News in Brief

Alabama: The Alabama Reflector reported that state lawmakers authorized $800,000 in contracts on February 5, 2026, to defend the state Department of Corrections (DOC) against civil rights lawsuits accusing guards of brutalizing prisoners. $200,000 each will be paid to Capell & Howard in Montgomery and the Rosen Harwood firm in Tuscaloosa, whose attorneys are defending the state in a case filed by William Rhinesmith, 76. He suffered a brain bleed after he was allegedly lured off camera and beaten with a broom handle at Limestone Correctional Facility in October 2023. Guards Samuel Dial, 32, and Jesse Cobb, 35, were arrested for the beating. Another $200,000 is going to the Alexander Hyde firm in Montgomery in the case of Rubyn Murray, 38, who died in July 2023 after he was allegedly gassed and beaten at Elmore Correctional Facility. DOC Sgt. D’Marcus Sanders was charged in the killing, along with two prisoners. The last $200,000 will be paid to Birmingham-based Wallace, Jordan, Ratliff & Brandt in the case of Michael Smith, 55, who died in December 2019 after he was allegedly drugged and pummeled in a supply closet at Ventress Correctional Facility. Sgt. Derek Simmons was charged with manslaughter in that case. Outcomes remain unclear of the criminal charges against him and the guards accused in the other cases.

Arizona: Isidro Caro, 36, supervisor of cadets for Maricopa County Detentions, was arrested on January 16, 2026, for the prolonged sexual abuse of an 11-year-old child. WSAZ in Phoenix reported that an investigation revealed the abuse had persisted for over a year. Caro faces felony charges of child molestation, sexual abuse, and sexual conduct with a minor. He was being held on a $100,000 bond.

Arkansas: After 35 years of incarceration, Charlie Vaughn, 58, was released from the Arkansas DOC on January 9, 2026, the Arkansas Times reported. Vaughn, who has a severe intellectual disability, said that he was coerced by a court-appointed attorney into falsely confessing to the murder of Myrtle Holmes in 1988. Despite DNA evidence exculpating him and a 2015 confession from the actual killer asserting that he acted alone, Vaughn’s appeal was dismissed after it was construed from a letter he wrote in 1995, and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) barred him from filing another. GOP Gov. Sarah H. Sanders denied Vaughn’s clemency request in 2023 without explanation. His freedom was finally secured with an Alford plea to first-degree murder, a compromise allowing him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging that the state had sufficient evidence to convict him. Vaughn now resides on a farm owned by a childhood friend.

California: In a case when the cover-up carried more weight than the crime, former federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) guard Sandra Munagay, 44, pleaded guilty to obstructing justice on February 10, 2026, the Fresno Bee reported. The underlying incident unfolded in 2023 at the U.S. Penitentiary (USP) in Atwater, when prisoner “J.M.” shouted obscenities and Munagay punched him, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Jan. 2025, p.62.] At sentencing scheduled for June 2026, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison for filing a fraudulent report claiming she acted in self-defense, when surveillance video showed that pursued the retreating prisoner.

California: A former California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) guard has been federally charged for his role in a profitable contraband smuggling scheme, KSBW in Monterey reported. Matthew L. Madsen, 39, was arrested on February 9, 2026, for allegedly accepting approximately $100,000 in bribes to smuggle cellphones and tobacco into Salinas Valley State Prison from January 2023 until he was relieved of duty in February 2025. Currently free on bail, Madsen faces one count of honest services fraud, carrying a maximum 20-year sentence and a $250,000 fine.

Delaware: State DOC guard Rashod Hull, 34, was arrested on February 1, 2026, for trafficking narcotics into the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution, also known as the Gander Hill Prison, in Wilmington. According to News 12 Networks, a Delaware State Police sting caught Hull accepting a shipment at a Newark shopping center from accomplice Autumn James. From the package, which was bound for co-conspirator and prisoner Isaiah Boykin, authorities seized 264 doses of synthetic marijuana, Suboxone strips, and 24 grams of remifentanil. Hull was charged with racketeering, bribery, and official misconduct, and held on a $132,000 bond.

District of Columbia: According to LGBTQ Nation, D.C. DOC Sgt. Deon Jones secured a $500,000 settlement and immediate retirement on February 5, 2026, resolving a lawsuit claiming he suffered from decades of homophobic abuse. As PLN reported, the lawsuit was filed for him by the ACLU and the WilmerHale firm, detailing a “horrific pattern” of discrimination, with coworkers and supervisors targeting Jones with slurs and refusing to answer his radio calls for backup. [See: PLN, Jan. 2022, p.62.] The complaint alleged that Jones was nearly raped after a supervisor intentionally left him alone in an elevator with a threatening prisoner. The pervasive harassment over years resulted in a PTSD diagnosis and major depressive disorder.

Florida: Lisa Marie Sanders, a 33-year-old employee of food service contractor Aramark at the Brevard County Jail Complex, was arrested on January 27, 2026, following a contraband investigation that also snared another guard, Chloe Alexis Deaton, 23. The Space Coast Rocket reported that Sanders allegedly smuggled cigarettes to detainee Reginald Jones while maintaining an illicit sexual relationship with him. A probe revealed that Sanders used a two-way radio device to coordinate deliveries with Jones and discuss their sexual encounters. Sanders reportedly admitted to the misconduct, which spanned at least the first month of 2026. She is being held without bond on felony charges including sexual misconduct by a contractor, introducing contraband and unlawful use of a communication device.

Florida: Per reporting by WTVT in Tampa, 22-year veteran Pinellas County Sheriff’s Dep. James Anthony Jones, 66, was arrested and fired on January 29, 2026, for brutalizing George Miller, a detainee that he was guarding during treatment at Northside Hospital the month before. According to a nurse who witnessed the assault, Jones struck Miller in the chest with a closed fist and then in the face, leaving the detainee with facial contusions and a laceration. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri called Miller “a mouthy prisoner,” but he admitted nevertheless that there was “no lawful reason” for the guard’s brutality. Charged with battery and released on a $1,000 bond, Jones’ career ended just three years shy of retirement.

Georgia: Former BOP guard Ashley Brown, 36, pleaded guilty on February 3, 2026, to 24 federal charges of bribery and 16 more of money laundering, according to WJCL in Savannah. Brown admitted to accepting over $80,000 via Cash App accounts, using aliases like “Bonnie Bonnie” and “Clyde Clyde,” while working at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Jesup in 2022. In exchange, she facilitated smuggling of methamphetamine, K2, cellphones and tobacco. Seven prisoners were also convicted in the scheme. Eric Reyes, Larry Andrews, Demarcus Bell, Quinton Davis and Joshua Whigan received sentences ranging from probation to one-month consecutive terms; Brown, Navarus “Tez” Bryant and Adrian “Abe” Sims were awaiting sentencing at the time of this publication.

Georgia: In an example of illicit “side hustles” pursued by Georgia’s prison guards, Washington State Prison guard Adriana Carnelio, 27, was arrested on January 14, 2026, following a drug raid at a Tennille residence by the state Bureau of Investigation (GBI). According to WMAZ in Macon, the GBI investigators seized an assortment of contraband including marijuana, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, methamphetamine and two firearms. Carnelio was charged with possession with intent to distribute four different controlled substances, plus two counts of possessing a firearm during commission of a crime. Also arrested was convicted felon Quentavious Peacock. Both were booked into the Washington County Jail.

Louisiana: According to WDSU in New Orleans, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO) Dep. Clarence Clark became the latest to swap his badge for handcuffs on January 16, 2026, when he was arrested and charged with unauthorized use of force on an unnamed detainee the previous month. Clark, who was also fired, was charged with second-degree battery and malfeasance in office. He was the fifth deputy arrested for use-of-force violations and the sixth OPSOemployee taken into custody in January alone. The lockup is currently supervised under a consent decree by Judge Lance Africk of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Louisiana: A crackdown on corruption at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center has ensnared multiple staffers with the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), according to WBRZ in Baton Rouge. On February 3, 2026, authorities arrested nurse Canecia Burrell and guard Christiana Hardin for malfeasance in office, accusing them of improper social media communications with unnamed prisoners. Two additional guards, also unnamed, remain on leave as the investigation continues. Curiously, DPSCS Secretary Gary Westcott linked the “bad employees” to a spike in prisoner deaths.

Louisiana: According to WAFB in Baton Rouge, state DPSCS Cpt. Jinecia Deshawntae Lanus, 25, was arrested on February 11, 2026, for allegedly smuggling a cornucopia of narcotics into Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Only recently promoted to captain, Lanus now faces felony counts for possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and introducing contraband into a penal institution. Her bond was set at $250,000.

Maine: According to Maine Wire, U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained York County Jail guard Mauro Inacio Bernardo on January 22, 2026, for a civil immigration violation. An Angolan national who worked as a teacher before emigrating and getting hired in March 2024, Bernardo was apprehended during a routine immigration appointment in Scarborough. County Sheriff William King defended the guard as a “valued member of the staff” with no criminal record, insisting that Bernardo had passed “rigorous” background checks and federal pre-employment verification. The guard is being held for ICE at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts: In-house surveillance footage from the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston’s South Bay neighborhood captured a chaotic brawl that broke out in a jail elevator between three female guards on February 7, 2026. The altercation erupted around 7:30 a.m., the Boston Globe reported, when one guard struck a coffee cup from another’s hand. As the two grappled to the floor, a third female guard, clutching a plate of bananas, was pulled into the fight. The melee continued until a fourth female guard and two male guards intervened. The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that no detainees or prisoners were present, adding that an internal investigation was underway to determine “appropriate disciplinary action.”

Michigan: WJRT in Flint reported that former state DOC guard Kernef Jackson, 64, was sentenced to 300 days in jail on February 12, 2026, for smuggling narcotics into the St. Louis Correctional Facility. Jackson pleaded guilty to nine felonies, including delivery of controlled substances. As PLN reported, he was arrested in 2023 for a smuggling scheme that included prisoner Gregory Jones and a then-unnamed accomplice who turned out to be the prisoner’s daughter. [See: PLN, Jan. 2024, p.62.] The case saw a change of venue to Midland County after all Saginaw County judges recused themselves because Jackson is the brother of County Circuit Court Judge Darnell Jackson. Prosecutors deferred to judicial discretion on sentencing, and Judge Stephen Carras imposed nearly a year of jail time plus three years of probation. Jones faced a harsher outcome, receiving an additional seven-year sentence. Sentencing is still pending for Jones’ daughter, Brelynn Olliver.

Michigan: State DOC guard Luke P. Young, 26, was arraigned in January 2026 on multiple felony counts for possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). WSGW in Saginaw reported that tipped-off investigators found graphic videos online and traced their digital trail to Young’s Kik account. Young, a DOC employee since 2021, was charged with two counts of aggravated possession of CSAM and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime. Records revealed that some of the activity occurred at a Saginaw Township church. Young waived his preliminary hearing on January 30, 2026, moving his case to Saginaw County Circuit Court. Previously assigned to the Saginaw Correctional Facility, he was placed on unpaid leave after posting a $60,000 bond. He remains free on GPS monitoring and a strict internet ban.

New York: Advance Local Media in Syracuse reported that former New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) guard David Ferrone, 28, received just a one-year conditional discharge on February 6, 2026, for planting a evidence to justify the fatal beating of prisoner Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility. As PLN reported, he was indicted for failing to intervene in the fatal beat-down, which was carried out by fellow guards during a statewide wildcat guard strike in March 2025. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.63.] A review of a fellow guard’s body camera footage then caught Ferrone plotting to plant a “shiv” to justify the assault. As PLN also reported, fellow guard Joshua Barlett received two years for his role in the cover-up. [See: PLN, July 2025, p.43.] For the beating, guard Francis Chandler took a deal to plead guilty to second-degree gang assault in exchange for a four-year prison term, while guard Donald Slawson, 53, got a one-year conditional discharge for evidence tampering when he mopped up Nantwi’s blood before DOCCS investigators arrived. [See: PLN, Dec. 2025, p.15.]

New York: New York City Department of Correction (DOC) guard Jonathan Williams was arrested during a Queens traffic stop on February 3, 2026, when a sprawling personal arsenal was found in his vehicle. According to Corrections1, Williams, 40, was transporting an Anderson 5.56-mm assault rifle, a Remington 870 shotgun, a machete, and a gravity knife. Prosecutors noted that the rookie guard, hired only eight months earlier and assigned to the Robert N. Davoren Complex on Rikers Island, also possessed high-capacity ammunition cartridges. Williams pleaded not guilty to multiple weapons charges and was suspended without pay.

New York: WXXI in Rochester reported that former Rockland County Jail guard Daniel Dworkin, 45, was sentenced on February 10, 2026, to one to three years in state prison, after pleading guilty in September 2024 to possessing child pornography. As PLN reported, he was arrested after investigators discovered graphic images uploaded to his Google Drive and a physical binder of pornographic photographs inside the jail where he worked. [See: PLN, Jan. 2025, p.62.] While his attorney cited the former guard’s mental health struggles to plead for leniency, County Judge David Ascher cited the victimization of children and upheld the prison term for the 18-year Sheriff’s Office veteran, who also held a high position in the union representing jail guards. Dworkin will be required to register as a sex offender upon release.

New York: Also in Rockland County, former state prison guard John Kezek, 40, was sentenced on February 13, 2026, to two years in the County jail for sexually harassing a prisoner. The Mid-Hudson News reported that the conviction stems from 2019 incidents at the DOCCS’ Rockland County Correctional Facility in New City. Kezek exposed his genitals to a detainee before forcing her into a sexual act. He then falsified entries in prison logs in an attempted cover-up. More misconduct followed after he was fired and returned to Tennessee while awaiting trial; there he picked up a 2024 assault conviction and was arrested in 2025 for faking drug tests while on probation for that crime. Yet the Rockland County court rejected prosecutors’ request for a state prison sentence. As a result, Kezek will serve two consecutive one-year jail terms for tampering with public records, unlawful imprisonment, and forcible touching.

Ohio: According to WKYC in Cleveland, a federal criminal complaint was filed on January 26, 2026, charging Cuyahoga County Jail guard Quiana Thompson, 32, with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. The following day, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department announced Thompson’s arrest, and she was placed on unpaid administrative leave. An investigation began after a near-fatal detainee overdose on April 3, 2025, which required three doses of Narcan to reverse. Thompson delivered the contraband drugs, prosecutors allege, bypassing her assigned post and leaving the detainee at risk of death. Following her shift on April 7, 2025, investigators tracked Thompson to the home of the overdose victim’s mother. A subsequent search of her vehicle turned up methamphetamine, Suboxone, synthetic cannabinoids, and marijuana. Thompson confessed to making multiple deliveries for cash.

Ohio: Another Cuyahoga County Jail guard, Preston Chandler, 35, resigned in November 2025 following allegations that he ran a profitable contraband smuggling scheme. WEWS in Cleveland reported that Chandler accepted between $1,500 and $3,000 to deliver fast food, candy, and a prohibited smartwatch to detainees and prisoners on at least five occasions. The Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association criticized the county’s vetting process, revealing that Chandler was hired despite an active arrest warrant in Franklin County. Union officials are now demanding rigorous background checks and polygraphs to prevent similar security breaches. Chandler’s resignation allowed him to avoid a formal disciplinary hearing.

Oregon: KPTV in Portland reported that Clackamas County Substance Abuse Center guard Paul Eric Alexander Schultz, 53, was arrested on sexual misconduct charges on February 11, 2026. An investigation that began as a policy violation inquiry quickly escalated after Milwaukie Police uncovered evidence that Schultz engaged in sexual contact with a client at a county substance abuse facility. Schultz was charged with one count of official misconduct and two counts of custodial sexual misconduct, reflecting the lack of meaningful consent inherent for those held in captive environments. Schultz remains on paid leave and also held in the Clackamas County Jail without bail. Police suspect there may be additional victims of his predatory behavior.

South Carolina: On January 28, 2026, The State reported, Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center guard Cohanskie Goodson, 30, was arrested following a brutal assault on a detainee at the Richland County lockup. According to the County Sheriff’s Department, Goodson delivered a “knee strike” to the detainee’s face, causing a laceration and knocking the victim unconscious. Goodson then reportedly failed to provide or seek medical aid for the injured man. The use of force was discovered when Sheriff Leon Lott responded to a call from a jail investigator at the detention center on January 22, 2026. Charged with second-degree assault and battery and misconduct in office, Goodson was released on a $10,000 bond.

South Carolina: Former licensed practical nurse (LPN) Allison D. Atkinson, 53, was arrested by the state DOC Inspector General on February 8, 2026. WCIV in Charleston reported that Atkinson was fired from the Allendale Correctional Institution and charged with nine counts of unlawful possession of prescription drugs. According to the arrest warrants, Atkinson exploited her position to pilfer medications designated for prisoners, including Loperamide, an opioid agonist. Investigators recovered the stolen pills from her residence in Fairfax. Per the South Carolina Nurse Practice Act, the state Board of Nursing will likely move to suspend her LPN license pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings. In the eyes of the Board, diverting medication intended for prisoners is considered “unprofessional conduct” and a “threat to public safety,” which typically leads to permanent license revocation upon a guilty plea or conviction.

South Carolina: According to WYFF in Greenville, state DOC guard Frank Kim Eaves, 58, was arrested and fired on February 12, 2026, for allegedly breaching security protocols repeatedly to smuggle unspecified contraband to prisoners held in the restricted housing unit (RHU) at the state prison for women, the Camille Graham Correctional Institution in Columbia. Eaves was charged with felony counts of providing contraband to prisoners and misconduct in office. DOC officials did not reveal whether she took any bribes for the illegal deliveries.

Tennessee: In a calculated public relations stunt, Stewart County Sheriff Frankie Gray spent the night inside the county detention center on January 26, 2026, to downplay complaints of freezing conditions. While outside temperatures plummeted during a prolonged cold snap, the jail’s failing heating units left pods hovering at a meager 60 degrees Fahrenheit, according to WSMV in Nashville. To mitigate the liability of such “chilly conditions,” staff issued beanies and long-sleeved shirts to the jail’s 16 detainees. After spending the night to see for himself, Gray, in his forty-third year of law enforcement, dismissed the concerns, claiming that he slept “comfortably” with a single blanket and adding that a jail cell isn’t “a sauna.” However, for detainees trapped in poorly maintained facilities, such anecdotes rarely substitute for functional infrastructure and the constitutional right to adequate heat. Advocacy groups such as The Marshall Project and the Prison Journalism Project have reported that many older prisoners suffer when broken windows and poorly insulated walls leave drafty cells with “ice in the toilet bowls.” Prisoners have reported sleeping in multiple layers of clothes, using homemade hot water bottles and lighting small fires indoors to survive.

Texas: In a swift reversal of fortune, former Brazos County Jail guard Erin Boff, 30, was arrested on February 10, 2026, just months after being named the agency’s “Employee of the Month.” According to WBTX in Bryan, an investigation into Boff’s illicit relationship with a prisoner expanded into suspected contraband smuggling. Then, during an interview with investigators, she allegedly attempted to delete incriminating messages from her cellphone. Charged with tampering with physical evidence, Boff was released on a $15,000 bond. Her arrest marks the second instance of staff misconduct at the Texas lock up this year, following the January arrest of another jailer for maintaining an inappropriate relationship with a detainee.

Texas: AIM Media of Texas reported that former Cameron County jailer Eduardo Antonio Villarreal, 37, was arrested January 28, 2026, for smuggling narcotics into the County’s Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center. An investigation began in early January, sparked by an anonymous tip that identified the guard by a nickname. Villarreal, who had just over a year with the Office of Sheriff Manuel Trevino, allegedly confessed to introducing controlled substances in late December 2025. He now faces felony charges of bribery, abuse of official capacity and bringing prohibited substances into a correctional facility. Officials noted that they “don’t know exactly how he did it,” and they have not yet publicly identified the specific drug involved. Trevino noted that Villarreal traded his freedom for a mere $700 bribe. The former guard remained in custody on a $30,000 bond.

Virginia: The Lorton Reformatory in Northern Virginia, once a notorious maximum-security complex defined by overcrowding and unfit conditions, has undergone a radical transformation, according to Mother Jones magazine. Rhian Allvin, former CEO of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, repurposed two hollowed-out penitentiary buildings into the Brynmor Early Education & Preschool, which opened in October 2023. The site, where indigent D.C. prisoners were held from 1910 to 2001, was a “prison of terror” where violence was routine. Now, the 15-foot walls enclose a 14,000-square-foot facility serving up to 152 children. Architects utilized the original 100 “cathedral-like” windows to flood classrooms with light, installing acoustic baffles to soften the echoes off 20-foot ceilings. Brynmor challenges the “scarcity” model of early childhood education; roughly 60% of families receive subsidies, yet teachers earn wages competitive with public schools. This adaptive reuse project stands as a symbolic reversal of the “cradle-to-prison pipeline.”

Washington: According to the Tri-City Herald, former Benton County Jail guard Kevin L. Bell, 43, was sentenced on February 11, 2026, to six months in jail. Bell pleaded guilty to felony second-degree custodial sexual misconduct after forcing a prisoner to touch his genitals in a laundry room at the Kennewick lockup. Despite Bell’s “remorse,” County Superior Court Judge Bronson Brown imposed the light sentence reluctantly, noting the victim’s resulting trauma had fueled her subsequent return to drug use and re-incarceration. After coming forward in February 2024, the victim reported being labeled a “snitch” by other prisoners. Bell, who has worked in Arizona, Arkansas and California lockups, must also complete one year of probation and sexual deviancy treatment.

Wisconsin: The Leader-Telegram reported that former state DOC guard Tanya A. Aguilar, 52, is facing criminal charges for maintaining an illicit relationship with a prisoner at Stanley Correctional Institution. While assigned to Unit 4B at the lockup near the border of Chippewa and Clark Counties, Aguilar smuggled food, intimate apparel and a wedding ring to detainee Marcus C. Ward, 40, on multiple occasions between September and October 2024. The security breach was exposed after investigators intercepted phone calls and discovered Aguilar’s handwriting on a note found in Ward’s cell. Aguilar resigned in October 2024 to evade immediate administrative fallout, but the Chippewa County District Attorney pursued formal charges for delivery of illegal items to a prisoner. She was charged via a criminal summons filed on January 22, 2026, and is currently free. She is scheduled for a March 2026 appearance before County Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Lane.  

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