Author Archives: k-sue park

About k-sue park

J.D. Candidate, Harvard Law School/ Ph.D Candidate, University of California, Berkeley, Fulbright Scholar, South Korea 2003-04

Illinois’ only supermax may shortly close!

Posted on February 22, 2012 by k-sue park

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed closing Tamms Correctional Center, the state’s only supermax prison. Even if driven by economic efficiency concerns, this action could put an end to prison conditions that have caused a mental health crisis, precipitated, among … Continue reading →

Posted in National, Prison Conditions | 10 Comments

Everybody is talking about sentencing

Posted on February 18, 2012 by k-sue park

This week, the U.S. Sentencing Commission held a hearing in Washington, D.C. on federal sentencing after U.S. v. Booker, the Supreme Court decision that made the sentencing guidelines advisory instead of mandatory.  Families Against Mandatory Minimum’s VP Mary Price testified that judges … Continue reading →

Posted in Court decisions, National, Sentencing | 1 Comment

Massachusetts sentencing bills are… still in negotiation

Posted on February 16, 2012 by k-sue park

For those of you following the current controversy over Massachusetts sentencing bills, Families Against Mandatory Minimums has this update: As of last month, the conference committee that was trying to negotiate a compromise between the Senate and House sentencing bills … Continue reading →

Posted in Legislation, Local, Sentencing | 1 Comment

Cash for prisons

Posted on February 15, 2012 by k-sue park

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is the nation’s largest operator of for-profit prisons; it is a “Wall Street giant” that has grown more than five-fold during the last fifteen years. After 9/11, it capitalized on anxieties about national security and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Prison Conditions | 1 Comment

Hundreds die in Honduras prison fire

Posted on February 15, 2012 by k-sue park

A fire at a central Honduras prison has caused over 300 deaths, and this tragedy has drawn attention to the broader crises of overcrowding and violence in the nation’s carceral system. The New York Times covers the story, with a photo … Continue reading →

Posted in International, Prison Conditions | 2 Comments

Juvenile-in-Justice Project

Posted on February 6, 2012 by k-sue park

We rarely see images of incarcerated children like this. You can take a look at more of photographer Richard Ross’ work and watch a video in which he is interviewed here.

Posted in Publications, Media and Advocacy, Uncategorized, Youth | 1 Comment

The Incarcerated Elderly

Posted on February 1, 2012 by k-sue park

The dramatic increase in prison population in the U.S. over the past few decades means that there is now an unprecedentedly large geriatric prison population for which prisons do not have the resources to care. Last week, Human Rights Watch released … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A call to think harder: Guenther on Gopnik’s privilege

Posted on January 31, 2012 by k-sue park

Right after I posted on Adam Gopnik’s piece in the New Yorker, I ran across this sharp and excellent criticism of it by Lisa Guenther, who calls Gopnik out for failing to interrogate the racially determined– or let’s just say … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Federal sentencing and the GOP

Posted on January 31, 2012 by k-sue park

This article‘s discussion of mandatory sentencing guidelines versus discretion shows how stuck the debate is and conveys how depressingly racism will shape both approaches, quite aside from aspirations to create uniformity in sentencing or to reserve a place for consideration … Continue reading →

Posted in Legislation, Sentencing | Leave a comment

Lockuptown, America

Posted on January 26, 2012 by k-sue park

I hope you’ll all read Adam Gopnik’s recent article in the New Yorker, which addresses how “[m]ass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country today.” In his attempt to answer the … Continue reading →

Posted in National, Prison Conditions | 1 Comment