Alabama: A Barbour County Sheriff’s deputy arrested two men for attempting to smuggle contraband into Ventress Correctional Facility on March 18, 2026—after they called 911 to report that they were “cold and their ride had left them” outside the state Department of Corrections (DOC) lockup. WSFA in Montgomery reported that the unnamed deputy alerted guards at the prison, who dispatched a K-9 unit that recovered 444 grams (15.66 ounces) of suspected marijuana and 32 grams (1.13 ounces) of suspected methamphetamine, along with 35 cellphones, a wireless hotspot, four wireless earbuds, four USB drives, 10 SIM tools, 10 charging blocks and a digital scale. The guards also recovered two knives and 18 Black N’Mild cigars. The men— Larry Jerome Pinkston Marshal and Eddie Cortez Smith—were booked into the Barbour County Jail on charges of trafficking methamphetamine, possession of marijuana in the first degree and promoting prison contraband. It was the second pair of would-be smugglers nabbed near the prison in a little over a month. William Dale Stutts and companion Landon Shane Ezell were arrested on February 15 for flying a drone over the lockup, WSFA said. The day before that, a K-9 unit at Staton Correctional Facility arrested Tyrone Davis and Kelvin Gibbons, after a search of their backpacks recovered 171 grams (6.03 ounces) of methamphetamine, 802 (28.29 ounces) grams of marijuana and 87 grams (3.07 ounces) of paper sprayed with synthetic cannabinoids, known as “K-2.” Also recovered were 17 cellphones, 16 sets of wireless earbuds, 19 USB charging cords and seven USB blocks to connect the cords to an electrical outlet, along with three pocketknives, a digital scale, a bottle of Patron Tequila and 99 Black N’Milds. All four suspects arrested on Valentine’s Day weekend were booked into jail on smuggling charges.

Connecticut: According to WTIC in Hartford, the state DOC suffered a high-voltage underground electrical short-circuit at the Osborn Correctional Institution (OCI) on March 1l, 2026. The noon-hour blast prompted an immediate lockdown and forced the prison to operate on emergency standby generators for over eight hours. One staff member, positioned near the site of the short-circuit, was transported to a local hospital for evaluation and later released. The infrastructure failure was the second major disruption at the Somers prison in less than a week; OCI was also locked down on March 6, 2026, due to a water main break. The recurring utility failures have caused concerns over infrastructure at the aging prison, which was built in 1963.

Florida: Detainee Hartley Elliot Sanchez, a 35-year-old trustee at the Indian River County Jail, faced a felony charge of prisoner escape following a tryst during a barbecue at the jail to benefit Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches on March 11, 2026. WPEC in West Palm Beach reported that Sanchez, who was assigned to food service duties at the event in Vero Beach, was captured on surveillance footage abandoning his post to enter a portable toilet with an unnamed woman later identified as a former fellow detainee at the jail. Although Sanchez remained on jail property, Florida Statute 944.40 broadly defines escape as any unauthorized departure from an assigned work area. He reportedly confessed to the encounter, even directing deputies to review the video evidence. Sanchez is currently held on the new charge without bond.

Florida: Miami-Dade Corrections guard Myth Louis-Jeune, 36, was charged with misdemeanor battery on January 30, 2026, nearly three years after a brutal elevator beat-down of handcuffed prisoner Spencer Butler. According to WTVJ in Miami, leaked surveillance footage showed Louis-Jeune repeatedly striking Butler inside the Pre-Trial Detention Center on March 1, 2023. Bodycam video also captured Butler crying out, “I got my ass beat,” while being pepper-sprayed afterward in an unventilated room. The State Attorney’s Office claimed that the three-year charging delay was necessary to allow Louis-Jeune’s defense time to “investigate.” He remains on paid leave. Butler remains in jail waiting for his cases to move through the Miami-Dade court system. Records reveal that Louis-Jeune was previously suspended for another excessive force incident in 2021. A trial date for his alleged assault on Spencer was set for May 2026.

Georgia: WMAZ in Macon reported that state prison guard Britany Currin was fired and arrested on March 30, 2026, following an attack on an unnamed prisoner. The arrest warrant alleged that she struck the prisoner in the back of the head, forcing him to fall face-first into a table in a prison day room. Following the assault, Currin submitted a fraudulent witness statement to cover her tracks. However, DOC investigators used surveillance footage to debunk her account. Currin, who had been employed at Central State Prison since 2019, was charged with making false statements and violating her oath of office.

Indiana: A brutal stabbing at the Miami Correctional Facility resulted in felony charges against nine prisoners on March 12, 2026, for the killing of 36-year-old J. Trinidad Ramirez. According to WTHR in Indianapolis, Ramirez was suffering from 13 stab wounds when guards discovered him in the J Housing Unit on November 26, 2025; he succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter. Court documents identified the primary assailant as Na-Son Smith, 33, a prisoner already serving 155 years for a double homicide. He now faces new murder and voluntary manslaughter charges. Eight other prisoners, including several already serving time for homicide, were charged with aggravated battery and possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner. They include Matthew Shepard, 34; Sherman Thompson, 32; Anthony York, 24; Breon Davenport, 27; David Holder, 34; Victor Adamson-Scott, 35; Aaron Sawyer, 28; and Tony Love, 42.

Indiana: Steuben County Community Corrections guard Micale Wells, 34, was charged with felony sexual assault and official misconduct after admitting to Indiana State Police investigators that she engaged in sexual acts with an unnamed prisoner enrolled in a work-release program, WPTA in Fort Wayne reported. Wells, who also shared lewd selfies with the prisoner, acknowledged that the relationship was a crime, but she said the sex was “great” and reported having “strong feelings” for the incarcerated man. Each felony count carries a potential two-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Court records indicated that a primary hearing or trial date had yet to be scheduled. Wells remained out of custody pending those proceedings.

Iowa: According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, a report from the state Office of Ombudsman released on March 10, 2026, slammed the Scott County Jail for its “callous” failure to intervene during a detainee’s prolonged mental health crisis. The woman, identified as “Sarah,” spent hours on Christmas Eve 2024 violently ramming her head against her cell wall, resulting in a concussion and facial disfigurement. Investigators found that staff mocked the suicide attempt, shrugging it off as an attempt at “manipulation” and even falsifying required 15-minute checks in jail logs. Despite policy requiring continuous observation for suicidal detainees, Sarah was ignored even after vomiting and losing consciousness. The ombudsman noted a 19-hour booking delay and a total lack of mental health services available on holidays.

Kansas: KCTV in Kansas City, Mo., reported that Wyandotte County finally cutoff email access for suspended jail guard Richard Fatherley, 35, on April 15, 2026, nearly seven months after he was charged in the July 2025 death of detainee Charles Adair, 50. As PLN reported, Adair was jailed for traffic warrants when Fatherly, who is not a certified law enforcement officer, allegedly knelt on his back during an altercation on July 5, 2025, causing Adair to sustain broken ribs and a sternal fracture as he died from “mechanical asphyxia,” according to an autopsy report which ruled the death a homicide. [See: PLN, Nov. 2025, p.63.] Yet even after the guard was charged with second-degree unintentional murder and placed on administrative leave in September 2025, his county email remained active, allowing him to exchange emails regarding use-of-force tactics with a fellow deputy who is also listed as a witness against him. Adair family attorney Grant Davis said that the delay in blocking Fatherly’s email access indicated County officials “are not taking it seriously.” He has filed suit for Adair’s Estate in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, accusing Fatherly and other County officials of deliberate indifference to the detainee’s serious medical need, in violation of his civil rights. See: Adair v. Unified Gov’t of Wyandotte Cty./Kansas City, Kan., USDC (D. Kan.), Case No. 2:26-cv-02192.

Kentucky: WLEX in Lexington reported that Kentucky State Police (KSP) launched a criminal investigation after leaked surveillance footage at the Madison County Detention Center captured a deputy jailer punching detainee Franza Caldwell multiple times on March 19, 2026. Caldwell, 33, had been arrested the same evening for a domestic violence incident resulting in minor injury. The 20-second video clip showed an unnamed guard delivering four strikes to Caldwell’s head during a bedding retrieval. Jailer Larry Brock characterized the assault as “well below” standards, and the fallout was immediate: the guard, a trainee with less than three months on the job, resigned in lieu of termination, and a second deputy was fired for failing to intervene. The jail claimed they were provided 130 annual training hours.

Kentucky: Two former state DOC guards at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex (EKCC) are facing felony counts including drug trafficking and official misconduct for organizing a drug-smuggling ring. According to the Middlesboro News, Dwayne Lee Skaggs, 34, and William Chester Caudill, 32, were two of five people charged by KSP on March 16, 2026, with organized crime, drug trafficking, and promoting contraband. Following a DOC Internal Affairs investigation into prison smuggling, the guards were intercepted at EKCC in September with 55.5 grams (1.96 ounces) of methamphetamine and 800 Suboxone strips, which was hidden inside Caudill’s lunchbox. Also charged were prisoners Challis Ray Davis, 44, and Shane Wilder, 42, plus Wilder’s mother, Donnie Wilder, 70. Investigators said that she met the guards on “dates” at retail locations to give them the contraband “presents”—including cash bribes to deliver them—after monitored phone calls which captured the prisoners referring to Skaggs as “the redhead” and Caudill as “the big, fat guy” (he weighs 400 pounds). Skaggs was indicted in January 2026, though he resigned after confessing to his role in the scheme in September 2025. Caudill was indicted in October 2025, after he admitted having the drugs in his lunchbox but refused to say where they came from. It was unclear when or how he was separated from DOC employment. No trial dates have been set in Morgan County Circuit Court.

Kentucky: Christian County Sheriff Tyler DeArmond suffered a security lapse on April 12, 2026, when County jail prisoners Elijah Boodoosingh, 30, and James Stull, 39, walked away from a work detail. The pair then carjacked a vehicle and led KSP troopers on a high-speed pursuit spanning 50 miles across four counties, according to WEVV in Evansville, Indiana. Court documents said that Boodoosingh reached speeds of 120 mph before cops tossed a tire deflation device in the path of his vehicle to end the flight. Both men were scheduled for release in 2027 but now face second-degree escape and wanton endangerment charges.

Michigan: Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson ignited a firestorm with a memorandum that banned body-worn cameras (BWCs) inside the county jail on March 13, 2026—the same day that a 37-year-old detainee, Angie Mitchell, died in custody. WJRT in Flint reported that she was found unresponsive in her cell, but her cause of death was unknown. The investigation, like those of many custodial deaths, has shifted to jail medical staff and whether they followed proper wellness check protocols. Swanson claims that the BWC ban is a proactive measure to prevent the accidental release of personal information during detainee processing, noting similar restrictive protocols in nearby Oakland and Alpena counties. However, advocates and grieving family members called it a calculated move to insulate staff from accountability.

Mississippi: On April 9, 2026, Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed House Bill 1444, mandating the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) to all incarcerated workers in the state. The measure was inspired by the late Susie Balfour, the DeSoto County News reported. Held by the state DOC for 33 years before her 2021 release from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, she blamed forced exposure to caustic cleaning chemicals for the breast cancer that eventually killed her in 2025 at age 55 —but not before winning a legal battle to have her testimony recorded and preserved, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Nov. 2025, p.11.] The ongoing federal lawsuit alleges that DOC healthcare contractors doomed her to die with “medical gaslighting” that prevented her from getting mammograms or biopsies until weeks before her release. Suggesting a broader problem, the suit names 15 other women at the state’s female prison with similar chemical exposures and delayed cancer diagnoses. See: Balfour v. Jackson HMA, LLC, USDC (S.D. Miss.), Case No. 3:24-cv-00093. The state Senate blocked most 2026 DOC medical reforms, making HB 1444 a rare bipartisan victory for prisoner safety.

New Jersey: Advance Local Media reported that senior-level state DOC guard Daniel Petoia, 34, was indicted on March 25, 2026, for the aggravated assault of an unnamed prisoner at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. A grand jury returned that charge along with two more for official misconduct and tampering with records following an investigation by the office of acting state Attorney General Jennifer Davenport (D) into an incident on December 20, 2024, when Petoia allegedly punched the prisoner in the head and knocked him to the ground, where he continued the beating. To mask the brutality, Petoia reportedly planted a sharpened metal “weapon” and filed fabricated reports accusing the victim of possessing it. The cover-up collapsed under investigation, leading to the charges against Petoia, whose employment status was unclear.

New York: The Brooklyn Paper reported that after 19 years of wrongful incarceration, Kenneth Windley, 62, was exonerated on March 16, 2026, when Brooklyn District Attorney (D.A.) Eric Gonzalez successfully moved a state court to vacate his 2007 robbery conviction. Windley was sentenced to 20 years to life as a “persistent felony offender” for the 2005 robbery of an elderly man in Crown Heights. But the conviction rested on a flawed identification and possession of a stolen money order, which Windley maintained he purchased innocently from two neighborhood acquaintances to buy a stove. A reinvestigation by the D.A.’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) confirmed Windley’s account. Investigators identified two other men, currently imprisoned for a string of identical robberies targeting elderly victims, who confessed to the crime and cleared Windley. Evidence of that pattern of similar crimes was suppressed at Windley’s trial, but the CRU agreed that it would have created reasonable doubt sufficient to prevent his conviction. Because the victim has since died, the charges were not refiled and the indictment was dismissed, marking the 42nd exoneration secured by the Brooklyn CRU since it was formed in 2014.

New York: Jefferson County Jail guard John Toper, 40, was arrested on March 20, 2026, for allegedly orchestrating a fight between prisoners. According to WWNY in Watertown, an altercation at the jail on March 8 led to a slew of charges against Toper, including official misconduct, criminal solicitation and criminal “obstruction of breathing.” Sheriff Peter Barnett confirmed that Toper “knowingly facilitated the altercation,” compromising the safety of staff and detainees. Toper, who had been on the job for less than a year, resigned following his arrest.

New York: According to a report in the Insurance Journal, former Rikers Island jail guard Todd Faustin, 43, pleaded guilty on March 17, 2026, to federal charges that he made up injuries from use-of-force incidents to bilk the state Workers Compensation Board (WCB) of more than $370,000 in unearned benefits between 2016 and 2023. The loss ultimately fell on the New York City Treasury, which reimburses the WCB for claims made by City DOC employees. Concluding a 14-year career in disgrace, Faustin resigned on March 17, 2026, when he was ordered to forfeit the full $370,336.79 that he stole. At sentencing scheduled for July 7, 2026, he faces up to five years in federal prison. See: United States v. Faustin, USDC (S.D.N.Y.), Case No. 1:25-cr-00216.

New York: State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) guard Brian Kampnich, 36, resigned on March 16, 2026, a day after drunkenly crashing his pickup and fleeing into a nearby woods to escape capture. The Syracuse Post-Standard reported that Seneca County Sheriff’s deputies found the 13-year DOCCS veteran wearing his state-issued uniform after a 30-minute manhunt, arresting Kampnich as he attempted to sneak back into work at Five Points Correctional Facility. He had reportedly abandoned his post without authorization before driving his Dodge Ram into a guardrail, a DOT sign, a parked car and a private shed. Witnesses then pointed deputies in his direction, leading to his capture. After refusing a breathalyzer test, he was cited for misdemeanor DWI and “obstructing governmental administration.”

New York: An Oneida County jury convicted former DOCCS guard Jonah Levi on April 1, 2026, for his role in the brutal beating death of Messiah Nantwi, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported. The conviction stems from a March 2025 incident that left Nantwi dead at Mid-State Correctional Facility, after Levi and nine other guards unleashed a brutal assault, as PLN reported. An autopsy revealed Nantwi suffered 69 blows from batons, boots, and fists; following the homicide, the guards engaged in a systematic cover-up, filing fraudulent reports to mask their “depraved indifference.” [See: PLN, Apr. 2025, p.56; and Aug. 2025, p.62.] Though Levi evaded a second-degree murder conviction, he was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter, gang assault and conspiracy. At sentencing on May 27, 2026, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

North Carolina: Vance County Jail supervisor Capt. Shannon Holley was indicted on April 13, 2026, on nine counts related to the sexual assault of an unnamed detainee, WRAL in Raleigh reported. Court documents revealed that Holley, 46, forced his tongue down the victim’s throat and raped her in February of this year. While Sheriff Curtis Brame recently lauded Holley’s performance during a “scrambling” staffing crisis, prosecutors now allege that the former guard exploited the jail’s “unsafe conditions” to commit multiple rapes. The jail’s co-administrator, he resigned after a State Bureau of Investigation probe into four separate misconduct incidents.

Ohio: As reported by the Columbus Dispatch on March 26, 2026, former state Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (DRC) guard Barbara Devine, 36, accepted an “off-the-books” favor from an unnamed incarcerated man claiming ties to the Aryan Brotherhood, letting him orchestrate a revenge attack on the assailant of one of Devine’s family members. By putting herself in this compromised position, she then allowed a second individual identified as “Adam” to groom her through social media manipulation and financial promises. Burdened by debt and a low $18-an-hour wage, plus three children to support after her divorce, Devine succumbed to the pressure; she was eventually caught during an attempt to smuggle methamphetamine and SIM cards concealed in her vagina into Chillicothe Correctional Institution. K-2 that she had previously smuggled also led to a brutal assault on a fellow guard by an unnamed prisoner who was high on the contraband. Devine began working as a state prison guard in 2019 at age 29. She was 32 at the time of her arrest in late 2022. Sentenced to three years at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in 2023, she has witnessed the contraband epidemic from the other side of the bars, noting that daily overdoses are the consequences of the lethal trade she once enabled.

Oklahoma: A former state DOC guard at the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center south of Norman is accused of grooming a prisoner for weeks before raping him, according to KSWO in Lawton. On March 19, 2026, authorities charged Daniel Ackah, 55, with rape by instrumentation and sexual battery following allegations by the unnamed incarcerated victim of a sexual assault that took place six days earlier. Fellow prisoners corroborated the story, telling investigators that Ackah provided the victim contraband food and hygiene items, also letting him remain outside his cell while others were locked into theirs. Surveillance camera footage provided further evidence that Ackah was in the cell when the prisoner said that he was assaulted, a period when the guard’s BWC was also disabled. The state DOC confirmed that Ackah was dismissed immediately and booked into the Cleveland County Detention Center.

Oregon: The Oregonian reported that on April 10, 2026, officials at Columbia River Correctional Institution barred Michael Fesser, a volunteer who leads the Going Home II reentry program, after a confrontation three days earlier with state DOC guard Lt. Jack Rowlett, 46. Fesser and multiple prisoner witnesses reported that Rowlett, who is white, disrupted a class of 50 to 60 men that Fesser was leading, saying the gathering was too large under DOC rules, before addressing Fesser, who is Black, with the slur “boy.” Afterward, the DOC “paused” the reentry program and banned Fesser. Meanwhile Rowlett was kept on the payroll. The guard has a history of misconduct allegations: he recently returned from a year-long paid leave following a stalking order and harassment complaint by a female colleague, and he faces a contempt charge in Marion County Circuit Court for violating the stalking order. That charge prompted a review of his “moral fitness,” which is still ongoing, by the state Department of Public Safety Standards & Training. Rowlett is fighting the contempt charge and has filed a defamation suit against the unnamed woman who obtained the stalking order.

Pennsylvania: WHYY in Philadelphia reported that former Philadelphia Department of Prisons (PDP) guard Sgt. Christopher Knight, 47, pleaded guilty in federal court on March 19, 2026, to five counts of violating the civil rights of prisoners and falsifying official records. According to his May 2025 indictment, Knight pepper-sprayed five different prisoners during a three-month campaign of violence at the PDP’s Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in 2023; in some instances he attacked prisoners who were lying face down, handcuffed or simply writing on paper, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Aug. 2025, p.62.] To cover it up, Knight intentionally omitted his involvement from official PDP use-of-force reports. He now faces a maximum sentence of 90 years in federal prison at sentencing scheduled for July 15, 2026. See: United States v. Knight, USDC (E.D. Pa.), Case No. 2:25-cr-00230.

Pennsylvania: In long-overdue recognition of the value of prisoner labor, the Allegheny County Jail launched its “Vocational Training Program” in April 2026, providing monetary compensation to incarcerated workers. For nearly five years, workers performing essential functions, including cooking, cleaning, and painting, received only non-monetary pittances, like hygiene items or a few minutes of extra recreation time. WESA in Pittsburgh reported that approximately 377 participants will now receive $5 daily for their labor under the new policy, as well as $2 per reentry class they attend. While the wages remain well below the federal minimum wage of $7.15 per hour, the new deposits into commissary accounts allow prisoners to offset the predatory costs of phone calls and tablet usage. However, noted County Councilor Bethany Hallam, those working within their own housing units remain excluded from pay until phase two of the program.

South Carolina: According to a report in The State, mailroom corruption at Evans Correctional Institution resulted in the arrest of state DOC guard Nishika Shavonta Shaw, 33, on April 1, 2026, for the brazen theft of prisoner funds. While handling mail at the medium-security lockup on January 9, 2024, Shaw intercepted a check for $28,488.04 addressed to an incarcerated individual. She is accused of forging the prisoner’s endorsement to transfer the check to an unnamed accomplice, for whom she also forged DOC income and employment statements. The elaborate scheme netted her charges of grand larceny, forgery, and receiving stolen goods exceeding $10,000. Following an investigation by the DOC Office of Inspector General, Shaw was terminated and taken into custody. She was later released on a $25,000 bond.

South Carolina: Operation “Clean Sweep” resulted in the indictment of two state DOC guards on April 14, 2026. Niccole Matthews Al-Saddiq, 42, and Candace Elizabeth Smith, 29, were accused of orchestrating a contraband smuggling ring at Lee Correctional Institution. Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) announced that a grand jury had found sufficient evidence to charge the duo with facilitating entry of “dangerous contraband” into the Bishopville prison, delivering it to prisoners with whom they were also maintaining sexual relationships. Most notably, the indictment claims one guard went as far as marrying a prisoner she was tasked with guarding. Both guards face misconduct in office charges carrying up to 10 years in prison.

Texas: KLTV in Tyler reported that the Rusk County Jail is under scrutiny following the custodial death of Manuel Remeas Benavidez on March 18, 2026. Benavidez, 60, had been transferred from a state medical facility in February and was reportedly under observation of jail medical staff due to serious pre-existing conditions. But despite being housed in a dedicated medical cell, he was found unresponsive, necessitating emergency resuscitation and transport to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A final autopsy was pending.

Virginia: On April 3, 2026, the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the June 2025 death of state prisoner Aubrey McKay a homicide, citing “multi-factorial asphyxia” as the cause, the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reported. State DOC guard Sgt. Jason Cope was fired effective February 10, 2026, following an investigation into the suspicious death at Wallens Ridge State Prison, when McKay, 27, was discovered in his cell with a fractured Adam’s apple and extensive bruising—injuries consistent with a brutal physical encounter. He had been scheduled for release in July 2025, but he died a month before that could happen. The DOC then waited four months before placing Cope on leave in November 2025. The guard’s firing coincides with a leadership shakeup by new DOC Director Joseph Waters, following reports of staff-led retaliatory beatings at the supermax prison. Virginia State Police continue to investigate McKay’s untimely death.

West Virginia: Former Southern Regional Jail guard Michael Pack, 39, pleaded guilty on March 30, 2026, to federal conspiracy charges stemming from the systematic abuse of prisoners and detainees. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, Pack admitted during a hearing in federal court in Beckley how he and fellow guards organized retaliatory beatings of detainees and prisoners in surveillance camera blind spots in the jail. The conspirators also filed fraudulent reports that omitted the injuries inflicted during these off-camera assaults. Pack now faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.  

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