This much is clear: OJ Simpson, fallen football hero who got away with (his ex-wife’s) murder, has a long stretch in prison ahead of him, possibly up to 33 years, but he becomes eligible for parole in nine years. What is less clear, judging by big media reports that vary hugely, is the extent to which he’s a bad guy. The Chicago Tribune wrote a tear-jerker, Reuters paints him a little less sympathetically and quotes the sentencing judge as saying, “”While at this case bail hearing, I said to Mr Simpson that I didn’t know if he was arrogant or ignorant or both. Then during the trial and through this proceeding, I got the answer: it was both.” The UK’s Guardian takes a cooler, America-hoped-for-it approach.
Switzerland (SwissInfo, Eng) – European human rights experts began today a two-week inspection of Swiss detention facilities. The Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) will report on the treatment of inmates at facilities across Switzerland, including juvenile centres, prisons, and cantonal police jails.
Inspectors have noted problems of overcrowding in Swiss prisons, especially in Geneva’s Champ-Dollon prison, which has 480 inmates, nearly twice the number it was designed to hold. Prisoners at Champ-Dollon in August staged a protest against overcrowding.
This is the fifth visit by the CPT to Switzerland since 1991. Four
years ago, inspectors examined the treatment of foreign nationals awaiting deportation at
Zurich airport.
Bern, Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland (RSR, Fre) – Geneva, Vaud and Ticino cantons say they are happy with their trial systems of electronic bracelets for prisoners who serve short sentences at home, and police groups are backing them, but this might not be enough for them to get the backing of the Swiss Federal Council. The cabinet will make a final decision once the public consultation process on the bracelets ends, in two days. First indications are that the cabinet believes the prison-at-home system does not fit a new penal code which proposes alternatives to short-term sentences, such as community work.
