More from this issue:

1. Washington’s Continuing Competency Crisis Strains Jails
2. Rejected by Conviction Integrity Unit, 
27 New York Prisoners Exonerated Anyway
3. From the Editor, by Paul Wright
4. $2.4 Million Settlement Reached After Elderly Pretrial Detainee Strangled by Cellmate in San Antonio Jail, by David Reutter
5. Oklahoma Supreme Court Kills One Jail Death Suit, 
Threatening Settlement of Another
6. Arkansas DOC Settles Retaliation Claim by Prisoner 
Who Also Won Back Confiscated COVID-19 Stimulus
7. Kansas Supreme Court Revives Prisoner’s Challenge 
to Loss of Parental Rights, by Matthew Clarke
8. Rural Virginia Jury Refuses to Hold Guards Liable 
for State Prisoner’s Death
9. French Prisons Targeted 
in Coordinated Attack
10. Mississippi DOC Issues Almost $300 Million 
in No-Bid Contracts to VitalCore Health
11. Top Rikers Island Jailers Logged Overtime 
Equal to 14-Hour Days With No Days Off
12. Fifth Circuit Refuses to Stop Court-Ordered Construction 
of Mental Health Facility at New Orleans Jail, by Boris Bastidas
13. Ninth Circuit Revives Complaint Over Sloppy Cell Checks 
Before Psychotic Detainee’s Death at L.A. Jail, by Douglas Ankney
14. $875,000 Award for Illinois Prisoner’s Delay 
in Getting Hernia Surgery, by David M. Reutter
15. Salvadoran President’s Dark Secret Allegedly Behind Deal 
to Hold Deported Migrants in “Mega” Prison
16. California Appellate Court: Custody Credits Must be Applied 
to Concurrent Terms in Multiple Open Cases, by David M. Reutter
17. Over $1.1 Million Recovered for Rikers Island Janitors
18. Four Arizona Prisoners Dead After Being Celled 
with Leader of 2004 Standoff
19. Former Centurion Owner Accused of Helping Florida Governor Kill Legalized Weed
20. $100,000 Settlement Reached For Tennessee Detainee 
Baptized to Get Out of Traffic Ticket, by Boris Bastidas
21. Sixth Circuit Limits Deliberate Indifference Standard 
in Kentucky Jail Medical Care Challenge, by David M. Reutter
22. Italy Begins Conjugal Visits 
in Prison “Sex Rooms”
23. Auburn University’s Prison Education Program ‘Indefinitely Suspended’, by Charlotte West
24. New Mexico Watchdog Group Sues for Video Allegedly 
Showing Jailers Killing Detainee, by David M. Reutter
25. Gay Tennessee Prisoner Refuses to Out Himself 
in PREA Classification Hearings
26. $500,000 for Colorado Detainee Dropped 
On His Face by Jailers, by Douglas Ankney
27. Three New York Guards Plead Guilty to Beating Black Prisoner 
in “George Floyd Challenge”
28. Ninth Circuit Reinstates Religious Exercise Claim from Arizona “Christian-Israelite” Prisoner Denied Passover Meal, by Michael Thompson
29. Watchdogs Fault Nebraska Prisons 
for Suicide Response, Overpaid Staff, by Boris Bastidas
30. Smart Communications Files for Bankruptcy Protection
31. 11th Alabama Sheriff’s Employee Pleads Guilty in Jail Detainee’s Death, Admits Stomping Him in Genitals
32. Second South Carolina Prisoner 
Executed by Firing Squad
33. Tenth Circuit Upholds Nearly $8.8 Million Judgment 
for Utah Jail Death, by Douglas Ankney
34. Fifth Circuit Reinstates Baha’i Texas Prisoner’s Dietary Claim, by Matthew Clarke
35. Seven TDCJ Prison Guards Arrested 
in Alleged Smuggling Ring
36. $62,500 For Idaho Prisoner Raped by Guard 
Who Later Committed Suicide, by Anthony Accurso
37. Eighth Circuit Excuses Missouri Prisoner’s Failure 
to Exhaust Remedies While He Was In a Coma, by Douglas Ankney
38. GTL/ViaPath Ordered to Pay $3 Million for Violations 
of Consumer Protection Laws
39. Federal Court Blocks Idaho Executions Until Media Access Improves
40. Former Wisconsin Warden Gets No Cell Time, $500 Fine After Prisoner Deaths
41. $1.3 Million for Massachusetts Prisoner 
Stabbed by Guard in Connecticut Lockup, by Douglas Ankney
42. California Enacts Counterproductive, 
Regressive Solitary Confinement Bill
43. Government Quasi-Agency Attempts to Infiltrate Criminal Justice Nonprofit
44. $7.75 Million Settlement for Exonerated North Carolina Prisoner, by David M. Reutter
45. Fourth Circuit Upholds South Carolina DOC Policy 
Restricting Prisoner Access to News Media
46. New York Lowers Minimum Age 
for Prison Guards
47. $13 Million Awarded to Exonerated Massachusetts Prisoner 
for Wrongful Conviction, by David M. Reutter
48. $5.6 Million Settlement for California Prisoner’s Wife 
Strip-searched During Visit, by Matthew Clarke
49. Death Row Prisoners Challenge New Tennessee 
Single-Drug Lethal Injection Protocol
50. Almost $4.4 Million for Illinois Prisoner’s Failure to Protect Claim, by David Reutter
51. Georgia Moves to Shield Intellectually Disabled Prisoners 
from Execution
52. Eighth Circuit Lets Missouri Guard Skate For Placing Avowed Enemies In Same Cell, Resulting In Assault, by Anthony Accurso
53. Long-Running Consent Decree Again Extended 
at Troubled Baltimore Jail
54. $50,000 for Excessive Force Claim by Maryland Prisoner 
Who Used to Be a Guard
55. Retired California Prison Guard Killed in Colorado Jail
56. Academic Study of Prison Guards’ Use of Excessive Force 
Details Sad State of Civil Rights for Abused Prisoners, by Matthew Clarke
57. Kansas Pays $150,000 for Prisoner Killed by Cellmate, 
Centurion Settlement Confidential
58. $52,500 for Trans Florida Prisoner 
Sexually Assaulted by Cellmate
59. Wellpath and VitalCore Skip Paying Nearly $2 Million 
in Settlements in South Carolina
60. U.S. Pulls $1.5 Million in Funding from Maine DOC 
Over a Single Trans Prisoner
61. Idaho Spent $200,000 on Execution Drugs Now Expired
62. Washington Appellate Court: 
Personal Restraint Petition Proper Vehicle 
to Challenge Community Supervision, by David Reutter
63. Former Jail Guard Accused of Having Sex with Detainee 
Now Vice-Chair of Florida GOP
64. New York Guards Plead Guilty to Fatally Beating Prisoner, 
Mopping Up His Blood
65. $2.8 Million Settlement in National NUMI 
Debit Release Card Class Action, by David Reutter
66. $3.15 Million for Illinois Prisoner Raped by Guard 
and Then Denied “Boot Camp”
67. Rash of 5,000 False-Positive Prisoner Drug Tests Going 
to California Parole Board Anyway
68. Trio of Guards Fired and Arrested for Smuggling at Louisiana Jails
69. $6 Million Settlement in Illinois Detainee’s Gruesome 
Untreated Heroin Withdrawal Death, by David Reutter
70. News in Brief
71. Two Guards Arrested in Two Weeks 
at Texas Jail

More from these topics:

• D.C. Federal Court Holds Blocking Prison Reform Advocate’s Access to Federal Prisoners May Violate First Amendment and Due Process, Feb. 1, 2026. Threats by Staff, DOC/BOP misconduct, First Amendment, rights, Fifth Amendment, Access to Computers.
• Tenth Circuit Reverses Summary Dismissal of Claim Over Prisoner’s Suicide in Oklahoma Jail, Feb. 1, 2026. Failure to Train/Supervise, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Suicides, Staff Training, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights.
• Punished for Bleeding: How Periods in Prison Become a Trap, Feb. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Gender Discrimination -- Women, Strip Searches, Hygiene Supplies, Discrimination (Transgender).
• Differing Judicial Outcomes for the New York Guards Who Killed Robert Brooks, Feb. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Excessive Force (Wrongful Death), Pending Appeal/Sentencing.
• The New York Prison System’s Culture of Cruelty and Impunity, Feb. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death).
• Amnesty International Report Claims Torture and Enforced Disappearances at “Alligator Alcatraz”, Jan. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Totality of Conditions, Detention - Generally, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Confinement in Segregated Housing.
• $8.5 Million for Family of Murdered Elderly Californian Detained for Cold Case Killings Based on “Genetic Genealogy”, Dec. 1, 2025. Failure to Protect (General), Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Fourteenth Amendment, rights, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, DNA Evidence.
• Sixth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Michigan Warden Whose Guards Gave Prisoner Plastic Bag Used in Suicide, Dec. 1, 2025. Guard Misconduct, Qualified Immunity, Failure to Train/Supervise, Suicides, Deliberate Indifference.
• Hawaii Prison Warden Reinstated After Being Fired in 2014 for Sexual Harassment, Dec. 1, 2025. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Supervisor-Staff Harassment, Guard Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Employee Litigation.
• One Guard Pleads Guilty, Another Receives Light Sentence in New York Prisoner’s Killing, Dec. 1, 2025. Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death), Obstruction of Justice, Plea Agreements/Guilty Pleas.