I'm not watching the Republican debate, but if you are, feel free to comment. (Added: I'm following a bit on Twitter which is much more entertaining. A huge number of people are associating Newt's describing himself as cheerful with his multiple marriages and sex life. Not too many favorable comments on any of them at #CNNDebate.)

28 prison guards, and the Director, Deputy Director and Security Chief of Apodaca Prison in Mexico have been arrested in connection with the riot, escape and slaughter of 44 inmates there last week. The guards are accused of far more than helping with the escape:

Investigators say they have evidence that guards helped plan the killings....Prison guards plotted with the Zetas gang to organise the mass escape and slaughter members of the rival Gulf Cartel, the authorities said. ...The 44 dead prisoners were stabbed, strangled or beaten to death.

Guantanamo Detainee Majid Kahn will plead guilty as part of a plea deal next week.[More...]

Many thanks to the New Zealand Ministry of Justice. I sent an email this morning to their media department asking for a copy of the Kim DotCom bail decision, and they cheerfully obliged. Now that's how to run a government agency!

Here is the decision. (I'm about to go read it to see what I missed here.)

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been released from custody after two days of questioning in the investigation of alleged organized prostitution, misuse of corporate funds and police corruption. No charges have been filed against him. He was given a summons to appear again in March, possibly as a witness and possibly for the filing of charges.

I'm still looking for the text of the 13 page written bail decision for Kim DotCom who was released yesterday. The media describes it but doesn't bother to upload it so we all can read it for ourselves. If you run across it, please let me know where in comments.

Say hello to the Wrongful Convictions blog by law profs and innocence project members, offering an international perspective.

Welcome Back, BTD.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

As someone who supported American action in Afghanistan, it has become time for me to render a mea culpa - I was wrong. The people in charge of the action are simply not competent. Consider the Koran burning incident in Bagram:

The holy books and texts came from the library in the detention center in Parwan, where Americans house people suspected of being insurgents, including many of those captured during night raids. A military official said detainees had been using the books to communicate with each other and potentially incite extremist activity.

(Emphasis supplied.) It seems that for incitement of extremist activity, Americans are the champions. How in Gawd's name could this have happened? And this is not an isolated incident. The NATO commander General James Allen said:

One of the upsides to being President, says Obama, is you get to have Mick Jagger and B.B. King come over to your house. They got Obama to sing. The concert was part of PBS's Black History Month and will air Feb. 27.[More...]

The Supreme Court yesterday, in 6 to 3 decision joined by Justice Elena Kagen, struck another blow at Miranda Rights. The opinion in Howes, Warden v. Fields is here.

The record in this case reveals that respondent was not taken into custody for purposes of Miranda. To be sure, respondent did not invite the interview or consent to it in advance, and he was not advised that he was free to decline to speak with the deputies.

[More...]

Authorities say Schapelle Corby and the other Australians serving drug sentences in Kerobakan Prison are safe, following a night of riots by prisoners that resulted in multiple fires and guards abandoning the prison.

The riot broke out about 11pm on Tuesday, with prisoners trashing cells and throwing stones at the guards who were forced to retreat to the street outside the overcrowded jail which houses more than 1000 male and female inmates.

Some prisoners were then able to gain access to the registration wing of the jail, within metres of the entrance to the facility, where they set offices and furniture alight.

Police stormed the prison this morning and took back control. Three prisoners were hospitalized after being shot with rubber bullets by police. Photos are here. [More...]

Megaupload founder Kim DotCom has been released on bail in New Zealand. (Post-release interview here.) He left jail in a waiting Toyota.

Judge Nevin Dawson said at the North Shore District Court that officials had investigated Dotcom's potential access to funds and "none of significance" had been found. Judge Dawson said it was "highly unlikely" that he had other financial resources available to him that had not already been seized.

The prosecution's argument: He's rich, he must have money somewhere. The Judge disagreed: [More...]

Former DEA and FBI agents don't see eye to eye on the potential threat to the U.S. of Mexican border violence caused by cartels. A former FBI agent tells Fox News:

"It's moving across into the rest of the country, so we can't just look at it and say it's just the border, don't worry about it," said Don Clark, former director of the FBI Office in Houston.

Former DEA Agent Gary Hale, a 30 year veteran of DEA, takes an opposite view. He writes in a published paper (available here):

While some spillover violence does in fact occur, it is generally confined to the border region, most specifically near the border city pairs, and rarely reaches the interior of the United States in such a manner that should cause alarm or incite fears of threats to national security, when compared to jihadist terrorism or other extremists that publicly proclaim their desire to kill Americans.”

[More...]

The media attacks on Dominique Strauss-Kahn continue with headlines that gleefully declare he is being detained for questioning in an investigation of corporate, hotel and police involvement in organized prostitution. Others under investigation are a police commissioner, a lawyer, hotel bosses and two local businessmen.

The investigation includes whether the two businessmen used corporate funds to pay the prostitutes who worked the hotel parties that DSK attended. This has zero to do with the issues in his dismissed New York case, or the claims of the French writer over which he was not charged, and it's ridiculous that the media keeps tying the two together. This investigation is not pursuing allegations he engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct or made unwanted advances against anyone.
[More...]

The DC Appeals Court today upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit by surviving relatives of detainees who committed suicide at Guantanamo. While the district court cited failure to state a claim as a basis for the dismissal, the Appeals Court cites the Military Commissions Act(Section 7(a) and 28 USC 2241 (e)) as depriving federal courts of jurisdiction to hear claims regarding conditions of confinement (as opposed to habeas claims regarding lawfulness of detention.)

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 results in no remedy being available. The Court (opinion here) says tough luck.

“Not every violation of a right yields a remedy, even when the right is constitutional.”

[More...]

DEA prosecutions were down in 2011. Mexican prison guards at Apodaca Prison have admitted being paid for their involvement in the Zetas jailbreak that killed 44 Gulf Cartel members.

Bruce Springsteen has released the second song from Wrecking Ball, Shackled and Drawn.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.