15 Year old American teen is Wrongfully Deported to Colombia

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By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 4:33 PM EST, Thu
Published January 5, 2012
 
Jakadrien, ( was14 years old, when she went missing) mother Johnisa Turner and grandmother Lorene Turner in desperation contacted  all the right agencies to help find Jakadrien, but in the end they failed the family and Jakadrien. Their cry for help, fell on deaf ears.  Submission Post by Gail Noble
 
Jorge Asfrubal Farcia Romero and Luis Carlos Velez contributed to this reportfor CNN.

(CNN) — A Dallas teenager who ran away from home more than a year ago somehow wound up deported to Colombia after U.S. authorities mistook the girl, who lacked identification, for a Colombian national. Now her family is demanding to know why immigration authorities deported the now-15-year-old teen — a U.S. citizen with no knowledge of Spanish — and why they simply took her at her word when she gave them a fake name.

The family of Jakadrien Turner had been searching for her since she ran away in the fall of 2010. Her grandmother scoured Facebook looking for the girl, viewing Jakadrien’s friends’ pages for any information. Continue reading →

The Birmingham News: First US Public Defender in Alabama to build offices in Birmingham and Huntsville

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It’s hard to think of places in the United States that don’t provide public defenders, leaving those who are poor with less of a shot at getting some “justice” from the justice system. I can only imagine how justice was dealt with before.  Hopefully now with a system in place, the courts can be a little fairer for the poor in Alabama. Photo on the right is of Kevin Butler, the first US Public Defender appointed in North Alabama (Birmingham News/ Joe Songer) Submission Post by Charisse Domingo

First US public defender in North Alabama to build offices in Birmingham and Huntsville

by Kent Faulk, The Birmingham News
Published: Thursday, January 05, 2012, 7:55 AM

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — North Alabama’s first federal public defender says he hopes to have offices in Birmingham and Huntsville open by summer with a staff to defend federal criminal defendants who can’t afford to hire their own lawyers.

Since beginning his job in October as the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Alabama, Kevin Butler has been busy interviewing potential staff and locating office space in the two cities. He’s also begun fighting on behalf of a few indigent criminal defendants.

Butler said his first goal for the office is to provide “the highest-quality representation of the indigent defendant as soon as possible.”
Continue reading →

In Response to National Criticism, ICE Announces New Detainer Form

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In a recently released media alert, ICE has presented new features to the ICE immigration detainer (Form I-247). Detainer requests are the device ICE uses to request local jails to hold people beyond their local sentence in order for ICE to then pick them up and place them in detention. The new form, and press release, may be in response to the national criticism of their Scomm (Secured Communities) program. Counties such as Santa Clara County and Chicago have lead the charge against ICE’s detainer policies.

 

The new features may represent positive impact for counties across the United States, if actually enacted. Here in Santa Clara County, the Santa Clara coalition against SCOMM has been working hard in advocating for all immigrants that could be impacted by detainers. We also see the same hard work being done in countless counties across the nation. This new ICE detainer form has potential in shifting who will eventually get deported and who will not in other counties – again depending on how counties and states respond to the announced changes, and how sincere ICE is in these changes. First off, the document does state that the detainer request form is in fact a request. Many county officials across the county did not know that a detainer is an actual request, rather erroneously thinking it was legally mandatory. And in an interestingly worded statement, the press release states that “the new form allows ICE to make the detainer operative only upon the individual’s conviction.” ICE, through SCOMM, currently sends people into detention regardless of conviction or not. Another interesting part of the form is that they have now incorporated a hot-line one could call to lodge a complaint or any issues that one may have with their hold, although I wouldn’t trust a hot-line made by the same department of the government that is trying to work so hard in getting immigrants deported out of. Continue reading →

Amy Bach Creates New “Measures for Justice”

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Check out this exciting new creation by our friend Amy Bach, author of Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court, who is starting a measure and improve systemic problems in our court system. Reading her book was like reading a diary for ACJP families, and we are certain her new Justice Index is going to lead to real, tangible, and life-changing improvements in the courts…check it out at: http://measuresforjustice.org/

Billions Behind Bars: Inside America’s Prison Industry

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GLADIATOR SCHOOL 

The biggest prison in the state of Idaho is also known as the toughest. The privately run Idaho Correctional Center – The ICC – was so violent, the employees and inmates began calling the place the “gladiator school.”

Published: Monday, 19 Sep 2011 by: Jennifer Dauble

People of color once again have become the new found commodity that fuel’s the growth for building new jails and prisons in the U.S. and lined the pockets of big businesses.   Post submission by Gail Noble

Billions Behind Bars: Inside America’s Prison Industry

With more than 2.3 million people locked up, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. One out of 100 American adults is behind bars – while a stunning one out of 32 is on probation, parole or in prison. This reliance on mass incarceration has created a thriving prison economy. The states and the federal government together spend roughly $74 billion a year on corrections, and nearly 800,000 people work in the industry. Continue reading →

New York Times Editorial: Jurors Need To Know That They Can Say No

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Retired Professor Julian Heicklen was recently indicted on federal charges of jury tampering for standing outside the US Courthouse in Manhattan distributing information on “jury nullification”. Jury nullification is when a jury reaches a verdict outside of a judge’s instructions on the law.  It has been used in the past to defy unjust policies such as the fugitive slave laws but has also been used by a jury in the South who refused to convict civil rights activist Medgar Evers. Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor and Law Professor at George Washington University, wrote this piece in the New York Times, advocating for jury nullification.  Submission post by Charisse Domingo

Jurors Need to Know That They Can Say No

By PAUL BUTLER
Published: December 20, 2011

New York Times

IF you are ever on a jury in a marijuana case, I recommend that you vote “not guilty” — even if you think the defendant actually smoked pot, or sold it to another consenting adult. As a juror, you have this power under the Bill of Rights; if you exercise it, you become part of a proud tradition of American jurors who helped make our laws fairer.

The information I have just provided — about a constitutional doctrine called “jury nullification” — is absolutely true. But if federal prosecutors in New York get their way, telling the truth to potential jurors could result in a six-month prison sentence.

Continue reading →

Los Angeles County Jails: Wrongful incarcerations occurred more than 1,480 times in the last five years.

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A recent investigation by the LA Times reveals that the County Jails have a record of incarcerating hundreds of innocent people for days, weeks, and months at a time before realizing the error. How many people will slip through the cracks of this system and continue to be innocently imprisoned? – Post submission by Ernest Chavez

By Robert Faturechi and Jack Leonard, Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2011

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday that he will create a task force to minimize the wrongful jailings of people mistaken for someone else.

Baca’s move came in response to a Times investigation that found hundreds of people have been wrongly imprisoned in recent years, with some spending weeks behind bars before authorities realized their true identities. Continue reading →

Mercury News: Public Defender Mary Greenwood in line for Santa Clara County judgeship

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A County’s head of the Public Defender’s office may be the most important, yet least discussed decision-maker in a local criminal justice system. With Mary Greenwood potentially leaving to receive a judgeship, an important transition is going to be made by County Board of Supervisors for a position that will impact thousands of people for years to come. Seems like community input should be gathered for this important selection. — Post submission by Raj Jayadev

By Howard Mintz // hmintz@mercurynews.com (Published on 12.12.11)

Santa Clara County may be losing its top public defender but gaining a well-qualified new judge.

Mary Greenwood, the county’s chief public defender for the past six years, appears to be on the brink of an appointment to the Superior Court bench.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s staff has forwarded her name to a statewide judicial screening commission, which last week began circulating questionnaires on Greenwood in the local legal community, ordinarily a prelude to a judicial appointment. Continue reading →

MSNBC.Com: Arizona sheriff violates civil rights of Latinos, Justice Department says

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Homeland Security needs to be braking ties with all local law enforcement agencies, not just in Arizona.  SCOMM is the tool used for racial profiling not just in Joe Arpaio’s state. — Post submission by Gail Noble

By msnbc.com staff and wire service reports / Jim Gold contributed to this report.

Joe Arpaio of Phoenix, Ariz. is the most famous sheriff in America, known for his tough policies against illegal immigrants and the no-nonsense way he runs the county jail. Arpaio is now in trouble with the U.S. Justice Department, accused of violating Latinos’ constitutional rights. NBC’s George Lewis reports.

Continue reading →

Bringing Elias Home: 13-year-old Returns to Family After Immigration Detention

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Submission Post and video by Charisse Domingo

After four months in immigration detention, 13 year old Elias comes home.  After facing charges, he was placed on an immigration hold, and unlike other Bay Area counties, San Mateo enforces detainer requests regardless of age.  But because of his mom’s advocacy and supported by community, Elias is coming home to spend Christmas with his family. 

A longer story on juvenile ICE holds is coming, but we wanted to share with you the moment that Patricia and Elias were reunited at the San Francisco Airport on Wednesday, December 21.