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As Congress prepares to adjourn for the holidays, one piece of legislation that's still on the table is a bipartisan criminal justice bill known as the First Step Act. It aims to improve federal prison conditions and reduce some prison sentences, a sticking point for some lawmakers. But the bill also contains a less controversial provision: a ban on shackling pregnant women. (Cohen and Chang, 12/5)

State jail inspectors failed to uncover routine inhumane treatment of inmates in the Cuyahoga County Jail during their four inspections of the facility in the last three years. Yet, the U.S. Marshals Service found dozens of instances of inmate mistreatment, including the denial of food, water and constitutional rights. (Ferrise and Astolfi, 12/5)

San Quentin prison officials called an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss a possible connection between contraband lethal drugs and the unexplained deaths of two Death Row inmates on Monday and Tuesday, according to an internal prison document obtained by The Chronicle. Joseph A. Perez Jr., 47, was found unresponsive in his cell at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday, prison officials said in a statement. (Cassidy, 12/5)

Not long after taking over as warden of the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, Margaret M. Chippendale noticed a sizable problem: Women were leaving the system a lot heavier than when they arrived. (Cohn, 12/5)

Court records reveal the menacing emails the man charged with shooting and killing a U.S. marshal sent to Tucson police in the days and months leading to the deadly altercation. Ryan Schlesinger, 26, expressed in his own words his willingness and readiness to use violence against police officers who were trying to provide him with mental health assistance over three emails andother supporting documents that officers filed as evidence in their harassment cases against him. (Carranza, 12/5)