Tag Archives: Corrections Department

News, Politics, Government

Oklahoma providing 2 inmates with cross-gender hormones

Leave a comment

The state Corrections Department provides cross-gender hormones to two of the nearly 25,000 inmates serving time in Oklahoma prisons.

Department spokesman Jerry Massie said the state prison system will provide such hormones “when it’s medically appropriate,” but that such cases are rare.

The department is being sued by a male inmate who wants hormones, laser hair removal, counseling and eventually a sex-change operation as treatment for gender identity disorder, with which the inmate claims to be afflicted.

Ronny Darnell, a convicted rapist serving a lengthy sentence at James Crabtree Correctional Center, filed the lawsuit against the state Corrections Department in 2012, claiming he is being punished in a cruel and unusual fashion because the state agency won’t treat his condition.

Gender identity disorder is characterized by an overwhelming sense by those afflicted that they would be happier if they were the opposite sex. Darnell is not being treated by prison doctors for the disorder, which is commonly referred to as GID.

“There’s only one official GID offender,” Massie told The Oklahoman (http://is.gd/ulS12o). “On this particular person … they had had some procedures done prior to incarceration, so it’s medically appropriate to prescribe the hormones.”

Massie said the other inmate is receiving cross-gender hormones “for a medical issue not related to GID.”

The hormones, which Massie did not name, range in price. The monthly prescription for one of the inmates is $158.73. The other’s is only $3.73 per month.

What Darnell is wanting would likely cost more than what the department is paying now.

In a court filing, the 44-year-old inmate claims that he is deeply depressed and has tried to castrate himself multiple times while behind bars.

“They are denying me any kind of medical treatment at all for my serious medical need,” Darnell wrote in the suit. “I am a female not a male. I was just born in the wrong body.”

The inmate wrote that being denied hormone treatment “has changed me in ways I do not like.”

“It has deepened my voice to sound like a man,” Darnell wrote. “It puts me into a great depression and gives me anxiety attacks on a daily basis.”

Darnell’s lawsuit is pending in federal court. He has no lawyer but recently asked a judge to appoint one to his case, records show.

Whether Darnell was receiving treatment before entering prison may not matter — if the court looks to rulings in similar cases.

In July 2007, a federal judge in Idaho ordered the state to provide hormone therapy to a male inmate who described himself as a woman trapped in a man’s body.

Nearly three years later, a federal judge in Wisconsin struck down a state law that prohibited the use of taxpayer money to pay for inmates’ hormone therapy. The decision was upheld by a federal appeals court judge.

More recently, a federal judge in Massachusetts ordered the state’s prison system to pay for a gender reassignment operation for convicted murderer Michelle Kosilek, a decision the state has appealed.

It is thought to be the first time a judge has ordered the surgery as a remedy to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Man suspected of killing grandparents captured in Oregon motel

Leave a comment

Police stormed a motel room in a seaside town Tuesday evening and captured a Washington state man suspected of killing his grandparents, ending a multistate search and a tense daylong standoff at the motel.

“Everyone’s safe. No one’s hurt,” Lincoln City Police Chief Keith Kilian said.

Police had spent much of the day trying to persuade Michael Boysen to surrender. After breaching the motel room door, they stormed in and captured him.

Boysen was found lying on the floor on his back with a self-inflicted cut, Kilian said. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital.

Boysen was alive, but the severity of his injury was not immediately clear, Kilian said.

Law enforcement authorities in Washington state confirmed Boysen was alive.

“We’re certainly glad it’s over and nobody else got hurt. We’re glad they were able to take him into custody alive,” said King County Sheriff John Urquhart.

“It sounds like they got to him in time,” Urquhart said.

The bodies of Boysen’s grandparents were found Saturday in their suburban Seattle home, a day after Boysen was released from prison and was greeted with a welcome home party.

During Tuesday‘s siege in the Oregon tourist town of Lincoln City, police pointed rifles at the motel, fired blasts from a water cannon and used a bullhorn to try to persuade Boysen to give up.

Police used a robot equipped with a video camera and a microphone to communicate with him. The robot was sent onto a balcony outside the motel room. Police breached the door and were able to communicate with Boysen through the robot.

When Boysen didn’t come out on his own, police went in after him.

“We tried to negotiate,” Kilian said. “We saw an opening that didn’t compromise the safety of our officers.”

Boysen checked into the motel Monday night under his own name but wasn’t recognized until Tuesday morning, when a desk clerk saw a television story about the case and called police, Kilian said.

Boysen, 26, made threats against members of his family and law enforcement while behind bars, Corrections Department spokesman Chad Lewis said Tuesday. But authorities didn’t learn of the threats until after the bodies of the grandparents were found and authorities had started looking for Boysen.

“Sources went to our staff at the Monroe Correctional Center and told us he had been threatening to do all this,” Lewis said.

The information was passed on to King County deputies, and that’s why Sheriff Urquhart called Boysen extremely dangerous at a Monday news conference. Investigators also determined that Boysen had been searching the Internet for gun shows.

Boysen just finished serving nine months in prison on a burglary conviction, Lewis said. He had no violent infractions in prison — “nothing extraordinary,” Lewis said.

He served a previous sentence between 2006 and February 2011 for four robbery convictions. Those convictions were related to an addiction to narcotic painkillers, Lewis said.

Boysen’s grandparents picked him up from prison Friday and drove him to meet his probation officer and to get an identification card from the Department of Licensing. They held a welcome home party for him …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Man sought in 2 deaths captured in Oregon motel

Leave a comment

An alert Oregon seaside motel employee helped police capture a Washington state man suspected of killing his grandparents, ending a multistate manhunt.

Tactical officers from several agencies swarmed to the tourist town of Lincoln City after a property manager at the WestShore OceanFront Suites recognized Michael Boysen‘s face and name after seeing him on television and called police early Tuesday morning.

Boysen, 26, checked in under his own name Monday night, motel owner Kent Landers told The Oregonian.

Police used a robot equipped with a video camera and a microphone to communicate with Boysen Tuesday in hopes of persuading him to surrender. After a tense daylong standoff punctuated with water cannon blasts, bullhorn shouts and tear gas, officers breached the door, which Boysen reportedly had barricaded with a refrigerator.

They found him lying on the floor on his back with apparently serious self-inflicted cuts, Lincoln City police Chief Keith Kilian said. He was flown to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland where nursing supervisor Judy Pahl said Wednesday his condition had been upgraded from critical to serious.

No officers were hurt in the standoff, which Kilian termed “very successful.”

King County sent two detectives to Oregon in hopes of talking with Boysen, Sheriff John Urquhart said. Depending on his medical condition, he’ll have to go through extradition, then King County hopes to “get him back here for trial,” the sheriff said Tuesday evening.

The bodies of Boysen’s grandparents were found Saturday in their suburban Seattle home, a day after Boysen was released from prison.

Officials also learned that Boysen had made threats against his relatives and law enforcement officials while behind bars. That information was passed on to King County deputies, which is why Urquhart called Boysen extremely dangerous at a Monday news conference. Investigators also determined that Boysen had been searching the Internet for gun shows.

Boysen just finished serving nine months in prison on a burglary conviction, said Washington state Corrections Department spokesman Chad Lewis. Boysen had no violent infractions in prison — “nothing extraordinary,” Lewis said.

He served a previous sentence between 2006 and February 2011 for four robbery convictions. Those convictions were related to an addiction to narcotic painkillers, Lewis said.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Wash. man suspected in death of grandparents captured at Oregon motel

Leave a comment

Police stormed into a motel room in this seaside town Tuesday evening and captured a Washington state man suspected of killing his grandparents, ending a multistate search and a tense daylong standoff at the motel.

“Everyone’s safe. No one’s hurt,” said Lincoln City Police Chief Keith Kilian.

Police had spent much of the day trying to persuade Michael Boysen to surrender. After breaching the motel room door, they stormed in and captured him.

Kilian said they found Boysen lying on the floor on his back, and that he had sustained a self-inflicted cut. He was taken away in an ambulance.

Boysen was breathing, but it was unclear whether he was conscious and if his injury was considered serious, Kilian said.

The bodies of Boysen’s grandparents were found Saturday in their suburban Seattle home, a day after Boysen was released from prison and was greeted with a welcome home party.

During Tuesday‘s siege in this tourist town, police pointed rifles at the motel, fired blasts from a water cannon and used a bullhorn to try to persuade Boysen to give up.

Police used a robot equipped with a video camera and a microphone to communicate with the suspect. The robot was sent onto a balcony outside the motel room. Police breached the door and were able to communicate with Boysen via the robot.

When Boysen didn’t come out on his own, police went in after him.

“We tried to negotiate,” Kilian said. “We saw an opening that didn’t compromise the safety of our officers.”

Boysen checked into the motel Monday night under his own name, but the name wasn’t recognized until Tuesday morning when a desk clerk saw a television story about the case and called the Lincoln City police, Kilian said.

Boysen, 26, made threats against members of his family and law enforcement while behind bars, Corrections Department spokesman Chad Lewis said Tuesday. But authorities didn’t learn of the threats until after the bodies of the grandparents were found and authorities had started looking for Boysen.

“Sources went to our staff at the Monroe Correctional Center and told us he had been threatening to do all this,” Lewis said.

The information was passed on to King County deputies, and that’s why King County Sheriff John Urquhart called Boysen extremely dangerous at a Monday news conference.

Boysen just finished serving nine months in prison on a burglary conviction, Lewis said. He had no violent infractions in prison — “nothing extraordinary,” Lewis said.

He served a previous sentence between 2006 and February 2011 for four robbery convictions. Those convictions were related to an addiction to narcotic painkillers, Lewis said.

Boysen’s grandparents picked him up from prison in Monroe on Friday, drove him to meet his probation officer and to get an identification card from the Department of Licensing. They held a welcome home party for him Friday night.

The bodies were discovered by Boysen’s mother Saturday evening. She had been called by a family member who became concerned that the couple hadn’t answered their door.

Authorities haven’t said how they died. Investigators determined that Boysen had been searching the Internet …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Police believe Wash. felon killed grandparents after 'welcome home' from prison party

Leave a comment

A convicted felon is on the run after allegedly killing his grandparents as they hosted a party to celebrate his release from a Washington state prison.

Michael “Chad” Boysen, 26, is considered extremely dangerous and has tried to obtain guns, police said Monday. Q13 Fox reports Boysen has also made threats against law enforcement and community leaders, according to police.

Boysen was released from prison Friday after serving several years for robbery. His grandparents, 82-year-old Robert Taylor and 80-year-old Norma Taylor, picked him up from prison and hosted a family “welcome home party” for him that night, Q13 Fox reports.

The grandparents were killed later Friday or early Saturday at their Renton home. Authorities believe Boysen also stole their car.

“This is an exceedingly heinous crime any way you look at it, and I think the risk that’s out there is extreme right now,”King County Sheriff John Urquhart told Q13 Fox.

The sheriff said the grandparents were not shot, but he declined to provide other details about their killings, pending autopsies.

Detectives believe Boysen is trying to find weapons, and Urquhart said authorities do not believe he had a gun when he left the crime scene. Boysen had been searching the Internet for “gun shows” across the Northwest and Nevada, the sheriff’s office said.

“Basically right now we have a person that’s very, very dangerous on the run that we believe is trying to obtain weapons to kill citizens and police officers and corrections officers,” Urquhart told Q13 Fox. “We need to catch this guy.”

Boysen had been in prison since 2006 on three robbery convictions in King County, said Judy Feliciano of the state Corrections Department.

He was released Friday from the prison at Monroe, about 35 miles north of Renton, and was supposed to check in with a community supervision officer within 24 hours, she said.

Boysen’s grandparents had fixed up a room in their home for him to sleep in his first night out of prison, said Sgt. Cindi West, a sheriff’s spokeswoman. Boysen was planning to stay elsewhere after that.

“We are at a loss as to why he killed them,” Urquhart said. “We don’t know what the motive is.”

Boysen is 5-foot-10, weighs 170 pounds and has hazel eyes. He may be driving his grandparents’ red, 2001 Chrysler 300, with Washington license plate 046XXU.

A warrant has been issued for Boysen’s arrest. If he’s stopped anywhere in the country, law enforcement officers will know he’s a wanted man, state Corrections Department spokesman Chad Lewis said.

Click for more from Q13 Fox.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Suspect dead, Mich. student safe after abduction

Leave a comment

A parolee abducted and raped a Central Michigan University student, set a house on fire where the woman had fled for help and was fatally shot miles away by a sheriff’s deputy, authorities said Thursday.

Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said the man was identified as Eric Ramsey, 30, of Mount Pleasant.

“We don’t know what possessed him to do that. We may never find out,” Mioduszewski said.

The woman was abducted Wednesday from the campus in Mount Pleasant, about 120 miles northwest of Detroit. The sheriff said Ramsey drove the woman in her own vehicle to a home off campus and bound and raped her there.

He said Ramsey then put her back in the Ford Escape and pledged to kill her, but she escaped the moving vehicle and ran to a home yelling for help.

While the woman was inside the home talking to an emergency dispatcher on the phone, Ramsey “ended up pouring gasoline on the house and then lit on fire,” Mioduszewski said in a statement.

A 14-year-old boy, his 11-year-old sister and 2-year-old brother were alone inside the home in nearby Lincoln Township when the woman banged on the door for help. The teenager, James Persyn III, told Mlive.com that he let the woman in, locked the door and grabbed his hunting knife.

He said he while the woman was using his phone to call 911, he moved her, his siblings and the family dog into the bathroom.

Meanwhile, the sheriff said, “one of the homeowners arrived home … and was able to put the fire out,” using an extinguisher.

Ramsey was spotted early Thursday in Otsego County, where he rammed the first of two state police cars. The sheriff said he subsequently stole a garbage truck and was fatally shot by a deputy in Crawford County, about 70 miles north of the university.

Campus police Chief Bill Yeagley said Ramsey told the woman that he chose her at random outside the Student Activity Center on campus. The chief said the woman saved her own life by fleeing from the car.

“I believe she made all the right choices,” Yeagley said. “She’s the true hero in this.”

Central Michigan University President George Ross said the school would support the Grand Rapids-area woman and her family.

Ramsey had been on parole since last summer after serving the minimum five-year prison sentence for assault with intent to do great bodily harm, according to Corrections Department online records. The maximum sentence was 15 years. Inmates are eligible for a parole review once they serve the minimum punishment.

“The parole board generally doesn’t give a rationale for why or why they don’t parole (an inmate),” said Russ Marlan, a Corrections Department spokesman. “I looked at his behavior in prison. He was pretty good. He had six misconducts over five years. That’s a small amount. He was in minimum security the entire time.”

Ramsey had a job, regularly met with his parole officer and had tested negative for drugs, Marlan said.

His record also included convictions for destruction of police or fire property, resisting police and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Illinois reintroduces prison early release program

Leave a comment

Illinois prisons are preparing to introduce a more restrictive early-release program to replace one that was halted three years ago amid public outcry over inmates serving just fractions of their sentences.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn shut down the former program after The Associated Press reported that 1,745 inmates — some convicted of violent crimes — had been released within weeks or even days of their arrival at the penitentiary.

The end of the program caused the prison population to swell by more than 4,000 inmates, and there are now more than 49,000 people in prisons designed to hold 33,000. The new program is aimed at easing the problem, the way early-out programs were previously used for decades to manage the population.

But unlike in the old program, inmates must serve at least 60 days of their sentence before being released. The new law also allows the prison director to decide early release eligibility on a range of factors, including a past record of violence, something the department had said court rulings previously prohibited.

The Illinois Department of Corrections has started reviewing records of potentially eligible inmates.

“This will be an ongoing, careful and thoughtful process,” Corrections spokeswoman Stacey Solano said in a statement.

The previous program allowed an inmate to get up to six months’ sentence credit for good behavior. The AP found that some inmates served as few as eight days because the Corrections Department secretly waived a minimum 60-day penitentiary stay to move inmates out faster.

The General Assembly has since put that two-month requirement into law.

Lawmakers approved the new early release program last spring, and Quinn signed it into law. But it wasn’t until this week that a legislative committee approved rules for the program. The Corrections Department may proceed after the rules are officially filed with the secretary of state in the coming weeks.

“The department is committed to the responsible implementation of sentence credit as safety and security remains the top priority,” Solano said.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union representing most of the Corrections Department‘s 11,000 employees, agrees that if done properly, good-behavior incentives such as shaving time off sentences are sound management functions.

But AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall said the union remains cautious.

He noted that even as the inmate population grows, Quinn is closing two prisons the governor says are too costly to operate. The high-security “supermax” prison in Tamms closed on Jan. 4, and officials are planning to soon close the Dwight women’s facility and shift inmates among three existing prisons.

AFSCME has opposed Quinn on closures, as well as reducing employee headcount and penitentiary crowding.

“Given the Quinn administration’s record of reckless closures, employee layoffs, inattention to overcrowding and its previous early release fiasco, we are extremely cautious about the prospect of a good-time program implemented by this administration,” Lindall said.

___

Online: http://www2.illinois.gov/idoc/

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News