Afternoon, were here to hear from mr. Chris fabricant. Who is the director of strategic litigation for the Innocence Project and one of the nations leading experts on Forensic Sciences and the criminal Justice System. Mr. Fabricants book junk science and the american criminal Justice System chronicles the prosecution of individuals who were found guilty of capital murder. And the fight to overturn those Wrongful Convictions he weaves together the courtroom battles from mississippi to texas to new york. And beyond and mr. Fabricant takes the reader on a journey into the heart of a broken racist justice Justice System and the role that Forensic Science plays in maintaining the status quo. And joining mr. Fabricant for this conversation and moderating. It is allison Leota Montgomery countys own. She is a former federal prosecutor turned author who has been dubbed the female john grisham and also serves on the board of directors for the mystery writers of america and what i actually enjoy
His book junk science and the american criminal Justice System chronicles a prosecution of individuals who were found guilty of capital murder. And the fight to overturn those Wrongful Convictions. He weaves together the courtroom battles from mississippi to texas to new york and beyond, and he takes the reader on a journey into the heart of a broken, racist Justice System. And the role that Forensic Science plays in maintaining the status quo. And joining him for this conversation and moderating it is allison leotta, Montgomery County alone, a former federal prosecutor turned author who has been dubbed the female john grisham, and also serves on the board of directors for the mystery writers of america. And what i actually enjoyed about listening to them in a few moments and their journeys that theyve been on before becoming a lawmaker Montgomery County i used to be a journalist. I worked at cnn for 12 years and its conversations like this that help inform me and help inform the publi
For some reason we seem to think that for admin seg, someone will sell 23 hours a day. Who defines that . Its probably some court case that mandates that and why isnt it 20 hours a day or 18 hours a day. They work their way down to 10. Thats one thing we will be doing. Its been automatic that someone on death row will stay in administrative segregation until they are put to death. Some are found innocent and released and we will change our policy on that and giving them the opportunity to get outside of yourself. Where we will end up is a small handful of all that we are talking about. For those in administrative segregation, that doesnt mean we give up on them, but i sat there for over 20 hours. This was no way to treat an american. No way they should be treating someone like this and internationally its not a way to be treating someone. This is receiving the right amount of tension at the right time and its time to move this forward. Thank you. Thanks. I might say to those gathered h
I might ask anybody in this audience to stand up if they feel like they would like to live next to someone thats been released directly from segregation into the street and im pretty sure people are going to stay in their chairs. What we were able to do, in 2012 we released 140 directly into the street. In 2014 we released two so far. And the other area i was challenged by the governor was take a look at everyone else in administrative segregation and see if you can determine the numbers of those that should be released. Weve done that. That was started by the executive director and continued by me. In january of 2011, we had 1,451 in admin seg, as its called. In january of 2014, we had 597. In a sense i dont feel im replacing mr. Clements. I feel im fulfilling his vision. Thats what were doing in colorado. I believe that nobody should be released directly to the community. And some of the things that were doing are some that all can be doing. I dont disagree with anything mr. Samuels
Knowledgeable to do. Too often our jails have become our countrys mental institutions, and i believe that supporting bills such as the Community Mental Health Collaborative Mental Health act that senator franken spoke of earlier will help provide resources to our states, Law Enforcement community, as well as to our state corrections officials when theyre encountering and dealing with people that are suffering from Mental Health issues and Mental Illness. I would like to share some promising alternatives and strategies from justice fellowships perspective of those that have reduced the use of segregation. That is first to use Mission Housing to target the need of prisoner was Mental Illness, developmental delays, and those at risk of sexual victimization. Second, to use alternative responses to the disruptions outside of segregation. Third is to increase the training for the prison staff on methods that promote positive social behavior within the bureau of prisons. Jurisdictions employi