Showing posts with label ombudsman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ombudsman. Show all posts

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Please express strong support for SB 279 for an Independent OMBUDSMAN in Nevada

TO ALL NV-CURE MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS - AND PRISONER RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS:
Please read Senate Bill (SB) 279 to create an Independent Ombudsman in the State of Nevada to investigate prisoner complaints.
 
This is a fantastic bill that will finally bring justice and fairness to resolution of prisoner complaints and grievances.  Your support for SB 279 is sincerely appreciated.  
 
Please write, call, or e-mail the Legislature, if you have not already done so, and express your strong support for passage of SB 279. We commend our Legislators for sponsoring, drafting and passing and passing SB 279.  Fine job and our most sincere appreciation.
 
SB 279 is a fine example of the action that needs to be taken in every state to address the problems with our prison systems.  All prisoner organizations should bring this bill to the attention of their state and federal Legislators. Bring justice and fairness to ALL of our citizens.
 
You can share your opinion for SB 279 here (just search SB 279).

Thank you!

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Please Watch these to learn about the work of Nevada Cure!

Nevada Cure presents the following new video's:

We start with our president, John Witherow:



About Nevada Cure: our mission statement:



How you can help Nevada Cure:



We need Hepatitis C testing for those in prison in Nevada. Learn why:



Why Nevada needs an independent Ombudsman for its prison system:


Eliminate the "discretionary parole system" in Nevada:


Restore the vote for convicted felons. Why? Watch this video:



Friday, October 31, 2014

All prison systems should have an independent monitor or ombudsman

This is from a text from the American Bar Association (ABA) Criminal Justice Section, in a recommendation to the House of Delegates, concerning effective monitoring of prisons

It was written in 2008, and Nevada Cure thinks that this should be implemented in Nevada and everywhere else.

This type of MONITORING is exactly what is needed in Nevada.  We believe the independent ombudsman would serve this purpose. Please pass the Ombudsman Bill introduced by Senator Segerblom.

Here you can find Minutes of the Advisory Commission on the  Administration of Justice Meeting of May 1st, 2014, in which NV-Cure Director John Witherow explained the need for an Ombudsman to monitor NDOC. 

Alternatively, make NV-CURE an Independent Monitor and give us the power, money and staff that can do the job that needs to be done.  Thank you.
 
KEY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE EFFECTIVE MONITORING
OF CORRECTIONAL AND DETENTION FACILITIES

1. The monitoring entity is independent of the agency operating or utilizing the correctional or detention facility.

2. The monitoring entity is adequately funded and staffed.

3. The head of the monitoring entity is appointed for a fixed term by an elected official, is subject to confirmation by a legislative body, and can be removed only for just cause.

4. Inspection teams have the expertise, training, and requisite number of people to meet the monitoring entity’s purposes.

5. The monitoring entity has the duty to conduct regular inspections of the facility, as well as the authority to examine, and issue reports on, a particular problem at one or more facilities.

6. The monitoring entity is authorized to inspect or examine all aspects of a facility’s operations and conditions including, but not limited to: staff recruitment, training, supervision, and discipline; inmate deaths; medical and mental-health care; use of force; inmate violence; conditions of confinement; inmate disciplinary processes; inmate
grievance processes; substance-abuse treatment; educational, vocational, and other programming; and reentry planning.

7. The monitoring entity uses an array of means to gather and substantiate facts, including observations, interviews, surveys, document and record reviews, video and tape recordings, reports, statistics, and performance-based outcome measures.

8. Facility and other governmental officials are authorized and required to cooperate fully and promptly with the monitoring entity.

9. To the greatest extent possible consistent with the monitoring entity’s purposes, the monitoring entity works collaboratively and constructively with administrators, legislators, and others to improve the facility’s operations and conditions.

10. The monitoring entity has the authority to conduct both scheduled and unannounced inspections of any part or all of the facility at any time. The entity must adopt procedures to ensure that unannounced inspections are conducted in a reasonable manner.

11. The monitoring entity has the authority to obtain and inspect any and all records, including inmate and personnel records, bearing on the facility’s operations or conditions.

12. The monitoring entity has the authority to conduct confidential interviews with any person, including line staff and inmates, concerning the facility’s operations and conditions; to hold public hearings; to subpoena witnesses and documents; and to require that witnesses testify under oath.

13. Procedures are in place to enable facility administrators, line staff, inmates, and others to transmit information confidentially to the monitoring entity about the facility’s operations and conditions.

14. Adequate safeguards are in place to protect individuals who transmit information to the monitoring entity from retaliation and threats of retaliation.

15. Facility administrators are provided the opportunity to review monitoring reports and provide feedback about them to the monitoring entity before their dissemination to the public, but the release of the reports is not subject to approval from outside the monitoring entity.

16. Monitoring reports apply legal requirements, best correctional practices, and other criteria to objectively and accurately review and assess a facility’s policies, procedures, programs, and practices; identify systemic problems and the reasons for them; and proffer
possible solutions to those problems.

17. Subject to reasonable privacy and security requirements as determined by the monitoring entity, the monitoring entity’s reports are public, accessible through the Internet, and distributed to the media, the jurisdiction’s legislative body, and its top elected official.

18. Facility administrators are required to respond publicly to monitoring reports; to develop and implement in a timely fashion action plans to rectify problems identified in those reports; and to inform the public semi-annually of their progress in implementing
these action plans. The jurisdiction vests an administrative entity with the authority to redress noncompliance with these requirements.

19. The monitoring entity continues to assess and report on previously identified problems and the progress made in resolving them until the problems are resolved.

20. The jurisdiction adopts safeguards to ensure that the monitoring entity is meeting its designated purposes, including a requirement that it publish an annual report of its findings and activities that is public, accessible through the Internet, and distributed to the media, the jurisdiction’s legislative body, and its top elected official.

Respectfully submitted,
Stephen J. Saltzburg
Chair, Section of Criminal Justice
August 2008

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Nevada-Cure: Special Information-Bulletin September 2014 and Protest-flyer

Please read our extra edition of NV-Cure's Special Information-Bulletin: September 2014, for our upcoming PROTEST on Sept. 12th in Las Vegas.

P R O T E S T

September 12, 2014, 11 AM - 12:30 PM

Place:
Sidewalk in Front of Entrance to Grounds of:

Grant Sawyer Building
555 E. Washington Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89101-1072


ISSUES  BEING  PROTESTED:

1. Testing of ALL Prisoners for Hepatitis C Infection

2. Treatment for ALL Prisoners Infected With Hepatitis C and HIV

3. Elimination of Discretionary Parole System

4. Creation of Independent Legislative Correctional Ombudsman

To Investigate Prisoner Grievances

ENACT APPROPRIATE LEGISLATION - NOW

Our flyer (please share by downloading and printing or via social media like facebook, twitter):

(JPG)

Our Flyer in PDF

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The Need for an Independent Ombudsman in Nevada

On May 1st 2014, NV-CURE President John Witherow will be presenting information to the Advisory Committee on the Administration of Justice (ACAJ) on the need for an independent ombudsman in Nevada. 

You can watch and/or listen online. Here is the link: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Calendar/A/

When the meeting is taking place, the link to audio/video will be live and all you have to do is click it on.

Nevada-Cure News and Articles

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