GRANT'S CLAIM REACHES OVER-FLOW
M.C.S
The Prison colony on Grant's Claim (Ross 128), otherwise known as 'The Warren', has reached its maximum overflow limit following a sudden rise in the rate of personal assaults in a number of Inner Core systems. The opening of the INRA files has revealed that large numbers of previously trusted personnel were, in fact, in the pay of the INRA Internal Surveillance Units and had been spying on their contemporaries and colleagues for decades.
A close reading of the files has revealed that a number of unexplained deaths in the past were the result of INRA-inspired assassinations. Consequently, many of the alleged informants have been the subject of revenge attacks, some of them fatal, by bereaved relatives and friends of those assassinated. The FSS and the Imperial Guard have drafted in extra support on some worlds and are offering round-the -clock police protection to some of the better-known informants.
The Courts have been saturated and are handing down custodial sentences with an alacrity that some Existential Rights lawyers find extremely disturbing, particularly now that 'The Warren' is full and there is a suggestion that a re-introduction of capital punishment would help solve the problem. Alternative suggestions include the sale of detainees to the aliens as research specimens or the creation of new prison colonies on some of the radio-active moons previously used as nuclear decontamination units.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - THE ANSWER TO TRAFFIC OFFENCES
M.C.S
We have the answer. It was obvious all along. There are way too many folks languishing in 'The Warren', using up Federal funding and doing nothing more useful with their lives except experiencing hell, regretting their past and planning ways to break out (only a stab in the dark, that last one, they might be planning on staying inside - you never know).
So - too many people, too little credit, not enough space. Is the answer to stop sending perfectly harmless humanoids to prison?? Of course not. We should top the lot and bury them in a nuclear fuel dump where they won't be in anybody else's way. Obvious. Why on earth we didn't think of it before is a mystery. Our ancestors did it and nobody complained too much. They spent years voting it out of the legislation and then even more years voting it back on when their penal system proved to be a dismal failure.
Of course there were the odd feeble minds who thought that society was the problem and that shooting individuals wouldn't help but they were first against the wall so they didn't bother anybody much. So - we propose the same now.
Bring back the chair for everything from speeding upwards and see what happens to our overstocked prisons.
BREAKOUT FROM GRANT'S CLAIM
M.C.S
A mass breakout has taken place from 'The Warren' on Grant's Claim (Ross 128). This, supposedly impregnable prison colony has reached maximum capacity and the administration had lodged several complaints to the Authorities stating that the unit
had reached flash point and that the critical mass of prisoners was such that a break-out attempt was almost inevitable. The trigger factor appears to have been the suggestion that Capital punishment be re-introduced retrospectively for all life sentences as a means of reducing the over crowding.
This, obviously impractical suggestion was under review only as a routine measure with no serious attempt to impose it. Nevertheless, the fact that it was about to go before the Popular Council was sufficient to stimulate the prisoners to attempt to leave.
Altogether, 768 prisoners have 'jumped ship'. Searches of their cells following the break revealed that the over-stocking had resulted in a reduction in security and that the prison visitors had been able to bring in explosives, armaments, ropes and spare clothes as well as details of an escape plan involving as many as a dozen passenger ships which had been booked to lift the prisoners off planet. The prison authorities were taken completely by surprise and gave very little resistance - for which reason, most of the guards were left alive.
Questions remain as to the official policy that allowed this situation to occur and there have been calls for the resignation of the Representatives responsible. So far, the Council has given no response.
NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL SPOTTED
J.J.
Commander Joe Tillerton whose private navigator's school, Tilstar, is based on Ackcanphi, has reported the theft of his Mark Three Cobra while visiting Trojan, Eta Cassiopoeia.
What causes alarm amongst law officers from Achenar through to the Outer Edge is that the thief's identity has been confirmed as Klavdia Malin, the Empire renegade and pirate whose sensational escape from Grant's Claim Prison Colony was reported several months ago. Tillerton asserts that he spotted Malin and an accomplice hanging around the repair depot at Hector Spaceport and while alerting security to their presence accidentally left his craft inadequately sealed.
A working mechanic then deposes she saw the loiterers enter the cruiser and abduct it.
Members of the local Imperial Guard detachment have been invited to join in the investigation into these events.
MALIN'S MALAISE
J.J.
Sources inform us that Kladvia Malin, the escaped Imperial outlaw and freebooter has been apprehended in the past few days by combined Imperial and Federal Naval forces acting on an anonymous tip-off. Malin, who made a spectacular escape from the so-called impregnable High Security Gaol at Grant's Claim last year was captured after a long running battle with six naval cruisers just outside the Bevegre system. We're told she was still in possession of the Mark Three she swiped off Joe Tillotson of Tilstar and evidence taken from her cruiser suggests that she was in the process of conducting negotiations with another notorious buccaneer to acquire a larger vessel in order to resume her depredations.
Kape and Jarnessy, the Lainlan entrepreneurs, have asked us to issue on their behalves a specific denial that Malin was either present at their Star Boot Sale held recently at Widow's Drift or that they had any inkling of her proximity. However, Haydon Gobbo their compatriot hinted last night that nay sizeable funds entering their banking systems in the near future might be put down to bounty payments.
ARGENT SUES INRA
M.C.S
Following the departure of the ship 'Argent's Quest' into Far space in search of the Thargoid stronghold, Meredith Argent is taking the higher echelons of INRA, most specifically Commander J Saunders(Elite), to court for the murder of the explorer Commander Mic Turner. Argent claims to have positive evidence, retrieved by the new 'Quest' Commander, [MiR(PnorNPC), that the earlier ship, 'Turner's Quest' was identified as an intruder by INRA defence satellites ringing an exclusion zone around the area previously defined as the Thargoid front base. Immediately afterwards, Saunders and others of the INRA counter-intelligence wing (previously demonstrated to be flying in the area) attacked and destroyed Mic Turner's ship and subsequently appropriated the 'Quest's' Stowmaster Escape Capsule, wiping the flight recording equipment prior to returning it to its rightful owner. Council for the defence has been allocated and are vigorously denying all charges. INRA have agreed to be guarantors for the accused and hence Saunders is free to continue with normal duties until required to give evidence.
INRA vs. ARGENT - MUTUAL SUITS
M.C.S
Sudden and unexpected announcements emerged last week from both INRA and Su and Prosperr, legal advisors to Argent Aerodynamics Amalgamated (Inc.). INRA are prosecuting Meredith Argent in person for aiding and abetting the renegade terrorist [MiR(PnorNPC) and Argent is bringing legal proceedings against certain named members of INRA for: the premeditated murder of Commander Mic Turner, the destruction of the ship, Turner's Quest, the detention without trial of Commander Jo Merion and the destruction of certain items from an escape capsule, the property of the aforementioned Commander Turner.
If found guilty, those on both sides face lifelong imprisonment in the Warren on Grant's Claim (Ross 128). Life is short and decidedly inglorious in there - not a prospect to be taken lightly. Bail has been granted to all parties and Legal council in the various Systems are preparing their respective cases.
The time parity agreement has been signed so that the opposing suits will be permitted to run in parallel with simultaneous Judgements. Given the weight of evidence in both cases, it is likely that it will be several years before the first witness is called. With the recent developments in the 'Argent's Quest' case, we have to question whether the defendants on either side will still be alive by the time the cases open.