jones' bill canceled by the Supreme Court, but the jail had to return the $226 they had already taken out of his jail commissary account while he was an inmate. In Kentucky, jails are dying due to lack of revenues. In 2010, there were 110 jails in Kentucky. In most counties in Kentucky, operating the county jail is the single largest expense for the Judge-Executive and the Fiscal Court. Kentucky may now be down to 74 county jails, indicating that 36 counties have closed their jails in the last 15 years. Those counties without jails typically pay a per diem to jails in adjacent counties to house their inmates. A related issue is that Kentucky is the only state where County Jailer is an elected office [salary is about $75,000 per year, plus benefits] provided for in the Kentucky Constitution. Jailers are still elected even in counties that no longer have their own jails. They then act as transport officers to the jails in adjacent counties, a function that could just as easily be performed by the County Sheriff's Office.
Posted by: James Gormley | Jul 3, 2024 9:48:43 PM
Looks like a court has set a hearing in the Williams case. While I respect the attorneys representing Williams, I am not shocked that the AG is opposing a stay of execution as that has been their usual position. Case has been pending for several months and Williams took no steps to have it set for a hearing. It was on the court's own motion that it got set for a hearing.
In any case, court can expedite a ruling after the hearing. This is the fourth time this type of claim has gotten a hearing under the new statute in Missouri. In the first two cases, it took two weeks and eight weeks to get a ruling. In the third case, we are about seven weeks after the hearing. I assume the trial judge is fully aware of the execution and knows the importance of making its ruling as quickly as possible.
Posted by: tmm | Jul 4, 2024 5:16:49 PM
