Prison

Recently, I sat down with the Minnesota Vikings' Adrian Peterson. Peterson's athletic accomplishments are remarkable; however, not for his records, but rather for the adversity he's overcome.

With the current economic downturn, all government programs -- including the death penalty -- should be evaluated on whether the "benefits" they confer are worth the cost.

Williams' woeful tale reads like an Americanized version of a Russian novel -- a tome written in four full boxes of records concerning his arrest, interrogation, trial, incarceration and appeals.

Post-conviction DNA testing has lead to the exoneration of more than 200 wrongfully convicted individuals in the United States. But testing cannot take place unless the evidence is preserved.

Proposition 5 could have provided sensible, understandable and needed improvements to the criminal Justice System. Unfortunately, it did not. Not even close.

DeFriest is one of 200,000 mentally ill prisoners behind bars in America. Like many of them, he has never received treatment, has rarely been medicated and is consistently punished for his symptoms.

Say you've got a huge prison crisis in your state. Who you gonna call? In California, you might call the five living governors together. And Thursday, someone did.

The drug war continues to be an electrified third rail in American politics. And political money continues to be a roadblock to real reform. Don't believe the hype. Vote Yes on Prop 5.

The medical neglect in our prisons is too-often accepted by the public as just another price paid by those who commit crimes.

On crime and prisons, the Golden State lags behind many others, with a costly and overburdened prison system that now consumes more than $10 billion each year.

Prop. 5 starts with youth. It launches the state's first system offering drug treatment for at-risk youth. Stop addiction early, and we reduce crime.

The economic effect of more than ten million American adults who can't buy cars, houses, furniture, appliances, or other durable goods is like 9-11, Katrina, and every other hurricane combined.

Let's help drug addicts where they're at and not let perfection be the enemy of good. Let's make sure that we offer compassion and empowerment, not judgment and a jail cell.

Mikhael Khodorkovsky, once the richest man in Russia, now a prisoner in a Siberian camp, was sent to an isolation ward for having walked in the exercise yard without having clasped his hands behind his back.

DeWayne McKinney, who served 19 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, made a name for himself as the man who wouldn't devote his reclaimed life's energies to resentment and recrimination, and who famously invited the judge who sentenced him to his wedding.

OJ Simpson is standing trial after being charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, robbery, assault, and kidnapping with a deadly weapon. Simpson's Attorney Yale Galanter spoke exclusively with me.

Under the pretense of creating "safer neighborhoods," Proposition 6 changes current law to require that more children, as young as 14 years old, are tried and sentenced as adults.

A minister in the Democratic Republic of Congo has ordered a Kinshasa jail to release a dozen goats, which he said were being held there illegally. D...

By focusing on these compelling stories of human suffering, the mainstream media coverage has brought needed attention to the issue of mass incarceration in our immigration system.

Suddenly, organic food looks less like a yuppie luxury and more like it could and should be a staple for our sanity and security.

The dedication of Dr. Jenkins, Davis and Hunt to serve and contribute to their community is the kind of commitment we all must make to reroute children away from entering the Pipeline.

"Before, this was the best place, but now it's like a prison." This is how one young Tibetan man describes life in Lhasa these days in an interview that was smuggled out of Tibet.

First of all, shut your Communist mouths. Second, With a little grit, determination, and merciless martial law, we can get back to a more happy, optimistic time!

Millions of kids growing up with the stigma of a criminal parent; they are often profoundly affected. But programs are cropping up to help both the criminal and the child see that the future is worth planning for.

A candidate like Obama -- who says "thoughtful things" and actually speaks in "paragraphs" as opposed to soundbites -- might be willing to address the topic. But don't hold your breath.