Friday Tweets: Gambling, Lobbyists and a Foiled Sandwich Plot

Published July 03, 2009 @ 04:47PM PT

Happy July 4th weekend to readers of the CJ blog in the US of A. For those of you outside of the U.S., happy July 4th weekend to you as well. (You don't need a holiday to have a happy weekend, right?)

Thanks for your emails and for joining in some great conversations on the blog this week. You can find me on twitter @mattjkelley and always feel free to email me at matt [at] change.org. Here's a quick roundup of some crime and punishment stories you may have missed during another busy news week:

States cut $1.5 billion from mental health care spending in 2009 and will cut $3 billion more in 2010. Georgia has found that a 24-hour hotline helps address problems before they get serious.

An investigation by Texas Watchdog found that lobbyists for private prison giant GEO Group are quite cozy with the state's leading lawmakers.

A post and podcast from Feministing explains the details of sexual assault exams and points to the need for every college in the country to have a sexual assault response team.

A woman was arrested in Chile for bringing a sandwich into a prison on visiting day stuffed with marijuana. (Article in Spanish)

Obama heads to Russia next week. Human Rights Watch is urging him to address the Russian government's lack of response to a spike in neo-Nazi violence. Join the call here.

Meanwhile, also in Russia, gambling suddenly became illegal at midnight on Wednesday - casinos are now quarantined in four distant corners of the country. Moving it underground?

Retweets of the week:

@brookpete Cornell Capa: Concerned About Prisons. http://bit.ly/12pC9g [that's a Capa photo above, from Nicaragua]

@maliheh_ IRAN: Ten days of anguish, abuse inside Tehran's prison archipelago. http://bit.ly/ZVSPI

@shawmurai thinks the sentence for madoff is excessive despite the suffering caused and will be halved on appeal

@insightnews Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) achieves goal http://tinyurl.com/lybguv

@accesstojustice: AG Holder Outlines DOJ's 5 Steps for Improving Indigent Defense in Address (US) http://bit.ly/1DPlf

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Matt has worked and volunteered in various capacities in criminal justice reform for several years. When he's not blogging, he works as the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project. Views expressed here are Matt's, and don't represent the positions of the Innocence Project.