The exact cause of the 11-hour riot that broke out Aug. 8 at the California Institution for Men in Chino, Calif., won't be known until an official investigation by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is completed. However, to some criminal-justice experts the violence that erupted at the facility, located about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, was an inevitable consequence of a state prison system long hobbled by massive overcrowding, program cuts and understaffed facilities. And ...

A Florida jury awarded a 92-year-old man $1.9 million in compensatory damages for the death of his wife, a former two-pack-a-day Marlboro smoker who started when she was 16 and died in her 70s, attorneys said Thursday. The jury of five women and one man deliberated for slightly more than a day before deciding on the amount, attorneys for both sides said. The jurors put the total award at $5.3 million but found that Philip Morris USA was only 36.5 ...

An African-American man has pleaded guilty after being accused of impersonating a white supremacist in a fictitious Facebook account to make death threats against an African-American university student. Dyron L. Hart, 20, of Poplarville, Mississippi, pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt to one count of communicating threats in interstate commerce, according to a Department of Justice statement. Hart admitted creating the fictitious account in November, pretending to be a white supremacist outraged by the election of ...

Bill Clinton's chief of staff when he was governor of Arkansas is expected to turn herself in after authorities issued a bench warrant for her arrest for allegedly smuggling contraband into a state prison, her attorney told CNN Wednesday. Betsey Wright allegedly smuggled a red Doritos bag containing 48 tattoo needles, a pen with tweezers and a needle inside, a Swiss Army knife and a box cutter into the Varner Unit, a high-security state prison in Grady, Arkansas, according to ...

Frank DiPascali, formerly the finance chief at Bernard Madoff's investment advisory business, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a slew of charges including fraud. The 10 different counts against DiPascali, who was not granted bond, included securities fraud, falsifying records, mail fraud and conspiracy. "I was a guy who did whatever I was told to do around the office," DiPascali told the court. "Bernie was a mentor to me and more. I was loyal to a terrible, terrible fault." Madoff, ...

A Georgia man who spent a year in jail for nonpayment of child support -- despite the fact he has no children -- has been cleared of the debt, his attorney said Tuesday. Frank Hatley, 50, spent 13 months in jail for being a deadbeat dad before his release last month. In June 2008, a judge ordered him to jail for failing to reimburse the state for public assistance that was paid to support his "son" -- a child who ...

A man who shot three women dead in a Pennsylvania gym was studious and quiet, according to a woman in a self-help seminar he attended. George Sodini, 48, posted at least two videos on YouTube last year, apparently referring to a desire for a girlfriend in both. Videos of Sodini at a Los Angeles, California, workshop surfaced on the video-sharing site Thursday, two days after he opened fire at a LA Fitness center outside Pittsburgh. Heidi Overmier, 46, of Carnegie, ...

A leader of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebel group has been arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, state television in Sri Lanka reported Thursday. Investigators would not release what was said in the conversation but the clues have led police to try and find the woman. Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday villa at the Portuguese beach resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007, as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined in a nearby restaurant. She was 3 years old ...

A shooting at an LA Fitness gym outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, left at least four people dead and several others wounded Tuesday, police said. "We have four confirmed deceased," said Charles Moffatt, Allegheny County Police Superintendent. "We have at least 10 wounded in various hospitals throughout the area." The shooter, whose name was not immediately released, was among the fatalities, said Gary Vituccio, manager of Collier township. The shooting victims arrived at the three major hospitals in the area. A spokeswoman ...

Israeli police launched a citywide manhunt through Tel Aviv for the masked, black-clad gunman who opened fire with a pistol at a gay youth club on Saturday night, Aug. 1, killing two and wounding 15 more. While the authorities have been careful not to speculate on a motive for the crime, the city's stunned gay community was not hesitant about assigning blame for the atmosphere they believe was conducive to the crime. Pointing to Orthodox Jewish gay-bashers, gay activists ...