(New York Times) — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Tuesday that he would ask New York State to turn over control of prisons and services for juvenile offenders to local governments, a move that he said would end the failed and costly practice of shipping troubled young people from New York City to upstate facilities far […]

(New York Times) — More than 48,800 of the nation’s prisoners claimed $130 million in fraudulent tax refunds by March of this year, and the numbers are probably much higher, according to a new watchdog report. The IRS paid $112 million of the claims, a small fraction of the $326 billion in refunds so far […]

(Chicago Tribune) — Hard time has gotten even harder in Illinois prisons.  The state’s prison system is bursting at the seams with a record high of nearly 49,000 inmates, some 3,000 more than just a year ago. The surge, combined with the state’s multibillion-dollar budget crisis, has led to conditions that watchdog groups and veteran […]

(Atlanta Journal Constitution) — Fifteen Atlanta corrections officers and their union representative stood outside the city jail Wednesday with a megaphone and a message: They are not safe at their place of work. Charles Clark, executive director of the local 1644 district of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, called for a […]