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Articles by Chuck Sharman

Texas Jail Guard Indicted in Fatal Shooting of Shackled Detainee

by Chuck Sharman

On April 7, 2023, a Texas grand jury indicted a guard at the Hays County Jail for shooting a shackled detainee in the back and killing him. Isaiah Garcia, 27, was charged with felony deadly conduct in the December 2022 death of Joshua Leon Wright, 36.

The ...

$1.9 Million Paid by L.A. County for Detainee’s Suicide

by Chuck Sharman

On August 12, 2022, the federal courtfor the Central District of California approved a settlement for the minor children of a jail detainee who committed suicide less than nine hours after he was arrested for auto burglary – despite the refusal of the car’s owner to press ...

Third Former Guard at Troubled Federal Prison in Brooklyn Sentenced After Retrial and Conviction for Raping Prisoner

by Chuck Sharman

On April 25, 2022, a former guard employed by the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping a prisoner. After completing his prison term, Carlos Richard Martinez, 52, must also remain on supervised ...

Arizona Resumes Executions

by Eike Blohm, MD and Chuck Sharman

After Arizona resumed executions last year, following an eight-year hiatus, it quickly murdered three murderers on its death row.

On May 11, 2022, a lethal injection of pentobarbital was given to Clarence Dixon, 66, a mentally ill Native American, by then blind. Blaming ...

Arizona Jail Racks Up Four Deaths And Two Escapes In Less Than Two Months

by Chuck Sharman

After two detainees died within a week at Arizona’s Pima County Jail — and just before two more committed suicide — two other detainees managed to walk out, all within two months.

One man escaped, and the other was released by a confused guard. On November 21, ...

San Diego County Pays $3.488 Million After Jail Detainee Dies in Cell Extraction

by Chuck Sharman

In October 2022, PLN successfully concluded a months-long effort to obtain a copy of an agreement by San Diego County to pay nearly $3.5 million to settle its part of a lawsuit filed by the family of Paul Silva, a mentally ill detainee who died after a ...

San Diego County Pays $8.1 Million After Jail Guard Fatally Shot Fleeing Detainee in the Back

by Chuck Sharman

On June 22, 2022, San Diego County agreed to pay $8.1 million to settle claims that a deputy outside a county jail chased a fleeing detainee and fatally shot him in the back. It was the largest payout for a wrongful death by the county in at ...

Condemned Alabama Prisoner Now Spared Twice

by Chuck Sharman

When his death warrant expired at 12:01 a.m. on September 23, 2022, condemned Alabama prisoner Alan Eugene Miller was still alive, capping a wild few days during which his execution was stayed by a federal judge and then reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court before executioners tried ...

Deaf Detainee Found Murdered in Baltimore Jail

by Chuck Sharman

A diminutive detainee who was deaf and communicated by sign language was found unresponsive at Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center early on October 9, 2022. Officials from the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) have since announced that the death of Javarick Gantt, ...

After $90,000 Settlement for Sexual Abuse of Oregon Juvenile Detainee, Second Suit Filed Against Now-Imprisoned Former Youth Counselor

by Chuck Sharman

On December 30, 2021, a second suit was filed in Oregon state court accusing former state youth worker Frank Milligan of sexually assaulting a juvenile detainee. Milligan, 53, was imprisoned for 30 years in 2001 for sexually abusing and attempting to murder another boy. He received an ...