State lawmakers dig into violent conditions in Georgia prisons, Fulton jail

By Stanley Dunlap

Georgia’s state prisons and Fulton County’s jail took center stage Friday before legislative committees tasked with making recommendations on how to deal with troubles arising from overcrowded and outdated detention facilities.

The Georgia Senate’s Department of Corrections Facilities Study Committee held its first hearing this month when it heard from the state’s top agency officials about the challenges of running a large prison system where severe understaffing, deteriorating buildings, smuggling of contraband have led to more violence among inmates, correctional officers and other prison staff.

State corrections officials told lawmakers at the Friday hearing the agency needs to upgrade aging prisons with more one-bed cells to resolve a typical underlying cause of violent attacks between inmates. 

They also discussed the need to eliminate a complex system of drones that deliver cell phones and other illegal contraband to inmates and stop the spread of violent street gangs across the state that have a presence in Georgia prisons.

Tennessee governor calls CoreCivic ‘important partner’ amid DOJ investigation

By Sam Stockard

Gov. Lee shows no signs of dumping CoreCivic, which runs four state prisons for $233 million a year

As the Department of Justice starts a civil rights investigation into a privately-run state prison in Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee contends steps have been taken to improve operations at the facility operated by what he calls an “important partner.”

Lee said the state reduced the number of inmates at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center and increased pay for the state’s correctional officers. 

The inmate population was cut to 2,068 over the last year from 2,480 in October 2023, according to the Department of Correction.

US credit card debt continues to rise as housing and other costs remain high for the lowest earners

 By Casey Quinlan 

Americans are racking up credit card debt as they struggle to keep up with the cost of living, and experts say those who earn the least are the hardest hit.

Total credit card balances rose 5.8% from a year ago, to $1.14 trillion, according to a recent New York Fed report. Equifax credit files through June show that credit card delinquency is still rising but that delinquency on consumer finance loans and retail cards fell and auto loan delinquency was flat.

People use credit cards for all kinds of purchases, and despite the stereotype of consumers getting themselves into too much credit card debt so that they could buy a few extra flashy clothes or vacations, many of them are for necessities.

So what does it mean for the economy that the average rate for people with a credit card balance was 22.76% in May, that there is an expansion of financial tech products like “buy now, pay later,” and that many Americans find themselves unable to pay off that debt? It depends on your role in the economy, financial experts and economists say.

Juvenile justice reform commission could start meeting next month

By William J. Ford

Advocates said they hope a commission created to assess Maryland’s juvenile justice system can begin meeting as early as next month, even though just four of the 28 members of the panel are in place so far.

House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) has appointed two House Judiciary Committee members, Dels. J. Sandy Bartlett (D-Anne Arundel) and N. Scott Phillips (D-Baltimore County), to the commission. Two other members, the secretaries of Human Services and Juvenile Services, are named in the law that created the panel.

Report: Ohio school-to-prison pipeline bolstered by ‘exclusionary discipline,’ absenteeism

 By Susan Tebben

“Student disconnection” spurred on by mental health factors, disproportionate discipline and a lack of in-school supports plays its part in driving Ohio’s absenteeism rate, according to a new report from an Ohio think tank.

That absenteeism, and the contributing factors of it, can create “an entry point in the school-to-prison pipeline,” according to Policy Matters Ohio, who released a new study on the issue this month.

U.S. Department of Justice opens investigation into CoreCivic Trousdale County prison

 By J. Holly McCall and Sam Stockard

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into private prison company CoreCivic and Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, which it manages, over alleged civil rights violations.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke announced the move Tuesday morning, citing a record of assaults, murders and understaffing at the facility since it opened in 2016.

“People are incarcerated at Trousdale Turner as punishment for their crimes, but in our legal system, punishment does not and cannot include violence and sexual abuse,” said Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

‘Hope is making a comeback’: The Obamas make the case for Kamala Harris

 By Jacob Fischler

CHICAGO — As he did in his first speech to a Democratic National Convention 20 years ago, former President Barack Obama emphasized the connections binding Americans together and called for a more positive national atmosphere on the second night of this year’s convention Tuesday, while rallying Democrats to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Landlords cry foul as more states seal eviction records

By Robbie Sequeira

With eviction filings leaving a lasting mark on renters’ records, many states are reconsidering how much information landlords really need.

When pandemic-era tenant protections expired, rents immediately soared, and eviction filings surged last year more than 50% over pre-pandemic levels in some U.S. cities.

These filings can cast long shadows. Simply being named in an eviction complaint, regardless of the outcome, can severely limit future housing options and prolong housing insecurity, according to a recent University of Michigan study.

Ohio school districts use surveillance software to monitor student devices

By Megan Henry

Gaggle, a Texas-based student safety technology company, is currently partnered with about 1,500 school districts across the country.

Ohio’s largest school district recently started using surveillance software on students’ devices. 

Columbus City Schools partnered with Gaggle — a Texas-based student safety technology company that provides constant surveillance — at the end of last school year, district spokesperson Jacqueline Bryant said in an email. 

“This is an added layer of security to ensure students are not visiting unapproved sites,” she said in an email. “Gaggle employs advanced technology and human insight to review students’ use of online tools 24/7/365 days a week and provides real-time analysis, swiftly flagging any potentially concerning behavior or content; this includes signs of self-harm, depression, substance abuse, cyberbullying, or other harmful situations.”

Gaggle is currently partnered with about 1,500 school districts across the country, but would not answer how many of those districts are in Ohio, Gaggle spokesperson Shelby Goldman said. 

“We have a practice to not answer questions about specific school districts,” she said in an email. 

Ohio’s three largest school districts — Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati — use Gaggle. Cleveland did not answer questions the Ohio Capital Journal sent about Gaggle. 

Cincinnati Public Schools started using Gaggle in 2013 and it is active for all grades, according to the district. It costs the district $323,780 to use Gaggle.

“Cincinnati Public Schools prioritizes the safety and well-being of its students and staff, and utilizes Gaggle to monitor threats for individual student safety and the safety of each school community,” according to the district. “The District monitors content on District-provided devices and applications based on specific language and phrases, generating trigger alerts for review, rather than continuous monitoring.”

Gaggle, which started in the 1990s, monitors school platforms such as Google Workspaces and Microsoft Office 365, but does not look at students’ personal email addresses or private social media accounts.

“Gaggle is an early warning system that identifies children in crisis so that schools can intervene before a tragedy happens,” Goldman said in an email. “Gaggle partners with school districts to help them monitor student activity on the technology (devices and accounts) provided by the school district.” 

The company estimates it helped save 5,790 lives from 2018-23, according to their report from last fall. 

“We believe finding the right balance between monitoring for safety purposes and protecting student privacy and confidentiality is important, and we’re committed to continuing to support districts in achieving both,” Goldman said in an email. 

Gaggle uses Artificial Intelligence technology to spot things that could be an issue and a Human Safety Team reviews them before contacting the school. 

“Our reviewers are looking at the context to determine if an item is related to an actual concern or maybe a simple reference to something that is harmless when in context,” Goldman said in an email.

Gaggle can flag things as early warning signs or an imminent threat, which is treated with a higher level of urgency. It altered Ohio school districts to 1,275 student incidents that required immediate intervention in 2021, according to an October 2022 Facebook post from Gaggle. 

Columbus City Schools, which has about 47,000 students, is implementing Gaggle in middle and high schools. Students can’t opt out of it. 

The district signed two contracts with Gaggle — the first for $58,492.40 in January and $99,180 in June, according to school board documents. 

During the district’s Gaggle pilot from April 2022 to December 2023, 3,942 pieces of content were looked at by Gaggle’s Safety Team which led to 226 “actionable student safety concerns that were sent to Emergency Contacts,” according to a school board document. 

Even though Sharon Kim’s two students are in elementary school and won’t yet be affected by the district’s Gaggle implementation, she is concerned about the district using surveillance technology. 

“School should be a safe place for our kids,” Kim said. “They spend so much time in their lives at school, it should be a place where they feel safe, not where they feel like they’re being monitored and surveilled every single minute of the day. I really feel that this kind of surveillance is a huge hindrance to that.”

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on X.

This article originally appeared in Ohio Capital Journal on August 20th, 2024

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Tennessee law to let teachers carry guns in schools caused a ruckus, but has drawn little interest

By Marta Aldrich

Josh Arrowood carries his .22-caliber handgun most everywhere he goes in his rural Tennessee community — to church at Freewill Baptist, at the Food City store where he shops for groceries, and in the Greene County Courthouse, where he serves as a commissioner.

A new state law that passed this spring would let him, under certain conditions, carry the gun at his workplace, too — South Greene Middle School in Greeneville, where he teaches world history to sixth graders. And Arrowood, who’s had a handgun permit for 15 years, is open to doing so if it can provide an extra layer of security against a school shooting.