Our wonderful nature is a hilarious 5-minute animation about the mating rituals of the water shrew. The action starts at around 1:30. Other gems found at the bitfilm 08 Digital Film Festival include "The post-it note prison".
posted on Jun 27, 2008 - View this thread

The black backs by and on which the fortunes of the New South were built:

On March 30, 1908, Green Cottenham was arrested by the sheriff of Shelby County, Alabama, and charged with “vagrancy.”... Cottenham’s offense was blackness.... [After a brief trial] Cottenham... was sold. Under a standing arrangement between the county and a vast subsidiary of the industrial titan of the North — U.S. Steel Corporation — the sheriff turned the young man over to the company for the duration of his sentence.... he was chained inside a long wooden barrack at night and required to spend nearly every waking hour digging and loading coal. His required daily “task” was to remove eight tons of coal from the mine. Cottenham was subject to the whip for failure to dig the requisite amount, at risk of physical torture for disobedience, and vulnerable to the sexual predations of other miners.... Forty-five years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freeing American slaves, Green Cottenham and more than a thousand other black men toiled under the lash at Slope 12.

Fiscal Pressures Lead Some States to Free Inmates Early, says the Washington Post. Across the United States, a financial crisis is brewing in our nation's correctional systems. California, which has the largest prison system in the nation, (housing 170,000 inmates with a capacity of only 100,000), plans to increase the budget for new prison construction by 7 to 14 billion dollars, on top of releasing 22,000 nonviolent prisoners on unsupervised parole. Other states, especially Michigan, face an even more dire situation...
posted on May 5, 2008 - View this thread

A southern California family is standing by the wife and mother who lived under a false name and with a colossal secret: Susan M. LeFevre escaped from a Plymouth prison 32 years ago.
posted on May 2, 2008 - View this thread

"It used to be that the more radical you were on environmental issues, the farther you were from working-class people, poor people, and people of color, because you were making individual lifestyle changes that alienated you from the majority. You looked different; you ate different foods; you wore different clothes. Working-class people were shopping at Wal-Mart and eating at McDonald’s, and you were mad at them for it. With this new environmentalism, the more radical you are on environmental solutions, the closer you are to the working class."
posted on Apr 14, 2008 - View this thread

Three Squares Greetings is a new greeting card line designed to keep you in touch with your family members or friends who are in custody. NPR interview with the founder.
posted on Mar 27, 2008 - View this thread

1 in 99.1 American adults are now incarcerated according to a new Pew Center study (pdf). Some interesting numbers from a NYT article on the report: 1 in 36 Hispanic adults are incarcerated, 1 in 15 blacks, 1 in 9 black men aged 20-34, 1 in 355 white women aged 35-39. Some context from the World Prison Population List (pdf).
posted on Feb 28, 2008 - View this thread

Meet Peter Wayne. Prolific literary writer, book reviewer, architectural correspondent, church organist, chronic recidivist, drug addict, released, homeless, back in prison
posted on Feb 3, 2008 - View this thread

America's debtor prisons.
posted on Jan 25, 2008 - View this thread

A Thailand teen who has had an online presence for ten years... is now doing three yearsin a Thai prison...and with the help of his former teacher is able to tell us about it.
posted on Jan 12, 2008 - View this thread

Prisoner 547 is a Rabbit in prison. He shares a cell with another Rabbit, a Frog and a Chicken. It is visiting day. In Japanese. One episode of many.
posted on Jan 8, 2008 - View this thread

The holes in the men’s cells were covered by revealing photographs of women in bikinis, which officials displayed at Monday’s news conference. Grudgingly, Mr. Romankow acknowledged the similarity to the film “The Shawshank Redemption.”
posted on Dec 18, 2007 - View this thread

Prison and the Mentally Ill in Massachusetts: The Globe reports on the pitfalls and consequences of using a retribution-based correctional system on the criminally insane in MA, as inmates in the state kill themselves at triple the national rate. Part I. Part II. Part III (in tomorrow's Globe). Photos of the system's most troubled. Last words of some disturbed inmates.
posted on Dec 10, 2007 - View this thread

Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos
posted on Dec 5, 2007 - View this thread

Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush go before SCOTUS Streaming on C-Span today. The Center for Constitutional Rights (great podcast) will argue before the Supreme Court today:

Immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision in Rasul, The Center for Constitutional Rights and cooperating counsel filed 11 new habeas petitions in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of over 70 detainees. These cases eventually became the consolidated cases of Al Odah v. United Statesand Boumediene v. Bush, the leading cases determining the significance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Rasul, the rights of non-citizens to challenge the legality of their detention in an offshore U.S. military base, and the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

"Free and Uneasy: The First Year Out." The story of wrongfully convicted Jeffrey Deskovic. And others.
posted on Nov 30, 2007 - View this thread

The media begins to awaken. Recently, Tom Curley, the President and CEO of Associated Press lashed out at the absurd conditions surrounding the detention of Bilal Hussein. After being detained for over 18 months, the US Military has finally decided to charge him, but nobody can say for what, or when, or why, or what evidence might be brought forth. Strangely, Mr. Curley writes this without a hint of the irony present in being caught in the net of lies, deception and constructed memory hole that the media has participated in the creation of. Playing patsy comes back to bite. AP hosts a timeline of articles.
posted on Nov 26, 2007 - View this thread

Unlocking America [pdf]: Why and How to Reduce America's Prison Population. From the JFA Institute: a criminal justice think tank.
posted on Nov 22, 2007 - View this thread

The US Sentencing Commission has recommended that Federal sentencing guidelines be reduced for crimes involving crack cocaine -- and is now deliberating making the new guidelines retroactive for prisoners already incarcerated. [WaPo] If taken into effect, about 3,800 inmates could be released by this time next year.
posted on Nov 12, 2007 - View this thread

High-resolution images of Death Row at San Quentin State Prison, California.
posted on Nov 12, 2007 - View this thread

From Our Own Correspondent BBC journalist Alan Johnston gives his account of being kidnapped in Gaza for 114 days. Best in his own voice [mp3].
posted on Oct 26, 2007 - View this thread

Risking all: the Burmese jokers who laugh in the face of danger. In Burma (Myanmar), comedians are targets in the junta's war on words. [Via BB.]
posted on Oct 17, 2007 - View this thread

Crime and punishment - a curiously compelling and quirky collection of historic crime photos, including unusual mugshots, corpses & crime scenes. A few favorite characters: idle and disorderly persons; "something amazing" about Harry; a cocky quartet; an illicit drug trader who "drives his own motor car and dresses well"; a subject who refused to open his eyes; charged with conspiring to procure a miscarriage; and guilty of unlawfully possessing cocaine.
This is just one of many marvelous vintage image sets from a historical consultant from Amsterdam - a mammoth treasure trove!
posted on Oct 3, 2007 - View this thread

California Where the Rich do Fine While the Poor are Doing Time "Hell, you got to live with it, there's nothing else to live with except mendacity, is there?" Big Daddy, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
posted on Sep 26, 2007 - View this thread

Kids Visit San Quentin: Four Oakland teens get a tour of San Quentin State Prison and listen to advice from inmates.
posted on Sep 25, 2007 - View this thread

You’d need years to really study these murals of Califonia’s history - the artist certainly had a lot a free time to create them. You'd probably also need a special invitation to engage in a multi-year study in the gallery - and you probably don't want one.
posted on Aug 20, 2007 - View this thread

Chess legend Jude Acers. In prison.
posted on Aug 9, 2007 - View this thread

The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its citizens then other industrialized nations and that percentage has been increasing even as the crime rate declines. Glen Loury discusses this seemingly odd phenomena and speculates as to the cause. Don't skip the ruminations on perceptions of race and welfare deep in the article. Want to crunch some numbers yourself? US crime statistics, US prison statistics, international prison statistics. Previously on metafilter.
posted on Aug 8, 2007 - View this thread

The Algorithm March: with Ninja and Everyone Together
posted on Jul 30, 2007 - View this thread

Burmese artist Htein Lin was imprisoned by his country's military government from 1998 to 2004 on charges of planning opposition protests. In prison he was forced to improvise to continue painting, using paints smuggled in by guards and white cotton prison uniforms as canvases. In place of brushes he used his fingers, cigarette lighters, syringes, pieces of netting, dinner plates, and blocks of soap. Burma Inside Out (PDF), an exhibition of some of his prison work, will be on display at the Asia House Gallery in London from July 27 to October 13.
posted on Jul 26, 2007 - View this thread

Manuel Noriega will be getting out of jail soon.
posted on Jul 20, 2007 - View this thread

It began with an innocent-looking Valentine's Day card in 2005. Inside the card were several slips of paper, a hastily cut-up printout of names of 550 secret detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The human rights lawyer who received "this weird valentine" handed it over to authorities, and this week the court martial begins for JAG LtCmdr Matthew Diaz, facing 36 years for divulging state secrets.
Whither goest thou, American Jurisprudence?
posted on May 15, 2007 - View this thread

Yahweh ben Yahweh is dead. He was an advocate of black separatism and supremacy, dubbing Martin Luther King, Jr. a "dead dog preacher," who would later go to prison on conspiracy charges, thanks to the helpful testimony of a certain Cardinals quarterback who is now serving 25-to-life himself for writing bad checks. Alternatively, you can check out his own website for his side of the story.
posted on May 14, 2007 - View this thread

Blood In Blood Out. Ira Glass, prison crew leader.
posted on May 7, 2007 - View this thread

Are you about to do some time in a California jail, but feel that people of your quality shouldn't have to mix with the other inmates? For just $82 a day, you don't have to! I suspect it's an extension of that classic Clinton-era program.
posted on Apr 28, 2007 - View this thread

Stories from Inside: Prisoner Rape and the War on Drugs (PDF). A new report by the human rights group Stop Prisoner Rape. [Via Drug WarRant.]
posted on Mar 23, 2007 - View this thread

Actor Woody Harrelson's father just died of a heart attack at age 69. Don't care? Well, let's add a few fun facts into the story to make it more interesting & newsworthy for you. Charles Harrelson died in prison, where he was serving two life sentences for murdering Judge John Wood, Jr. (the first federal judge to be murdered in the 20th century) for a payment of $250,000. Oh, and also? Many conspiracy theorists feel that he was also deeply involved in the murder of JFK.

It's no wonder Woody smokes pot and feels like an alien creature. Can anyone blame him?
posted on Mar 22, 2007 - View this thread

Convicted as an ecoterrorist, a brilliant young scholar nose-dives in prison. An article on Billy Cottrell, a physics genius with Asperger's Syndrome who was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for his role in destroying $5 million worth of SUVs. His case was previously discussed here. [Via BB.]
posted on Mar 2, 2007 - View this thread

"From the first day on pots and pans, I knew what I wanted. I was never cool with being small-time -- that's what got me locked up in the first place: I wanted to be the man."
In 1988 Jeff Henderson landed himself in a federal prison for dealing cocaine. In 2007 he's executive chef at Cafe Bellagio in Las Vegas. Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras is his story.
posted on Feb 27, 2007 - View this thread

Abashiri prison of the present which became famous completely by the movie "Abashiri extra area" is in the modern building rebuilt in the 59th year of Showa. The old building which has been used since Meiji is preserved as a "museum Abashiri prison" at the foot of the Mt tentozan .
posted on Feb 26, 2007 - View this thread

The Navy's detention facility at Hanrahan has a created a secret prison-within-a-prison and, per the article, developed elaborate plans to dodge public scrutiny of its operations to detain enemy combatants. "In detaining American citizens, full constitutional rights are afforded except where curtailed by higher guidance or accepted prison practice," the report said.
posted on Feb 25, 2007 - View this thread

Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Maybe your dream mate just hasn't gotten out of prison yet? Find them now and they'll be yours when they do get paroled in five to ten years. (somewhat NSFW). The bonus early 90's flaming gif and site design is just icing!
Be sure to read the disclaimer. Here, I'll summarize, use a PO Box to correspond with the inmates, don't give your phone number unless you want to accept collect calls and don't sue the site if your dream man gets out and chops you into little pieces. Seems reasonable enough.
posted on Feb 13, 2007 - View this thread

Human Rights Watch indepth report on male rape in US prisons. "I've been sentenced for a D.U.I. offense. My 3rd one. When I first came to prison, I had no idea what to expect. Certainly none of this. I'm a tall white male, who unfortunately has a small amount of feminine characteristics. And very shy. These characteristics have got me raped so many times I have no more feelings physically. "
posted on Feb 11, 2007 - View this thread

The Newgate Calendar. "THE deeds of ancient robber outlaws and of highway-men -- what a treasure-house pierced with windows for the imagination!" Read about the lives of notorious criminals of days past, such as Sawyney Beane, murderer and cannibal; Daniel Dawson, race-horse poisoner; John Tayler and Thomas Martin, body snatchers; or the infamous Mary Frith, also known as Moll Cutpurse, a cross-dressing, pistol-wearing, tobacco-smoking rogue and the real life inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders.
posted on Feb 2, 2007 - View this thread

The Bard Prison Initiative is one of a very few programs in the country still supplying post-secondary education to inmates. After the Congress eliminated Pell Grant eligibility for prisoners, these programs must be privately funded. Bard just gives it away. The great thing is, education reduces recidivism.
posted on Jan 17, 2007 - View this thread

Window Into a Terrorist’s Isolation. British citizen and convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid plays Trivial Pursuit.
posted on Dec 4, 2006 - View this thread

Panopticon : a type of prison, designed by a philosopher, that through a cunning scheme of probability, architecture and observation provides the 'sentiment of an invisible omniscience'.
posted on Nov 12, 2006 - View this thread

Studying obedience and conformity: The Stanford Prison Experiment has been discussed many times before (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and has been made into a number of movies. Now you can watch the incredible review film made by the experimenter, with extensive documentary footage, post-experiment interviews and commentary: The Stanford Prison Experiment. [google video, 50 mins]
posted on Sep 14, 2006 - View this thread

Meet the new jailers-- Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities, with claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors. Mass executions, torture again, etc. How bad is it when the inmates plead for us to come back? (Warning--this second link is graphic evidence of what we did there--NSFW)
posted on Sep 10, 2006 - View this thread

That's the Sound of the Man Working on the Chain Gang Among all genres of American folk music, prison songs may be the most viscerally compelling. They evolved from plantation songs and field hollers of slaves in the American South before the civil war (whose origins can in turn be traced to patterns found in the music of West Africa) but their tone and content is quite different. Limitless in length, bitter and pained, offering little hope of freedom or redemption, these songs were first heard during Reconstruction. Harsh and unevenly enforced laws incarcerated legions of black American men, consigning them to long sentences of labor for minor offenses like insult, fistfighting, and shoplifting. To shore up a tanking Southern economy, prisons leased convict labor to plantation owners as a low-cost replacement for slave labor. When reform efforts brought that to an end, state governments became the contractors. Sweetheart deals awarded lucrative contracts to prisons to provide labor for rebuilding the railroads and highways of the war-destroyed South. Slavery in all but name, these work conditions gave rise to a body of music that is one of the most significant antecedents of the blues. In hundreds of variants, cadenced to axe-fall, hoe stroke, or the drop of a maul, the songs set a working pace a man could sustain from dawn to dusk, while remaining fast enough to satisfy an armed 'Captain' on horseback.
posted on Aug 27, 2006 - View this thread