“Senators Start a Review of Solitary Confinement”

New York Times, Erica Goode, June 19, 2012

 Excerpt: Solitary confinement “is inhumane and by its design it is driving men insane,” a former inmate who spent 18 years in prison in Texas, a decade of that time in isolation on death row before being exonerated, told a Senate panel in a hearing on Tuesday.

“As Former Death Row Inmate Tries to Clear His Name, His Life Is on Hold”

New York Times, Brandi Grissom, July 5, 2012

Excerpt: Before Smith County attempted to try Mr. Cook a fourth time, he agreed to a plea deal in 1999. Pleading no contest, he was set free. DNA testing subsequently revealed another man’s biological matter on the victim’s clothes.

The other Price of  the Bullets 

About: Microstamping would cut medical bills by reducing gun violence, group says

The Times Union, Brendan Lyons, June 20, 2012

Excerpt: Darryl Johnson, a 43-year-old ex-convict who works at Albany’s Center for Law and Justice, said he recalls getting hospital bills 20 years ago when he enlisted in the Navy after surviving a shooting in Harlem. Johnson, who readily acknowledges he was a drug dealer, was shot at close range by an acquaintance who had stolen drugs from Johnson’s stash house. Click Here to Read More

Last Call: Why I love Essex

TU Magazines, Stacey Morris, June 14, 2012

Excerpt: The word vacation doesn’t crop up often in the vortex of duties and commitments comprising most of an average day for Alice Green. For the past 27 years she has been the executive director for the Center for Law and Justice, the community justice center that has grown into a civil rights and criminal justice advocacy organization. Click Here to Continue Reading.

Unsafe Behind Bars

New York Times, Editorial, May 28 2012

Excerpt: After a three-year delay, the Justice Department has finally issued mandatory rape prevention policies for federal prisons and state correctional institutions that receive federal dollars. The new rules, which were given the force of an executive order, are a clear improvement over a draft version. If monitored and enforced, they could help curb the assaults that are shamefully endemic to the corrections system.

Race, Crime, and Punishment 

Publication: Times Union

Author: Paul Nelson

Excerpt: Daniels’ assertion that the legal system treats blacks and whites differently is the subject of a study by civil and human rights advocate Alice Green on the disproportionate impact of the criminal justice system on people of color. Green, who is executive director of the Center for Law and Justice in Albany, concluded that blacks and Latinos accounted for roughly half the convictions in Albany and Schenectady counties in 2010, yet represented less than 25 percent of the population. Click Here to Read More

Let’s Discuss the Disproportionate number of minorities in Prison 

Author: Alice Green

Publication: Schenectady Gazette

Date: April 22, 2012

*Discusses Report: “The Disproportionate Impact of the Criminal Justice System on People of Color in the Capital Region” and the New Jim Crow Movement*

Title: NJC Discussion and Performance Event
Location: Oakland Community Center (313 Tenth Street, Troy NY 12180)
Link out: Click here
Description: Keynote by Dr. Alice Green
Drama Presentation by Too Deep Entertainment
Community Discussion hosted by Willy White
If interested in Attending this event please review “The Disproportionate Impact of the Criminal Justice System on People of Color in the Capital Region” found on our website, listed under Reports.
Time: 6:00-8:00
Date: 2012-04-10

Justices Approve Strip-Searches for Any Offense

Publication: NY Times

Date: April 2, 2012

Excerpt:  The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband.

Prisons Rethink Isolation, Saving Money, Lives and Sanity

Publication: NY Times

Date: March 10, 2012

Excerpt: They allowed most inmates out of their cells for hours each day. They built a basketball court and a group dining area. They put rehabilitation programs in place and let prisoners work their way to greater privileges. In response, the inmates became better behaved. Violence went down. The number of prisoners in isolation dropped to about 300 from more than 1,000. So many inmates were moved into the general population of other prisons that Unit 32 was closed in 2010, saving the state more than $5 million.