the director and 11 officials at a prison in northern Mexico have been charged with helping 17 inmates escape through a tunnel starting in the prison's laundry room.

The federal prosecutor's office says the director and 11 officials at a prison in northern Mexico have been charged with helping 17 inmates escape through a tunnel starting in the prison's laundry room.
The prosecutor's office alleges the prison officials in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, across the border from Texas, helped the inmates escape through a hatch hidden underneath a washing machine. The tunnel emerged outside the prison's grounds.
The officials were also charged Friday with gang involvement in connection with Tuesday's jailbreak. They were brought before a judge who will decide their case.
Security at state prisons is notoriously lax. Jailbreaks are common and inmates are often found to be directing criminal operations from behind bars.

READ MORE - the director and 11 officials at a prison in northern Mexico have been charged with helping 17 inmates escape through a tunnel starting in the prison's laundry room.

Ruben Pinuelas running a prison yard for the Mexican Mafia.

Ruben Pinuelas was a rising star in the criminal underworld. By the time he turned 24, he'd left his small gang in El Centro behind, got busted for auto theft, stabbed an inmate and moved on to bigger things: running a prison yard for the Mexican Mafia. 
His reign at California State Prison, Corcoran's Substance Abuse Treatment Facility lasted only a year. But it was the bloodiest year in the institution's history. The young leader had his hand in at least 10 attempted murders, and officials say they averaged a stabbing a day while Pinuelas controlled Facility C.
His story serves as a window into the power that criminal street gangs wield, even from behind bars, and the great lengths local authorities will go to keep these people in check.
"The gang culture is very, very violent," Kings County Gang Task Force Supervisor Andrew Meyer said. "They rule through fear, violence and intimidation. When they wind up in prison, they all form up together under a unified ruling body that controls their yard."
This unified body is known as a mesa, or table. It's a group of respected gang members who control the flow of money and narcotics in and out of the yard. And the head of a table, the "shot caller," gets a percentage from every transaction.
"The person running the yard has a lot of power," Meyer said. "He makes money without ever lifting a finger. Contraband goes for 10 times street value inside a prison. So these guys end up very wealthy."
Pinuelas was given control of Facility C after the previous shot caller was moved to a different prison. From the day he started, he showed a knack for keeping records and moving drug money around, so authorities had a hard time tracking it.
What he lacked, though, was subtlety.
Any time someone questioned his authority, Pinuelas lashed out. It is against the gang code to disobey orders, Meyer said, but Pinuelas went after everyone. He even had people stabbed who owed him money and paid late, investigators said.
The prison Investigative Services Unit began looking into the rise in attacks in the facility, but Investigator Ryan Couch could never directly link the hits to Pinuelas.
Until April 3, 2007.
That day, two inmates assaulted another out on the yard. The attackers, Aldrin Trejo and Louis Jimenez, continued to beat the man until they were covered in blood. They only stopped hitting him when correctional officers threatened to shoot, investigators said later. Though no weapons were found, the victim's wounds were consistent with a knife or sharp object.
But it was the location - the yard - where the attempted murder went down that surprised everyone.
"An attack on the yard is incredibly public," Deputy District Attorney Sarah Hacker said. "The assailant takes the risk of having correctional officers witness it. It also locks down the yard and limits a gang's ability to communicate and make drug transactions. Only a shot caller could have taken that kind of risk and ordered it."
Couch and the other investigators decided to search Pinuelas' cell. What they found was a wealth of information, more than 100 handwritten notes detailing extensive gang business - the good records Pinuelas was known for.
"He liked to keep his writing around," Meyer said. "We found lots of stuff in his files: lists of drug transactions, money owed, nicknames for gang members, parole dates, everything. Their entire chain of command was written down for us."
And among the files was a two-page note written by Pinuelas ordering the murder of his victim, identified by authorities only as "Inmate Villalobos."
The resulting investigation spanned more than three years and involved people from the Kings County District Attorney's Office, the Gang Task Force and the prison's Investigative Services Unit. They even enlisted help from the Department of Justice to examine the documents and compare handwriting samples, a news release said.
"It was worth it to send a message," Meyer said. "We're not going to let these people operate without any consequences. I doubt this will deter them, but I sure hope it does."
What they discovered was a power struggle for the mesa. Inmate Villalobos had been watching Pinuelas shed blood left and right and decided to do something about it. He, a loyal gang soldier, wrote to the gang leaders and asked for permission to take over and do things right.
Those loyal to Pinuelas warned him in advance. The leaders told Villalobos to do nothing, to let it slide. Pinuelas was told the same, but instead decided to make an example of the man in front of everyone on the yard, Meyer said.
Ultimately, Villalobos survived. And for living through such a violent assault, he was promoted in the gang as an "ideal soldier," investigators said.
Pinuelas was paroled in 2008, just nine months after the assault. He did not face charges until he was arrested in September 2010, along with Trejo and Jimenez for their role in the attempted murder.
They were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon by a prisoner. They also faced special enhancements for performing these acts to benefit a criminal street gang and for being previous one-strike offenders.
The jury trial lasted three weeks before coming back with a guilty verdict on all counts.
"It was a culmination of several years' investigation and so much hard work," Hacker said. "At that moment, I knew no matter what the outcome was, that good would prevail. I knew it in my bones. It was the best moment of the trial."
Pinuelas, Jimenez and Trejo were sentenced on Friday to each spend 60 years to life in prison. It served as a major victory for local law enforcement.
"I knew these guys had a certain amount of power, but not how much," Meyer said. "It's pure evil all around. To a magnitude I never suspected. The violence in our institutions is out of control. And it all spills out onto the streets. I hope this sends a message that we will continue to work cases like these."

READ MORE - Ruben Pinuelas running a prison yard for the Mexican Mafia.

The threat of the rising Mississippi River has prisoners at Angola State Prison racing to make sandbags and finish other preparations.

And longtime Angola Warden Burl Cain has readied plans to evacuate thousands of the prisoners in a matter of days. Cain told reporters Thursday that if predictions hold the river surrounding the prison farm will reach unprecedented levels soon.

As cattle grazed on the thousands of acres which encompass Angola, a race to fill sandbags was underway by prisoners.

"We're gonna have more water than we've ever dealt with before," said Cain.

Water from the bulging Mississippi has already reached an interior levee encircling the prison camps.

"The worst case scenario is if the levee breaks," Cain stated.

As it stands now, he will begin evacuating most of the 5,200 prisoners to other state run prisons on Monday.

"The ones we keep would the ones that might pose some sort of extreme threat to the public."

The prison intentionally breached a levee to relieve pressure and prevent overtopping and unthinkable consequences.

"It's a big bowl with a 12 mile levee around the whole farm and so there's no way to get water out of here other than evaporate or pump it out or let it run through the levee," Cain stated.

The interior levee was raised after the 1997 river crisis. The water that has invaded prison property and crept up next to the levee is already over 50 feet. Without the improvements to the levee, Cain said he would already be dealing with a flooding crisis.

"They told us if we didn't build a new levee we would lose Angola within 20 years."

The Angola ferry which many of the prison's employees rely on is out of commission because of high water which has basically swallowed the road leading to it.

Three quarters of the 18,000 acre prison farm is surrounded by the Mississippi River, and by May 23rd the river is expected to reach 65.5 feet.

"Picture that water 10 feet or 11 feet higher than it is today and look at that [prison] camp and you'll see that it would be inundated if the water came through...I'm very prayerful, I'm not certain of anything, but I'm pretty certain," he further stated.

Prison Camp "C" next to the levee will not be evacuated. Cain said hundreds of prisoners are needed to continue the flood protection work.

"We will keep this camp because we have to work on the levee."

And ultimately, Cain believes the higher levee will prevail against the rising water.

"We think we can weather this storm…..We're very experienced flood fighters and I have more resources than the Corps has because I have all these inmates," he said.

Cain added that New Orleans Sheriff Marlin Gusman is sending him buses on Friday to aid in the planned evacuation of prisoners.

READ MORE - The threat of the rising Mississippi River has prisoners at Angola State Prison racing to make sandbags and finish other preparations.

Inmates at a prison near Venezuela's capital freed the prison director and 14 other hostages Thursday and ended an eight-day standoff over conditions at the jail.

Inmates at a prison near Venezuela's capital freed the prison director and 14 other hostages Thursday and ended an eight-day standoff over conditions at the jail.
The prisoners released the last of their hostages after talks led to an agreement by government officials to provide medical services, set up a library and remove a national prisons administrator from his post.
The hostages left El Rodeo II prison in ambulances. The inmates had initially taken 22 people hostage April 27 but freed seven earlier this week during the negotiations with authorities.
Deputy Interior Minister Edwin Rojas confirmed that officials had complied with one key demand: removing a national prisons administrator and opening an investigation into accusations he was involved in corruption.
As part of the agreement, six inmates were also taken to a hospital outside the prison to be checked for possible tuberculosis cases.
The uprising in the prison near Caracas erupted after a sick inmate who apparently had tuberculosis was taken to another lockup where he was not given medical treatment, said Humberto Prado, a rights activist who leads the organization Venezuelan Prisons Observatory.
Prado criticized the inmates' tactics but said the prisoners decided to take hostages in part because they had been demanding medical care for a month and had not received any response from authorities.
Last year, 20 inmates with tuberculosis and AIDS died in Venezuelan prisons due to a lack of medical care, and eight more have died this year of the same causes, Prado told The Associated Press.
Venezuela's 30 prisons were designed to hold a total of 15,000 inmates, but the prison population is more than double that size. Chronic delays in court proceedings contribute to the problem.
Violence is common in the severely crowded and understaffed prisons, where inmates are able to obtain firearms and other weapons with the help of corrupt guards.
During 2009, 366 deaths were reported at Venezuela's prisons, according to figures kept by Prado's group. Some of the victims were killed using firearms.

READ MORE - Inmates at a prison near Venezuela's capital freed the prison director and 14 other hostages Thursday and ended an eight-day standoff over conditions at the jail.

400 prisoners are locked up in their cells 23 hours a day because they are in fear of being killed in jail.

A growing gang culture in prisons has forced authorities to take drastic measures to ensure the safety of those under threat.

The director general of the Irish Prison Service, Brian Purcell, admitted yesterday there were now more than 900 prisoners under protection in the nation's jails.

He acknowledged there was a problem with gang culture in society that was also being reflected behind prison walls.

But he denied claims made by delegates at the annual conference of the Prison Officers Association in Kilkenny that the gangs were taking control of the system.

He said prisoners had to be kept under protection because of threats to their security.

This was not an indication the prisons were unsafe but a measure of what the prison service was doing to ensure inmates were not harmed.

Mr Purcell said between 340 and 370 prisoners were kept in their cells for 23 hours a day and then allowed to exercise on their own for the other hour.

"If we didn't have the lock-ups, there would be an increasing risk," he said.

But the vast majority of the protected prisoners was subject to a regime that was similar to that experienced by most of the prison population, he said.

He revealed members of 10 to 12 different gangs were held in the prison system.

This meant that the different factions had to be kept apart, as far as possible.

Association president Stephen Delaney said there were 60 protected prisoners in Dublin's Mountjoy jail, including members of nine different factions, and this created significant problems for staff there.

Overall, there are about 4,500 people in custody and 5,500 in the system, including those on temporary release, according to Mr Purcell.

Projections for the next three to four years push the figures up to 7,000 in the system.

He said there were additional prison spaces due to come on stream in Mountjoy and Dochas next year, and the service was also looking at other options.

But he said no definite decisions on future prison building could be made until the Thornton Hall project review committee made its recommendations, which are due to be delivered to Justice Minister Alan Shatter by July 1.

Overcrowding

He said Thornton Hall had been a key plank in the strategy to deal with overcrowding in the past, and that the committee had to come up with some other solutions to that problem.

Mr Purcell said there were about 150 assaults by prisoners on staff in a year.

"Given the type of people we deal with, this is not a huge number but every assault must be deplored," he said.

He noted there were also 760 assaults by prisoners on other prisoners in a year, slightly over two a day. "We have 1.4 million prisoner bed nights in our jails on an annual basis, so two assaults a day is a relatively low number," he said

READ MORE - 400 prisoners are locked up in their cells 23 hours a day because they are in fear of being killed in jail.

suspected Aryan Brotherhood prison gang member got hold of a cell phone and called a friend to break him out of a minimum-security conservation camp in Nevada City, Calif

One day last summer, a suspected Aryan Brotherhood prison gang member got hold of a cell phone and called a friend to break him out of a minimum-security conservation camp in Nevada City, Calif.

Once free, 36-year-old Jeffory Shook --"one of the most violent and dangerous suspects we've encountered in a long time," a sheriff in Placer County, Calif., once called him -- began a four-week crime spree, stealing cars and leading officers on dangerous chases through four counties.

No one was hurt in Shook's escape. But San Francisco police officer Bryan Tuvera was killed in a December 2006 encounter with a camp escapee. Tuvera's partner returned fire, killing the escapee.

While those escapes were unusual, the decision to let violent convicts serve part of their time working under light guard in neighborhoods and rural communities is not, according to an investigation by the Record Searchlight of Redding, Calif.

At any given time, at least 800of the California camps' 4,000-plus inmates, or one in five, have violent criminal histories. This contradicts state officials' claims that only "carefully-screened," non-violent, low-risk inmates are allowed inside the state's 41 minimum-security conservation camps.

California's experience may presage a problem for other states, which increasingly rely on low-security solutions for the nation's burgeoning inmate populations.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, prison populations in recent years have swollen to more than 1.5 million inmates, more than double the number imprisoned in 1990.

Federal and state authorities opened 155 new minimum-security facilities between 2000 and 2005 to accommodate some of the growth. The number of medium-and maximum-security sites has held steady.

Eight months after Shook's escape, California officials have done nothing to change their policies.

Harriet Salarno, chairwoman of Crime Victims United of California, said it's disturbing that inmates with violent pasts are being placed in situations where "they can easily escape," she said. "They should be within the prisons' walls."

The Record Searchlight's analysis of primary offenses of conservation camp inmates between 2005 and 2010 shows:

-- At least 20 percent of camp inmates at any given time had been convicted of violent crimes such as robberies, car jacking, assaults or altercations with police.

-- More than 200 inmates had been convicted of violent crimes against police. Some crimes involved firearms or left officers injured. More than 30 inmates had been convicted of injuring or killing someone in police chases.

-- Fourteen were convicted of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Officials pulled another inmate from camp after he was charged with murder; he was convicted and is back in prison. He'd been in camp while serving time for a lesser charge, a prison spokeswoman said.

-- Two inmates had been convicted of kidnapping. Four had been convicted of hostage taking.

-- Fifteen had been convicted specifically of committing street-gang related crimes.

The camps' growing numbers of violent inmates raise alarms with some lawmakers, who say California's state and local officials have become reliant on cheap labor and fire protection.

While yellow-clad, paid state firefighters hold the hoses and drive fire engines, orange-garbed inmate fire crews do much of the grunt work, cutting fire lines with hand tools and falling burned trees with chain saws. In the off season, they pick up trash along the state highways, cut fire breaks and fill sandbags at floods.

California inmates work an average of 10 million work hours per year, saving taxpayers more than $80 million annually, prison officials said.

Still, "these are the same people who we're putting an ax or a chain saw in their hands," said Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko.

The state corrections department website paints a very different picture of the typical camp inmate.

"Only minimum custody inmates -- both male and female -- may participate in the Conservation Camps Program," the department's website says. "To be eligible, they must be physically fit and have no history of violent crime including kidnapping, sex offenses, arson or escape."

Pressed last month about the newspaper's findings, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation representatives repeatedly denied that violent inmates were placed at the camps.

"My understanding is ... if inmates are considered violent they're not allowed," said spokeswoman Terry Thornton.

The officials questioned whether the newspaper's interpretation of violent or dangerous crimes fit with the state's legal definition of what constitutes a dangerous inmate.

According to prison officials and inmate classification documents, prisoners qualify for camps through a point system designed to promote good behavior and weed out dangerous offenders.

Adult inmates selected for camp have average sentences of less than two years, and they spend an average eight months in camp, officials say.

The corrections department's own inmate classification records indicate an inmate can gain faster camp placement if there's a "shortage of camp qualified inmates."

But fire camp commanders soon may face a labor shortage. To reduce prison overcrowding and trim the state's budget, Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this month signed a law that will shift the lowest-risk inmates -- like many of those serving sentences at the camps -- to the custody of the state's 58 counties.

Jim Nielsen, a Republican assemblyman and former president of California's Board of Parole and Prison Terms, said budget cuts might prompt prison officials to place dangerous inmates in fire camps -- especially if the safest inmates are sent back to local jails.

"Whatever we've got now," Nielsen said, "it's only going to get vastly worse."

READ MORE - suspected Aryan Brotherhood prison gang member got hold of a cell phone and called a friend to break him out of a minimum-security conservation camp in Nevada City, Calif

Flanagan had close ties to the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a race-based state-wide organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons located throughout the state of Texas and the United States.

31-year old  Lufkin, Texas, woman was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone to 15 years in federal prison for her role in a double homicide that took place in Nacogdoches, Texas, in August 2007.

April Flanagan pleaded guilty on November 29, 2010, to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity, the object of which was a conspiracy to murder David Clyde Mitchamore Jr., and to acting as an accessory after the fact in the murder of Christy Rochelle Brown. 

According to the evidence and testimony presented in court, Flanagan had close ties to the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a race-based state-wide organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons located throughout the state of Texas and the United States. 

The ABT enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise. 

Members, as well as ABT associates and prospects, are required to follow, without question, the orders of higher-ranking members.  These so-called “direct orders” typically task the ABT member or associate to “discipline” the offending individual with physical force.

According to court documents, David Mitchamore, aka “Super Dave,” an ABT member, and his girlfriend, Christie Rochelle Brown, were murdered as a result of a “direct order” by ABT members because of Mitchamore’s failure to repay an outstanding debt he allegedly owed to an ABT member.   The bodies of Mitchamore and Brown were discovered in Nacogdoches County on August 10, 2007.

READ MORE - Flanagan had close ties to the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a race-based state-wide organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons located throughout the state of Texas and the United States.

The Texas Syndicate's golden rule is as simple as it is merciless: Betray us and you're dead.

Authorities contend that in the past decade, members of the Texas Syndicate, which is the state's original prison gang, have carried out at least 50 murders, solved or unsolved, in addition to countless extortions, kidnappings, robberies and assaults. Bodies have turned up all over Texas, with dozens of the gang's members and associates prosecuted in Austin, Dallas and Houston.
Thousands of the gang's members are locked up in state and federal prisons, but even more are on the streets today, their wrath chilling. Just this January, three were sentenced in the Rio Grande Valley to life without parole.
At the heart of that case: A Syndicate gangster turned federal informant was taken to Hooters by his buddies. After dinner, they drove to a sugar-cane field and shot him in the head.
A member in Dallas was similarly shot, then rolled in a carpet and stuffed in a car that was set ablaze. He had violated an order to end an affair with another member's mother.
Yet another, nicknamed Third Eye for a scar on his forehead, was shot in Houston as he sat outside a strip joint in his black Ford Mustang.
He was suspected of snitching, and bragging at a nightclub about being a member.
The Latino gang long has provided a blueprint for gangs of all races climbing into the major leagues of crime. It was the first Texas prison gang to embrace such Italian mobster traditions as strict rules and harsh discipline.
Among the Syndicate's main rules: Once you join, you are in for life and the gang comes before your blood family, God or anything else.
Despite changes that have come since the Texas Syndicate was founded in the 1970s, authorities said the state's original prison gang has dwindled in size but remains a significant threat.
On the streets as well as in the prisons, it is suspected of having approximately 3,800 confirmed or suspected members, although it is unclear how many are still active in the gang.
The Syndicate claims not to kill innocent people, but does go after those who betray them. Especially those who betray them.
Most are retribution hits on their own members, associates or rivals, according to authorities.
"It is the person you trust the most who will be whacking you," said a Texas Department of Public Safety lieutenant who supervises the major gang squad and has spent much of his career investigating Latino gangs.
Snitch's heroin death
Among the Syndicate's more infamous killings — for which a ranking member was executed by the state of Texas in 2009 - is the case of a gang member wrongfully suspected of being a snitch. He was held down in the so-called "Texas Syndicate Tank" by Syndicate soldiers in an El Paso jail and injected with heroin that had been smuggled inside.
"We don't harm innocent people, man," contends Mike Mendoza Jr., 32, a second-generation Texas Syndicate member from Baytown who is serving life in prison for murder.
"We don't tolerate none of our members who do that," Mendoza said in a face-to-face interview at a state penitentiary about 25 miles outside Huntsville. There also have been numerous instances of extortion, kidnapping, robberies and murders, both sanctioned and not sanctioned by the gang.
Mendoza, who has been an enforcer for the Syndicate, went out on his own when he stabbed a Baytown man who was not a Syndicate enemy. Mendoza had been drinking, and the two had an argument that quickly escalated.
"In that indictment all you see is drug dealers getting robbed, ex-members getting killed. … Respect is given when respect is given to us," Mendoza said of the federal case that snared him.
He killed Isaac Benavidez, 26, in an attack that a state prosecutor who is now a judge described as "an absolutely senseless, cold-blooded killing" in which the victim was "gutted like a deer."
Mendoza claimed he was defending himself because Benavidez had a gun.
Cartel subcontractors
One of the most common Syndicate-sanctioned crimes is the drug business. They work as subcontractors for Mexican cartels to enforce and transport drugs on U.S. soil.
The Syndicate's other crime of choice is home invasions, ripping off dealers by smashing down doors and stealing their dope and cash.
Hits are sanctioned against fellow gangsters by a majority vote of other members in a prison unit or city.
"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he had only Ten Commandments. These folks have 22," federal prosecutor Robert Wells Jr. told Valley jurors in a case in which three Syndicate members got life. "Violate any one of them and you're subject to death."
Authorities contend they have crippled the gang by sending key leaders, soldiers and associates to prison in the past decade. More than 40 have been indicted in federal courts. They were often taken down with the help of members who betrayed the gang at the risk of death.
"Many cooperating witnesses are Texas Syndicate members that have been ordered to be killed by the Texas Syndicate, placed in the witness-protection program, or are otherwise at risk of harm if their identities are disclosed," notes a document filed by prosecutors in 2007 in Houston when Mendoza and others were convicted.
Mendoza offers no excuses for his life in the Syndicate.
"I done lost everything for it," said Mendoza, who grew up in Baytown and goes by the street name Barney. "Even though they are considered criminals and that kind of stuff, the ones I grew up with, it was all about respect."
Mendoza's biological father - a man he never knew - was also in the Texas Syndicate.
Sitting behind protective glass and screening, Mendoza said that as a teenager he thought he would one day be a Marine and wear a dress-blue uniform to make his mother proud. Not the prison whites worn by an inmate.
"It just didn't work out. The street gangs caught up with me," said Mendoza, who while in prison used ash, shampoo and a needle to ink his first Syndicate tattoo.
'Nothing like it was'
Arnold Darby, 62, is one of the few white men ever accepted into the Syndicate and one of the oldest survivors from the original Syndicate soldiers.
He said that while old-school gangsters were known for keeping a low profile, a new breed is more brash and willingly draws the attention of law enforcement.
"The class and character of the members they bring in now is nothing like it was," said Darby, who has two murder convictions, including killing an ex-member who testified for the government.
Despite the influx of young members who have their own style, Darby said the Texas Syndicate remains a force.
"There is no one in the Texas prison system who does any time who doesn't know you better show some respect to them," Darby said during an interview at another state prison near Huntsville.
Law enforcement officials and Syndicate members said that the newer generation is more likely to turn their backs on tradition and take deals in exchange for leniency.
Hard case, hard time
Mendoza said he won't take a deal and wants nothing to do with those who will.
Because he is a member of the Syndicate - considered by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to be one of a dozen especially dangerous gangs - he serves his time under the harshest conditions in the prison system.
He is locked in a cell by himself 23 hours a day for his entire sentence.
In Mendoza's case, that means forever. Unless he renounces his membership and tells everything he knows - which he says he won't.
"Why would I run and put my tail between my legs? I did this to myself."

READ MORE - The Texas Syndicate's golden rule is as simple as it is merciless: Betray us and you're dead.

victim’s death was ordered by “a very powerful prison gang called the 'suranos,'” Spanish for the South Gang.

The trial of an Oregon State Penitentiary inmate accused of killing another prisoner got underway in Marion County Circuit Court .

Isacc Creed Agee, 33, is on trial for what prosecutors say was his part in the slaying of Antonio Barrantes-Vasquez inside the victim’s cell on Feb. 14, 2008.

Agee is charged with aggravated murder and could face the death penalty if convicted in Barrantes’ death.

During his opening statement, Matt Kemmy, a Marion County deputy district attorney, showed the jury a picture of the victim, saying the Barrantes had been asleep in his cell when Agee and another inmate, James Demetri Davenport, assaulted him.

“They were in their cell waiting for the chance to kill Mr. Barrantes,” Kemmy told the jury about the pair.

Davenport was sentenced to life in prison.

In his opening statement, Jeffrey Jones, Agee’s defense attorney, told jurors that he and his client were not contesting much of the evidence in Barrantes’ death.

He also told the jury the evidence will show that the victim’s death was ordered by “a very powerful prison gang called the 'suranos,'” Spanish for the South Gang.

READ MORE - victim’s death was ordered by “a very powerful prison gang called the 'suranos,'” Spanish for the South Gang.

The final three members of the Black Guerrilla Gang have pleaded guilty in federal court, wrapping up cases against 21 members what authorities described as a violent group responsible for money laundering, drug dealing and attacks inside Maryland prisons.

Police said they used pre-paid debit card accounts to deal drugs beyond prison walls.

“This case reflects an unprecedented commitment by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to combat crime and corruption in state correctional facilities," Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement. "An intensive investigation that included wiretaps on contraband prison cell phones resulted in evidence that BGF leaders ran the gang while incarcerated in state prisons.

"The crimes included extorting protection money from other inmates and using contraband cell phones to arrange drug deals, approve robberies and arrange attacks on cooperating witnesses," Rosenstein said. "In addition, gang members persuaded corrupt correctional officers to participate in the gang’s criminal activities by smuggling drugs, tobacco, cell phones and weapons into prisons.”

The arrests exposed corruption in prsion -- a guard was charged with helping deal drugs -- and revaled a handbook endorsed by an educator as promoting empowerment but described by authorities as a guide, or a "constitution," for gang life. The gang also had ties to an outreach group devoted to getting troubled youths off the streets.

Here is a previous story by The Sun's Justin Fenton exposing alleged activities of a corrections officers:

Items hauled out of a corrections officer's apartment before she was indicted in a gang racketeering conspiracy appear to connect her to a who's who of Baltimore criminals.

Authorities say Alicia Simmons, an employee at the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, is associated with the Black Guerrilla Family, the gang accused of directing a criminal enterprise from inside prison with the help of corrections staff. In a June 22 raid on her Pikesville apartment, agents seized the BGF "constitution," gang codes written in Swahili and paperwork related to its top leadership.Simmons, 34, also was in possession of letters, inmate ID cards, debit cards and other correspondence linked to some of the city's most notorious criminals. There's a letter from Kevin Gary, the Tree Top Bloods member known for his tinted red contact lenses, and another from Isaac Smith, convicted in the firebombing of a North Baltimore community activist's home.

She also had inmate identification cards in the names of Johnny "J.R." Butler and Calvin "Turkey" Wright, recently convicted for running a violent east-side drug ring connected to at least two killings; and Ronnie Thomas, better known as "Skinny Suge," the producer of the infamous "Stop Snitching" videos.

The search warrant and accompanying affidavit peel back another layer of the complex world of prison corruption that the Drug Enforcement Administration has been investigating for years, leading to a racketeering indictment this week.

Simmons is accused in the affidavit of helping smuggle heroin and cell phones through the prison's laundry system, allowing gang members to fight one another, and attempting to sniff out informants, including spying on federal agents as they met with a high-ranking gang member. The items in her apartment suggest her criminal ties go beyond the BGF.

Special Agent Edward Marcinko, a DEA spokesman, said her potential connections to other criminal enterprises were being investigated.

The Black Guerrilla Family is described by the DEA as the largest and most powerful prison gang in the state, with a presence in every facility and a top-down paramilitary structure that encouraged extortion and violence to further its goals. Already, the case has revealed how leaders used a handbook called the "Black Book" to spread its message while placing members to work with city school children and violence intervention programs as a front for recruiting.

Few details about Simmons' role in the BGF were revealed in the indictment unsealed this week. But the search warrant affidavit for her vehicle and Pikesville apartment, in the first block of Stockmill Road, adds additional perspective while raising questions about employee discipline within the prison system.

Federal agents appear to have focused on Simmons earlier this year, when a source told agents that they had personally observed her smuggle marijuana, crack cocaine and heroin into the protective custody unit of the Maryland Correctional Institute in Jessup in 2007, according to documents compiled by DEA Task Force member William Nickoles, a city police officer.

A second source said he had received a pound of marijuana from Simmons, and knew of a BGF commander who received 20 grams of heroin from her and other officers every two to three days. That source said that in December 2009 Simmons allowed BGF members into an area where they assaulted another inmate, and that she did not report the assault until the gang members were finished. She was removed from her shift as a result of the incident and suspended five days.

Agents also learned that Simmons was being disciplined by the Division of Correction for fraternizing with a former inmate over Facebook. She received a midlevel punishment that did not result in a suspension.

Prison officials have pointed to their cooperation with the DEA in bringing the indictments and said they should put the agency's "few bad apples" on notice that they will be caught. But Simmons' activities were well-known in the prison for years, according to informants who spoke to the DEA, and she continued to work as a guard despite the infractions.

Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said the agency has improved its screening processes and has been working with law enforcement agencies. He said he could not comment on Simmons' personnel records.

When agents searched the cells of three BGF leaders in 2009, the inmates were removed "under the ruse that they were summoned to the warden's office." After the searches, two of the members - Eric Brown and Ray Olivis - were removed from the general population and indicted. But the third man, Jonathan Braverman, was not.

Suspecting he was a cooperating informant, BGF members ordered a "hit on sight" on Braverman. Law enforcement officials visited Braverman - under the guise that they were attorneys - in June 2009 to advise him of the threat, and noticed Simmons "in close proximity to the interview area." By the next day, an informant was relaying to federal agents that Simmons had advised several inmates and BGF members that the DEA had visited Braverman and that he was an informant.

Agents served the search warrant on her home on June 25, and an inventory of seized items was unsealed this week. Included among the items were letters from inmates soliciting phone calls and favors, and newspaper articles about crime and the BGF case. They also found:

* An envelope from federal inmate Kevin Gary, a Tree Top Piru Bloods leader who last year received 30 years in prison after admitting to witness intimidation, ordering gang members to rob drug dealers and unsuccessfully arranging a murder. The envelope was addressed to Simmons' apartment, and contained a photograph of Gary and a letter.

* A copy of the BGF Constitution, a copy of BGF codes and Swahili words and their meanings.

* Federal inmate cards in the names of Calvin Wright, Johnny Butler, Dieon Scruggs, Lejuanna Walker, Darrick Frayling, and several others. Butler and Wright were sentenced recently to life and 35 years, respectively, in federal prison in connection with their heroin ring. They still face charges in the 2007 torture and killing of Sintia Mesa, who police say was killed over a drug debt.

Scruggs was charged in February with posing as a Federal Fugitive Task Force officer last fall; Walker was convicted in May and received 12 years in prison for his role in a Baltimore County drug ring.

* "Green Dot" prepaid debit cards, which authorities say are the currency of the prison system, in the names of various inmates including Fonda White and Jeffrey Fowlkes. White, a former prison guard, and Fowlkes, her incarcerated lover and BGF gang member, pleaded guilty to extorting thousands of dollars from prisoners and their relatives.

READ MORE - The final three members of the Black Guerrilla Gang have pleaded guilty in federal court, wrapping up cases against 21 members what authorities described as a violent group responsible for money laundering, drug dealing and attacks inside Maryland prisons.

Algerian court has jailed two former harbour-masters of the port of Algiers for criminal association and signing contracts in breach of the law,

Algerian court has jailed two former harbour-masters of the port of Algiers for criminal association and signing contracts in breach of the law, press reports said Thursday.


The two men, Bourouai Abdelhak and Ali Farrah, were respectively sentenced to six and four years in prison. They were also convicted of wrongfully distributing benefits.
In all, 10 people were accused in the case, of whom six were jailed and four were acquitted.

The verdict, against which defence lawyers said they would appeal, arose from the illegal practice of handing out contracts to private cargo handling firms to work inside the port.

Port managers had been operating in breach of regulations for a decade, according to the prosecution.

READ MORE - Algerian court has jailed two former harbour-masters of the port of Algiers for criminal association and signing contracts in breach of the law,

Two men wanted in connection with a double stabbing early Saturday morning that left one man dead and another wounded were captured Wednesday at a relative's home in Cincinnati,

Two men wanted in connection with a double stabbing early Saturday morning that left one man dead and another wounded were captured Wednesday at a relative's home in Cincinnati, and police are now interviewing the suspects.

Warrants had been issued Saturday charging 32-year-old Glenn Cross Jr., of Kearneysville, with murder for the fatal stabbing of 21-year-old Andre Jackson, of Martinsburg. Additional warrants were issued Saturday charging 34-year-old Thomas Anthony Grantham Jr., of Martinsburg, with malicious wounding and attempted murder in connection with the stabbing of the second victim, 26-year-old Jacques Taylor, of Martinsburg, who survived the attack. Grantham also is accused of attempting to run over Jackson with his vehicle, which resulted in the attempted murder warrant being filed.

The attack occurred early on April 23. Deputy U.S. Marshal Michael P. Ulrich said in a news release that the two murder suspects allegedly hunted down Jackson and Taylor after a verbal altercation in the parking lot of the Brickhouse Bar and Grill off Mid Atlantic Parkway in Martinsburg.

Jackson and Taylor were followed until they stopped on Rock Cliff Drive, when they were assaulted with knives. The victims were found in the 1900 block of Rock Cliff Drive after the double stabbing by members of the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department and West Virginia State Police, but the suspects had fled prior to the arrival of police.

As a result of the vicious stabbing, Jackson ultimately succumbed to his wounds and Taylor was taken to City Hospital.

Grantham and Cross will be charged as fugitives from justice in Ohio and will eventually be extradited back to West Virginia.

The Berkeley County Sheriff's Department was contacted by the U.S. Marshals Service at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in regard to the suspects' arrests by the Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team.

After being notified of the arrests, Sgt. T.E. Boyles and Deputy Michael P. St. Clair, investigators with the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department, departed immediately to travel to Ohio, Berkeley County Sheriff Kenneth "Kenny" Lemaster Jr. said late Wednesday night.

The investigators will be tasked with collecting evidence and interviewing the suspects. While in Ohio, they will work with authorities there and with the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to bring the suspects back to West Virginia, Lemaster said.

On Monday, the Mountain State Fugitive Task Force, a local U.S. Marshals Service-led fugitive task force, was asked to assist with the apprehension of Cross and Grantham. The investigation conducted by members of the task force and area law enforcement developed a lead that Grantham and Cross were staying with family in the Cincinnati area, Ulrich said in the news release.

READ MORE - Two men wanted in connection with a double stabbing early Saturday morning that left one man dead and another wounded were captured Wednesday at a relative's home in Cincinnati,

Drug cartels and their affiliated gangs are among those increasingly seizing control of Mexican prisons and practicing "self-rule," prison

Drug cartels and their affiliated gangs are among those increasingly seizing control of Mexican prisons and practicing "self-rule," prison observers say.

The Los Zetas drug cartel has the run of the prison in Saltillo, 190 miles southwest of Laredo, Texas, in what is known as "autogobierno" or self-rule, USA Today reported Thursday.

It dates back decades and forms of it exist in correctional facilities the world over, the newspaper said.

A report from the National Human Rights Commission shows self-rule on the rise, being practiced in 37 percent of Mexican prisons, up from 30 percent in 2009.

The report defines self-rule as inmates being permitted to manage internal functions "such as controlling keys, organizing activities (and) cleaning and overseeing dormitories, among others."

Security experts say self-rule exists mostly in state-level facilities and grew out of decades of corruption, neglect and underfunding.

"It's an expression of the enormous corruption that there is in these kinds of public security fields," said Vicente Sanchez, a professor at the College of the Northern Border in Tijuana.

In Saltillo, self-rule is in the hands of the Los Zetas, one of the most powerful and violent of Mexico's drug cartels.

Mexico's war on the cartels has seen hundreds of members imprisoned, but once incarcerated cartel members often take over a prison and continue involvement in their drug operations, officials said.

Self-rule, "Means having total control over an inmate population," along with "the ability to communicate with the outside without restrictions," said David Ordaz of Mexico's National Criminal Science Institute.

READ MORE - Drug cartels and their affiliated gangs are among those increasingly seizing control of Mexican prisons and practicing "self-rule," prison

Troops in Venezuela surrounded a jail where inmateswere holding 22 hostages, including the prison director, to protest against an alleged tuberculosis outbreak.

National guard units with helmets and shields blocked access to the Rodeo II prison in Guatire, just outside the capital Caracas, as officials attempted to negotiate a peaceful end to the two-day siege.

Prisoners seized the director, Luis Aranguren, and 21 other officials on Wednesday after an inmate with tuberculosis-type symptoms was taken to another jail for medical tests.

They demanded a medical inspection of the facility, which holds 1,200 inmates in cramped cells, and complained that their warnings of a possible epidemic over the past four months had been ignored even after the disease allegedly killed an inmate.

The deputy interior minister, Edwin Rojas, was due to visit the jail to talk to the hostages and try to broker an end to the stand-off without bowing to what authorities called kidnap pressure.

Holding hostages was "not the most adequate way" to make grievances known, said Rojas. The prisoner who was removed for medical tests had pneumonia, not tuberculosis, and a medical team was on stand-by to enter the jail once hostages were freed, the minister added.

"We believe in peaceful dialogue, in peaceful coexistence and the respect of human rights, not only of the prisoners but also of those who work in the prison system."

The prisoners, in messages sent via their families, said they feared reprisals and wanted guarantees for their safety. Relatives were due to read on TV a letter from prisoner leaders elaborating on demands and grievances.

The government has promised to build new, humane prisons but most of Venezuela's 48,000 inmates languish in old, degraded facilities. Humberto Prado, head of the Prisons Observatory watchdog, said the system was designed to hold only 12,500. Conditions are primitive and violence is rife, with hundreds killed every year.

In a tacit pact with authorities some gangs had started strangling rivals, rather than shooting or stabbing them, so the deaths could be registered as suicide, Prado wrote in the newspaper Tal Cual.

Carlos Nieto, head of another watchdog group, A Window for Freedom, said the fact a mass hostage taking could last for days showed that prisoners rather than authorities controlled jails.

READ MORE - Troops in Venezuela surrounded a jail where inmateswere holding 22 hostages, including the prison director, to protest against an alleged tuberculosis outbreak.

800 inmates escaped on Friday from two Tunisian prisons after fires were set in cells

800 inmates escaped on Friday from two Tunisian prisons after fires were set in cells, the official news agency said.
Soldiers and security forces quickly fanned out in a search of the fugitives and at least 35 were caught within hours, TAP said, citing military sources.
TAP reported that 522 inmates from the prison in Kasserine escaped after a fire in two cells, and another 300 inmates escaped from the Gafsa prison.
The two towns are both in Tunisia's center-west region, some 150 kilometers (about 95 miles) apart. Personnel at the prison in Gafsa were on strike at the time, likely making the mass exodus by inmates easier.
The North African nation has been hit by social unrest since the country's long-time autocratic ruler was ousted Jan. 14 in an uprising.
Some 11,000 inmates escaped from Tunisian prisons shortly after Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled into exile. Of those, several thousand have been caught and nearly 2,000 turned themselves in after the Justice Ministry warned the escape could worsen their cases, TAP reported.
Earlier, in the capital Tunis, police fired tear gas at hundreds of Islamists protesting what they said were offensive comments toward Islam by two teachers.
Protesters chanted "God is Great," and carried banners including one reading "We do not pardon those who insult the prophet."
Several hours of peaceful protest degenerated when some demonstrators sought to take on police, who immediately fired tear gas.
The demonstration on the main Avenue Bourguiba was the latest since Ben Ali was brought down, hounded out of the country by protesters angry over unemployment, corruption and repression.
Tunisia's uprising prompted protests around the Arab world.

READ MORE - 800 inmates escaped on Friday from two Tunisian prisons after fires were set in cells

111 U.S. citizens were killed in Mexico last year, nearly half of them on or near the Texas border

111 U.S. citizens were killed in Mexico last year, nearly half of them on or near the Texas border, as the country's gang-fueled violence worsened, according to the U.S. State Department.
The recently released reports don't specify how or why the Americans were murdered, nor does it name victims. But 80 percent of them were killed in border states where narcotics violence is worst - 39 alone in Ciudad Juarez, which shares the Rio Grande with El Paso, and other nearby towns.
The impact on U.S. citizens visiting or living in parts of Mexico has steadily worsened since President Felipe Calderon deployed the army and federal police in late 2006 in an as yet unsuccessful attempt to crush the rising reach of the gangs.
The number of U.S. victims last year was more than triple the toll in 2007. Over a four-year period, 283 Americans were reported murdered, according to State Department figures.
In the same lapse, more than 35,000 Mexicans have been killed, including about 15,000 last year. The Mexican government says most were gangsters. But hundreds of innocent civilians also have been killed.
"Bystanders, including U.S. citizens, have been injured or killed in violent incidents in various parts of the country, especially, but not exclusively in the northern border region, demonstrating the heightened risk of violence throughout Mexico," the latest State Department travel warning observes.
The warning notes that most of the country, including major beach resorts, remains safe.
"There is no evidence that U.S. tourists have been targeted by criminal elements due to their citizenship," advises the travel warning, which was issued last week. "Nonetheless, while in Mexico you should be aware of your surroundings at all times and exercise particular caution in unfamiliar areas."
Victims of underworld
Many residents along the border have dual U.S.-Mexico citizenship. Some of the murdered Americans may have spent most of their lives in Mexico. Other American border residents frequently cross south of the line to visit friends and family in troubled Mexican towns and cities.
Better than half of the 2010 U.S. victims were killed in Juarez and in Tijuana, which borders San Diego. Both cities are tumultuous binational communities that have become primary underworld battlegrounds.
Among the Americans slain in Juarez last year were Lesley Enriquez, a civilian employee at the U.S. Consulate there, and her husband Arthur Redelfs, an employee of the El Paso County jail. U.S. investigators have arrested members of the Aztecas, a transborder gang that works with the Mexican criminal organizations, in the killings.
In early November, U.S.-born Eder Andres Diaz, 23, and naturalized American Manuel Acosta, 25, both students at the University of Texas at El Paso, were gunned down in Ciudad Juarez. Both were living in Juarez while attending the university.
Not counted in the tally is David Hartley, a 29-year-old oil company employee who disappeared in September after reportedly being attacked by gunmen as he and his wife jet-skied in Mexican waters of Lake Falcon.
His wife said she saw him fatally shot in the head, but Hartley's body has never been recovered. Then again, neither have the bodies of perhaps several thousand Mexicans who have simply disappeared in the violence.
While counseling caution on those traveling in much of Mexico, the U.S. government's warning strongly urges against non-essential travel to Tamaulipas, the state that borders Texas from Laredo to the Gulf Coast.
The warning also emphasizes that Monterrey, Mexico's third largest city, has become risky as well for "local and expatriate communities."
"Local law enforcement has provided little to no response," the warning notes of Monterrey's violence. "In addition, police have been implicated in some of these incidents."
The American toll so far this year includes Brownsville native Jaime Zapata, an agent with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who was killed in a February ambush on the busy highway connecting Mexico City to the south Texas border.
Body count rises
A dozen alleged members of the Zetas have been arrested in Zapata's killing.
Zapata was slain little more than two weeks after South Texas-based Christian missionary Nancy Davis, 59, was fatally shot by suspected gangsters near San Fernando, a Tamaulipas farm town 80 miles south of the border at Brownsville.
The town of San Fernando has been a well-identified center of terror since August, when 72 mostly Central American migrants were slaughtered at a rural warehouse outside the town.
Despite government vows to pacify the region following that massacre, the gangsters retained control of it. In recent months, the thugs reportedly have kidnapped and murdered highway travelers and others, burying their remains in a farm village.
So far, 183 bodies have been pulled from clandestine graves near San Fernando this month as officials investigate a long running gangster operation that included pulling travelers from buses.

READ MORE - 111 U.S. citizens were killed in Mexico last year, nearly half of them on or near the Texas border

Drug gangs and their hitmen -- groups such as the Aztecas and the Mexicles -- often continue their battles behind bars in the city, located across the border from El Paso, Texas and right at the heart of Mexico's raging drug war.

Where tensions run high, walls have climbed higher to try to stop rival Mexican gangs from taking the blood-stained chaos from the streets of Ciudad Juarez with them into prison.
Drug gangs and their hitmen -- groups such as the Aztecas and the Mexicles -- often continue their battles behind bars in the city, located across the border from El Paso, Texas and right at the heart of Mexico's raging drug war.
"The (six-meter, 20-foot) walls went up in late 2009," prison spokesman Hector Conde told AFP.
"Before, there were only chain-link fences that inmates would jump over pretty easily. There were riots all the time," often leaving dozens dead and requiring helicopter-backed security operations to break them up, he said.
Conde declined to enter the block housing members of the Aztecas, a notorious gang of hitmen for the Juarez cartel.
"Some of the Aztecas were just moved to another facility recently, so these guys are really aggravated. They could carry out reprisals if you go in there," he warned.
Across the way, out of sight, were members of the Mexicles gang. They work for the Sinaloa cartel led by Mexico's most famous fugitive, Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman.
Officials blame the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels for most of the violence in Juarez as they fight for control of the lucrative drug trafficking routes into the United States.
Last year, 3,100 people died in violent attacks in this northern city of some 1.2 million -- roughly 60 each week on average.
A surge of drug-related violence has left almost 35,000 people dead in Mexico since the government of President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on the cartels in 2006, according to official figures.
The murder rate climbed to more than 10 a day in Juarez in February 2009, prompting Calderon to deploy more than 5,000 troops to the city. Things were calmer for a few months but the killings soon picked up again.
Some of the murders are particularly gruesome, decapitated bodies, corpses hung from bridges. Children, even pregnant women, have been among the dead but most are young gang members.
With factory salaries starting at less than $50 a week, the financial lure of the drug gangs is huge in Juarez -- one of the main thoroughfares for the cocaine that feeds the ever-strong US market.
Physical separation may help prevent jailed gang members from starting riots, but critics warn against maintaining gang labels behind bars.
"That gives them territory inside the prison and makes it an extension of what is happening outside on Ciudad Juarez streets," Gustavo de la Rosa, from the Chihuahua state human rights commission, told AFP.
The gangs work with military-style organization and often control the jails imprisoning them, he said.
After checking no one was listening, a guard told AFP there were around 2,400 inmates at the prison, 700 of them Aztecas housed in one block.
The prisoners were separated based on tattoos linking them to their gangs: the Aztecas with pyramids and Aztec symbols and the Mexicles sporting skulls and their gang name, said prison pastor Victor Martinez.
Tensions were lower in his section of the jail, which the prison authorities had decided was the best place to house convicted evangelical Christians.
"I feel safer here than on the streets or other parts of the prison," said Otoniel Lucero Pena, a 46-year-old in for trafficking marijuana. He said he had never belonged to a gang.
Prisoners such as Pena gained most from the wall, Martinez said.
Five years ago, the Aztecas tried to make some of the evangelical prisoners work for them. When they refused, they attacked them, Martinez said.
"They started to beat drums to signal the start of a riot or clash. Then they jumped over the metal fence of the Christians' sector, where there were 140 prisoners at the time. They killed three of them but the others managed to escape to the women's area."

READ MORE - Drug gangs and their hitmen -- groups such as the Aztecas and the Mexicles -- often continue their battles behind bars in the city, located across the border from El Paso, Texas and right at the heart of Mexico's raging drug war.

"El Piolin" Now Under Higher Security

The man accused of leading the attack that left a Brownsville ICE agent dead is now under higher security.

Julian Zapata Espinoza, also known as El Piolin, was being held by the agency that oversees federal investigations in Mexico, but late last week he was handed over to federal police.

A judge signed the order saying the move was done for safety reasons and to ensure that Zapata Espinoza remained in custody while authorities continue investigating the case against him.

Zapata espinoza is accused of leading the group of Zetas that carried out the murder of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata back in February.

Agent Zapata and his partner were ambushed along a highway in San Luis.

 

READ MORE - "El Piolin" Now Under Higher Security

jail inmate in Arizona said he attacked a guard so he wouldn't be freed and become an assassination target for members of a drug cartel, authorities said.

Alexandro Guerrero, 26, awaiting release from the Pinal County Adult Detention Center April 17, punched a detention officer in the face and continued hitting and kicking him to the ground, The Arizona Republic reported Tuesday.

Pinal County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tim Gaffney said the Yuma inmate, who was serving time for an outstanding failure-to-comply warrant, told authorities at one time he was involved with a drug cartel in Mexico known as "Los Zetas."

Guerrero said the gang labeled him a snitch and put out a "hit" after hearing he had leaked information about them to an unnamed law enforcement agency, Gaffney said.

"This criminal brutally assaulted one of our finest detention officers because he had a death threat against himself and he believed he would be killed by the cartels upon his release. Our deputies and detention officers already have a very difficult job and it is made tougher by the impact of drug and human smuggling," Pinal Sheriff Paul Babeu said.

The detention officer suffered a broken nose and a wound requiring numerous stitches, the newspaper said.

Guerrero was booked back into the detention center on three counts of aggravated assault on a detention officer and is being held on a $50,000 cash-only bail.

READ MORE - jail inmate in Arizona said he attacked a guard so he wouldn't be freed and become an assassination target for members of a drug cartel, authorities said.

St. Paul police gang investigators had been tracking violence involving the 18th Street gang for more than a year when new information deepened their resolve: 11 girls were to be "jumped in" to the gang

St. Paul police gang investigators had been tracking violence involving the 18th Street gang for more than a year when new information deepened their resolve: 11 girls were to be "jumped in" to the gang April 18.

They executed 17 search warrants on homes of people associated with the gang, but police decided to take a different approach from arresting them all, said Cmdr. Paul Iovino, who heads the gang unit.

Instead, police invited the teens and young adults, along with their families, to an informational meeting last Thursday at the Neighborhood House, a West Side social services agency.

"The message was, 'Parents, your kids are involved in gang activity, and it's not acceptable and won't be condoned in the city of St. Paul,' " Iovino said Tuesday. Various community organizations were on hand to talk about resources for getting the young people out of gang life, he said.

As for the girls who were supposed to be initiated into the gang, Iovino said, "To the best of our knowledge, we think we did thwart it."

Gang unit investigators heard April 6 from a St. Paul middle school about information that someone had given a counselor, according to an affidavit in support of a search warrant. Two women, ages 18 and 20, had plans to "jump in" 11 girls to the gang April 18 (Iovino said the number 18 holds significance to the gang), the affidavit said.

One concern was the potential for gang members to "sex in" new female gang members, Iovino said.

READ MORE - St. Paul police gang investigators had been tracking violence involving the 18th Street gang for more than a year when new information deepened their resolve: 11 girls were to be "jumped in" to the gang

Mexican police have freed 51 migrants who had been abducted and were being held by criminals in the north-eastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

Mexican police have freed 51 migrants who had been abducted and were being held by criminals in the north-eastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
'Among those rescued there were 14 Guatemalans, two Hondurans, two Salvadorans, six Chinese and 27 Mexicans,' Mexican authorities said late Monday.
They victims were being held against their will in Reynosa, Mexico, across the US border from McAllen, Texas.
A total of 119 people have been rescued in Tamaulipas over the last week.
From April 1-19, police found 34 mass graves in Tamaulipas holding remains of 177 bodies, including several people believed to have been passengers forced off buses by the criminal gang Los Zetas.
Criminal gangs reportedly rob and extort migrants, induce them to smuggle drugs into the United States or force them into service for the gangs. Many are killed.
Also Monday, police found 17 bodies in a mass grave in the city of Durango, raising to 75 the death toll in the area in recent weeks.

READ MORE - Mexican police have freed 51 migrants who had been abducted and were being held by criminals in the north-eastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

South African Airways hostess Elphia Dlamini, 42, was caught by a sniffer dog after she flew to Heathrow from Johannesburg.

stewardess who tried to smuggle £300,000 of cocaine into the UK in her bra and knickers has been jailed for seven years.

South African Airways hostess Elphia Dlamini, 42, was caught by a sniffer dog after she flew to Heathrow from Johannesburg.

She said her lover told her to do it or she wouldn't see her son again, Isleworth crown court, South West London, heard.

Judge George Winstanley said the amount was significant and would cause misery to addicts.



Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/09/27/jail-for-hostess-who-smuggled-cocaine-in-her-bra-and-knickers-115875-22590280/#ixzz10m1xNrqB
Go Camping for 95p! Vouchers collectable in the Daily and Sunday Mirror until 11th August . Click here for more information

READ MORE - South African Airways hostess Elphia Dlamini, 42, was caught by a sniffer dog after she flew to Heathrow from Johannesburg.

Australian on death row for drug smuggling must be executed in line with his original sentence, rejecting appeals for mercy from Australian police.

Indonesian prosecutors said Monday an Australian on death row for drug smuggling must be executed in line with his original sentence, rejecting appeals for mercy from Australian police.

Presenting their response to the appeal of Scott Rush, 24, against his death sentence, prosecutors said no new material had been presented to warrant a more lenient punishment.

"We disagree with the appeal made by the defence lawyers," prosecutor Ida Bagus Made Argitha Chandra told the Denpasar district court.

He dismissed testimony for the defence by two top-ranking Australian police officers that Rush was only a "courier".

"We don't differentiate the roles," he said, adding that "drug smuggling is a serious threat to the image of Bali" as a tourist destination.

"Narcotics are a big danger and a transnational crime and the accused should be severely punished."

Rush was a member of the so-called Bali Nine gang of Australians who were caught in 2005 trying to smuggle 8.3 kilogrammes (18 pounds, five ounces) of heroin into Australia from Bali.

Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty and current Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan appeared on Rush's behalf at the Bali court earlier this month.

Keelty said Rush -- who had a life sentence upgraded to death after an earlier appeal -- was not a leader of the plot and did not deserve to be sent to his death, probably by firing squad.

Phelan noted that it was Rush's first drug offence and as such would face "less than 10 years" if convicted in Australia, which does not have a death penalty.

No date has been set for a ruling on the appeal.

READ MORE - Australian on death row for drug smuggling must be executed in line with his original sentence, rejecting appeals for mercy from Australian police.

6,900 prisoners (eight per cent of the jail population) suffer from the most severe disorders of schizophrenia and psychosis

Figures from the Sainsbury Mental Health Centre say that 6,900 prisoners (eight per cent of the jail population) suffer from the most severe disorders of schizophrenia and psychosis

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1297445/JONATHAN-AITKEN-Yes-prisons-people-shouldn-t-But-Ken-Clarke-them.html#ixzz0umR6l8NX

READ MORE - 6,900 prisoners (eight per cent of the jail population) suffer from the most severe disorders of schizophrenia and psychosis

unhappy men and women are not criminals in the ordinary sense, but sufferers from mental illness.

unhappy men and women are not criminals in the ordinary sense, but sufferers from mental illness.

Instead of being subjected to the hugely expensive process of criminal justice and imprisonment – a process likely to make their condition worse – they should receive medical treatment for mental illness in hospitals or secure care homes.

No one knows this better than those at the sharp end – the fellow prisoners of mentally disturbed inmates and the prison staff who have to deal with them in difficult and sometimes dangerous situations.



I spent a few days of my seven months as a prisoner in the hospital wing of HMP Elmley in Kent.

It was almost the worst period of my sentence. Screams from the disturbed occupants of the neighbouring cells at night were one problem. Another was the behavioural abnormalities of about 15 inmates collectively known as ‘The Fraggles’ (from the TV series Fraggle Rock).

One of these sad characters, with a rolling-eyed twitch in his face, addressed me aggressively on my first morning over breakfast.

‘I know who you are! You’re General Custer. I know what you did to those Cree Indians,’ he shouted. He kept this
up for four days, incessantly giving deranged military salutes to ‘General, sir’ (i.e. me).

I met another troubled character in the showers. His body was criss-crossed by angry red scars. ‘I can see you’re looking at me mars,’ he grunted (that’s slang for scars).

‘Can’t really miss them, can I?’ I replied.

‘No, yer can’t,’ he said in an affable tone, ‘but don’t worry, I don’t do violent. I done ’em on meself. But I’m all right when I take me pills.’

As I got to know the mars man better, he told me he was a schizophrenic who had been in and out of prison for years.

READ MORE - unhappy men and women are not criminals in the ordinary sense, but sufferers from mental illness.

Lurigancho Prison, which is the worst of the worst,Joran van der Sloot is found guilty of murder in Peru, he certainly won't be living the life of luxury

Joran van der Sloot is found guilty of murder in Peru, he certainly won't be living the life of luxury he's accustomed to.

"He'll be put in Lurigancho Prison, which is the worst of the worst," Michael Griffith, senior partner at the International Legal Defense Counsel, tells AOL News. "They should have a sign above the door there saying, 'All those who pass this way leave all hope behind.' "

Griffith has counseled and represented clients in more than 40 countries on a variety of charges. His most renowned case, involving an American incarcerated in a Turkish prison, was the basis for the film and book "Midnight Express."

Having visited more than two dozen foreign prisons, Griffith says Lurigancho is in a world of its own.

"There are 35 guys in a room there," he says. "They don't have beds, they go to the bathroom on the floor and the showers run once a week for 15 minutes. Fifty percent of the inmates have AIDS or tuberculosis, and you can die from eating the food."

READ MORE - Lurigancho Prison, which is the worst of the worst,Joran van der Sloot is found guilty of murder in Peru, he certainly won't be living the life of luxury

Los Aztecas or Barrio Azteca, a group founded by Mexicans living in Texas in the 1980s.

Hispanic gangs that formed in the United States as a way of protecting themselves from racist attacks in the 1980s, are now playing a fundamental part in the drug trade. The gangs – which have expanded in number and territory - are now being employed by large drug trafficking organisations. They are now active in distributing narcotic drugs at a retail level as well as working as violent foot soldiers in the war to control the trafficking routes not only in the US but also throughout Latin America.

These gangs, which now have large followings in US cities, Phoenix, Los Angeles and El Paso, have spread to Latin America due to the policy of deporting suspected gang members to their country of origin. The majority of deported gang members have no real family support apart from their gang affiliations. This has caused the US street gangs to grow and prosper in Latin American countries as they take advantage of less adequate law enforcement and their geographical proximity to drug smuggling routes.

Members of these street gangs are merciless, many of them having grown up in the violent gang culture in impoverished US cities. These youngsters are some of the most vulnerable members of society; most are very young when they are recruited, come from very poor backgrounds and in many cases are addicted to drugs. They are treated as dispensable by the major drug cartels that have outsourced and now employ them to do their dirty work because it gives them an extra level of insulation from law enforcement.

One of the major street gangs that have integrated itself into the illicit drug trade is Los Aztecas or Barrio Azteca, a group founded by Mexicans living in Texas in the 1980s. They grew rapidly and expanded to the Mexican side of the border taking a foothold in the violent city of Ciudad Juarez. Los Aztecas now take orders from the Juarez Cartel and have been implicated in many recent assassinations linked to the drug trade. Many of the members consider themselves genuine Aztec warriors decorating themselves with tattoos of original Aztec symbols such as plumed serpents or the Aztec calendar. They also abide by a strict code that says that gang members must not consume “magic water” (heroin) because they might reveal secrets of the organisation and that they must not rob the people who live in the area that they control.

READ MORE - Los Aztecas or Barrio Azteca, a group founded by Mexicans living in Texas in the 1980s.

Guard Admits To Smuggling Drugs To Inmates - Central Coast News Story - KSBW The Central Coast

Guard Admits To Smuggling Drugs To Inmates - Central Coast News Story - KSBW The Central Coast: "Authorities said 40-year-old Domingo Garcia also brought a semiautomatic handgun, 50 rounds of ammunition and two knives onto prison grounds. He told investigators that they were his personal weapons that he had forgotten to take out of his car.
Authorities said Garcia admitted to supplying inmates with phones and marijuana for money, including a $1,500 payment from one inmate at Folsom State Prison and $1,300 from another person to bring phones to the maximum-security Sacramento prison.
Garcia entered his plea March 24 to three felony counts. He faces a one-year jail term at his April 26 sentencing."

READ MORE - Guard Admits To Smuggling Drugs To Inmates - Central Coast News Story - KSBW The Central Coast

Alleged attempt to smuggle drugs into Merced County Jail leads to arrests | California City E-Zine

Alleged attempt to smuggle drugs into Merced County Jail leads to arrests California City E-Zine: "21-year-old documented gang member was arrested this month after allegedly trying to smuggle about $1,500 worth of methamphetamine and marijuana into Merced County Jail"

READ MORE - Alleged attempt to smuggle drugs into Merced County Jail leads to arrests | California City E-Zine

The tragedy of mental health and drugs in Prison as father of four is found dead in cell. « Dawn Willis sharing the News & Views of the Mentally Wealthy

The tragedy of mental health and drugs in Prison as father of four is found dead in cell. « Dawn Willis sharing the News & Views of the Mentally Wealthy: "Father of four Alan Ruddy was a sentenced inmate at Mag haberry Prison when he was found dead in his cell following an accidental drugs overdose on January 31, 2008.
The 29-year-old died after taking a cocktail of prescription and illegal drugs that had been smuggled into the jail, according to an investigation by the Prisoner Ombudsman.
Drug abuse in Northern Ireland’s jails has long been a major problem for the Northern Ireland Prison Service and, following the publication of yesterday’s report, Prisoner Ombudsman Pauline McCabe has called for a review of the Prison Service’s action plan to minimise the supply of drugs within its establishments.
Ms McCabe said that Mr Ruddy had not intended to take his own life but had “inadvertently overdosed by taking a large number of non-prescribed pills of unknown origin which combined with his prescribed medication to produce fatal effects.”
Mr Ruddy had a history of mental health problems and was suffering from epilepsy and depression. He was known to be a heavy drinker and also took illicit drugs. He had also been taking medication prescribed by his GP."

READ MORE - The tragedy of mental health and drugs in Prison as father of four is found dead in cell. « Dawn Willis sharing the News & Views of the Mentally Wealthy

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories Stop the Drug War (DRCNet): "Folsom, California, a Sacramento State Prison guard pleaded guilty Wednesday to smuggling drugs and cell phones into the prison for inmates. Domingo Garcia, 40, admitted receiving a $1,500 payment from one inmate for bringing him pot and $1,300 from another inmate for bringing him cell phones. He pleaded guilty to three felony counts and faces a one-year jail sentence."

READ MORE - Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories Stop the Drug War (DRCNet): "St. Louis, a city jail guard pleaded guilty Tuesday to a reduced charge after being indicted for smuggling heroin into the jail. Marilyn Denise Brown, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to possess heroin. Brown admitted meeting an undercover officer and accepting a package she believed contained heroin. She was one of three city jail guards busted in a joint effort by the St. Louis Police and the DEA. The other two have already been convicted and sentenced to prison. Brown admitted meeting an undercover officer and accepting a package she believed contained heroin."

READ MORE - Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories Stop the Drug War (DRCNet): "prosecutors may be forced to drop as many as 1,400 drug cases in a growing scandal at the police drug lab. That number includes as many as 400 cases where people have already been convicted and are in drug rehab programs. Some 500 cases have already been dropped, although prosecutors say they may refile charges in some cases when independent testing is done. The lab was shut down March 9 after the department learned of allegations that veteran lab tech Deborah Madden had stolen and used cocaine held as evidence at the lab last year. Now, police are acknowledging that Madden may have stolen other drugs, including Oxycontin. She has yet to be charged. Other lab techs may have been involved in misdoings as well. Defense attorneys have reported the lab saying it had tested drug samples when it appears that the samples remain untouched. Stay tuned on this one"

READ MORE - Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)

New adversary in U.S. drug war: Contract killers for Mexican cartels - washingtonpost.com

New adversary in U.S. drug war: Contract killers for Mexican cartels - washingtonpost.com: "cross-border drug gang born in the prison cells of Texas has evolved into a sophisticated paramilitary killing machine that U.S. and Mexican officials suspect is responsible for thousands of assassinations here, including the recent ambush and slaying of three people linked to the U.S. consulate.
The heavily tattooed Barrio Azteca gang members have long operated across the border in El Paso, dealing drugs and stealing cars. But in Ciudad Juarez, the organization now specializes in contract killing for the Juarez drug cartel. According to U.S. law enforcement officers, it may have been involved in as many as half of the 2,660 killings in the city in the past year.
Officials on both sides of the border have watched as the Aztecas honed their ability to locate targets, stalk them and finally strike in brazen ambushes involving multiple chase cars, coded radio communications, coordinated blocking maneuvers and disciplined firepower by masked gunmen in body armor. Afterward, the assassins vanish, back to safe houses in the Juarez barrios or across the bridge to El Paso"

READ MORE - New adversary in U.S. drug war: Contract killers for Mexican cartels - washingtonpost.com

Letter from inmate to mom exposes conspiracy to smuggle drugs

Letter from inmate to mom exposes conspiracy to smuggle drugs: "Donald Dudrow, III, a resident of Port Clinton jail, was nailed by authorities when a letter allegedly written by him to his mother was returned to the jail because the zip code was wrong.
The letter was opened and read by jail officials, as all incoming mail is read, said Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton.
The letter to the inmate’s mom included detailed instructions on how to sneak drugs into the jail, prosecutors said.
Already in jail for parole violating, Dudrow of Toledo, was indicted last week on charges of attempted drug trafficking and attempting to smuggle drugs into a correctional institution, authorities said."

READ MORE - Letter from inmate to mom exposes conspiracy to smuggle drugs

'Drug mules' languish in foreign prisons

'Drug mules' languish in foreign prisons: "Family members of two Bruneian 'drug mules' facing a jail sentence in China plan to visit them when they have enough cash during the school holidays, according to a local diplomatic source in China.
However, the source said no other information was available to the mission concerning the two Bruneians.
The Narcotics Control Bureau Public Relations Officer also expressed a similar view, saying that no further information was available to them when asked on the five Bruneians facing jail sentences in China, Australia and Chile respectively."

READ MORE - 'Drug mules' languish in foreign prisons

A review of Piper Kerman's Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. - By Jessica Grose - Slate Magazine

A review of Piper Kerman's Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. - By Jessica Grose - Slate Magazine: "In her new memoir, Piper Kerman describes herself as a 'nice blond lady.' She is a Smith graduate from a loving New England family. She is also an ex-con. She served 13 months in 2004 and 2005, mostly in a minimum-security federal prison in Danbury, Conn. Kerman is the last person you would expect to go to jail—we know this because she tells us repeatedly in Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. Her friends laugh because they don't believe her when she says she's about to go on trial for conspiracy charges stemming from drug trafficking and money laundering crimes she committed in her early 20s. When she finally lands in the clink, she observes her fellow prisoners with an anthropological distance because with her endless visitors, her loads of books, and her fancy education, she is a class apart."

READ MORE - A review of Piper Kerman's Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. - By Jessica Grose - Slate Magazine

Pinoy couple indicted on human smuggling charges

Pinoy couple indicted on human smuggling charges: "Maximino 'Max' Morales, 44, and his wife Melinda Morales, 46, were released after posting a $75k bond and $50k bond, respectively. Max Morales must wear an electronic monitoring device, according to the FBI.
The FBI arrested Max and Melinda Morales in their Paso Robles home Tuesday morning after an investigation found that the couple allegedly smuggled Filipino nationals and forced them to work as caregivers in their nursing homes for little or no pay.
The couple owned four elder care facilities in Paso Robles, about a three hours north of Los Angeles. All four home care facilities have now closed and the 19 patients have either been brought back to their families or to other care homes.
According to the affidavit, the FBI launched an investigation last November after two of the forced laborers confided their plight to a family member of one of the residents of the care home, who then notified the FBI.
The federal complaint alleges that the victims were recruited by the couple with promises of work in the United States, and then smuggled into the United States on transit visas. Once the victims arrived in the United States, they were forced to work entire days for as many as seven days a week, with little pay. Additionally, the couple confiscated victims’ passports and threatened to harm their families and/or deport them if they left prior to paying off their debt."

READ MORE - Pinoy couple indicted on human smuggling charges

The Blotter | Big-mouth drug smuggler gets 10-year prison sentence | Seattle Times Newspaper

The Blotter Big-mouth drug smuggler gets 10-year prison sentence Seattle Times Newspaper: "Bradley K. Bourque, 35, of Langley, B.C., was arrested Oct. 20 after he delivered about 200,000 ecstasy pills (weighing more than 113 pounds) to undercover agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He reportedly bragged to the undercover officers about his smuggling, and the special secret compartment he had built into his GMC pickup, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. The secret compartment contained another 24 pounds of ecstasy pills and more than 13 pounds of ecstasy powder.
Border crossing records show Bourque had crossed from Canada into the U.S. five times in 2009 before his arrest.
Bourque pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ecstacy on Jan. 6."

READ MORE - The Blotter | Big-mouth drug smuggler gets 10-year prison sentence | Seattle Times Newspaper

JACOB THE JEWELER FREED FROM PRISON, CONTINUES SENTENCE IN HALFWAY HOUSE | SOHH.COM

JACOB THE JEWELER FREED FROM PRISON, CONTINUES SENTENCE IN HALFWAY HOUSE SOHH.COM: "Arabov faced a maximum of 46 months behind bars for withholding information on jewelry he obtained from alleged Black Mafia Family (BMF) co-founder and drug dealer Terry Flenory. Pleading guilty last October 2007, the 42 year-old was sentenced to 30 months with an additional $50,000 fine earlier today, June 24, 2008. (Detroit Free Press)"

READ MORE - JACOB THE JEWELER FREED FROM PRISON, CONTINUES SENTENCE IN HALFWAY HOUSE | SOHH.COM

JACOB THE JEWELER FREED FROM PRISON, CONTINUES SENTENCE IN HALFWAY HOUSE | SOHH.COM

JACOB THE JEWELER FREED FROM PRISON, CONTINUES SENTENCE IN HALFWAY HOUSE SOHH.COM: "Jacob the Jeweler was transferred from federal prison to a halfway house on March 25. The King of Bling, 44, real name Jacob Arabov, was sentenced in 2008 to 2½ years for lying to investigators probing money laundering by Detroit's Black Mafia gang. The judge cut the sentence by seven months citing Jacob's good works for charity. Arabov, who is given shout-outs in 62 different rap songs, is scheduled for full release in September. Meanwhile, during the day he can help wife Angela run Jacob & Co. He just has to return to the 'residential re-entry facility' each night. (New York Post)"

READ MORE - JACOB THE JEWELER FREED FROM PRISON, CONTINUES SENTENCE IN HALFWAY HOUSE | SOHH.COM

TILDEN LAW – Orlando Criminal Attorney » Worker Arrested After Smuggling Drugs into Prison

TILDEN LAW – Orlando Criminal Attorney » Worker Arrested After Smuggling Drugs into Prison: "Anthony Ducasse, 25, of Clermont was arrested by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and accused of attempting to smuggle approximately 7 ounces of Marijuana into a state prison facility in Clermont. Ducasse had been employed as a contracted food service worker.
According to Lake County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Jim Vachon, the drugs were discovered during a daily pat down of workers entering the Lake Correctional Institution off U.S. Highway 27 in Clermont. Deputies responded to the scene at the request of prison officials and apprehended Ducasse today, Vachon said. The drugs were in a plastic bag and concealed in Ducasse’s pants.
Antony Ducasse, 25, was found in possession of the narcotics during a staff inspection at a prison gate, according to a statement from LCSO Sgt. Jim Vachon. The street value of the drugs was estimated at $500. No additional illegal drugs were found after authorities conducted a search of Ducasse’s vehicle."

READ MORE - TILDEN LAW – Orlando Criminal Attorney » Worker Arrested After Smuggling Drugs into Prison

British Columbia News » Blog Archive » B.C. man who pleaded guilty to drug smuggling gets 10 years in U.S. prison

British Columbia News » Blog Archive » B.C. man who pleaded guilty to drug smuggling gets 10 years in U.S. prison: "Bradley Keith Bourque, 35, of Langley, B.C., was arrested last October and pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to smuggle ecstasy across the border into the United States.
Bourque was arrested as he delivered the more than 50 kilograms of ecstasy tablets to undercover agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office in Seattle.
The release said Bourque, who bragged to the officers about his smuggling, had a secret compartment in his pickup truck that contained an additional 11 kilograms of ecstasy pills and six kilograms of ecstasy powder.
Border crossing records show that, before his arrest, Bourque crossed from Canada into the U.S. a total of five times in 2009."

READ MORE - British Columbia News » Blog Archive » B.C. man who pleaded guilty to drug smuggling gets 10 years in U.S. prison

Three major Mexican drug gangsters sentenced in San Diego | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Three major Mexican drug gangsters sentenced in San Diego L.A. NOW Los Angeles Times: "Three major figures in the Arellano-Felix narcotics cartel that used violence and bribery in its cocaine and marijuana empire have been given lengthy prison sentences in San Diego federal court, officials said.
On Monday, Jesus Labra-Aviles was sentenced to 40 years and Armando Martinez-Duarte to 18 years and four months. Last week, Jorge Aureliano Felix was sentenced to 30 years in prison. All had pleaded guilty to a variety of conspiracy and drug charges.
A fourth defendant in the case is set to be sentenced next month. The reputed gangsters were extradited to the U.S. in December 2008.
The cartel operates from the Tijuana-Mexicali region to smuggle drugs into the U.S., bribing Mexican officials and murdering rivals, according to court documents."

READ MORE - Three major Mexican drug gangsters sentenced in San Diego | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

FOXNews.com - Two Mexican Inmates Escape From Texas Prison

FOXNews.com - Two Mexican Inmates Escape From Texas Prison: "Jose Bustos-Diaz, 21, and Octavio Ramos Lopez, 27, were missing from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Briscoe Unit in Dilley, Texas, about 75 miles southwest of San Antonio, agency spokesman Jason Clark said.
Details of the escape were sketchy although Clark said officers realized during a routine inmate count that the two had disappeared. He said the pair had been accounted for earlier Tuesday.
They were believed to have fled on foot through a cut fence, Clark said."

READ MORE - FOXNews.com - Two Mexican Inmates Escape From Texas Prison

Ada Woman Charged With Smuggling Contraband Into Cushing Prison - News - 1600kush.com

Ada Woman Charged With Smuggling Contraband Into Cushing Prison - News - 1600kush.com: "Lisa Victoria Frazier, 31, of Ada, was arraigned on April Fools' Day by Special District Judge Phillip Corley and ordered to return to court with an attorney on April 29, court records show.
If convicted of bringing contraband into a penal institution on March 28, Frazier could be given as much as a five-year prison term and a $1,000 fine, court records show."

READ MORE - Ada Woman Charged With Smuggling Contraband Into Cushing Prison - News - 1600kush.com

BBC News - Mobile phones smuggled into Teeside jail

BBC News - Mobile phones smuggled into Teeside jail: "prison staff seized 79 mobiles at Stockton's Holme House last year.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) said the number of phones found reflected staff's success in finding them.
Holme House staff also seized small amounts of illegal drugs and home-brewed alcohol.
Geoff Dobson, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust, which campaigns for major change in the penal system, blamed overcrowded prisons and the difficulties in policing them.
He said: 'This is not particular to Holme House, it is across much of the estate. And it does allow for intimidating witnesses, organising criminal activities from inside prison and arranging drug drops.
'It is very difficult in an over-crowded prison system. I think that is much of the problem with large local jails, it is very hard to police them adequately"

READ MORE - BBC News - Mobile phones smuggled into Teeside jail

Court affirms SD drug convictions

Court affirms SD drug convictions: "federal appeals court has upheld the convictions of two men found to have drugs in their car when stopped for speeding west of Rapid City two years ago.
Jese Hernandez Mendoza of Washington state and Eddie Martinez of Los Angeles were sentenced to 10 years in prison for having methamphetamine and cocaine hidden in their car.
They argued in part that the vehicle search was unreasonable because the Highway Patrol trooper knew a similar search earlier in the day in Wyoming hadn't uncovered any drugs. One defendant said statements he later made should have been suppressed because of that."

READ MORE - Court affirms SD drug convictions

wbur.org » News » 'Orange Is The New Black' In Federal Women's Prison

wbur.org » News » 'Orange Is The New Black' In Federal Women's Prison: "Smith graduate Piper Kerman was bored with her middle class life — so she joined a group of bohemian artists-turned-drug smugglers. After traveling to exotic resorts and smuggling a suitcase packed with drug money from Chicago to Brussels, she broke free from the drug trade and found a new life, normal jobs and a blooming romance.
But 10 years later, federal officers knocked on her door. Kerman pleaded guilty to drug smuggling and money laundering and went on to serve time in a federal women's prison in Danbury, Conn.
In her memoir, Orange Is The New Black: My Year In A Women's Prison, Kerman recounts a year in which she learned to clean her cell with maxipads, to wire a light fixture, and to make prison cheesecake — all while finding camaraderie with women from all walks of life."

READ MORE - wbur.org » News » 'Orange Is The New Black' In Federal Women's Prison

Sacto 9-1-1: Galt gangster gets 4 years for accidental shooting

Sacto 9-1-1: Galt gangster gets 4 years for accidental shooting: "Galt street gang member who accidentally shot and killed one of his friends last year was sentenced today to four years in state prison for involuntary manslaughter.
Hector Quintero, 19, pleaded no contest March 5 to the shotgun killing of his friend, Gerardo Briseno, 19.
Quintero's probation report, filed today in Sacramento Superior Court, showed that Briseno bought the shotgun just three days before his Sept. 10 death in a friend's residence on Alice Rae Circle.
Briseno and Quintero were joking around with the shotgun, cocking it and pretending to shoot each other, when Quintero -- thinking the weapon was unloaded -- pulled the trigger and blew a hole through the right side of Briseno's nose, the report said.
'It was an accident,' Quintero told another friend right after the shooting, the probation report shows. 'I just shot the fool.'"

READ MORE - Sacto 9-1-1: Galt gangster gets 4 years for accidental shooting

Woman sentenced for smuggling drugs into FCI Terre Haute [Archive] - Prison Talk

Woman sentenced for smuggling drugs into FCI Terre Haute [Archive] - Prison Talk: "Kimberly M. Clark, 32, of Evansville, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney following her guilty plea to providing contraband in prison, said Timothy M. Morrison, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. This case was the result of an investigation by the FBI and Federal Bureau of Prisons."

READ MORE - Woman sentenced for smuggling drugs into FCI Terre Haute [Archive] - Prison Talk

Three Arellano-Felix Members Sentenced to Prison and Two Will Forfeit $1 Million Each

Three Arellano-Felix Members Sentenced to Prison and Two Will Forfeit $1 Million Each: "Jesus Labra-Aviles and Armando Martinez-Duarte were sentenced today to 480 months and 220 months of imprisonment, respectively. In addition, on March 29, 2010, Jorge Aureliano Felix was sentenced to 360 months in prison. United States District Judge Larry A. Burns, who imposed the sentences, also ordered Labra and Felix to forfeit $1 million each.
The sentences follow the defendants’ guilty pleas in October 2009 to crimes arising from their leadership of the AFO. According to court documents, for nearly two decades, the AFO controlled drug trafficking and other criminal activity in the Tijuana or Mexicali areas of Baja California, Mexico. All of the defendants admitted in their guilty pleas that AFO members distributed indeterminable amounts of cocaine and marijuana exceeding hundreds of tons each. The defendants also admitted that AFO members paid millions of dollars in bribes to law enforcement, government, and military officials to evade capture and prosecution.
Court documents establish Labra, who was convicted of conspiring to distribute cocaine and marijuana, partnered with Benjamin Arellano-Felix to obtain large amounts of cocaine and marijuana. Labra admitted as part of his guilty plea that he helped organize and lead the conspiracy, which involved hundreds of members and associates. Labra also acknowledged that he was consulted on major decisions and directed the actions of others."

READ MORE - Three Arellano-Felix Members Sentenced to Prison and Two Will Forfeit $1 Million Each

Report 008: JAMAICA TURNING INTO AN ISLAND PRISON, MORE JAMAICANS FACING VISA RESTRICTIONS - Over The Limit Entertainment

Report 008: JAMAICA TURNING INTO AN ISLAND PRISON, MORE JAMAICANS FACING VISA RESTRICTIONS - Over The Limit Entertainment: "Jamaica gun killing and other form of murder sky-rocking in the range of 1,700 per year, Jamaican Artiste not giving a dam regards what coming out of their mouth or what they involved with when they in other people country. Two mouth artiste like Buju Banton who singing against the same thing he locked up for and now you have Flippa Mafia in prison for smuggling himself into the US, no wonder these country closing the border on Jamaica. Its yesterday news breaks out that five Jamaican artiste about to have their visa revoke for reason not yet published. Not only Jamaican artiste facing visa restriction regular Jamaican's, business men and politician's facing visa problem which tampering on their social life and business ventures.
All this Visa crisis can be noticed when Jamaica refused to hand over Christopher Dudus Coke when the US sent Dudus expedition request to Jamaica, head of Jamaica Government Bruce Golden took it up on his head instead of letting the Jamaica court which have laws in place to exercise and give Dudus his due-process.
With all this drama and visa restriction it would seems Jamaica is turning into an island prison, only those with visa can leave"

READ MORE - Report 008: JAMAICA TURNING INTO AN ISLAND PRISON, MORE JAMAICANS FACING VISA RESTRICTIONS - Over The Limit Entertainment

Ganja sneaked into prison in pickle bottles | Deccan Chronicle | 2010-04-08

Ganja sneaked into prison in pickle bottles Deccan Chronicle 2010-04-08: "smuggling ganja inside the jail in their shoes, socks and various body orifices, drug peddlers at Puzhal Central Prison are now packing the drug in pickle bottles that they carry into the facility. Over the past few weeks, and as recently as Tuesday, prison authorities arrested several people for attempting to smuggle ganja inside pickle bottles.
“We discovered that the quantity of pickles being sent inside the jail had increased drastically in recent times. We decided to check a few of the pickle bottles and that is how we busted the racket,” a senior prison official said.
According to the official, smugglers pack ganja in little polythene bags and stuff several packets of the narcotic inside each bottle of pickle. “Due to the dark colour of the pickle, it is impossible to see the packets,” he added. “We dig into the bottle with a spoon to detect the packets.”
He added that smugglers have already tried packing narcotics inside oranges, pomegranates and even papayas by scooping out the inside of the fruit and stuffing it with ganja.
Prison officials claimed that they have approached the government for more scanners in state prisons. Only the central prisons in Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchy currently have scanners that can detect narcotic substances or weapons. “We have requested for scanners at the Puzhal, Cuddalore and Vellore prisons too,” an official said.
The officials said they had been requesting for additional forces to be deployed outside the prison walls as a bulk of the smuggled goods are simply thrown over the prison wall and into the facility."

READ MORE - Ganja sneaked into prison in pickle bottles | Deccan Chronicle | 2010-04-08