Jail removes Bible verses on letters to inmate

And, boy, the ACLU is not happy. The letters were from a woman writing to her inmate son. Officials at the Virginia jail say they have a policy against religious material from the outside.

Escaped prisoner hid inside coffee table, MA police say

Meh. I guess that's impressive. I'd be more amazed if he hid inside a coffee-table book.

Paraplegic suspect costs IA county $3K per day

An Iowa man is accused of beating his wife and fleeing police, which led to a wreck that crippled him. He's been released from hospital, which means he's the local sheriff's responsibility until the trial happens. The local jail can't provide adequate medical care. That means they have to pay $3K per day for a private facility to care for the man.

Should the feds let state prisons jam cellphone signals?

About two dozen states are asking the FCC to give them the ability to jam cellphone signals in their prisons. This is something that cellphone companies have fought for years -- partly because they're worried the prisons will block signals outside their property, jamming regular people's phones.

Prisons, though, have had a major problem with cellphones getting smuggled behind bars. And there have been cases where convicts have called hits or continued running drug operations from prison, all thanks to them having cellphones.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, JUNGLE JIM!

"The wages of sin is sweat"

That's a line from a Houston Chronicle story about how inmates in Texas state prisons are forced to live through Texas summers without air conditioner. Out of 112, only 19 of them are air conditioned.

The guards must also brave temperatures in the triple digits, armed with not much more than fans.

|Meredith Rodriguez

Jail lets inmate attend his wedding -- he leaves bride at the altar

He's on the run. And he better pray the law catches him before she does, I'm betting.

PA inmates will still get paid ... even if the prison guards don't

If Pennsylvania has a budget crisis this summer, there's a good chance that some prison staffers won't get paid. However, the inmates -- who get paid 19 to 42 cents per hour for doing work in the prison -- will still get their money. Authorities were worried about "tensions" in the prison system if the inmates didn't get their pay, which lets them buy snacks, toiletries and other items.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, JUNGLE JIM!

UPDATE: MO inmate escapes jail using cardboard tube

They caught Curtis Jones -- the man who escaped the Howard County Jail using nothing more than a cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper -- in Columbia yesterday afternoon, the Tribune reports.

Curtis Jones, still at large

Jones -- who reportedly escaped from the Howard County Jail using nothing but his wits and a cardboard tube -- is still on the run, the Columbia Tribune reports. The authorities have found the children's bike that he used to run off, though.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, eBoydog!

Prison rape more likely to happen to short, young, gay, female inmates

One thing I missed yesterday: If states DON'T do something to stop prison rapes, they'll risk losing 5 percent of any federal prison grants.