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The Prison Guards’ Union: Political Capture, Rot, and Risk

November 13, 2020 / Hadar Aviram
Amidst the cries to make profound changes to our incarceration policies, the silence from CCPOA, the prison guards’ union, has been deafening. While SEIU Local 1000, which represents prison workers,

Prison Workers’ Union Files Grievance; Silence from the Prison Guards’ Union

August 8, 2020 / Hadar Aviram
The union that represents health care workers, clerical staff, custodians and other prison employees, SEIU Local 1000, has filed a wide-ranging grievance against CDCR and CCHCS (the Federal Receiver’s prison
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Triggers and Vulnerabilities: Why Prisons Are Uniquely Vulnerable to COVID-19 and What To Do About It

April 20, 2020 / Hadar Aviram
When I reviewed the causes and effects of the 2008 Financial Crisis for Cheap on Crime, I relied partly on a series of lectures given by Ben Bernanke, Director of the

Body-Worn Cameras in Prison?

February 19, 2020 / Hadar Aviram
I just got off the phone with a person who is serving a long sentence in a CA prison (I will keep the person’s details to myself to preserve their

Distress Call: Suicide Rates in California Prisons

September 30, 2019 / Hadar Aviram
A couple of years ago, Michael Bien alerted us at his keynote speech at WSC to an alarming trend: mental illness was on the rise in CA prisons even as

Three Jail Guards Arrested in Santa Clara Jail Inmate Death

September 4, 2015 / Hadar Aviram
The shift of numerous inmates from state prisons to county jails has turned our attention to conditions in these local institutions. This morning’s news present a particularly tragic example: the

How the Media Talks About Prison Homicide: A Murder in Vacaville

July 11, 2015 / Hadar Aviram
A couple of months ago, news outlets reported a murder in California State Prison, Solano. The murder did not make headlines until yesterday, when it suddenly returned to the news

Corporal Punishment for the Mentally Ill? Judge Karlton to Decide

January 4, 2014 / Hadar Aviram
Two shocking videos depicting prison guards at Corcoran subduing mentally-ill inmates with pepper spray and batons are the subject of federal litigation aimed at ending such brutal corporal punishment. The

California Prison Overcrowding: State of the State, October 2013

October 16, 2013 / Hadar Aviram
And now, this is how things stood: the cat was sitting on one branch, the bird on another… not too close to the cat… and the wolf walked around and

Private Prison Management Offers to Buy Prisons in Exchange for Occupancy Rates

March 30, 2012 / Hadar Aviram
Our four-year foray into the changes in correctional policies since the fiscal crisis has taught us that various states are scaling back their correctional apparatus to respond to money difficulties.