Prisons

Jailbird Commits Unspeakable Act Upon Himself

Dead Man Waiting

Billy Elledge brutally raped and murdered a woman in Hollywood 25 years ago. He has sat in prison since then, evidence that Florida's death penalty isn't working.

King Con Speaks

Escape artist Steven Russell fills in the details about how he bluffed his way out of prison and plotted his next big score

Undercurrents

Escape artist Steven Russell fills in the details about how he bluffed his way out of prison and plotted his next big score

Definitely in My Back Yard

When the residents of Mangonia Park heard that a girls' detention center might be built in their town, they put out the welcome mat

Rapper's Demise

When the residents of Mangonia Park heard that a girls' detention center might be built in their town, they put out the welcome mat

The Redemption of Crime Boy

Former criminal-in-training Percy Campbell reclaimed his life and now illuminates a better way to handle hard-core juvenile delinquency

Undercurrents

Cruel and unusual

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 cas ... More >>

Onstage Culeros

It´s about the haughtiness of the band

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 ... More >>

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 belc ... More >>

Wait... We Give Inmates Belts?

We must, because according to a Miami Herald headline, the inmates are tightening them. Just ask D'Angelo from The Wire whether belts should be allowed in prison. Well...I guess we can't ask him now, can we? Then again, maybe the Herald's just being metaphorical. Florida is coping with the effects o ... More >>

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

We must, because according to a Miami Herald headline, the inmates are tightening them. Just ask D'Angelo from The Wire whether belts should be allowed in prison. Well...I guess we can't ask him now, can we? Then again, maybe the Herald's just being metaphorical. Florida is coping with the effects o ... More >>

Prodigy

We must, because according to a Miami Herald headline, the inmates are tightening them. Just ask D'Angelo from The Wire whether belts should be allowed in prison. Well...I guess we can't ask him now, can we? Then again, maybe the Herald's just being metaphorical. Florida is coping with the effects o ... More >>

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.

From Gitmo With Love

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

Muscles, Murder, and a Messiah

Ex-cop and bodybuilder Gil Fernandez Jr. murdered three men in the Everglades. But he only admits to killing the man he was.

Various Artists

The Very Best of Death Row (Tha Row)

The Unlikely Lambs

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

Habitat for Inhumanity

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

Death Road

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

A Family Affair

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

Dirty Work

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

A Sorry Excuse

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

A Single Hair

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

Crowded Cage

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

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.

The Unforgiven

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

Instant Karma

The Green Mile

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.

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 ... More >>

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 w ... More >>

Morning Juice: Still More Questions in Miramar Deaths; End of the Line for Broward Murderer on Death Row

​Here what's happening this morning in South Florida:CBS4 has video that includes a photo of the two victims of a shooting in Miramar -- Faith Bisasor and her son Damion Bishop -- as well as an interview with a family friend who says Bisasor never opened the door to strangers. The Sun-Sentinel add ... More >>

Owner of Pembroke Pines Juvie Lockup Has Checkered History

Flickr user: Mark CogginsThe company has a checkered history in Florida.​A recent lawsuit alleging sexual assault and physical abuse of inmates at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines is the latest in a string of abuse accusations lodged against the facility's owner.For ... More >>

Cell Phones in Prison: A Former Inmate Explains the Real Deal

flickr.com​A former long-serving federal inmate living in South Florida says the real reason for the proliferation of cell phones in prisons has more to do with privately owned institutions gouging inmates and their families with ridiculously overpriced phone time than it does organized crime.The ... More >>

No More Butts Behind Bars: Smoking Will Be Banned in Florida Prisons

​Even though drug laws haven't stopped illicit substance abuse in prisons, Florida's new prison chief hopes that banning cigarettes will keep inmates from smoking. Prisoners have six months to kick the habit before cigarettes go from currency to contraband, according to the state Department o ... More >>

Kids Claim Abuse and Violence at Juvenile Lockup Thompson Academy

​Even though drug laws haven't stopped illicit substance abuse in prisons, Florida's new prison chief hopes that banning cigarettes will keep inmates from smoking. Prisoners have six months to kick the habit before cigarettes go from currency to contraband, according to the state Department o ... More >>

Southwest Ranches and Private Prison Company Want Immigration Facility in Broward County

voxrox.co​Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking for somewhere in South Florida to be able to house as many as 2,000 alleged immigration-law offenders, and the town of Southwest Ranches has partnered with the private prison industry and entered a bid.ICE has taken in three proposals for th ... More >>

Will Privatizing Prisons Save Florida Money? Arizona Study Says Maybe Not

The GEO Group was a huge donor to political campaigns.​Last month, the Florida Legislature passed a landmark plan to privatize nearly all of the prisons in the southern part of the state, including those in Broward and Palm Beach counties. The bill was a thinly-veiled stimulus package for the priv ... More >>

Famous Death Row Last Meals

He'll have the steak and eggs.​It seems a little strange that America treats criminals as well as it does.Yes, we lock them up in prisons with other burly men (or women) and let them out of their cells infrequently. And yes, there is the chance that they will be raped, shanked, or beaten to a pulp ... More >>

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw Praises Rick Scott For Supporting Cops

Palm Beach CountySheriff Bradshaw likes Scott.​Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw clearly did not get the memo about local cops hating Gov. Rick Scott. While the Broward County Police Benevolent Association is organizing a massive party for its members to protest Scott and ditch the Florida Re ... More >>

Rick Scott and Private Prisons Engaging in "Pay to Play" Politics, Teamsters Complaint Alleges

​Florida politicians received nearly $1 million in campaign contributions from two private prison corporations last election cycle -- GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America -- and an ethics complaint filed by the Teamsters union yesterday claims $30,000 of those contributions that went t ... More >>

Florida Death-Row Facts, Including Last-Meal Parameters and the Executioner's Paycheck

​It's been nearly 20 months since the last execution of a prisoner by the State of Florida, and in anticipation of South Florida cop killer Manuel Valle's lethal injection at 4 p.m. today, we decided today would be a good day to drop some death-row knowledge.Valle, 61, was convicted of killing Cor ... More >>

Manuel Valle Executed After Stay Denied by United States Supreme Court

Florida Department of CorrectionsManuel Valle​South Florida cop killer Manuel Valle was executed by lethal injection inside the Florida State Prison at 7:14 p.m. today.Valle came within minutes of dying earlier in the day, before the U.S. Supreme Court halted the lethal injection for several h ... More >>

Manuel Valle Execution: Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

Florida Department of CorrectionsManuel Valle​Manuel Valle was executed by the State of Florida at 7:14 p.m. Wednesday after the many appeals filed on his behalf were denied.Just before the execution was scheduled to take place at 4 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court delayed it to briefly take a look at ... More >>

Florida Corrections Officer Gives Some Interwebs Insight About State Prisons

zazzle.comWe don't even know who this hat belongs to.​Being a corrections officer is one of the strangest jobs imaginable -- you're stuck in a big concrete and iron box for eight-plus hours per day, surrounded by some of society's most loathed humans, who are likely armed with rusty shanks and ... More >>

Southwest Ranches Town Attorney on ICE Jail: "The Less We Say the Better Off We Will Be"

Poliakoff​On June 7, Southwest Ranches Town Attorney Keith Poliakoff sent an email to (now deceased) Town Administrator Charlie Lynn, town staffers, and his consulting and lobbying colleagues. The email urged town leaders to maintain a "cone of silence" about a proposed 1,800-bed immigrant detenti ... More >>

CCA Reportedly Drumming Up Support for Immigrant Pen Through Robocall "Survey"

wired.com​Update: Click through for a sample voicemail received by one Southwest Ranches resident yesterday.--Original post, 11/2: Debbie Wasserman Schultz's office has confirmed that it received 40 to 50 phone calls yesterday from Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches-area residents who were autom ... More >>

Prisonville, Florida: Low Taxes and Big Yards, All for the Price of a Box Full of Immigrants

wired.com​Update: Click through for a sample voicemail received by one Southwest Ranches resident yesterday.--Original post, 11/2: Debbie Wasserman Schultz's office has confirmed that it received 40 to 50 phone calls yesterday from Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches-area residents who were autom ... More >>