MS: “Sex offenders and people on death row would not be eligible”

Senate Bill 2448, which passed the Senate with little opposition and is now with the House Medicaid Committee, would allow “medically frail” inmates to be paroled to “special care facilities.” These would be specially licensed nursing homes where Medicaid could help pay for their care. Sponsor Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, says his bill would reduce costs for the Mississippi Department

Read more

Miya’s Law clears second Senate hurdle

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Environment & General Government unanimously passed a bill (SB 898), known as “Miya’s Law,” aimed at improving tenant safety in apartment buildings by requiring background screenings for employees. The background screening must include a national screening of criminal history records and sexual predator and sexual offender registries. The screening would specifically include criminal offenses

Read more

Sex-Offender Laws Sent a Man to Prison Over a Prayer Livestream

Jason wasn’t sure what to do. After an alleged sexting incident in 2012 snowballed into a felony conviction in his southern state, he was forced to register as a sex offender and barred from using a computer or smartphone. Over time, the conditions of his probation were reduced to a patchwork of technology-related restrictions: He was allowed to use email,

Read more

Statement of JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR respecting the denial of certiorari.

Thank you to a member for sharing this: In New York, criminal defendants who earn sufficientgood time credits before the end of their prison sentencesare entitled to conditional release. Defendants classified bythe State as “level three sex offenders,” however, must firstassure the State that they will not reside within 1,000 feetof any school. In New York City, this is no

Read more

TX: Houston area police department scans license plates for registrants.

This is a concerning story out of Texas. The Memorial Villages Police Department, like many other municipalities, has installed license plate scanners to flag vehicles that travel through their city. Instead of just using the scanners to search for active warrants, stolen vehicles or amber alerts, they use it to flag registrant’s vehicles. According to this article, Agencies choose which

Read more

KY: Will fear mongering make it harder for registrants to live in long term care facilities?

Note that: However, since our report, Kentucky Senator David Yates, D-Louisville, and State Senator Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, are considering draft legislation on full disclosure. This is awful. It’s not in response to anything bad happening, it’s simply in response to this news story. Someone should contact these senators.

Read more

Call To Action – Oppose SB 1732

Click here for printable Call-to-Action.  Contains Senate Committee contact information, talking points, and instructions for your call to action on SB 1732. In Summary, SB 1732: Creates new statute 83.555 “Landlord immunity from liability for leasing to persons with certain criminal records.” While this bill was intended to encourage landlords to rent to persons with past criminal offense, it appears

Read more

Employers should “rethink” using criminal histories in hiring decisions, researchers say

One in three adults in the United States has been arrested at least once, a strikingly high number compared with many other countries. Now, a new study reveals one of the implications of that figure: Nearly half of unemployed U.S. men have criminal convictions, which makes it harder to get a job, according to an analysis of survey data of men

Read more