Across the Country - Page 2

MINESOTA
February 7 - An inmate who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a staff member at the Moose Lake state prison in 2005 will receive a life prison sentence in Carlton County District Court next week. Michael Howard Bale, 48, was scheduled to stand trial starting Jan. 22 in Carlton, but at the last moment pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

MISSISSIPPI
January 28 - The Harrison County sheriff said four inmates escaped from the Harrison County jail by knocking a hole in a cell wall, lowering themselves with sheets, and scaling the fences. He believes other inmates created diversions to distract jailers to other areas of the facility while the escape went unnoticed. Security cameras in the cell blocks haven't worked in a couple of years, he said, and the alarm system at the perimeter worked for only a month after it was installed.

NORTH CAROLINA
January 22 - A state corrections officer shot and killed a 33-year-old Stokes County inmate as he tried to escape from the Johnston Correctional Institution in Smithfield. The inmate, who had scaled two fences surrounding a paint plant adjacent to the prison when he was shot was serving a 10-year sentence for a 2001 killing.

OKLAHOMA
February 2 - Oklahoma's oldest and most well-known prison is entering its 100th year of operation, and according to prison experts, it hasn't aged gracefully. "Big Mac" should have been retired years ago, according to independent prison auditors. "Some of the things that were going on at the time of the riot in '73 are going on today, right here," a correctional employee said. "I really do think we are at a breaking point."

OREGON
February 6 - A Santiam Correctional Institution inmate serving less than a year for robbery was sentenced to two and a half years after he pleaded guilty to an escape charge. He fled to the home of his former employer, then 70, who was in a wheelchair. He was arrested the next day by sheriff's deputies after a five-hour standoff. He has a long list of previous convictions, including a murder conviction in 1973, and rape, assault and drug convictions.

RHODE ISLAND
February 1 - A correctional officer at the state prison has been found not guilty of assaulting an inmate two years ago. A Superior Court jury acquitted the officer of a misdemeanor charge of simple assault. The officer, who testified at trial that the alleged February 2006 attack never happened, is now seeking reinstatement.

WASHINGTON, DC
January 22-A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled a prison inmate cannot sue federal prison officers about how their possessions are handled. In a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled federal law enforcement officers are immune to lawsuits by prison inmates claiming the officers wrongly lost or misplaced the prisoners' personal property.

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