Missouri executes man said to be disabled, despite pope’s call for clemency

Missouri executed convicted murderer Ernest Johnson on Tuesday evening after both Governor Mike Parson and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant the clemency sought by Pope Francis, among others, on the grounds that Johnson was intellectually disabled. Johnson, 61, was found guilty by a jury of murdering three convenience-store employees in 1994. He was

Alabama plans to use Covid relief funds to finance prison-building spree

Decarceration advocates urge lawmakers to consider sentencing reform instead as prisons have seen high rates of Covid outbreaks The southern US state of Alabama, which has the highest death rate from Covid-19 in America, is planning to use Covid relief funds to help construct three large prisons and renovate several others. State lawmakers began a special