Alex Da Silva, a local dancer, instructor, and choreographer whose resume includes a gig on the hit reality show "So You Think You Can Dance" will be tripping the light fantastic behind bars for the next 10 years. Da Silva, 43, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for aping one woman and assaulting another. more ›

Miguel Pinero's penetrating, taboo-breaching prison drama Short Eyes is currently at Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC). Co-produced by the Latino Theater Company and Urban Theatre Movement, this exciting production is dark, exhilarating, and utterly glorious. Pinero flaunts violence and poetry while navigating delicate moral, ethical, and social dilemmas contextualized by power dynamics and incarceration culture. more ›

It's the 14th time at bat for Charles "Tex" Watson, one of convicted killer Charles Manson's family members, as he goes before a parole board for a hearing today at Mule Creek State Prison. Watson, incarcerated for the crimes for 42 years now, has previously called himself Manson's "right-hand man." more ›

If you're looking to up the ante on the legitimate fear factor of your Halloween, try this on for size -- a jail in Norwalk is going to transport its inmates elsewhere this October 31, and deck the prison out as a haunted house. Deputy Frank Barragan told the Huffington Post that the Norwalk Sheriff's Station and the Lakewood Station will be filled with your typical Halloween characters: ghosts, goblins, witches and vampires. more ›

21-year-old Rachel Lee, considered one of the main players in the "Bling Ring" burglary crew has been sentenced to four years in prison for her role in a thieving venture into the home of reality star Audrina Patridge. more ›

Charges against deputies at LA County jails continue to pile up -- the LA Times reports today that an FBI investigation into the county's possibly corrupt system now includes allegations that prison employees beat up a visitor for no reason. Gabriel Carrillo says that when he went to visit his brother in the Men's Central Jail, deputies arrested him after discovering that he had a cell phone. He says that they handcuffed him, took him to a break room and beat him up. more ›

Gregory Powell, one of the two men responsible for the 1963 "Onion Field" kidnap and murder of Los Angeles Police Department Officer Ian Campbell has cancer, and is serving a life sentence. However, District Attorney Steve Cooley announced late today that the California Board of Parole Hearings has denied Powell a compassionate release from prison. more ›

Things are not looking good for the reputation of L.A. County's jails: a new report shows that at least 30 jail employees were disciplined for attacking inmates or covering up attacks in the past two years. The news comes on the heels of an FBI investigation into the prison system, and the revelation from a rookie jailer that he was forced to beat a mentally ill inmate. more ›

Justice takes time to prevail, and in Obie Anthony's case, it waited 17 years. At age 19 Anthony was convicted of fatally shooting a man outside of a South L.A. brothel. The 1995 trial found him guilty by the "trustful" words of a pimp and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. On Tuesday night around 7:40pm, Anthony exited the Twin Towers jail after his wrongful conviction was overturned. more ›

Local inmates are doing Ghandi proud. The group of prisoners in an estimated 12 California facilities participating in a hunger strike has grown to nearly 12,000, reports L.A. Now, possibly the largest inmate hunger strike in recent U.S. history. The prisoners are protesting a number of regulations, most prominently those surrounding solitary confinement. more ›

The controversial case of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, two American hikers who were sentenced to eight years in Iranian prison, is finally seeing its resolve. After more than two years of detainment, both men are slated to arrive stateside on Sunday, September 25. more ›

Before the Governator left office, he signed into law a statewide plan that could permit over 4,000 females inmates to finish their sentences in the comforts of their own homes. Obviously a controversial incentive, the Alternative Custody Program may or may not benefit the children. more ›

John Levin, 47, was found guilty last month of murdering his wife Michelle and microwaving his Pomeranian to death, and yesterday he was sentenced to 16 years in prison, plus parole for life after release, according to the Glendale News-Press. more ›

Michelle Nicole Stearns of San Juan Capistrano was sentenced yesterday to six years in state prison for her role in the death of a cyclist who died after she struck him while she was driving drunk. Stearns, 30, pleaded guilty in March to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the 2007 Dana Point collision that took the life of 32-year-old Jose Umberto Barranco-Patino. more ›

It was a nice try, but against the law, and today the actions of Michael Plank of Lomita have had their consequences set. Plank, 42, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for smuggling 15 lizards from Australia into the United States--so basically one month per lizard. more ›

The simple lesson in the case of Kenneth Lucas II of Los Angeles is don't post videos of your pot growing operation on YouTube. For many who make their moola off marijuana, growing is one part of their weed-focused set-up. Lucas, however, has just been sentenced to 13 years in prison because what this video ultimately unearthed was that his pot op was just his seed money for "an even bigger moneymaking scheme," according to CBS2. more ›

Doris Payne, the 80-year-old jewel thief charged with stealing a $16,000 ring from a Santa Monica store in October, pleaded no contest and has been sentenced to 16 months in prison, according to ABC Local. more ›

It is now a misdemeanor for any prison employee or visitor to smuggle a cell phone into prison, reports. ABC Local. Senators unanimously approved the bill SB26, similar to one that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed as too weak, on Thursday, reports the Sacramento Bee. The misdemeanor is punishable up to a $5,000 fine. more ›

A former federal tax agent and Santa Clarita resident convicted of filing multiple fraudulent tax returns was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison on Thursday. 51-year-old Albert Bront admitted in court earlier this year that he filed fraudulent tax returns for himself and on behalf of relatives during the tax years 2003-2007, when he took excessive deductions and neglected to declare all his income. more ›

California can stall no more, says the Supreme Court today, in a 5-4 ruling that affirms the state's proposed prisoner release plan is among the actions needed to address the system's overcrowding, according to the Sacramento Bee. The court believes that conditions in California prisons reflect "serious constitutional violations," which must be tended to expediently. more ›

Today the NAACP released a report called "Misplaced Priorities," which "examines America's escalating levels of prison spending and its impact on state budgets and our nation’s children." Among the six cities explored in the report is Los Angeles, where "more than a billion taxpayer dollars are spent every year to incarcerate people from Los Angeles neighborhoods where less than 20 percent of Los Angeles residents live." more ›

74-year-old John Floyd Thomas, Jr. has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for seven murders and sexual assaults dating back to the 1970s. A serial killer known as the Westside Rapist, he is suspected in numerous other cases, reports the LA Times. more ›

Labor leaders, business interests, and concerned citizens gathered downtown Tuesday afternoon to learn about how Governor Brown’s proposed budget will affect Los Angeles. The newly reinvigorated Horizon Institute gathered a diverse line-up of speakers to discuss how the budget could affect health and social services, redevelopment agencies, and criminal justice systems. more ›

District Attorney Steve Cooley went on the record today in opposition of Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget because he believes a provision for transferring "thousands of convicted felons and parolees to county custody and supervision threatens the safety of citizens." more ›

Concerns were raised this week over Governor Brown’s budget proposal for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Last year, the CDCR overspent its budget, shifted millions of dollars allocated for rehabilitation programs into prison security, and deferred payments to contractors. more ›

An actor who played a supporting role in the comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 45-year-old man who was given a life sentence yesterday for his role in a stabbing and slashing attack on his ex-girlfriend, the Daily News reports. Shelley Malil was convicted in San Diego for a 2008 attack that occurred when he showed up at his then-girlfriend Kendra Beebe's home, and found her with another man. more ›

Convicted and imprisoned for his role in the 1969 murder of Gary Hinman, onetime Manson Family member and Spahn Ranch resident Robert "Bobby" Beausoleil, 63, was once again denied parole yesterday, according to Chatsworth Patch. Though sentenced to death in 1970, Beausoleil's sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972, and like all other Manson followers, has been continually denied release. As part of Monday's two-member panel of the California Board of Parole Hearings, Beausoleil was issued a denial that runs five years, keeping him behind bars until at least 2015. more ›

One of the state's most notorious criminals, Charles Manson is making headlines again from behind bars. The mastermind of multiple slayings in the 1960s, Manson has been keeping in touch with the outside world with a modern device: A cellphone. more ›

The prison private sector is big business. So big, in fact, California will spend $60 million a year for three years to send 2,600 prisoners to GEO Group Inc.'s facility in Michigan, according to Neon Tommy's Paresh Dave. more ›

19-year-old Nathan Ramon Wells is learning the very hard way that aiming a laser pointer at the wrong target at the wrong time has some serious consequences. The Cathedral City man was sentenced yesterday to serve 15 months in a federal prison, along with three years on supervised release. more ›