Lethal Injection: An Administrative Law judge in North Carolina has ordered the panel, which had revised the state's lethal injection protocol earlier this year, back to the drawing board because it failed to consider arguments from lawyers representing condemned inmates, according to this Associated Press story by Mike Baker. This follows an earlier ruling by a federal judge which requires that medically trained personnel monitor inmates during executions and an announcement by the State Medical Board that doctors who do participate would be punished.

Prison Overcrowding: Today's Los Angeles Times debate between "Three Strikes" author Mike Reynolds and opponent Barry Krisberg focuses on California's prison overcrowding problem. It appears that Reynolds and Krisberg actually agree that transferring federal criminals serving time in state prison to the federal system would go a long way toward relieving overcrowding. Krisberg even suggests that deporting illegals in state prisons or transferring them to federal custody is worth looking into. Amen to that.