After negotiating with rioting inmates and consulting other inmates, authorities in Bali have announced there will be no forced evacuation of prisoners at Kerobokan Prison.

Some Indonesian inmates do want to leave because the prison is too far from their homes. Authorities have agreed to transfer these inmates to prisons closer to home. 17 of the inmates, all male, who left yesterday were resettled at Tabanan.

Schapelle Corby, the Bali 9 and two other Australian inmates want to stay at Kerobokan. While Scott Rush left yesterday, as I noted here, he was quickly returned, as were a dozen or so other foreign inmates who had left. So they will not be moved....for now. [More...]

Busy Day. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The evacuation of Kerobokan Prison is not going according to plan. Consular officials met with the foreign prisoners, and most, including Schapelle Corby and 8 of the Bali 9, don't want to leave and be relocated. They said adapting to new surroundings would be too difficult. Officials didn't want to remove them against their will.

Bali 9 inmate Scott Rush, serving life, is one who did want to leave and was seen leaving in one of the buses, only later to return. The Jakarta Globe says those leaving are being transferred to Bali’s Karangasem penitentiary. Earlier, authorities said they would be moved to Klungkung. Yet other officials say the prisoners will go to Porong prison, just south of Surabaya.

Evacuations have ceased for the evening, and authorities say they will continue tomorrow. [More..]

Update: The evacuation of the foreign prisoners has been delayed as police negotiate with the ringleaders of the riot. Why? Sounds like they can't get past the Indonesian prisoners to get the others out -- or that some of the foreign prisoners have already been taken hostage.

The riots Tuesday night at Kerobokan prison in Bali continued into Wednesday, as prisoners retook control. There has been no electricity and major parts of the prison are burned out.

More than 400 military troops are now gathered outside the prison. At 2 pm local time (11 pm MT, ) they had planned to go in and remove all 1,015 inmates.

Then they decided to first remove the foreign and female inmates, either by bus or air. There are 125 female inmates and about 50-60 foreign inmates. Authorities believe the foreign prisoners may be targeted by the other inmates and used as hostages. [More...]

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...]