Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to four years in federal prison Thursday for his corrupt lobbying activities, which led to the downfall of a congressman and several other Washington officials.
A woman convicted of murdering her infant daughter by microwaving her was spared the death penalty Wednesday by a jury that couldn't reach a unanimous decision.
New York's "preppie killer" is heading back to prison: He's been sentenced to 19 years after pleading guilty to a drug charge.
A former San Francisco radio talk show host and former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Thursday for distributing child pornography.
Jose Rivera survived two tours of duty in Iraq, but his job as a corrections officer at a high-security federal prison in California cost him his life.
A death row inmate who says he's too fat to be executed received poor legal help during his trial and later when he appealed the death sentence, his lawyers said Monday during a clemency hearing.
A Russian court has rejected jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's request for parole.
A Russian court rejected jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's request for parole on Friday, ordering him to serve out the remainder of his sentence in a ruling his lawyer called politically motivated.
An unemployed man convicted of murdering a 64-year-old acquaintance by forcing a walking stick down his throat has been sentenced to life in prison.
While inmates in jails across New York pass the time by playing card games -- poker, gin rummy and solitaire -- they may also be helping crack cold cases.
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to four years in federal prison Thursday for his corrupt lobbying activities, which led to the downfall of a congressman and several other Washington officials.
A woman convicted of murdering her infant daughter by microwaving her was spared the death penalty Wednesday by a jury that couldn't reach a unanimous decision.
New York's "preppie killer" is heading back to prison: He's been sentenced to 19 years after pleading guilty to a drug charge.
A former San Francisco radio talk show host and former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Thursday for distributing child pornography.
Jose Rivera survived two tours of duty in Iraq, but his job as a corrections officer at a high-security federal prison in California cost him his life.
A death row inmate who says he's too fat to be executed received poor legal help during his trial and later when he appealed the death sentence, his lawyers said Monday during a clemency hearing.
A Russian court has rejected jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's request for parole.
A Russian court rejected jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's request for parole on Friday, ordering him to serve out the remainder of his sentence in a ruling his lawyer called politically motivated.
An unemployed man convicted of murdering a 64-year-old acquaintance by forcing a walking stick down his throat has been sentenced to life in prison.
While inmates in jails across New York pass the time by playing card games -- poker, gin rummy and solitaire -- they may also be helping crack cold cases.
John Lennon's killer told parole officials during his latest unsuccessful bid for release from prison that he is ashamed and sorry for gunning down the former Beatle nearly three decades ago.
Chante Wright was set to testify against a career criminal when she was gunned down on the streets of Philadelphia in January. Investigators believe it was a hit ordered from prison, by an inmate using a cell phone.
John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, was denied parole for the fifth time Tuesday.
John Lennon's killer was denied parole for a fifth time Tuesday by a board that said he remains a threat to the public
Hartford police will detain anyone younger than 18 who violates the city's curfew in the next month in response to recent violence, including a weekend shooting that killed a man and wounded six young people, city officials said Monday.
Prosecutors said Monday they plan to seek the death penalty against a man charged in the kidnapping and fatal shooting of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson.
Michael Rodriguez remembers the exhilaration of newfound freedom when he hid in the back of a stolen truck as he and six of his buddy convicts staged one of Texas' most notorious prison breaks.
The United States violated international law by putting a Mexican national to death in Texas, the Mexican government said Wednesday.
Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin, whose death penalty conviction in the rape and murder of two teen girls sparked international controversy, was put to death in Texas on Tuesday night, prison officials said.
A death row inmate scheduled for execution says he's too fat to be put to death, claiming executioners would have trouble finding his veins and that his weight could diminish the effectiveness of one of the lethal injection drugs
I was truly honored to participate in the CNN documentary "Black in America."
A man who terrified a small rural community for months was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for committing a series of rapes and imprisoning a teenage girl and his own young daughter for 15 months in an underground pit.
SI.com legal analyst Michael McCann answers the key questions following Tuesday's sentencing of disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy to 15 months in prison.
A federal judge in Brooklyn has sentenced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy to 15 months in prison for taking payoffs from a professional gambler for inside tips on games
A former army commander in Argentina was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for his role in the kidnapping, torture and death of four activists in 1977.
Whenever the segment featuring me and my imprisoned brother, Everett, from Soledad O'Brien's searing CNN special "Black in America" airs nationally, I invariably receive an e-mail, call or comment from a black person saying our story is their story.
Executions jumped by a third in Iran and quadrupled in Saudi Arabia last year, causing the total number of executions around the world to rise yet again in 2007
San Quentin Prison sits like a fortress along the bay just north of San Francisco. It is bordered by some of the most expensive residential real estate in the country. But at the edge of this scenic peninsula, 5,400 inmates are locked up.
The U.N.'s highest court is ruling Wednesday on an emergency Mexican appeal to block the execution of its citizens on death row in the United States
Susan Atkins, a terminally ill former Charles Manson follower convicted in the murder of actress Sharon Tate, on Tuesday was denied a compassionate release from prison.
Kim's little sister violated her DUI probation by missing road cleanup duties
While most students at Texas Southern University are in need of financial aid, their former president dressed in Gucci, had a $17,800 couch and used a 25-place dinner set that cost $40,000
A state watchdog commission has recommended that California phase out its antiquated juvenile prisons by 2011
My favorite made-for-TV movies are those based on true stories, especially true stories involving jealous friends or spouses who go on sleazy killing rampages.
A British man convicted of shooting to death his 9-month-old baby and wife as they cuddled together in bed was sentenced to two life prison terms without parole
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that child rapists cannot be executed, concluding that capital punishment for crimes against individuals can be applied only to murderers.
Virginia is set to carry out its 100th execution, the country's eighth by lethal injection since the Supreme Court upheld the procedure. An update on an unending debate
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday morning that child rapists cannot be given the death penalty, effectively reserving the punishment only for murderers.
Convicted killer James Earl Reed was executed Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his last-minute request for a stay, said Josh Gelinas, spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
A man scheduled to be executed on Friday was issued a stay just minutes before he was to be electrocuted
California's director of adult prisons is recommending against "compassionate release" for a terminally ill former Manson family member, a spokeswoman said.
Former Manson family member Susan Atkins has requested a "compassionate release" from prison because she has less than six months to live, a California prisons spokeswoman said Friday.
"My total sentence was 55 years -- for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute," recalls Carolyn LeCroy.
Hulk Hogan's teen son faces "cruel and unusual punishment," his attorneys say
A Chinese woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to helping a spy provide the Chinese government with U.S. military secrets about arms sales to Taiwan.
A man accused of seeking young virgins to rape and kill was convicted Wednesday of seven murders and sentenced to life in prison.
Boy band mogul Lou Pearlman is sentenced to jail for stealing money from investors
Viewpoint: The court's recent ruling that lethal injection is legal will give a boost to one growing category of death-row inmates: those who volunteer to die
After more than three years of waiting for courts to consider an appeal he never wanted, convicted killer Marco Allen Chapman may soon get his wish
John Allen Muhammad, who is on Virginia's death row in connection with the 2002 Washington-area sniper spree, has written to Virginia prosecutors saying he wants to waive all rights to appeal.
A Georgia man convicted of kidnapping and killing his girlfriend was executed Tuesday.
Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad is asking prosecutors in a letter to help him end legal appeals of his conviction and death sentence "so that you can murder this innocent black man"
Georgia's Parole and Pardon Board has denied a condemned inmate's request for clemency, paving the way for William Earl Lynd to die by injection at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
In the national recruiting rankings for the high school class of 2004, down past the Dwight Howard-led contingent that leapt straight to the NBA, and beyond a crowd of players who completed their college eligibility this March, was a 6-foot-3 point guard from George Wythe High in Richmond, Va., named Tyree Evans. He had scored more points in his senior year than all but two players in Virginia prep history -- Allen Iverson and Moses Malone -- and had earned a three-star rating and the 121st spot overall from Rivals.com. He had committed to Cincinnati, a supposed future gunner in Bob Huggins' backcourt.
Earl Wesley Berry came within 21 minutes of dying at the hands of the state of Mississippi in October, before the Supreme Court issued a last-minute stay.
Actor Wesley Snipes was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for failing to file tax returns. Despite surprising the court with a $5 million down payment on his outstanding tax balance, Snipes received the maximum jail time requested by federal prosecutors.
HBO is betting that Mexican soap fans will go for a gritty, and expensive, drama about women in prison
The Supreme Court on Monday denied the appeals of more death row inmates, setting the stage for a possible nationwide resumption of capital punishment in coming weeks or months.
A new company in Germany is trying to break into the fashion business selling stylish clothes designed and produced by prison inmates.
The Supreme Court's opinion may clear the way for most executions, but the death penalty debate remain confused
The Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injection as a means of executing prisoners, ruling that the method -- used in 35 states -- is properly and humanely applied.
The Supreme Court focused Wednesday on whether "evolving standards of decency" in the United States forbid a resumption of capital punishment for any felony but murder. But the justices offered no clear indication of how they will rule in the case of a man who is on Louisiana death row for raping a child.
He is not a killer, but the state of Louisiana is determined to execute Patrick Kennedy for his crime.
The Ohio Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of a man who argued he cannot be executed because he is mentally retarded
The British rocker is forced to postpone his planned show at Royal Albert Hall
A woman convicted of murdering an expectant mother and kidnapping the baby from her womb received a federal death sentence.
One inmate was killed and several others were injured when two fights broke out early Friday at a federal prison in Texas, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said.
A federal appeals court Thursday ordered former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman released from prison on bond pending his appeal, saying he is not a flight risk and has shown his appeal will raise "substantial questions of law or fact."
Former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of gunning down a Philadelphia police officer 27 years ago, deserves a new hearing to determine whether he should be executed for his crime, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
Ever find yourself struggling to craft the perfect sentence for a loved one who's, um, serving a sentence? Now, you have a friend in the greeting card business.
The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a lower court's ruling that female inmates have a constitutional right to abortions off jail grounds.
After serving six years in prison for trying to bomb police cars in the 1970s, former Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson has been released on parole
A court in Chile has sentenced 24 former police officers in cases of kidnapping, torture and murder that happened just after a U.S.-backed coup toppled the country's democratically elected president in 1973, the country's Judicial Authority said Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Friday he is "kind of hoping" the prisoners facing military trials in connection with the September 11 attacks do not receive the death penalty, which would fulfill their desire to be martyrs.
Questions are raised about Gus Puryear's performance as chief counsel for the nation's biggest private prison company
At least four federal inmates convicted on crack cocaine charges were freed Monday, a result of federal efforts to close the gap between sentences doled out for crack and for its purer, powder counterpart.
For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population
A former middle school teacher was sent to prison for six years Tuesday for having sexual encounters with five teenage boys
Softball, drunken orgies and a prison system run like the mafia. That's what Florida's former prison secretary says he inherited when he took over one of the nation's largest prison systems two years ago.
A child killer received a reprieve Friday from the Nebraska Supreme Court, which ruled that electrocution, the state's only means of capital punishment, is unconstitutional.
The Nebraska Supreme Court outlawed the electric chair in the only state that still used it as its sole means of execution
The Supreme Court blocked a scheduled execution at the last minute, keeping in place a de facto moratorium on capital punishment while it considers the constitutional question over how lethal injection is administered.
A French court sentenced six charity workers to eight years in prison on Monday for the attempted kidnapping of 103 children in Chad.
A federal appeals court has upheld the right of female inmates to be transported at state expense for elective abortions.
Prosecutors point to a jailhouse letter as evidence of a terrorism defendant's guilt. But it doesn't look like he wrote it
Olympic track star Marion Jones was sentenced in a federal court Friday to six months in prison, two years of probation and community service for lying to federal prosecutors investigating the use of performance-enhancing substances.
Even after pleading with the judge to not separate her from her two sons, Marion Jones was sentenced to six months in prison Friday for lying to federal investigators about her steroid use and check-fraud scheme.
Debra Lafave, the former Florida middle school teacher convicted of having sex with a student, violated her probation by hugging a young co-worker, a Florida judge found Thursday.
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared divided along ideological lines Monday over whether lethal-injection execution methods in about three dozen states are being properly and humanely applied.
The use of lethal injection will be expanded in China to replace execution by shooting, a senior legal official said in an interview with a government-owned Chinese newspaper.
One of the women who tried to assassinate President Ford 32 years ago was released on parole Monday from a federal prison in California, according to a Bureau of Prisons spokesman.
A Texas mother convicted of capital murder in the drowning deaths of her five children will have the rest of her life to mull over her crime: a jury on Friday decided to spare her from the death penalty and sentence her to life in prison.
Like soldiers in a foxhole, the residents of Supermax's Unit D developed the kind of bonds that come when your days are no longer your own.
After three acquittals and a mistrial, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was found guilty of second-degree murder and delivery of a controlled substance for his role in the death of Lou Gehrig's disease patient Thomas Youk.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering the early release of more than 20,000 low-risk prison inmates from the nation's largest prison system as a way to save money amid a worsening budget crisis
A day after New Jersey banned executions, newly released figures show that capital punishment dropped this year to a 13-year low.
They were convicted one after another -- four U.S. soldiers who helped gang rape and kill a 14-year-old Iraqi girl in one of the war's worst atrocities
The man who raped and killed 7-year-old Megan Kanka -- the 1994 crime that inspired "Megan's Law" -- is one of eight men whose sentences were commuted to life in prison this week as part of New Jersey's new ban on execution.
New Jersey becomes the first state in modern times to abolish capital punishment, as momentum builds nationwide to reconsider seldom-used death-penalty statutes
New Jersey lawmakers have voted to abolish the death penalty in the state, sending the governor a bill he has already said he will sign. The measure will make New Jersey the first state in more than 40 years to outlaw capital punishment.
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