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“Death Sentence” — Across U.S., COVID-19 takes a hidden toll behind bars

COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in U.S. jails and prisons, but testing of inmates and staff remains spotty and many confirmed cases are going unreported. The resulting lack of data has deep implications for the fight against the virus, because prison outbreaks can move easily to surrounding communities. By PETER EISLER, LINDA SO, NED PARKER and BRAD HEATH Filed May 18, 2020, 11 a.m. GMT When COVID-19 began tearing through Detroit’s county jail system in March, authorities had no diagnostic tests to gauge its spread. But the toll became clear as deaths mounted. First, one of the sheriff’s jail commanders died; then, a deputy in a…

Covid-19 Advocacy at ‘gulag:Moose Lake’

Advocates living behind the walls at gulag:Moose Lake have been speaking out about the acute danger to shadow prisoners in Minnesota from the novel coronavirus. Here we have assembled 3 letters to Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minnesota), 1 letter from advocates on the inside to facility staff in gulag:Moose Lake and St. Peter, and 1 memo from the facility administration pretending they’re doing something about the problem. No one deserves to die from Covid-19 behind bars. Sadly, that is already happening because callous administrators and public officials have failed to act to protect this vulnerable population. Jails and prisons have been…

Texas Coronavirus Advocacy Letter to Gov. Abbott

Amid the public health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, Just Future Project united with a broad coalition of civil rights and human rights organizations to call on Texas Governor Greg Abbott to reverse his dangerous reduction of protections for people in the criminal legal system. Read the letter below. Download the PDF file .

Coronavirus kills one, infects another, in Florida sex offender treatment center

Residents of the Arcadia facility are held in confinement under the Jimmy Ryce Act, which forces sex offenders into treatment if experts believe they’re likely to commit another sex crime. The Florida Civil Commitment Center is a treatment center in Arcadia for sex offenders held involuntarily by the Jimmy Ryce Act. [Google Earth] By Kathryn Varn Published Yesterday A resident in a sex offender treatment facility has died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Another resident is sick with the disease. The outbreak is taking place in Florida’s Civil Commitment Center, a privately run treatment facility in DeSoto…

To All Confinees in Every So-Called Sex-Offender Commitment Facility in the U.S.

The below came from The Legal Pad, Volume 4, Issue 3 (March, 2020), p. 1, published by Cyrus Gladden from the gulag in Moose Lake, Minnesota. To All Confinees in Every So-Called Sex-Offender Commitment Facility in the U.S.: By Cyrus Gladden Right now, I am trying to collect a centralized list/database of certain sex offenders in each other sex-offender commitment facility as a Committee of Correspondence. The most immediate aim of this Committee will be to frequently share all information significant to us, to foster uniform agreement on positions of critical importance to us, and to compare notes on all…

The truth could set them free: After He Found California’s Indefinite Detention of Sex Offenders Wasn’t Working, the State Shut Him Down and Destroyed His Research

Psychologist Jesus Padilla was forbidden to complete research that could have set many indefinitely committed people free. He died with the work unfinished. By: STEVEN YODER | FROM THE APRIL 2020 ISSUE of Reason.com — In late 2006, a public defender went before a Napa County judge to argue for his client’s freedom. Rex McCurdy, a 49-year-old man, had been detained for seven years at Atascadero State Hospital under a 1995 California law authorizing “civil commitment” of people who have been convicted of sex offenses, a practice that keeps them confined long after they have completed their sentences. In 1983,…

Abolish Pre-crime in Minnesota

Pre-crime is dystopian science fiction. No one should be imprisoned for imaginary future crimes. But right now, Minnesota is warehousing 731 individuals in a prison masquerading as a treatment facility — for what they might do in the future.

Hopelessness pervades this system, where men are detained indefinitely, outside the traditional protections of the criminal law, with little prospect of release. Legal scholars have likened Minnesota’s system of pre-crime preventative detention to a “domestic Guantanamo Bay.” The British High Court has called it a “flagrant denial” of human rights. These shadow prisoners are 8 times more likely to leave in a body bag than to ever be set free.

The price tag to taxpayers is $110 million per year. The cost in terms of human lives is unspeakably tragic. And the threat to American values of liberty and due process is real.

What Effect Does Treatment Have on Sex Offense Recidivism — Experts Domestic & Abroad Sound Off

The below came from “The Legal Pad” Volume 3, Issue 12, (December 10, 2019) pp. 7-8 published by Cyrus P. Gladden, II from the gulag in Moose Lake, Minnesota. I. The View in the U.S.: There is no scientific consensus or clear evidence that sex offender treatment has any significant impact on sex crime recidivism Anne R. Izzi, “Constitutional Law – The Cage a Fetish Can Build: Proposed Legislative Reform for Civil Commitment Procedures in Sexually Violent Predator Laws,” 39 Western New England Law Review 141, at pp. 145-46 (2017), states: …[T]he facilities that do offer treatment are not…

Going For Wins in Sexually Violent Predator Cases

By Allen Frances, MD July 8, 2011 During the past year, I have been involved as an expert witness for the defense in 14 SVP cases (tried in California, Washington, and Iowa). My role has been to clarify what is meant by the wording of the Paraphilia section in DSM-IV. And it certainly does badly need explaining. The DSM-IV Paraphilia section is written far too imprecisely to meet the high standard of precision needed in a legal context. This is because DSM-IV was written primarily for clinicians– not for lawyers, judges, forensic evaluators, and juries. I wish we had done…

How The Use of Improper Statistics and Unverified Data Corrupts The Judicial Process In Sex Offence Cases (2018)

This is an excellent overview from the 30,000 foot view, of the problems that continue to fuel draconian and unscientific sex-related laws. As Cucolo & Perlin note, “judicial decisions involving sexual offender[s]…rely improperly on inaccurate and underdeveloped statistics as well as unverified and outdated information.” This article specifically addresses pre-crime preventative detention laws, calling them explicitly punitive. And concludes by exploring the principle of “therapeutic jurisprudence” which may offer an alternative to unending and unthinking punishment. More about the authors Heather Ellis Cucolo Heather is an adjunct professor and current facilitator of the dual degree program…

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