NV-CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants) 540 E. St. Louis Avenue Las Vegas, NV 89104

702.347.1731(PRE-PAID) website: nevadacure.org email: [email protected]

“STRUGGLE IN SOLIDARITY” “The cruelest tyranny is practiced behind the shield of law and order”

INFORMATIONAL BULLETIN NEWSLETTER November 2017

No.26 criminal justice reformers who had passed away were remembered, the Financial Report was approved and various issues were discussed. A proposed boycott of AMAZON for their hiring practices of felons was discussed and tabled for the time being. Transitional planning and endowment funds to insure long term survival of CURE was discussed, with Charlie Sullivan, Pauline Sullivan (CURE Treasurer) and Annelisa Hafer (International CURE) committed to developing a plan. NV-CURE moved to eliminate a CURE Policy that prohibits CURE Chapters from providing revenue generating services. The motion was denied by a five to three vote, with four abstentions. NV-CURE President John Witherow then resigned his position as Vice Chair of the Executive Steering Committee of CURE, as in good faith he could not maintain that position while pursuing a NVCURE re-entry facility. The meeting was adjourned, with the next meeting to be held in Rwanda.

Check the Mailing Label on Your Newsletter Please check the mailing label on your IB Newsletter No. 26. IF there is an “x” behind your last name, your NV-CURE Membership has expired. Should you want to continue your Membership and continue to receive the Newsletter, you must re-new your Membership for one (1) year. If your Membership is not re-newed, your name will be removed from our Membership and Mailing List.

International CURE Meeting in Las Vegas

NDOC Director Addresses CURE Leaders NDOC Director James Dzurenda on Saturday October 7, 2017, his day off, on a holiday weekend, graciously attended and addressed CURE representatives at the International CURE Annual Meeting. Director Dzurenda addressed the CURE Leadership regarding his initial and continued involvement with various aspects of the criminal justice systems and correctional institutions. He discussed his various positions and experiences and related his thoughts and ideas for improvements and actions required to improve correctional systems.

CURE Chapter Leaders Attending Annual Meeting On October 6-9, 2017, CURE Chapter Leaders held their Annual National CURE Meeting at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Many Chapter Leaders from across the nation were present. A few State Leadders were unable to attend. The Minutes of the previous Meeting were approved,

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Thank you very much Director Dzurenda for attending the 2017 International CURE Annual Meeting and speaking to the Leadership of the CURE Chapters. We sincerely appreciate your time, consideration and the information provided. Excellent job of building community relationships. We look forward to working with you in the future.

FMWCC Fundraiser for NV-CURE NV-CURE thanks the women of FMWCC for their September 2017 fundraising activities on behalf of our nonprofit organization, with particular thanks to the women who organized the fundraising activities. The women had a pizza dinner that raised a donation, after expenses, of $3,026.00. Thank you, Ladies! We sincerely appreciate your help. NV-CURE will use that money to help defray the costs of our by-monthly newsletter, in our other non-profit activities for constructive changes in the prison and parole systems and we will donate approximately 40% (or $1,210.04) of that money back to FMWCC 40 dozen pair of shower shoes for incoming women’s ditty bags and artificial Christmas Trees, LED lights, ornaments and tinsel garlands to help Christmas for the women to be a little brighter. In addition, any women at FMWCC that would like to be a Member of NV-CURE for one (1) year and receive our bimonthly NV-CURE Newsletter need only write a short letter to William O’Connell, NV-CURE Secretary, 540 E. St. Louis Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89104, indicating their participation in the fundraiser and their desire to be a Member of NV-CURE. Again Ladies, thank you for your help.

NDOC Director James Dzurenda with International CURE President Charlie Sullivan, CO-CURE Chair Dianne Tramutola-Lawson and NV-CURE President John Witherow

Director Dzurenda made it clear that his primary concern was for the safety and security of his employees and people in the community, he was by no means an “inmatehugger”, but improvements needed to be made to the operations of the correctional system that would help to facilitate the return of prisoners to our communities in a productive and beneficial manner. His thoughts and ideas were well accepted by CURE Leadership and many subsequently expressed to NV-CURE President Witherow their envy of Nevada for having such and intelligent and progressive Director of our prison system and their desire to have such a person lead their correctional system.

Thank You Director Dzurenda

Men at WSCC and LCC Fundraisers NV-CURE members and supporters at WSCC and LCC are attempting to organize fundraising dinners at their facilities for our non-profit organizations. We certainly could use their assistance and we sincerely appreciate their help. AR 223 governs the procedures for these fundraiser dinners and the women at FMWCC have agreed to send us a step by step procedure they follow to assist in this matter. We shall type up and send out to the organizers. Working together we may accomplish much. Remember, NV-CURE is a non-profit organization, none of our officers, members, or supporters receive any pay for our activities. We all volunteer our services. Unfortunately, it does cost money to print and mail our newsletters, to lobby legislators for changes in the laws, and to engage in other activities beneficial to the struggle to change and improve the criminal justice system. Please remember when deciding whether to help support NV-CURE with these fundraisers. Unity and justice for all!

AB510 Good Time and NV Supreme Court Decision On October 5, 2017, the Nevada Supreme Court, in Jessica Williams v. State of Nevada, Case No. 71039, 133 Nev. Advance Opinion 75, determined that, in accordance with the unpublished decision in Vonseydewitz (and as NV-CURE has been advocating for a substantial period of time), prisoners

Director James Dzurenda and NV-CURE John Witherow

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sentenced between 7/17/1997 and 6/30/07 pursuant to a statute that does not specify a minimum term that must be served in prison before becoming eligible for parole must be granted twenty (20) days of statutory good time per month deducted from their minimum term of imprisonment. See Williams, 133 NV Adv. Opin., pages 3-10, for the Supreme Court analysis of the statutes involved. This also applies to prisoners sentenced after 6/30/07 unless one of the exceptions contained in NRS 209.4465(8) applies. Some of the District Courts, Deputy Attorney Generals, and the NDOC were apparently unable to comprehend the scope of the decision in Vonseydewitz, - or did not want to comprehend the scope of that decision. The Supreme Court in Williams clearly laid out the scope of the Vonseydewitz decision in terms that may be clearly understood by all and, hopefully, the people involved will resolve this problem. As a direct result of the failure of the Attorney General’s Office and the NDOC (acting on the “advice” of the Attorney General’s Office) to comprehend the Vonseydewitz decision, the NDOC refused to recalculate the sentences of all prisoners to whom the Vonseydewitz decision should have been applied. This resulted in hundreds of prisoners being forced to file civil action to obtain their good time, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the tax payers of the state. Some District Courts granted relief. (For example, White v. State, 1st JDC, Case No. 01 CR 01269 IB, and Hudson v. Filson, 7th JDC, Case No. HC-1612038). However, other District Courts, primarily in the 6th and 8th JDC, were unable to comprehend the scope of the Vonseydewitz decision and denied relief, with many of those cases currently on appeal. Williams, 133 NV ADV Opin, page 6 para. 1 The wasted tax dollars could have been saved by the simple act of the Attorney General’s Office comprehending the scope of the Vonseydewitz decision and advising the NDOC accordingly. NV-CURE received information that a prisoner was written a disciplinary report – and found guilty – for violation of court procedures for filing “frivolous” civil actions to obtain their good time and that other prisoners had received similar disciplinary reports. The 7th JDC in an Order indicated one (1) prisoner’s good time should be forfeited. NDOC officials wrote the disciplinary report and the prisoner was found guilty. We have not received any information that other prisoners were actually written similar disciplinary reports. NV-CURE suggests that this disciplinary report matter should be reconsidered by the NDOC employees and the 7th JDC. It is clear that the Attorney General’s Office, NDOC and many District Court Judges did not comprehend the import of the Vonseydewitz decision and to whom it should be applied. It seems extremely unfair to write a disciplinary report and find a prisoner guilty of filing a frivolous lawsuit simple because he, or she, did not fully understand the import of that decision. This is holding prisoners to a higher level of understanding of court decisions than the District Courts, Attorney General’s Office and NDOC officials are being held to. NV-CURE implores NDOC Director Dzurenda to order that all such disciplinary charges against prisoners for filing frivolous lawsuits concerning their

good time filed regarding this matter be reversed and all references to the charges be expunged from all NDOC files and records. NV-CURE is currently attempting to determine whether, in light of the Williams decision, the NDOC will now re-examine and re-calculate as necessary, all prisoner sentences – or whether the NDOC, on the advice of the Attorney General’s Office, will adopt the position that the Williams decision only applies to Jessica Williams. We will let you know what we find out. NOTE: Paragraphs 3 and 4 above were re-written after NV-CURE contacted Director Dzurenda regarding the disciplinary report information. Within minutes, the Director contacted us, requested additional information and, once provided, advised he was checking into the matter. In our opinion, this reflects his concern for justice and fairness for all. Any prisoner written a disciplinary report related to the filing of an action to obtain their good time should write and provide a copy of their disciplinary report.

NDOC Action As Result of Williams Decision NV-CURE on November 3, 2017, sent an e-mail to the NDOC Information Officers in an effort to determine what, if anything, the NDOC intended to do as a result of Williams decision and the calculation of good time credits. This is what the e-mail said: Ms. Keast and/or Ms. Larson: Would you please inform NV-CURE of what, if anything, the NDOC intends to do as a result of the Nevada Supreme Court decision in Jessica Williams v. State of Nevada, et. al., 133 Nev. Adv. Opinion 75, filed on 10/5/127? The Williams decision is based on the same issue as the unpublished opinion of the NV Supreme Court in Vonseydewitz v. Legrande, Case #66159, filed 6/25/17, requiring 20 days of good time to be deducted from the minimum sentence term of prisoners whose crimes were committed between July 17, 1997, and June 30, 2007. The good time statute was amended by AB 510 in 2007. I would like to know whether the NDOC is going to recalculate prisoner sentences to credit them with this good time, or whether the NDOC is again going to require each individual prisoner to file a civil action to obtain that good time or compensation. I am asking because, when the Vonseydewitz decision came out, the NDOC, I assume from the incorrect advice of the Attorney General, indicated Vonseydewitz was an "unpublished" decision and ONLY applied to Vonseydewitz. As a direct result of that, hundreds of individual cases were filed, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the tax payers, and we now have a definitive PUBLISHED opinion. So, is the NDOC going to correct this problem or continue to require each individual prisoner to continue to pursue legal redress in this matter? Please advise. Thank you. JOHN WITHEROW We will advise when we determine the answer.

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the cellphone regarding bail, which she believed she was authorized to do. During the hearing Thursday, Plunkett’s lawyers argued the state’s basis for prosecution did not apply to Plunkett’s case. The Judge agreed. According to Nevada statutes, an inmate cannot — without lawful authorization — possess a cellphone. State prosecutor J.P. Raman had argued that, while Plunkett is not a prisoner, it is reasonable to prosecute her as an aider or abettor since she is the reason the inmates ultimately possessed cellphones. “She cannot qualify for direct liability; she’s an aider and abettor or conspirator,” Raman said. But Villani agreed with Plunkett’s lawyers that the statute Raman cited doesn’t have any mention or guideline of how to punish an aider or abettor in this instance — just inmates. “In section four,” Villani said, citing the legislation Raman referred to, “it says, ‘A prisoner who violates this subsection’ has the following penalty. How can I sentence her under section four when she’s not a prisoner?” At that moment, Plunkett lifted her head and smiled, then turned to look at Raman, who remained silent for several seconds while forming an answer. State law does explicitly say a person cannot — without lawful authorization — provide a prisoner with a cellphone, but since the inmates in this case were in jail at the Clark County Detention Center, which is not a prison, prosecutors did not cite that statute. Plunkett’s lawyers also made the case that, if the legislature took the time to specifically punish people who provide prisoners with cellphones, but did not specifically punish people who provide jail inmates with cellphones, then, at its core, “Nevada law does not prohibit and/or punish the crime she is alleged to have committed,” their motion reads. After dismissing the case, Villani noted prosecutors are welcome to seek different charges. Just outside the courtroom, Raman said he wasn’t sure if the district attorney’s office would do that. In reference to the judge’s decision, he said, “I think reasonable minds can differ.” One of Plunkett’s defense attorneys, Adam Solinger, said his team was “feeling great.” “It’s easy for judges to do what’s popular,” Solinger said. “I think that what (Villani) did today won’t be popular, but it was the right decision under the law.” Plunkett, still reveling in her victory, again thanked the judge in the courthouse lobby. “I hope the retaliation against me will stop,” she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Congratulations and Welcome Home Congratulations to Martinez Aytch on finally securing his release from prison – well past the date of his release. NVCURE and Natalie Smith have worked with Martinez for a substantial period of time to secure his release and were overjoyed to see him finally out. Martinez is a self-taught “jailhouse lawyer” and is currently working for one of the unions. NV-CURE urges all prisoners to seek union employment upon release from prison. Welcome home Martinez.

Martinez with John and Natalie at 2017 CURE Meeting

Indictment of Vegas Lawyer Dismissed 170922 Review Journal by Rachel Crosby

LAS VEGAS — A state court judge has thrown out a 14count indictment accusing a Las Vegas area lawyer of providing cellphones to jail detainees, including a Nevada inmate who was wounded in a fatal shooting involving state prison guards in 2014. Attorney Alexis Plunkett celebrated the dismissal on Thursday of a 14-count indictment against her as a victory. Clark County District Court Judge Michael Villani ruled that the wording of the law specifies only that prisoners can’t provide cellphones to other prisoners. It doesn’t refer to other people, including attorneys. Prosecutor Jay P. Raman said Friday he will consider seeking different charges against Plunkett. Plunkett had been arrested in May on felony charges that she let clients including the man who was wounded, Andrew Arevalo, use her phone at the Clark County jail. Plunkett and her attorney, Adam Solinger, left the courtroom after the Judge dismissed the indictment. Plunkett broke down in tears early Thursday, just seconds after the Judge dismissed indictment against her. “I’ve never been this happy in my entire life,” she said just outside of the courtroom, covering her mouth as her hands shook in excitement and relief. “I’m overwhelmed. I am incredibly grateful for Judge Villani.” The indictment, filed in July, charged Plunkett, 36, with improperly providing a cell phone to jail he inmates, including Andrew Arevalo, who also was indicted. She indicated she used

Nevada Sending 200 Inmates to Private Prison 171011 PLN Article

The Nevada Board of Examiners on Tuesday approved a $9.2 million contract with a private corrections company that will allow the state to send 200 inmates to an Arizona prison. The two-year agreement with Nashville-based CoreCivic Inc. comes as Nevada's corrections system is overburdened with inmates and facing a bed shortage. NDOC Director James Dzurenda said the Nevada prison system has 13,683 inmates but only 13,361 beds in cells. Some

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inmates are being housed in prison day rooms and other areas. Next year, there will be major work on a housing unit at HDSP outside Las Vegas that will cut the number of beds by another 200. A building at SDCC is set to be renovated, a project that will temporarily close 212 beds. Work at the NNCC will further reduce the number of beds by 80. The department will target "the most destructive and the most dangerous" inmates for out-of-state relocation, according to Director Dzurenda said. This group includes those who recruit gang members and extort others. "We're not going to tolerate that," he said. State officials have identified most inmates who will be sent to Saguaro Correctional Facility in Eloy, about 65 miles south of Phoenix. Officials expect to move most of the inmates in the third week of November.

entirely by volunteers and Directors compensated by only $1.00 per year, is willing to step forward and help with the problem. With a government grant of $50,000.00, NV-CURE would investigate, develop and submit a plan for developing a halfway house or re-entry facility housing up to 90 people for 90 days at a reasonable cost to the parties residing at the facility. And, with another government grant for the amount of money necessary to purchase land, erect buildings and operate the facility with paid staff for a period of five (5) years, NV-CURE would maintain and operate the facility. Regardless of the solution to this problem, a remedy must be found. NV-CURE invites the Legislature and all parties involved in the criminal justice system to immediately find a remedy for this situation. NV-CURE requests that any and all prisoners held in a Nevada prison for even one day past their release date write a short letter to us explaining the reason why you are being held in prison past your release date and send a copy of any documentation regarding this matter. This information will be used by NV-CURE, CURE organizations, Rights Society, and others to work on a sustainable solution to this problem. NO PERSON should ever be held in prison past their release date.

Prisoners Held Past Release Dates As indicated in the foregoing article, Nevada prisons are facing a serious problem with bed space and costing tax payers a tremendous amount of money. The problem is more serious than you imagine and is going to cost the tax payers even more money. There are over 525 people being held in Nevada prisons past their release dates. The release to the community of those 525 people would free up 525 beds for prisoners that are not eligible for release and save the tax payers the 9.2 million dollars it is costing to send 200 prisoners out of state to a private prison. Additionally, it would save the tax payers the cost of housing 525 people in prison that should have already been released to the community, i.e., approximately $866,250.00 per month. The current cost of housing a person in prison in Nevada for one (1) year is approximately $20,000.00 per year, or $55.00 per day, which is one of the lowest costs in the nation and should give you an opinion on the quality of the care provided to NV prisoners. The number of people being held past their release dates has gone up from 400 people a day in just over four (4) months. 525 prisoners a day are currently being held in prison past their release date - at a cost of $28,350.00 per day and of $866,250.00 per month. Every year it is costing Nevada tax payers millions of dollars to keep people in prison that should have been released. What is the problem? Why are these people are being held in prison when they should have been released? Many are indigent and do not have a place to live with family or friends, or the funds necessary to pay the upfront fees charged by Probation and Parole (P&P) approved halfway houses or reentry facilities. Many are sex offenders who must comply with restrictions on their liberty regarding where they may live and the lack of halfway houses or re-entry facilities in the areas where sex offenders may live. There are numerous reasons – but absolutely no justification – for keeping a person in prison past their release dates. This is definitely a problem that must be addressed by Legislators, P&P, NDOC and the greedy money grubbers that charge such outrageous fees to reside in their halfway house or re-entry facilities. NV-CURE, a non-profit organization, operated

Prisoner Housing Upon Release 171010 PLN Article Housing on Release

Returning Inmates Need "A Place to Call Home:" StudySafe and affordable housing for formerly incarcerated individuals is essential to breaking the "cycle" of homelessness and recidivism that prevents them from rebuilding their lives as productive citizens, according to a report issued Tuesday. "People who have paid their debt to society should have the chance to reunify with their families and have a home where children can visit or live," said the report, released by the Prisoner Reentry Institute of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "Providing a true home for people with criminal justice histories helps families get back together, stay together, and provide support to each other." But too often, the report noted, housing discrimination in the private market and regulations that prevent them from living in public housing drive returning inmates to the streets, or to unsafe and overcrowded shelters. "People living in such (shelters) often have no refrigerator where they can store fresh food," said the report, entitled A Place to Call Home.

Meeting With Attorneys – Hep C and Good Time NV-CURE is again meeting with several attorneys in the Las Vegas area to discuss representation for prisoners in Hep C and AB 510 good time cases. We have not heard from the previous attorneys with whom we discussed a class action for hep c treatment and we have no information on the status of what those attorneys are doing – if anything. All we know is that the NDOC is treating more people infected with the hep c virus and the cure rate is very high. If you have any information on these matters, please let us know.

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We will also be discussing civil actions for people being denied their statutory good time being deducted from their minimum term of incarceration. Any person that continues to be denied statutory good time deductions related to AB 510 should contact NV-CURE with the details as soon as possible, as the meeting is on the 1st of next month.

trial of Oklahoma City bombing defendant Timothy McVeigh) has held the entire Colorado Sex Offender Registration Act (C.R.S. §§ 16-22-101, et seq) unconstitutional as applied to three plaintiffs who sued the director of Colorado's Bureau of Investigation (the state agency responsible for maintaining the state's sex offender registry). Using the seven factors set forth in Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144 (1963) that were utilized by the Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003), Judge Matsch held that six of the seven factors weighed in favor of finding the state's SORA requirements punitive in their effects and, therefore, in violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Judge Matsch writes: This ongoing imposition of a known and uncontrollable risk of public abuse of information from the sex offender registry, in the absence of any link to an objective risk to the public posed by each individual sex offender, has resulted in and continues to threaten Plaintiffs with punishment disproportionate to the offenses they committed. Where the nature of such punishment is by its nature uncertain and unpredictable, the state cannot assure that it will ever be proportionate to the offense. SORA as applied to these Plaintiffs therefore violates the Eighth Amendment. Believing that the U.S. Supreme Court's collective understanding of the internet has evolved over time, Judge Matsch wrote, "Justice Kennedy's words [writing the 2003 majority opinion in Smith v. Doe] ring hollow that the state's website does not provide the public with means to shame the offender when considering the evidence in this case. He and his colleagues did not foresee the development of private, commercial websites exploiting the information made available to them . . . The justices did not foresee the ubiquitous influence of social media . . . Public shaming and banishment are forms of punishment that may be considered cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment."

Grievance Campaign NV-CURE has received information that prisoners at HDSP are engaged in a grievance campaign to change various matters concerning the lack of programs and program availability, the lack of cleaning supplies, the ability of prisoners to flush their toilets when necessary, issuing toilet paper when needed, the treatment and care of prisoners with mental illnesses and the use by NDOC staff of prisoners to “roll up” the property of other prisoners. It appears these prisoners have reached across racial lines and are working together to change the way in which they are treated by prison staff. This could be the beginning of important and significant change. These are issues that have been around and have caused problems for a substantial number of years. With prisoners joining together and working across racial lines, it may be an opportunity to make progress on issues which are and have been a concern to all over a long period of time. We welcome these men to the struggle for constructive change and we will keep you posted on events that transpire.

Nevada Settles Lawsuit Over Prison Death 171010 NV Newspaper Article

The Nevada Department of Corrections has settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $93,000 after survivors of an inmate sued, charging the prison system did little to prevent his suicide despite an earlier suicide attempt and evidence of mental illness, an attorney said. NDOC also required to improve employee training following the suicide of John William Morse IV, attorney Terri Keyser-Cooper said. Morse suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and became homeless. In 2014, Morse demanded his girlfriend accept Christ as her savior and make a blood covenant with him to accept Christ. When she refused, Morse bound her with straps, attacked her, threatened to kill her, and choked her while insisting she accept Christ as her savior, Keyser-Cooper wrote in a statement. Morse stabbed himself in the face and head in that incident and attempted suicide in the Washoe County jail, Keyser-Cooper said. However, when he arrived at the prison, staff did not give him medication, treatment or counseling, Keyser-Cooper said. He killed himself in prison.

Tattoo Recognition: Newest Identification Tool 101011 PLN Tattoo Article

New technology is giving law enforcement agencies the ability to identify people by taking a photo of their tattoos; it can also group people with others who have the same type of body art. Federal researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have launched a program to accelerate tattoo recognition technology. In 2014 and 2015, the Institute initiated its Tatt-C program, which stands for Tattoo Recognition Technology Challenge. The project started with an FBI database containing 15,000 images of prisoner tattoos. The biometric database was shared by NIST with 19 participating organizations: five research institutions, six universities and eight private companies; the objective was to use their algorithms to create a database for law enforcement officials. Five tests were involved in the Tatt-C project. The first was determining if an image contained a tattoo. With a

Colorado SO Registry Violates Eighth Amendment 170901 PLN SONA Unconstitutional

In a far reaching opinion that is sure to send Colorado's Attorney General scrambling to salvage that state's registration and notification scheme, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard P. Matsch (a Nixon appointee who presided over the

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reported 90% accuracy rate, it is evident that technology is already highly sophisticated. The highest result came from biometric technology company MorphoTrak. Next, the participants were asked to match images of the same person's tattoo. Overall, they reported more than 95% accuracy. MorphoTrak reported an accuracy rate of 94.6%, while Purdue University reported 91.6%. Another test required matching tattoos to a similar image in another medium; in other words, matching tattoos to street graffiti or a drawing. Here, the results were poor with the best reported accuracy coming from the MITRE Corporation, at 36.5%. There was also a tattoo similarity test, which was the most controversial for its ability to group people according to their religion, politics or other affiliations based on their tattoos. In this test, the participants grouped people with tattoos of religious symbols such as crucifixes, praying hands holding a rosary or gang symbols. The results were very poor, with MITRE reporting the highest accuracy rate of 14.9%. NV-CURE NOTES there is an organization in Nevada that will help prisoners with the removal of tattoos. The owner has offered to come to the prisons to remove tattoos. We will advance that idea.

means less qualified personnel overseeing too many inmates. Add that to the recipe for recidivism and its impact on the cost of law enforcement. Acknowledging the shortcomings of private prisons, the Justice Department announced last August that it would phase out all private prison contracts within five years. But that directive was reversed by new Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who as a U.S. senator from Alabama employed two legislative aides who are now lobbyists for GEO, the private prison company. Through mergers and acquisitions, three companies – CoreCivic, GEO, and Management & Training Corp. – now account for more than 90 percent of all the private prison beds in America. Their collective lobbying clout in Washington and state capitols across America is formidable. Rather than listening to lobbyists, public officials should look at the evidence and admit private prisons haven’t proved their worth. They exist only because it was easier to contract with private companies than get taxpayers to pay for the new prisons needed to handle the explosion of inmates generated by the failed drug war. The war seems to be ending. It’s time to change. It’s time for communities that depend on private prisons for employment to find a better industry. It’s time for prison companies that have no incentive to reduce inmate populations to stop pretending they care about rehabilitation. It’s time for Sessions to stop acting like it’s his job to help private prisons stay alive.

Put Private Prisons Out of Business 170825 Article By: Harold Jackson

Confronted with the growing number of people in cities and suburbs across America who have succumbed to heroin-related drugs, more of the country is finally seeing the advantage of medically treating opioid addicts instead of just locking them up. A similar epiphany needs to occur with prison incarceration in general. Prisons have become greenhouses where inmates grow accustomed to the type of behavior and associations that lead to recidivism. They get out of prison only to return within months or a few years. Particularly deficient are private prisons, whose primary concern is their owners’ bottom line, not recidivism rates. Staff writer David Gambacorta illustrated the problem in telling the story of Thomas Bryant, an opioid addict who in 2007 hanged himself at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County. Bryant’s family says his pleas for medical attention were ignored for three days by guards at the prison run by GEO Group. He committed suicide using prison-issued linens. GEO, which began as Wackenhut Corrections, was in the vanguard of the private prison industry movement, landing its first federal contract in 1987 to manage an immigration detention center. Based in Boca Raton, Fla., the company now runs 64 prisons with 74,000 inmates nationally and seven other prisons with 7,800 inmates overseas. Its revenue last year was $2.1 billion. Studies suggest taxpayers are not getting the best return on their dollar by paying private companies to run prisons. Any reduced costs in running private prisons are largely due to their paying staff less and hiring fewer people. That

Slash U.S. Probation Rolls by 50% Within 10 Years The number of Americans on parole or probation can be "significantly" reduced without endangering public safety, a coalition of the country's leading community corrections executives, criminologists and advocates said Monday. "Increasingly sophisticated research has shown that we can responsibly reduce probation and parole probations...to both significantly reduce the footprint of probation and parole and improve outcomes and public safety," declared a statement signed by 35 current and former community corrections executives along with 20 top advocacy organizations and a number of criminal justice thought leaders around the nation. The statement was issued simultaneously with a blockbuster report published by the Executive Session on Community Corrections at Harvard University's Kennedy School that laid out a roadmap for slashing the number of people under probation supervision by 50 percent over the next decade. The report said the American community corrections system, which was originally developed as an alternative to incarceration, has in fact become "one of the most significant drivers" of mass incarceration today. More than four million Americans were serving probation sentences and another 850,000 were under parole supervision in 2014, the last year for which figures were available. That's nearly three times as many as the number of Americans behind bars. Some 42 percent of probationers were under supervision for misdemeanor infractions.

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had worked at the Waterloo proceedings, testified that most of the Spanish-speaking defendants had been pressured to plead guilty. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said the unconventional process seemed "like a cattle auction, not a criminal prosecution in the United States of America." Yet amid the national attention, one fact didn't make the news: Before and after the raid, Reade's husband owned stock in two private prison companies, and he bought additional prison stock five days before the raid, according to Reade's financial disclosure forms. Ethics experts say these investments were inappropriate and may have violated the Code of Conduct for United States Judges.

Jobs Upon Release From Prison Anyone looking for a job upon release from prison should check with the local unions. The unions are always looking for workers and people interested in learning a trade. Also, nearly all of the unions offer apprenticeship programs that teach you the skills necessary to perform the trade in which you are interested. Teamsters, laborers, electricians, carpenters, pipe fitters – you name it. The unions can help. Try them. There are also various training programs you may try (usually at a cost to you). These include places, like, Crane and Rigging Trainers for people who want to be lifting and handling specialists. Unfortunately, the costs for training are high and most people just being released from prison do not have the financial resources available to pay the costs. There are also training programs available for most types of equipment you want to learn to operate. Avail yourself of these opportunities. We want you out here as a productive member of our community. The sooner you start preparing your parole plan the better. Get busy and find out what you need to know and where you need to go..

Gang Member Data Base 170828 Article by Christie Thompson

In 2011, then 19-year-old Luis Vicente Pedrote-Salinas was leaving a relative’s house and getting into his car when he was stopped by Chicago police. Officers found an unopened can of beer in the cupholder and booked him for underage drinking. He spent a night in jail, and the charges were dropped. But that wasn’t the end of it: The police who arrested Pedrote-Salinas were out on a “gang suppression mission” that night and added his name to their citywide database of suspected gang members. Officers said he admitted to being a member of the Latin Kings; he claims they lied and that he’s never been a member of any gang. According to a federal lawsuit filed in July, PedroteSalinas was arrested later in 2011 during an immigration raid targeting gangs and was detained for roughly six months. When he was released on bond, he applied for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status and, after being robbed at gunpoint while working at a Subway, a U visa for crime victims, in order to remain in the U.S. He was denied both despite having no criminal convictions. Now Pedrote-Salinas faces deportation to Mexico, which he left when he was five years old. Immigrants’ advocates and attorneys say that more cases like Pedrote-Salinas’ are likely to emerge under the Trump administration, which has vowed to aggressively track down immigrants in gangs. Local police departments have long shared their gang intelligence with federal immigration authorities. But the feds may be using that information more now as Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests have increased nearly 40 percent from last year. Critics of gang databases say that because of the loose criteria used to identify potential members, people with no gang affiliation are likely to be swept up in raids meant for serious criminals. Several recent lawsuits have been filed by immigrants who say they were wrongly identified as gang members and detained by ICE as a result. ICE says police cooperation is key to identifying gang members in the immigrant community. “Law enforcement partners provide actionable intelligence which is critical in the targeting of gangs and their membership for enforcement actions,” ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett wrote in an email. A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said they could not comment on ongoing litigation.

Federal Judge Put Hundreds of Immigrants Behind Bars While Her Husband Invested in Private Prisons 170824 PLN Corruption in USA

It was almost lunchtime inside the country's largest kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, on May 12, 2008. The meatpackers, mostly migrants from Guatemala and Mexico, wore earplugs to block out the noise of the machinery and couldn't hear the two black helicopters hovering overhead or the hundreds of armed federal immigration agents closing in around them until the production line stopped. One worker tried to flee with his knives, stabbing himself in the leg when he was pushed to the ground. "They rounded us up toward the middle like a bunch of chickens," a 42-year-old Guatemalan worker later recalled. "Those who were hiding were beaten and shackled." Nearly 400 workers were arrested in the bust, which cost $5 million and was then the biggest workplace immigration raid in US history. They were driven to the National Cattle Congress, a fairground in Waterloo, where several federal judges would handle their cases over nine business days. Hearings were held in trailers and a dance hall. Cots were set up for the defendants in a nearby gymnasium. At the time, undocumented immigrants caught in raids like this were usually charged with civil violations and then deported. But most of these defendants, shackled and dragging chains behind them, were charged with criminal fraud for using falsified work documents or Social Security numbers. About 270 people were sentenced to five months in federal prison, in a process that one witness described as a "judicial assembly line." Overseeing the process was Judge Linda R. Reade, the chief judge of the Northern District of Iowa. She defended the decision to turn a fairground into a courthouse, saying the proceedings were fair and unhurried. The incident sparked allegations of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct and led to congressional hearings. Erik Camayd-Freixas, an interpreter who

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Police departments use gang databases to keep track of criminal activity in their city and help with homicide investigations. But advocates criticize the lists for casting too wide a net and say they’re a form of racial profiling. Individuals can be added to gang databases for wearing certain colors, hanging out in places frequented by gang members, or knowing or being related to someone in a gang. The databases are also relatively opaque: Individuals are rarely notified when they are added or given a way to fight the designation. While U.S. citizens can suffer significant consequences once they’re listed in a gang database, for immigrants, it can be far worse. A gang allegation can make someone a higher priority for deportation and the target of a raid. It can be the reason they are denied various pathways to remain in the U.S., like DACA or a U visa. It can also keep them from getting bond, so they must remain in detention while their immigration case is decided, which can take years given the current backlog. Once those allegations are made in court, attorneys say it’s difficult to prove a negative. Lawyers can also rarely prove that their clients were once in a gang but have since left. ICE proclaimed in May that the agency’s largest gang enforcement effort yet had led to the arrest of 1,095 “confirmed” gang members and affiliates. “Individuals are confirmed as gang members if they admit membership in a gang;...or if they meet certain other criteria such as having tattoos identifying a specific gang or being identified as a gang member by a reliable source,” the agency said in a press release. A similar series of raids this July, which focused on alleged teenage gang members, netted 650 people. Only 130 of them had criminal convictions. One of the men picked up in those raids was Wilmer Catalan-Ramirez, who was arrested by ICE agents at his home in Southwest Chicago this March. Catalan-Ramirez is partially paralyzed after being shot in January, and claims in a federal lawsuit that ICE agents further injured him during the raid. According to the complaint, Catalan-Ramirez was targeted because Chicago police had labeled him a gang member. His attorneys say he doesn’t know how or when he ended up on the list. An ICE spokesperson said she could not comment on the lawsuit. For immigrant advocates, this cooperation between local police and federal officials shows how some cities that claim to be havens for immigrants — like Chicago — are anything but. “If Wilmer got turned over to ICE based on Chicago’s information, [it’s not] a sanctuary city,” said Tania Unzueta, legal and policy director for Mijente, a national organization focused on Latinx issues, and a volunteer with Organized Communities Against Deportations. Unzueta is currently working with several Chicago groups to obtain more information about the city’s gang list, including the criteria for being added. “I think we have an argument that it’s unconstitutional when there are such heavy consequences for something that doesn’t have a judicial process,” she said. A spokesperson for the Chicago mayor’s office wouldn’t comment on the two suits or the city’s gang database

and relationship with ICE, but said in an email: “Chicago will continue to be a welcoming city and stand up for the values that have made us a beacon of hope for immigrants and refugees from around the world for generations.” Similar legal battles are playing out in other parts of the country. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in August over the evidence (or lack thereof) that ICE is relying on in Suffolk County, New York, to identify high school students as gang members. Law enforcement has labeled the plaintiffs members or associates of the MS-13 gang for doing things like wearing an El Salvador soccer jersey, being observed in the presence of other alleged gang members or writing El Salvadoran area codes in their notebooks. Local and federal law enforcement in Suffolk County have been focused on tracking down MS-13 members, who police say are responsible for 17 murders there in the last 18 months. While ICE would not comment on the lawsuit, a spokesperson noted that individuals can be identified as a gang member if they meet two of eight criteria, which include wearing gang clothing or frequenting places known for gang activity. “They’ll just arrest them based on an evidence-free allegation,” said immigration attorney Bryan Johnson, who represents some of the plaintiffs named in the ACLU suit. “They don’t have to share that information in court. There’s no process to challenge the allegations.”

NV-CURE Mail Is Not Legal Mail NV-CURE is not a legal services organization and we are not attorneys. Mail to and from NV-CURE is not legal mail. NV-CURE wants this fact clearly understood by all. We cannot send documents as “Legal Mail” and NDOC facilities are not required to recognize mail to us as Legal Mail. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

NV-CURE Membership NV-CURE Membership for prisoners ($2.00), basic ($10.00), family ($20.00), sustaining ($50.00) and lifetime ($100.00). ALL Memberships are ANNUAL. Each person needs to track their membership date and make a renewal membership donation yearly. Join NV-CURE and recommend joining NV-CURE to your family and friends. We do accept unused stamps for prisoner memberships.

NO COLLECT CALLS TO NV-CURE NV-CURE does not accept collect telephone calls! NVCURE’s number is 702.347.1731. ALL calls to NV-CURE must be prepaid. We do not have the funds necessary to accept collect calls and do not accept collect calls. ADDITIONALLY, all telephone calls to our Las Vegas Office are forewarded to the personal cell phone of NV-CURE President JOHN WITHERFOW. Before you telephone our number, be sure this procedure is NOT GOING TO RESULT in a disciplary report being written against you for violation of prison policies. We cannot be responsible for telephone calls made to NV-CURE.

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Articles and Information Wanted Please provide NV-CURE with suggestions for articles and information you may want included in our Newsletter. We are interested in bringing you information on events and issues related to the prison and parole systems. We will attempt to gather the facts on issues of concern and write articles that may be of interest to all. If you want to write an article for publication, write it and send to NV-CURE and we may edit and publish it.

NV-CURE is looking for Sustaining Contributors NV-CURE is looking for Sustaining Contributors who want to advertise their businesses and/or corporations in our IB Newsletter. We currently publish the Newsletter bi-mothly. Every two (2) months our Newsletter goes out to almost eight hundred prisoners and 1200 people and organizations in the community. Our primary costs are printing and mailing. It currently costs NVCURE over $820.00 to mail our Newsletter to Prisoners – the very people who need our help. NV-CURE would like to increase our mailing to over 1000 prisoners. Our costs would increase accordingly. NV-CURE, a tax exempt non-profit organization, and needs at least twenty (20) Sustaining Contributors to accomplish our goals. With twenty Sustaining Contributors, contributing $500.00 per year, which is tax exempt, we can reach our goal. Is your organization interested in becoming a NV-CURE Sustaining Contributor? Visit our Website, nevadacure.org, and see what we do and call our office to sign up. Thank you.

SUSTAINING CONTRIBUTORS NV-CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants) wishes to express our sincere and deep appreciation to the following Sustaining Contributors for their financial and material support. Travis and Jeanette Barrick, Esq., Las Vegas, NV, Gallian, Welker and Belkstrom, LC, Las Vegas, NV and St. George, UT., Angie Kiselyk, Arizona, Michelle Revell, Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael Cupp, Sparks, NV, Natalie Smith and John Witherow, Oakhurst, CA, John Townsend, Ely, NV, Craig Caples, Las Vegas, NV William O’Connell, Las Vegas, NV “Joan”, North Truro, MA WHIP, Inc., FMWCC, Las Vegas, NV FMWCC NV-CURE urges all of our Members and supporters to patronizes the establishments referenced above supporting and making possible the publication of this Newsletter. If you or your corporation/business would like to become a Sustaining Contributor to NV-CURE Information Bulletin Newsletter, or would like more information, please call 702.347.0926 or 231.313.0059 or e-mail NV-CURE at [email protected] and place “Contributor” in the subject line.

Struggle In Solidarity Together We Can Make A Difference

NV-CURE, Inc. 540 E. St. Louis Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89104

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0 IB Newsletter 26 November 2017.pdf

On October 5, 2017, the Nevada Supreme Court, in. Jessica Williams v. State of Nevada, Case No. 71039, 133 Nev. Advance Opinion 75, determined that, in accordance with the. unpublished decision in Vonseydewitz (and as NV-CURE has. been advocating for a substantial period of time), prisoners. Page 2 of 10 ...

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