Number of African-Americans sent to Georgia prisons hits historic lows, By Bill Rankin, January 25, 2018, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The number of African-Americans being locked up in Georgia’s prison system has dropped to historic lows, reflecting a monumental shift in the way Georgia is punishing nonviolent offenders. While prison admissions have dropped almost 19 percent in the past eight years, the incarceration of black inmates fell by 30 percent. And the number of black inmates entering the prison system last year was at its lowest level in decades, Department of Corrections records show…”
Day: February 2, 2018
Access to Legal Aid
Justice Dept. office to make legal aid more accessible is quietly closed, By Katie Benner, February 1, 2018, New York Times: “The Justice Department has effectively shuttered an Obama-era office dedicated to making legal aid accessible to all citizens, according to two people familiar with the situation. The division, the Office for Access to Justice, began as an initiative in 2010 under former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to increase and improve legal resources for indigent litigants in civil, criminal and tribal courts. Though the head of the office reports directly to the associate attorney general, it never gained much visibility within the Justice Department because it did not oversee a large staff of prosecutors…”
Food Insecurity – Columbus, OH
One-third of families experience food ‘insecurity,’ double previous estimates, By Rita Price, January 26, 2018, Columbus Dispatch: “A study that looked at Columbus neighborhood ‘food environments’ found disparities in access, affordability and availability that could be much worse than previously understood. The results are yet another indication — one that isn’t always easy to see — of the city’s deep economic divides…”