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ABA’s Private Prisons Prophecy Comes to Pass
by Ed Lyon
Prison populations exploded in every state across the country during the 1980s and ‘90s. It was during that massive expansion that the modern private prison industry was born as a “way to ease the burden on taxpayers by reducing public spending on government-run facilities,” as …
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More from this issue:
- Environmental Indifference, by Anthony Moffa
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- $15,379,091 Judgment Entered Against Delaware DOC’s Former Health Care Provider for Narcotics and Medicare Fraud, by Chuck Sharman
- Report Highlights Force Feeding of Hunger Striking Asylum Seekers by ICE and GEO, by Edward Lyon
- Fourth Circuit Holds CoreCivic Immigration Detainees in New Mexico Not “Employees” Under FLSA
- San Luis Obispo County Jail Conditions Violate Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, by Keith Sanders
- Federal Jury Orders GEO Group to Pay $23 Million for Immigrant Detainee Slave Labor in Washington
- How Trump Made a Tiny Christian College the Nation’s Biggest Prison Educator, by Eli Hager
- BOP Trust Fund Accounts Reportedly Shield Prisoners from Payment Obligations, by Dale Chappell
- $53 Million Settlement in Los Angeles Jail Strip Search Lawsuit Approved, by David Reutter
- Disenfranchisement the Old Fashioned Way, by Jayson Hawkins
- Whistleblower Alleges Hawaii Prison Officials Provided False Audit Data, by Kevin Dayton
- HRDC Sues Lincoln County Wisconsin Jail over Censorship Practices
- Ninth Circuit: Pretrial Detainees Have Right to Direct-View Safety Checks, by David Reutter
- Federal Prisons’ Switch to Scanning Mail Is a Surveillance Nightmare, by Lauren Gill
- Eleventh Circuit: Preliminary Injunctions Have 90-Day Limit Under PLRA; Permanent Injunction Required to Extend Relief, by David Reutter
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Illegal Juvenile LWOP Sentence Undermined Validity of Later Conviction, by Douglas Ankney
- Eighth Circuit Rules District Court Must Use Federal Law for Admissibility of Expert Testimony, by Douglas Ankney
- Too Many In-Custody Deaths of BOP Prisoners are Unnecessary and Preventable, by Casey Bastian
- California Supreme Court: Prisoners Cannot Legally Possess Cannabis, by Casey Bastian
- Public Records Suit Filed Against Florida DOC To Obtain Formula Used To Compute Sentences
- History Professor Fired After Criticizing University’s Racist Past and Pro-Prison Present, by Keith Sanders
- Prison Visitors Have Fourth Amendment Right to Refuse Strip Search and Option to Leave Prison
- Unreliable Drug Tests Standard for Law Enforcement and Prisons, by Keith Sanders
- Massachusetts Prisons Pledge to End Solitary, by Jayson Hawkins
- Civilly Detained Sex Offender Plaintiff Proceeding In Forma Pauperis Not a Prisoner Under PLRA
- $405,794 Paid by California Prison System for Prisoner Killed by Aryan Brotherhood Cellmate
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds Sanctions and Award of $118,458 in Attorney Fees Against DOC for Withholding Documents Requested Under Right-to-Know Law
- $170,000 Settlement and New Policy on Gender Identity from Lawsuit Against New Jersey DOC, by Jayson Hawkins
- Texas County Jail Cited for Neglecting the Needs of a Pregnant Prisoner, by Keith Sanders
- Salvation Army Sued for a Failing to Pay Wages to Drug Program Participants
- New Jersey Women’s Prison to Close After Latest Abuse Debacle, by Jayson Hawkins
- Sherburne County, MN, Settles with HRDC for $98,000 Plus New Jail Publications Policy, by Chuck Sharman
- Eighth Circuit Holds Arkansas Jailers Entitled to Qualified Immunity in Prisoners’ Suit Over Black Mold in Showers, Lack of Cleaning Supplies, by Matthew Clarke
- ABA’s Private Prisons Prophecy Comes to Pass, by Edward Lyon
- Michigan Prisoner’s Corizon Suit Dismissed Due to “Morass of Irrelevancies”, by David Reutter
- Seven Ohio Guards Fired After Killing Prisoner, No Criminal Charges
- Third Circuit: Gratuitous Use of Force on Prisoner Negates Qualified Immunity Defense, by David Reutter
- Delaware Mother Jailed for Not Paying $177 in Fines, Dies in Custody, Nurse Convicted, by Jayson Hawkins
- Forty-One Oregon Prisoner Firefighters have Sentences Commuted
- News in Brief
More from Edward Lyon:
- “There you go, Agent Orange!” Former South Carolina Sheriff Federally Indicted for Assaulting Jail Detainee, May 1, 2024
- Texas Prisons are Fire Traps, July 15, 2023
- The World’s Biggest Prison, July 15, 2023
- U.S. Prisoner Numbers Slowly Declining, June 15, 2023
- Civilian Police With Military Equipment, June 15, 2023
- California Easing Housing Hurdles for Released Prisoners, June 1, 2023
- Warden Ousted from Troubled Alabama Prison After DUI Arrest, May 1, 2023
- $20,000 Settlement for Ohio Prisoner’s Slip-and-Fall Injury, May 1, 2023
- $32,500 Medical Malpractice Award to Ohio Prisoner for Ripped-Out Catheter, May 1, 2023
- New York State’s Veterans Treatment Courts, April 15, 2023
More from these topics:
- Airconditioning Failure at Troubled ICE Detention Center in New Jersey, Aug. 1, 2026. GEO Group/Wackenhut, Food, Water, Sanitation, Exposure to Heat.
- Tuberculosis Outbreak, Protester Shooting at Colorado ICE Lockup, Aug. 1, 2026. GEO Group/Wackenhut, Contagious Disease -- Misc., Exposure to Heat, Shootings, Immigration Detention.
- SCOTUS Shuts Down GEO Group Bid for Immunity in Suit by Colorado ICE Detainees, July 1, 2026. GEO Group/Wackenhut, Prison Labor, Sovereign Immunity, Interlocutory Appeals, Immigration Detention.
- Video Shows Guards Watched as Oklahoma Detainee Died in Cell, July 1, 2026. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Contractor Misconduct, Guard Misconduct, Failure to Protect (General), Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death).
- After Spoliation Sanction, CoreCivic Settles Suit Over Suicide in New Mexico ICE Lockup, July 1, 2026. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Discovery, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides.
- CoreCivic’s Long Record of Abuse and Neglect in Tennessee, June 1, 2026. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Systemic Medical Neglect, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Medical Neglect/Malpractice.
- Alabama Prison Warden Reportedly Arrested and Walked Off Job, June 1, 2026. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Government Misconduct.
- Ohio Supreme Court Rules that Sheriff Did Not Violate Open Records Act and Declines to Award Damages to Prisoner, June 1, 2026. GEO Group/Wackenhut, Contempt (Civil Procedure), Disclosure of Records, Public Records, Public Records Act.
- Prison Profiteer The GEO Group Accused of Refusing Health Inspections at Detention Facility Despite Court Ruling, June 1, 2026. GEO Group/Wackenhut, Food, Water, Injunctions, Immigration Detention.
- Auditor Demands Private Prison Company Pay $7.4 Million to Mississippi, June 1, 2026. Management and Training Corporation, Contractor Misconduct, Staffing, Fraud and Deceit.

