Subject: Criminal Sentencing and Punishment

• You've Come A Long Way, Sparky

  December 18, 2006

• Jah Cure Released from Prison Today

  July 28, 2007

• Hit or Mrs.?

  January 7, 1999

• Dead Man Waiting

  February 11, 1999

• Forget Shorty, Get Marvin!

  December 11, 1997

• King Con Speaks

  May 14, 1998

• Undercurrents

  July 2, 1998

• Definitely in My Back Yard

  August 20, 1998

• Rapper's Demise

  August 20, 1998

• Oldfella

  May 6, 1999

• The Redemption of Crime Boy

  June 17, 1999

• Undercurrents

  July 6, 2000

• Florida Inmates to Enjoy the Great Indoors

  100,000 is one of those magic numbers. It's the summit of a classic Eighties game show. It's a milestone that reminds you to get that car tuned up. And if you're a state whose prison population has just reached that number, it means you're running out of room in the Big House, which in Florida's case means it's time to throw extra inmates into tents.A camping we will go! A camping we... well... actually, there will be no campfires -- not unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong. Rather, th

  December 30, 2008

• Best Intention Gone Bad

  May 16, 2002

• Onstage Culeros

  June 14, 2007

• Video Lies

  September 20, 2007

• Boca Private Prison Operator Feelin' Heat from West Texas

  Not the riot in Pecos, but this is what one looks like. Perhaps the only thing harder to contain than a prison riot is the embarrassment that comes after a prison riot. But still. Boca Raton-based Geo Group has done a ham-handed job spinning the riot that broke out Saturday at a prison it owns in the West Texas town of Pecos. On Sunday it released a statement that the riot ended with a "positive outcome."Huh? What post-riot outcome could possibly be "positive"? Did everyone learn a valuable

  February 4, 2009

• Boca Firm's Spin Job is a Riot

  Remember when I told you that a riot at the Pecos, Texas prison run by a Boca Raton company, had ended with a "positive outcome"? I was wrong. That's what I get for relying on the guarantees of the Geo Group, which probably should have delayed claiming victory until after its prison had stopped belching smoke. Or tell me, Geo Group spinmeister, was that merely prison guards and inmates taking pulls off a peace pipe?While we're at it, a little trivia: What candidate for U.S. Senate candidate was

  February 6, 2009

• The Infamous Holland Correction

  Okay, I say a couple nice things about departed Sun-Sentinel reporter John Holland and the knives start flying. The Holland haters bring up an eight-year-old correction which one commenter calls "the longest and most embarrassing front-page retraction in the Sun-Sentinel's history." I remember that correction and I remember all the whispering about it and I remember all the hand-wringing and consternation. But mostly I remember thinking: The Sun-Sentinel is a gutless wonder. Here is the correct

  March 13, 2009

• Broward County bail bondsmen want to kill pretrial intervention, and the County Commission is willing to help

  December 18, 2008

• Just Say Uncle

  The DEA's "Twin Oceans" hooked a big fish, but can they reel it in?

  February 21, 2008

• Muscles, Murder, and a Messiah, Part 2

  Gil Fernandez Jr. could be responsible for as many as nine murders. If he's truly repentant, his former prosecutor says, he needs to confess his sins.

  January 12, 2006

• Court Jesters

  Dale Ross steps down as Broward County´s chief judge, but will anything really change?

  June 7, 2007

• From Gitmo With Love

  The elephant in Guantanamo's living room gets 4,200 calories a day and a Koran.

  June 8, 2006

• He Dunnit (No, He Dunnit!)

  Michael Ray Roberts has avoided serious prison time by ratting out his partners. So far.

  October 20, 2005

• Various Artists

  The Very Best of Death Row (Tha Row)

  June 23, 2005

• An Imperfect Murder

  The sordid tale of a cunning Marielito, an ambitious ATF agent, and a dead mobster in Lighthouse Point

  August 19, 2004

• The Unlikely Lambs

  Carandiru reveals the human side of Brazilian prisoners, then leads us to their slaughter

  June 3, 2004

• Crazy to Kill

  In October 2002, they finally led Aileen Wuornos to where she wanted to go: the death chamber

  January 22, 2004

• Too Dumb to Die

  Kevin Moore's case raises questions about executing the mentally disabled

  January 15, 2004

• United States of Jesus

  The folks who are "reclaiming America for Christ" are pushing an agenda for a Taliban-like state where Scripture is law

  November 27, 2003

• Habitat for Inhumanity

  The "asylums" depicted in The Magdalene Sisters undermine both the Catholic Church and the popular image of Ireland

  August 21, 2003

• Death Road

  A 62-year-old convict was killed while working outside the slammer. BSO ain't talking about it.

  May 8, 2003

• Barred For Life

  The process for restoring the civil rights of felons in Florida works perfectly -- if not restoring their rights is the goal

  December 26, 2002

• Twice Busted

  A Pompano man and his family bum-rush a judge on sentencing day

  November 28, 2002

• The Captain of Deceit Strikes Again

  Richard Scheff still can't get the story of the Frank Lee Smith case straight -- and he doesn't seem to care

  August 15, 2002

• A Family Affair

  Wackenhut Corp.'s days as a South Florida firm are over, but its legacy lives on

  May 23, 2002

• Dirty Work

  A tale of prison gardeners is this summer's sweetest feel-good comedy

  September 13, 2001

• A Sorry Excuse

  Ken Jenne's department helped convict the wrong man. Why won't he and Jeb Bush admit it?

  July 5, 2001

• A Single Hair

  After a severely flawed trial, Michael Rivera was convicted of killing a little girl. New DNA evidence may help him.

  June 28, 2001

• A Devilish Deal

  A high-profile judge long ago made a deal that freed the area's most heinous killer

  May 17, 2001

• Crowded Cage

  Welcome to Broward's juvenile detention center, where inmates are wild, toilets are clogged, and employees are grousing

  September 21, 2000

• Love Behind Bars

  When Albert Tacher met Dina Mora, he knew it was love. The problem? She was a prisoner, and he was a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy.

  June 8, 2000

• The Unforgiven

  Bryant Troville served out his sentence for his sexually violent acts. His prospects for freedom? Not good.

  May 4, 2000

• Dead Head

  Mr. Death

  February 24, 2000

• The Great Pretender

  Jimmy Sabatino scammed millions of dollars' worth of goods and services by claiming he was a Hollywood player. But the self-described Mafia kid played too rough when he threatened to kill President Clinton.

  September 16, 1999

• Cell-Out: Jenne Breaks Silence

  Photo courtesy South Florida Sun-SentinelHeads up, Broward County: Your ex-sheriff ex-con gave an interview to former Sun-Sentinel columnist Buddy Nevins that was posted on Broward Beat over the weekend. It's a cream-puff interview, but whatever. Ken Jenne was convicted, served his time, and no one can doubt his regret is genuine. Besides, there's enough active corruption so that we don't have to dwell on the old stuff. Based on the comments thread, some readers object to what seems to them Jenn

  April 27, 2009

• Inmate Dies in Broward Jail

  No name, no age, no cause of death. All that Broward Sheriff's Office is reporting for the moment is that their deputies found an inmate dead in his cell at the main jail in Fort Lauderdale, around 7 p.m. The inmate had been in the cell alone. Here's the release. Stay tuned for more details, which will be available after BSO contacts the inmate's family.

  July 24, 2009

• BSO Officer Shot in Head Plans to Sue

  Hernandez, after the shooting​A BSO deputy who was shot in the head in 2007 by a convicted felon on parole has notified the state of his intent to file suit against the Department of Corrections: The felon who shot 29-year-old officer Maury Hernandez during a routine traffic stop owned a handgun that his probation officer knew he had possession of. Twenty-three-year-old David Maldonado, riding a motorcycle, had run three red lights on Pembroke Road in Hollywood when Hernandez pulled him over.

  August 18, 2009

• Sex Offender Murphy Benched in Delray

  Ronald Murphy, getting ready to bed down in Delray​We wrote about sex offender Ronald Murphy last week here and here, a man released from prison in September after serving 13 years on a rape conviction, and stuck in limbo ever since.Murphy's home is currently a bench outside the Delray Beach Florida Department of Corrections Probation and Parole Office on the corner of NE 3rd Ave. and NE 2nd St.  Murphy, wearing an ankle monitor, is confined there from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night, oblige

  October 18, 2009