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Ray Lesniak on Crime
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Change culture of corrections: limit solitary confinement
A bill that would sharply limit solitary confinement for prisoners in New Jersey cleared a Senate committee on despite a warning from the president of the union for corrections officers that the measure will carry a price tag. The Law and Public Safety
committee voted 3-1 to approve the bill. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Raymond Lesniak, said he reintroduced the bill to "change the culture of corrections in New Jersey and hopefully across the United States."The measure--opposed by the state
Department of Corrections when it was first introduced last year--prohibits placing inmates in solitary for non-disciplinary reasons. It would grant inmates a right to a hearing to contest solitary within 72 hours of placement and make it subject to
review every 15 days. The restrictions would cover inmates housed in state prisons or county jails. It would not apply in situations of facility-wide lockdowns, emergency confinement, medical isolation or protective custody.
Source: Bergen Record on New Jersey Senate voting records
, Mar 11, 2016
Hundreds wrongfully convicted have likely been executed
Bryan Halsey was given a second change when, thanks to one juror who held out against the death penalty, after 19 years in jail, he walked out a free man because it was discovered he did not commit the heinous crime for which he was convicted--the brutal
murder of a 7 and 8 year old boy and girl. The Supreme Court allows states to put to death persons convicted of heinous crimes, and the inevitable innocent, like Bryan, along with them. Hundreds of others like Bryan have been released from death row
because they were wrongfully convicted. Hundreds of others wrongfully convicted have likely been executed.Not in New Jersey, thanks to legislation I sponsored in 2007 replacing the death penalty with life without parole. New Jersey became the first
state in over 30 years to abolish its death penalty.
In 2008, I authored a book, "The Road to Abolition: How New Jersey Abolished The Death Penalty." Since then, three other states, New Mexico, Illinois, and Connecticut have followed New Jersey's lead
Source: 2016-17 N.J. Governor campaign website, RaymondLesniak.com
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Page last updated: Jun 28, 2018