In Idaho, harsh drug sentences are a significant driver behind the rising rates of female incarceration. Over the past few decades, the state’s tough-on-crime policies, particularly regarding drug-related offenses, have led to an alarming increase in the number of women behind bars. Many of these women are incarcerated for non-violent offenses, often related to addiction…
Idaho’s public defense system is about to undergo a seismic shift, leaving many attorneys and officials concerned about the future of legal representation in the state. Beginning Oct. 1, a system 10 years in the making will give the newly formed State Public Defender office broad control over county public defense services. The changes, made…
I need to be able to protect my patients’ lives, their health and future fertility without fear of becoming a felon, writes guest columnist Kylie Cooper. Read more here.
[A]n estimated 5,127 women in Idaho won’t have the option to seek abortion care out of state because of parole or probation, according to a report by the Prison Policy Initiative…
Gerald B. Cummings Jr. was pronounced dead at 3:38a.m. Saturday, December 11. His cellmate, Colton J. Reagan was charged with first degree murder. Cumming was found unresponsive with injuries that appeared to be consistent with a beating. After Ada County Sheriff’s Office conducted interviews, they concluded Reagan, a 25-year-old and Cummings Jr., a 57-year-old, were…
Julius Jones was sentenced to death after the July 28, 1999, murder of Paul Howell. He is scheduled to die November 18 for a murder that he, for decades, maintained he did not commit. A Pardon and Parole Board has recommended twice that Jones’ death sentence be commuted to life with possibility of parole. However,…
It is usually standard procedure to include a suspect’s mugshot in any crime story. However, multiple discussions have led KTVB to change their mugshot policy. KTVB will no longer include suspect’s mugshots in certain online and on-air news coverage due to media ethics and journalism best practice. Discussion amongst journalist have come to realize that…
Richard Bronson is the founder and CEO of 70 Million Jobs, which focuses on helping anyone with a criminal record to secure a job. Mr. Bronson was sentenced to 2 years in prison after he was part of the infamous Wolf of Wall Street firm, Stratton Oakmont. He knew what he was doing was crooked…
When you think about prison, do you think about tenderness, caring and connection? They’re not common, but they’re here, in the Washington State Reformatory. While Christopher Blackwell, a fellow inmate, went on a run he began spotting bunnies at every turn. Bunnies from different colors and sizes, some spotted, others fully white, black, or light…
In the wake of three police shootings this summer, Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee explains how the Critical Incident Task Force operates. Five agencies – Boise, Meridian, and Garden City Police, Ada County Sheriff’s Office and the Idaho State Police – joined forces to investigate critical incidents, such as police shootings, death in custody or…
For police and prosecutors, often perceived as the engines of public safety, human caging is the primary tool in their tool kit. People who have served time in prison are less likely to succeed than people who have never been in the system; that is because confinement is seemingly designed to destroy mental health. In…
Idaho prisons are working at 76% capacity, with over 180 positions vacant within the nine prisons in Idaho. Correctional officers are burned out, overworked, under paid and dropping like flies. Workers usually work 12-hour shifts and are now being subjected to mandatory overtime with 16-hour work shifts; leaving workers with 8-hours to eat, sleep, take…
Strong track records practicing law in Idaho and contributing to our communities are few of the reasons why Governor Little decided to appoint Matthew Roker and Derrick O’Neill as district judges for the Third Judicial District and the Fourth Judicial District, respectively. Read More
A long history of using racial, ethnic, and national origin as a proxy for national security threats, leads the FBI to charge scientist, Anming Hu, from the University of Tennessee, with 6 counts of wire fraud and making false statements in connection with a NASA grant. Juror 33, Wendy Chandler, expressed her discontent with how…
“If you can’t process instructions, sometimes you are physically forced to comply.” People in jail experience mental disabilities at a high rate and most go without reporting them. This makes people vulnerable in prison. Inmates with mental disabilities are subject to mistreatment by other inmates and even jail staff. Solitary confinement is being used on…
Society fears the risks facial recognition is posing around New York. NYPD is using more 15,000 public and private cameras around the city to track people in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Technology has been known to be biased against women and people of color. This type of bias threatens the right to peaceful protest,…
Fear of overwhelming the courts with resentencing cases compels prosecutors and judges to rethink the DVSJA. Creating a multi-step application process to resentence incarcerated survivors of domestic violence found to be more complicated to prove. The application process requires survivors to demonstrate official documents, such as medical records, police reports, or domestic violence shelter intakes,…
PEN America probably had no idea of the intimacy it kindled when it introduced a star children’s author with an incarcerated Black Panther. Click article to learn more.
Idaho’s former United States Attorney Bart Davis has thrown his hat into the ring for Idaho’s soon-to-be open position on the Supreme Court of Idaho. Read more
As the state attempts to address a backlog of more than 40,000 cases, Covid numbers are making it difficult to resume jury trials: Read more
The criminal system can seem procedurally complex with many moving players and parts. While defense attorneys can lead someone through this system, it often takes all of a persons’ health providers, clinicians, and family or other support networks to keep a defendant’s life on track. Criminal cases can sometimes require months or even years of…
The Supreme Court of Idaho has paused jury trials indefinitely and issued an Order that a trial delay due to the current global pandemic should not be counted as violating a person’s right to a speedy trial. Jury trials in Idaho delayed until 2021 amid rising COVID-19 cases | ktvb.com Idaho courts operating at reduced…
Mental health providers often have ideas and solutions for how to keep someone struggling with a mental illness out of the justice system. It can be an attorney’s job to translate a proper plan of treatment to a court so the judge may have hope that it is safe to commit someone accused of or…
We are seeing and hearing that most people confined to an institution at the moment have been exposed to the novel coronavirus or have or are recovered from Covid-19. Idaho’s institutions are unable to provide social distancing, placing both incarcerated people and the community-at-large at risk. Limiting the spread of COVID-19 in justice institutions –…