LARAMIE, Wyo. -- On Tuesday, Wyomingites will have a chance to hear firsthand how Ron Keine came close to being executed for a crime he didn't commit.

Keine is one of four men convicted - wrongfully - of the kidnapping, rape and murder of a college student in New Mexico in 1974.

Kylie Taylor directs Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty's Wyoming chapter. She said it's important for people to hear Keine's experience as an innocent man living on death row in his own voice.

"As long as we have the death penalty as a law on the books, the risk of executing an innocent person will always exist," Taylor said. "And I think that hearing Ron's story will make that real for a lot of people."

In July, Gov. Mark Gordon said he'd consider a death-penalty moratorium, in part due to the price tag - roughly $750,000 per year, even with no one on death row. Death penalty proponents have argued it's an important crime deterrent and provides justice and closure for victims' families.

To sign up for the Zoom event, set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, visit ConservativesConcerned.org.

Taylor said numerous studies have shown the death penalty is not an effective deterrent. She said she can only imagine the hurt and anger families feel, but pointed to victims' families working to end the death penalty who have reported the drawn-out process did not produce a sense of justice or peace.

"And they have said going through the trial and the appeal process and everything that it puts them through is a continuous cycle of trauma," she said.

Keine and co-defendents were sentenced to death, and were only exonerated after an investigation by The Detroit News found false testimony in a key piece of evidence. Keine, a self-described lifelong conservative Republican, is also expected to explain why he doesn't trust government with the authority to execute its own citizens.


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ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. - As activists mark more than 100 days of protest since the April 21 death of Andrew Brown Junior - killed outside his Elizabeth City home as police officers served a warrant on drug charges - faith leaders are now voicing support for drug law reform.

Brown, who was unarmed, was shot as he attempted to drive away after officers surrounded his vehicle. The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland - executive director of the North Carolina Council of Churches - said harsh drug laws disproportionately affect the state's Black and Brown communities.

"What we're trying to do at the Council is help make the connection," said Copeland, "between the fact that the War on Drugs is a failed policy that fundamentally misunderstands what substance use is all about, and how it should be handled."

According to the Drug Policy Alliance, nearly 80% of people in federal prison and 60% of people in state prisons for drug offenses are Black or Latino. The group Human Rights Watch says every 25 seconds in the U.S, someone is arrested for possessing drugs.

Protesters and Brown's family continue to demand the release of body-camera and dash-cam footage from the shooting.

North Carolina National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President - Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman - said he hopes the state can reform its criminal-justice system to hold law enforcement accountable.

"It's to find a better system, a more just system," said Spearman, "as it relates to especially these prosecutors, these district attorneys, who are making these unilateral decisions to more or less justify those who are killing African Americans."

Spearman said he also believes it's up to church congregations to help individuals like Andrew Brown Junior.

"The faith community could have risen up to assist him," said Spearman. "And I think that's the role that needs to be filled by many in the faith community."

A review of federal and state incarceration data by the Associated Press reveals between 1975 and 2019, the nation's prison population jumped from around 240,000 to more than 1.3 million, largely as a result of drug offenses.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's declaration of the "War on Drugs."

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A new report finds county jails made more than $9 million from payments made for phone calls by incarcerated people, the year before and during the pandemic.

The report by Mike Harmon, the state's auditor of public accounts, examined more than 70 county jails' communication services and equipment contracts that were active between July 2019 and November 2020.

Marcus Jackson, smart justice organizer and coordinator at ACLU Kentucky, said inmates' families foot the bill for marked-up prices on a number of services, including food purchased from commissary vendors. He added it is commonplace for jails to receive financial perks from vendors.

"No one that's incarcerated has the money to pay these high phone bills," Jackson asserted. "It's their family members that are already in bad situations and barely making it paycheck to paycheck that are also paying taxes, that's paying these high bills."

Jackson noted in addition to financial burdens, high costs for phone calls cause emotional distress and makes it harder for inmates and their families to maintain social ties, all of which research shows can boost successful re-entry into society.

Some municipalities, such as New York City, have introduced legislation to provide communication services in jails and prisons at no cost.

Jackson noted in Kentucky, inmates can be charged upwards of $10 for a 15-minute phone call.

"Let's say if a person calls home every day, once a day. Three hundred dollars per month added to a struggling family," Jackson explained.

The report also found some contracts with telecommunications companies were based on verbal agreements. Auditors say unwritten contracts raise serious policy issues and can obscure the flow of money from county governments, taxpayers and officials.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- A bill signed into law in Springfield protects the participants in restorative-justice practices from having what they do or say used against them in court.

Restorative justice is a voluntary alternative to the criminal legal system. It brings together offenders and victims to find ways to repair the harm done, and the methods vary from group meetings or peacemaking circles, to mediation-style communications.

Madeleine Behr, policy manager for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, said legal privilege will make these practices more viable options for survivors.

"Now, without this privilege, that really deters people who have caused harm from being open and honest in the process about what actually happened," Behr explained. "And for a survivor, so many people are looking for an apology, a reckoning, an admission of guilt."

Behr added the criminal legal system can be traumatizing for survivors, who may have to convince prosecutors of what happened to them or testify in court. Public opinion polls show more than 60% of Americans support restorative-justice policies.

Behr pointed out there is a common misperception criminal-justice reform and victim advocacy are oppositional. But she argued restorative justice is an example of the crucial collaboration between reformers and advocates for victims' rights.

"It not only offers perpetrators to take accountability and recognize the harm that they've caused in a different way, but it also really expands options for survivors, who are looking for some form of accountability and probably don't want to get it from the criminal legal system, for a whole host of reasons," Behr stated.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker also signed laws to end deception in interrogations of juveniles, to allow state's attorneys to petition for re-sentencing of offenders, and create a task force to study ways to reduce the prison population.

Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, who sponsored the restorative-justice bill, said the laws are important steps, and even more can be done to ensure public safety.

"Where everyone has a roof over their head, a good school, a good job, a sense of neighborly love and community, that is real public safety for all," Peters stressed.