Victory in Supreme Court of Virginia against out-of-control prosecution

Justices declare effort targeting leading advocate illegal, ending 5-year court battle   On Thursday, the highest court in Virginia ended the Commonwealth’s 13-year campaign to indefinitely detain a prominent advocate on criminal justice matters, Galen Baughman. In a victory for justice the Supreme Court ruled that the petition filed against...

Protest in Texas Against Civil Commitment

Protest Against Texas Shadow Prison in Littlefield Salute from Just Future There was a protest against the Texas system of so-called “sex offender civil commitment” in Littlefield, Texas on Saturday, April 09, 2022. Hats off to the brave advocates against pre-crime preventative detention who rallied in the middle-of-nowhere Texas to...

Galen Baughman — Oral Arguments — Supreme Court of Virginia

 

Virginia bill would end civil commitment of sex offenders

By DENISE LAVOIE — RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Two Virginia Democratic lawmakers are spearheading a push to repeal a decades-old law that allows the state to hold certain sex offenders at psychiatric facilities indefinitely after their criminal sentences if they are deemed “sexually violent predators.” Critics say civil commitment laws...

Fourth Appearance on Crossroads Radio WPFW 89.3FM Galen’s interview

Pre-crime preventative detention was the focus of an almost hour-long conversation on the Crossroads Radio show hosted by Roach Brown and Nkechi Taifa on WPFW 89.3FM, known as “Washington’s station for jazz and justice” Click Play to listen to Galen Baughman talk about how he has been directly impacted by these Kafkaesque systems of pre-crime preventative detention and his work with Just Future Project.

VCBR Coronavirus Outbreak Prompts Virginia’s National Guard to Take Action

    The Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR), a shadow prison in Burkeville, Virginia operating under the guise of a treatment facility, is currently in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak; and many people locked within the facility are fearful for their health.      As of October 14th, twenty-two “residents”...

Federal Judge Orders IRS to Issues Withheld $1,200 Stimulus Checks to Persons in Carceral Settings

BREAKING: Earlier this week in the Northern District of California (NDCA),  a federal judge issued an injunction against the Trump Administration for withholding COVID relief funds from incarcerated people. The presiding judge, Phyllis J. Hamilton, ruled that the Treasury Department could no longer withhold CARES Act emergency relief “based solely...

1977 Report by Psychiatrists call “Sex Offender” Label Invalid and Fallacious

Deiridre M Smith, “Dangerous Diagnoses, Risky Assumptions, and the Failed Experiment of ‘Sexually Violent Predator’ Commitment,” 67 OKLA. L. Rev. 619 (2015)   Forty-six years ago, the concept of the “sex offender” was considered conceptually invalid. The only thing that has changed in the near half-century since the below recorded...

Virginia Lawmakers Call Shadow Prisons “Appalling”

Featuring Senator Joe Morrissey, Delegate Patrick Hope, and Delegate Don Scott. Moderator Gin Carter of the Humanization Project. Just Future Project is one of the members of our coalition and they deal specifically... with VCBR. If people don't know what that is and what that's about, I know I personally was completely appalled last year when I learned what VCBR is.

Virginia Center for Behavioral Health Breaks Ground on Facility Expansion

By Aziza Jackson. August 17, 2018 BURKSVILLE, Va. — The Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR) has broken new ground on an expansion project for their Burkesville facility. HDR, an international design and architecture firm based in Omaha, Neb., signed on to design the expansion and renovation of the facility...

“Release American Citizens from Double Jeopardy Punishment”

The following post is from a letter to Virginia State Delegate Jennifer Carroll-Foy from Dr. Bernida Thompson.  Dear Delegate Jennifer Carroll-Foy, You were great on the June 3rd Townhall. I appreciate your vigor for justice, especially for people of color.  I am an African American citizen, and my family along...

Shadow Prisoner Stabbed 14 Times at VCBR Facility

By John Powers. Jun 12, 2020 On the day of June 11, 2020 a person being held at the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR) stabbed a fellow inmate fourteen times during their line up for their daily pill calls. The victim was stabbed behind the ear and back repeatedly....

Pre-Crime Preventative Detention Systems in 2018

United States Map Pre-Crime Preventative Detention Systems 2018 SOCCPN Annual Survey Data

Obscure New Jersey “Treatment” Facility Has a Higher COVID-19 Death Rate Than Any Prison in the Country

By: Jordan Michael Smith. Jun 04, 2020 The detainees already completed their criminal sentences—but they are prevented from leaving for years. And with the coronavirus spreading, their lives are at risk. This story was produced in collaboration with Type Investigations. With its innocuous name, the Special Treatment Unit (STU) sounds like a...

U.S. sex offense policy: The next “surveiller et punir”

Presentation summary The legacy of the 40-year-long sex panic in the U.S. is a vast regime of draconian penalties and “management” of “sex offenders” – a category including anyone from consensual teen lovers to armed rapists. Along with long prison sentences, the sex offender registry, and restrictions on residency, work,...

“Death Sentence” — Across U.S., COVID-19 takes a hidden toll behind bars

COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in U.S. jails and prisons, but testing of inmates and staff remains spotty and many confirmed cases are going unreported. The resulting lack of data has deep implications for the fight against the virus, because prison outbreaks can move easily to surrounding communities. By PETER EISLER, LINDA SO, NED...

Covid-19 Advocacy at ‘gulag:Moose Lake’

Advocates living behind the walls at gulag:Moose Lake have been speaking out about the acute danger to shadow prisoners in Minnesota from the novel coronavirus.  Here we have assembled 3 letters to Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minnesota), 1 letter from advocates on the inside to facility staff in gulag:Moose Lake and...

Texas Coronavirus Advocacy Letter to Gov. Abbott

Amid the public health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, Just Future Project united with a broad coalition of civil rights and human rights organizations to call on Texas Governor Greg Abbott to reverse his dangerous reduction of protections for people in the criminal legal system. Read the letter below....

Coronavirus kills one, infects another, in Florida sex offender treatment center

  Residents of the Arcadia facility are held in confinement under the Jimmy Ryce Act, which forces sex offenders into treatment if experts believe they’re likely to commit another sex crime. The Florida Civil Commitment Center is a treatment center in Arcadia for sex offenders held involuntarily by the Jimmy...

Creating a Future that is Just

Victory in Supreme Court of Virginia against out-of-control prosecution

Victory in Supreme Court of Virginia against out-of-control prosecution
Justices declare effort targeting leading advocate illegal, ending 5-year court battle   On Thursday, the highest court in Virginia ended the Commonwealth’s 13-year campaign to indefinitely detain a prominent advocate on criminal justice matters, Galen Baughman. In a victory for justice the Supreme Court ruled that the petition filed against...

Protest in Texas Against Civil Commitment

Protest in Texas Against Civil Commitment
Protest Against Texas Shadow Prison in Littlefield Salute from Just Future There was a protest against the Texas system of so-called “sex offender civil commitment” in Littlefield, Texas on Saturday, April 09, 2022. Hats off to the brave advocates against pre-crime preventative detention who rallied in the middle-of-nowhere Texas to...

VCBR Coronavirus Outbreak Prompts Virginia’s National Guard to Take Action

VCBR Coronavirus Outbreak Prompts Virginia’s National Guard to Take Action
    The Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR), a shadow prison in Burkeville, Virginia operating under the guise of a treatment facility, is currently in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak; and many people locked within the facility are fearful for their health.      As of October 14th, twenty-two “residents”...

Cost of the Shadow Prison in California

Cost of the Shadow Prison in California
California spends the second most money on prisons per capita in the nation. Especially now, with the pandemic ravaging our economy — at every level from local municipalities to the national tax base — state governments are left with difficult budgeting decisions to make. While congress has the luxury of...

Federal Judge Orders IRS to Issues Withheld $1,200 Stimulus Checks to Persons in Carceral Settings

Federal Judge Orders IRS to Issues Withheld $1,200 Stimulus Checks to Persons in Carceral Settings
BREAKING: Earlier this week in the Northern District of California (NDCA),  a federal judge issued an injunction against the Trump Administration for withholding COVID relief funds from incarcerated people. The presiding judge, Phyllis J. Hamilton, ruled that the Treasury Department could no longer withhold CARES Act emergency relief “based solely...

1977 Report by Psychiatrists call “Sex Offender” Label Invalid and Fallacious

1977 Report by Psychiatrists call “Sex Offender” Label Invalid and Fallacious
Deiridre M Smith, “Dangerous Diagnoses, Risky Assumptions, and the Failed Experiment of ‘Sexually Violent Predator’ Commitment,” 67 OKLA. L. Rev. 619 (2015)   Forty-six years ago, the concept of the “sex offender” was considered conceptually invalid. The only thing that has changed in the near half-century since the below recorded...

Virginia Lawmakers Call Shadow Prisons “Appalling”

Virginia Lawmakers Call Shadow Prisons “Appalling”
Featuring Senator Joe Morrissey, Delegate Patrick Hope, and Delegate Don Scott. Moderator Gin Carter of the Humanization Project. Just Future Project is one of the members of our coalition and they deal specifically... with VCBR. If people don't know what that is and what that's about, I know I personally was completely appalled last year when I learned what VCBR is.

Bed Space – Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR) Expansion Project

Bed Space – Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR) Expansion Project
  Virginia is rapidly running out of space at it’s pre-crime preventative detention facility to warehouse prisoners after the completion of their criminal sentence. In June 2018, the commonwealth broke ground on a massively expensive construction project to expand the current “not-a-prison” prison to add beds. Strangely, the commonwealth doesn’t...

N.J. psychologist surrenders state license after alleged relationship with sex offender patient

N.J. psychologist surrenders state license after alleged relationship with sex offender patient
By Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau Natalie Barone, left, and Michael Bordo. TRENTON — A top state psychologist who was fired after allegedly having an affair with a sex offender patient surrendered her license to practice today, records show. The consent agreement, which described the allegations as “boundary violations,” allows psychologist Natalie Barone to...

Virginia Deaths in Custody

Virginia Deaths in Custody
Source: Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services Discharge Report From 01/01/2003-03/02/2020. These numbers seem suspiciously low compared to other death-in-custody data we have reviewed. Specifically in Kansas, 260 individuals are indefinitely detained and the facility has 45 deaths to date, whereas in Virginia we have...

Virginia Center for Behavioral Health Breaks Ground on Facility Expansion

Virginia Center for Behavioral Health Breaks Ground on Facility Expansion
By Aziza Jackson. August 17, 2018 BURKSVILLE, Va. — The Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR) has broken new ground on an expansion project for their Burkesville facility. HDR, an international design and architecture firm based in Omaha, Neb., signed on to design the expansion and renovation of the facility...

“Release American Citizens from Double Jeopardy Punishment”

“Release American Citizens from Double Jeopardy Punishment”
The following post is from a letter to Virginia State Delegate Jennifer Carroll-Foy from Dr. Bernida Thompson.  Dear Delegate Jennifer Carroll-Foy, You were great on the June 3rd Townhall. I appreciate your vigor for justice, especially for people of color.  I am an African American citizen, and my family along...

Shadow Prisoner Stabbed 14 Times at VCBR Facility

Shadow Prisoner Stabbed 14 Times at VCBR Facility
By John Powers. Jun 12, 2020 On the day of June 11, 2020 a person being held at the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR) stabbed a fellow inmate fourteen times during their line up for their daily pill calls. The victim was stabbed behind the ear and back repeatedly....

In Memoriam: Lives Lost While Imprisoned After Their Release Date in Minnesota

In Memoriam: Lives Lost While Imprisoned After Their Release Date in Minnesota
The people who run these programs pretend that they are for “treatment.”  For at least 60 people who were sent to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program it was a death sentence.  The following names, placed here in memoriam, are a stark illustration of the false promise of therapeutic intent.  The names listed remind us of why we work, today and every day, to abolish pre-crime preventative detention systems.

Pre-Crime Preventative Detention Systems in 2018

Pre-Crime Preventative Detention Systems in 2018
United States Map Pre-Crime Preventative Detention Systems 2018 SOCCPN Annual Survey Data

Obscure New Jersey “Treatment” Facility Has a Higher COVID-19 Death Rate Than Any Prison in the Country

Obscure New Jersey “Treatment” Facility Has a Higher COVID-19 Death Rate Than Any Prison in the Country
By: Jordan Michael Smith. Jun 04, 2020 The detainees already completed their criminal sentences—but they are prevented from leaving for years. And with the coronavirus spreading, their lives are at risk. This story was produced in collaboration with Type Investigations. With its innocuous name, the Special Treatment Unit (STU) sounds like a...

U.S. sex offense policy: The next “surveiller et punir”

U.S. sex offense policy: The next “surveiller et punir”
Presentation summary The legacy of the 40-year-long sex panic in the U.S. is a vast regime of draconian penalties and “management” of “sex offenders” – a category including anyone from consensual teen lovers to armed rapists. Along with long prison sentences, the sex offender registry, and restrictions on residency, work,...

“Death Sentence” — Across U.S., COVID-19 takes a hidden toll behind bars

“Death Sentence” — Across U.S., COVID-19 takes a hidden toll behind bars
COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in U.S. jails and prisons, but testing of inmates and staff remains spotty and many confirmed cases are going unreported. The resulting lack of data has deep implications for the fight against the virus, because prison outbreaks can move easily to surrounding communities. By PETER EISLER, LINDA SO, NED...

Covid-19 Advocacy at ‘gulag:Moose Lake’

Covid-19 Advocacy at ‘gulag:Moose Lake’
Advocates living behind the walls at gulag:Moose Lake have been speaking out about the acute danger to shadow prisoners in Minnesota from the novel coronavirus.  Here we have assembled 3 letters to Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minnesota), 1 letter from advocates on the inside to facility staff in gulag:Moose Lake and...

Texas Coronavirus Advocacy Letter to Gov. Abbott

Texas Coronavirus Advocacy Letter to Gov. Abbott
Amid the public health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, Just Future Project united with a broad coalition of civil rights and human rights organizations to call on Texas Governor Greg Abbott to reverse his dangerous reduction of protections for people in the criminal legal system. Read the letter below....

Coronavirus kills one, infects another, in Florida sex offender treatment center

Coronavirus kills one, infects another, in Florida sex offender treatment center
  Residents of the Arcadia facility are held in confinement under the Jimmy Ryce Act, which forces sex offenders into treatment if experts believe they’re likely to commit another sex crime. The Florida Civil Commitment Center is a treatment center in Arcadia for sex offenders held involuntarily by the Jimmy...

Going For Wins in Sexually Violent Predator Cases

Going For Wins in Sexually Violent Predator Cases
By Allen Frances, MD July 8, 2011 During the past year, I have been involved as an expert witness for the defense in 14 SVP cases (tried in California, Washington, and Iowa). My role has been to clarify what is meant by the wording of the Paraphilia section in DSM-IV....

How The Use of Improper Statistics and Unverified Data Corrupts The Judicial Process In Sex Offence Cases (2018)

How The Use of Improper Statistics and Unverified Data Corrupts The Judicial Process In Sex Offence Cases (2018)
This is an excellent overview from the 30,000 foot view, of the problems that continue to fuel draconian and unscientific sex-related laws.  As Cucolo & Perlin note, “judicial decisions involving sexual offender[s]…rely improperly on inaccurate and underdeveloped statistics as well as unverified and outdated information.”  This article specifically addresses pre-crime...

Authorities retaliate against advocates

Authorities retaliate against advocates
The system routinely punishes dissent voiced by those under their control. Advocates who speak out against injustice in the criminal legal system are especially vulnerable to retaliation by unscrupulous prosecutors, judges, and others in positions of official power over their lives or the lives of their loved ones. Nowhere is...

How many are held under “sex offender civil commitment” laws?

How many are held under “sex offender civil commitment” laws?
Data is important for advocacy.  But shadow prisons are so shrouded in secrecy that no one actually knows how many people are locked away in these “treatment” facilities in the U.S.  Here is a brief look at what we know (or don’t) and why the number that you often see cited is wrong.

Civil Commitment in New York is Worse Than Prison

Civil Commitment in New York is Worse Than Prison
Shadow prisoners held for "treatment" at CNYPC in Marcy, NY experience conditions of confinment more explicitly punitive and restrictive than those in the actual prison system in New York. A new letter to state elected officials from people living behind the walls describes the desperation that pervades systems of pre-crime preventative detention in the U.S.  Ever wonder why we at Just Future use the term "shadow prisoners" to refer to people in so-called "sex offender civil commitment" facilities?  Read this letter.

Letter from men at Central New York Psychiatric Center — effectively stand up for their rights and demand change

Letter from men at Central New York Psychiatric Center — effectively stand up for their rights and demand change
The shadow prisoners at the Gulag in Marcy, New York are formally demanding better treatment.  The following letter was sent by a committee of men who are organizing themselves at the Central New York Psychiatric Center.  Just Future applauds their concise articulation of concrete demands coupled with clear citations to...

Homophobic Outrage in Virginia

Homophobic Outrage in Virginia
Last month, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) succeeded in his aim of incarcerating a gay man indefinitely for sending text messages. AG Herring maintains the man – who has never been accused or arrested for any act of violence – is a “Sexually Violent Predator.” Virgina’s treatment of Galen Baughman, now 36,has attracted protests from LGBT and criminal-justice groups, and at least one Virginia lawmaker. His case highlights the dangers of Orwellian civil-commitment laws that allow indefinite confinement of people to prevent possible future offenses.

APA Opposes Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders After Prison

APA Opposes Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders After Prison
APA’s Board of Trustees approved a task force report on sexually dangerous offenders at its meeting last month in San Diego recommending that psychiatrists vigorously oppose sexual predator laws. Opposing such laws is necessary “to preserve the moral authority of the profession and ensure continuing societal confidence in the medical...

Vladimir Bukovsky, 76, exile who exposed use of psychiatric hospitals to jail dissidents.

Vladimir Bukovsky, 76, exile who exposed use of psychiatric hospitals to jail dissidents.
Critics of “sex offender civil commitment” laws often liken them to the Soviet practices of imprisoning dissidents in psychiatric hospitals. The man who was credited for exposing this soviet practice, Vladimir K. Bukovsky, died recently at age 76. We wanted to remember him and remind Just Futurists just how alike these practices truly are.

Update on the Galen Baughman Civil Commitment trial

Update on the Galen Baughman Civil Commitment trial
by Charlie Clark, September 4, 2019 5:27 PM Our Man in Arlington. A culture-clash of a trial will resume in late September in Arlington Circuit Court. The scantly reported-on civil procedure involves the disturbing topic of predatory sexual behavior and the Virginia laws intended to protect potential victims. The trial,...

Patrick Hope column: Virginia’s sexually violent predator laws have gone too far

Patrick Hope column: Virginia’s sexually violent predator laws have gone too far
By: Patrick Hope Sept 29, 2019 The “lock ’em up and throw away the key” era of criminal justice is over. Virginians have reassessed their views on criminal justice to better address mass incarceration weighed against costs and the likelihood to reoffend. Policies ripe for reform include: resentencing prisoners who...

Sex Offenders Locked Up on a Hunch

Sex Offenders Locked Up on a Hunch
The essence of the American criminal justice system is reactive, not predictive: You are punished for the crime you committed. You can’t be punished simply because you might commit one someday. You certainly can’t be held indefinitely to prevent that possibility. And yet that is exactly what is happening to...

Prominent voices chime in on Twitter

Prominent voices chime in on Twitter
Lots of folks are talking about the abusive, homophobic, and blatantly unconstitutional use of pre-crime preventative detention laws in Virginia. Here we have aggregated some prominent voices expressing their outrage on Twitter. ⁦.⁦@MarkHerringVA⁩ has made exceptionally strong statements on ways to improve our criminal justice system. Civil commitment, however, is...

Letter to the editor in WaPo on reentry for people living on the registry

Letter to the editor in WaPo on reentry for people living on the registry
Persons with sex-related convictions are often deliberately excluded from the reentry picture.  This LTE points that out to the Washington Post and argues that everyone is entitled to a just future.  Kudos to Kirsten Darby for using this important advocacy tool to register her perspective as a member of the...

ABOUT INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL TO GERMANY UNDER IML PASSPORTS

ABOUT INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL TO GERMANY UNDER IML PASSPORTS
This is a very interesting video about a man that left the United States while on probation to Permanently live in Germany as his new home to live as a free person.  He shows what the new International Megan’s Law marked passports look like and talks about the reasons that...

Punishment Without Crime

Punishment Without Crime
⁦.⁦@MarkHerringVA⁩ has made exceptionally strong statements on ways to improve our criminal justice system. Civil commitment, however, is an area where Va law and enforcement is an injustice and a violation of civil rights. Here’s a prime example: https://t.co/7kVW1wDSIg — Patrick Hope (@HopeforVirginia) August 24, 2019

Punished Enough?

Punished Enough?
Downstate confronts questions that date to the time of Plato and the Old Testament: How ought we punish acts that are repugnant to society? Are there lawbreakers who are truly unforgivable? Are there offenses that demand perpetual condemnation, shunning, expulsion—banishment?   We once thought that we knew the answer to...

In Memoriam: Lives Lost While Imprisoned After Their Release Date in Kansas

In Memoriam: Lives Lost While Imprisoned After Their Release Date in Kansas
The people who run these programs pretend that they are for “treatment.”  For at least 45 people who were sent to Larned State Hospital it was a death sentence.  The following names, placed here in memoriam, are a stark illustration of the false promise of therapeutic intent.   These names...

With Human Rights for Every Person

No Exceptions

Powered by Tempera & WordPress.