News of the Abused

(11:00AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Just a few items. Short, but not sweet.

Court rejects Calif. plan to cut prison population

October 21, 2009

AP

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —  A federal judicial panel has rejected the Schwarzenegger administration’s plan for reducing California’s prison population because it failed to meet the terms of an earlier court order.

In August, the panel ordered California to reduce its inmate population by roughly 27 percent, or 40,000, over two years. The courts have found that prison overcrowding is the main cause of negligent medical and mental health care.

Death penalty opponents say practice a failure, waste of money

By Adam Folk

Oct. 21, 2009

The same day convicted Richmond County killer Mark McClain was executed at a Georgia prison, one of the nation’s leading non-profit death penalty research organizations released a harsh assessment of the practice.

A report by the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center released Tuesday said state executions are wasting millions of dollars that could be funneled to other anti-crime efforts, and that law enforcement officials increasingly view it as a low priority for reducing actual crimes.

Missouri prisons chief urges cooperation to rehabilitate offenders

by Joseph Kenny

October 21, 2009

JEFFERSON CITY  –  George Lombardi, director of the Missouri Department of Corrections, has quite a selling point.

In his work to enlist the community’s help in reintegrating offenders into society, Lombardi points to one statistic: 97 percent of all inmates someday will return to society.

In recent years the department has partnered with other state agencies and groups, including Catholic and other faith-based groups, on how to assist and prepare these inmates. Lombardi is continuing the effort while forging new partnerships.

Lombardi began his role as department director earlier this year with the new state administration, but he is a 33-year veteran of the department, including work as director of adult institutions and warden of two correctional centers. He said that when he first began work in 1972 at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, it was a “bloody and difficult place” with frequent stabbings and murders.

Man Involved in MPD Brutality Lawsuit Talks

By Melanie Stout and Jay Sorgi

October 20, 2009

MILWAUKEE – For the first time, we’re hearing from a man who says he was left paralyzed by Milwaukee Police Officer Kevin Clark.

Curtis Harris claims Clark attacked him six years ago at the Milwaukee Police District Three offices on the 2300 block of North 49th Street on Milwaukee’s south side.

Harris is confined to a wheelchair. He can no longer do the things many of us take for granted, like eat or get out of bed.

China cracks down on Chongqing’s gangsters

October 21, 2009

by Jaime FlorCruz

BEIJING, China (CNN) — China’s long simmering battle against corruption has come to a boil, this time in Chongqing, the largest megalopolis in the world. A massive crackdown has implicated millionaires, gangsters, and even police officers. Known as “dahei” (combat triads), the campaign has put the spotlight on organized crime and how it has infested local bureaucracy and businesses through bribery, extortion, blackmail and violence.

Outrage at government plan for secret inquests

October 22, 2009

By Robert Verkaik

Plans to introduce secret inquiries into controversial deaths from which the public and bereaved families could be banned are to be pushed through the House of Commons by the Government.

Last night ministers suffered a humiliating defeat for the proposals in the House of Lords, but insisted that they were “clear” that “harmful material” must not be made public, and would reintroduce the measures in the Commons.

The new powers would allow them to turn inquests like that of Jean Charles de Menezes or those involving the deaths of British soldiers into secret hearings.

Albuquerque reserve officers to return in November

By Heather Clark

October 20, 2009

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Albuquerque Police Department plans to reinstate about 25 reserve officers after reports that a volunteer officer went undercover to nab suspected prostitutes prompted new department rules forbidding volunteers from making arrests and signing complaints.

David Young, who has been a civilian police employee for 11 years, was involved in 24 arrests of prostitutes since 2006 as a reserve officer. He identified himself in at least one complaint as a detective.

Albuquerque defense attorneys have called Young’s actions an outrageous abuse of power.

Kidman addresses Congress on violence

LOS ANGELES – Australian Oscar winner Nicole Kidman has given an emotional address at a congressional hearing in Washington DC, citing violence suffered by women in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Congo.

Kidman was part of a delegation testifying before the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organisations, Human Rights and Oversight

Battered Women’s Ills Go Beyond Bruises

MONDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) — Women abused by their romantic partners are more likely to suffer from a long list of medical maladies than other women, a new study shows.

The diseases, many of which aren’t traditionally connected with violence, include abdominal pain, chest pain, headaches, acid reflux, urinary tract infections and menstrual disorders.

“Roughly half of the diagnoses we examined were more common in abused women than in other women,” study author Amy Bonomi, an associate professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University, in a school news release. “Abuse is associated with much more than cuts and bruises.”

Obama Abandons Abused Women in Afghanistan

Obama Abandons Abused Women in Afghanistan

Warner Todd Huston

October 19, 2009

President Barack Obama is putting the finishing touches on making a mockery out of the unsupportable claim that Democrats care about women’s rights by his signal to the Afghan Taliban, warlords, strongmen, militias, and tribal leaders that he’s ready to negotiate with anyone there in order to smooth his efforts in that troubled region.

President Obama is letting it be known that he’s prepared to cut deals with the Taliban in order for Afghan warlords to cut ties with al Qaeda. Obama thinks he can work with the supposedly “moderate” Taliban groups in Afghanistan in a bid to oust al Qaeda. A Taliban moderate. What sort of mythical creature is this?