Today, Mother Jones published a 35,000-word account of one investigative reporter’s stint as a corrections officer at a for-profit prison in Louisiana. For the next hour or so, Shane Bauer will be in the comments, answering your questions about his reporting.

Norman Seabrook, the head of the influential Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association union, was arrested at his home this morning as part of the federal corruption investigation into the New York City government. According to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, Seabrook’s crimes included taking five-figure kickback payments inside designer handbags.

Of all the stories to emerge about the horrors of life on Rikers Island in recent years, Candie Hailey’s is among the most horrifying. For two years, Hailey was kept in solitary confinement for a crime for which she was eventually acquitted, a time she says was filled with physical and sexual abuse from guards. Now, Hailey is filing a lawsuit against the city seeking $10 million in damages, the New York Daily News reports.

How much is your community spending to incarcerate members of your community? Probably a lot more than you think.

William Clemons, the highest-ranking uniformed officer of New York City's Correction Department, will resign, it was announced today, because—well, because Rikers Island is a really, truly, unimaginably awful place.

In addition to a place where prison guards beat inmates to death with impunity, Rikers Island is also a place where inmates die from medical mistreatment and their families are lied to about it, DNAinfo reports.

As America's incarceration rate slowly declines, more and more prisons stand empty. Yesterday, we asked: what should we do with all these empty prisons? You came up with some good ideas, you people out there.

A new report from the New York Times elaborates on what became painfully evident after two recent deaths on Rikers Island: New York's most notorious prison is a violent, terrifying place, especially for people with mental illnesses.

Residents of Louisiana's Lafourche Parish will vote this Saturday on a controversial ballot proposal to use money currently financing the local library system in order to construct a brand new $25 million jail.

The city of Baltimore is plagued by poverty and crime. Which is unfortunate, since its jails are plagued by corruption, sex, and contraband.

Texas is spending way too much money on its prostitutes, and its not even getting any sexual favors in return.

Arizona has, like, no money. Should it raise taxes? Cut services? Or—wait—what about this: Charge people $25 a head to visit friends and family members in its overcrowded jails?

Do you recognize this guy? If so, you should give the Utah County Sheriff's Office a call at a 801-851-4202. They've had him in jail for a month now and he won't tell anyone who he is.

If you ever need to escape from the Walker County Jail in Huntsville, Texas, this is the video you want to watch. Trent Archie managed to fight his way out—his fellow inmate, Davis McLeskey, wasn't quite so lucky—by telling officers he needed to use the phone and then attacking an officer and forcing his way through the door. (Archie's since been re-arrested.) It's a bit less involved than Prison Break, but at least it doesn't take 22 goddamn episodes. [ABC]

South Carolina's Hill-Finklea Detention Center for barring its inmates from enjoying the kinds of pornographic materials you and I take for granted every. Single. Day. [Note: The ACLU has responded, saying ABC's report is false. Updates below.]

New York's Erie County Holding Center will be playing advertisements on a television screen in its holding cells, apparently in an effort to plug the hole created by upcoming budget cuts. Obviously, the HDTV won't be for ads only—it will also "publicize general information about parking, the jail's policies and more," according to Anthony Diina, the advertising whiz who came up with the idea. ("What do people want they are in the Holding Center?" Diina asks, intriguingly, before settling on the rather obvious answer, "They want to get out.") "It strikes me as inserting a commercial aspect into something when I don't feel there is any place for it," says former prosecutor James Auricchio, which is a sweet thing to say, but get real, James, do you even know what "monetizing" is? Talk about "captive eyeballs," I am right? And listen to this:

"Sex-starved and promiscuous" female guards are constantly having sex with inmates at Rikers Island, the New York Post reports, based on an interview with former guard Yolanda Dickinson. Who just happens to have written a novel—titled Taboo—"based on the jail's out-of-control sex scene"! How "out of control" is the "sex scene" at Rikers? According to the Post itself: Since 2007, six out of the prison's 3,890 "sex-starved and promiscuous" female officers have lost their jobs over "undue familiarity," though only two were accused of actually having sex with prisoners. Sounds out-of-control! And... sexy. [NYP]

Recently sentenced Utah convict Kari Ferrell has sent another jailhouse letter to her pen pal, Animal NY's Bucky Turco. Below, a random sample. Her prose style should be familiar by now.