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Washington Governor Fires Independent Prison Watchdog

Loaded on May 1, 2026 published in Prison Legal News May, 2026, page 11
Filed under: DOC/BOP misconduct, Government Misconduct, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Restraints, Administrative Detention/Segregation. Location: Washington.

On April 24, 2026, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson (D) fired the head of the state’s independent prison watchdog, the Office of the Corrections Ombuds (OCO). The office’s director Jeremiah Bourgeois was notified of an investigation into alleged ethical misconduct on April 20 of this year, after being ordered in …

 

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  1. ACLU Threatens New Lawsuit After Indiana County’s Repeated Failures to Abide by 17-Year-Old Settlement Agreement, by Chuck Sharman
  2. From the Editor, by Paul Wright
  3. Washington Governor Fires Independent Prison Watchdog
  4. Spike in Massachusetts Prisoner Suicides Blamed on Isolation, K-2 and Spotty Mental Healthcare, by Chuck Sharman
  5. Idaho Moves Closer to Firing Squad Executions
  6. Exonerated Texas Prisoner Entitled to $1.68 Million After 22 Years of Wrongful Incarceration, by Chuck Sharman
  7. Atlanta Jail Boasts Improvements Since Consent Decree, Reports from Monitor and ACLU Are More Critical, by Chuck Sharman
  8. Fourth Circuit Revives North Carolina Prisoner’s Suit Blaming Lazy Guards for Assault by Detainee, by Chuck Sharman
  9. Hospital Keeps Sending Detainees Back Without Care to County Jail in Colorado
  10. Former Prison Dentist in Iowa Accused of Harassment
  11. Pregnant Women Detained in Jail: The Hideous Story of In-Custody Births, by Douglas Ankney
  12. $9.8 Million in Settlements Reached with South Carolina County and Wellpath in Gruesome Jail Death, by Chuck Sharman
  13. New York Juvenile Detention Officials Sued for Abusing Adolescents with Solitary Confinement, by Chuck Sharman
  14. Idaho DOC Director Denies Verified Report of Rampant Sexual Abuse of Women Prisoners by Staff, by Douglas Ankney
  15. Prisoners in Norfolk, Virginia Left on Extended Lockdown, by Michael Thompson
  16. “Like the Walking Dead”: Smuggled Drugs Fuel Chaos Inside Ohio Prisons, by Laura A. Bischoff, USA Today Network, Doug Livingston, The Marshall Project
  17. NaphCare Pays $875,000 to Settle New York License Violations, Banned from State for Five Years, by Chuck Sharman
  18. New Hampshire Officials Halt $700 Million Prison Replacement
  19. Illinois Jail Reprimanded for Denying Detainees Mail Based on Media Content, P.O. Box Return Address, Settles Detainees’ Suit with $111,825 Payment of Legal Fees, by Douglas Ankney
  20. Texas Officials Testify That Cost to Air Condition Prisons Tops $1.5 Billion, by Chuck Sharman
  21. $2.135 Million Partial Settlement Reached in Schizophrenic Detainee’s Death from “Gross Medical Neglect” at South Carolina Jail, by Chuck Sharman
  22. Oklahoma Supreme Court: Jail Trust Cannot Withhold Requested Records under Law Enforcement Exemption of ORA, by Douglas Ankney
  23. Federal Court Grants HRDC Preliminary Injunction Against Mail Censorship at New Mexico Jail, by Matthew Clarke
  24. Faced with Record-Breaking Jail Deaths, L.A. County Supervisors Tell Sheriff’s Department to Improve Access to Naloxone, Camera Monitoring, and Security Checks at California Jail, by Matthew Clarke
  25. Taser Use Doubled After Grand Jury Report on Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Death, by Michael Thompson
  26. Pennsylvania Closes Its Second-Oldest Prison
  27. Federal Court Places Medical Care in Arizona Prisons Under Receivership, by Matthew Clarke
  28. Nearly 50 People Have Died in ICE Custody Since Trump’s Return to White House, by Jo Ellen Nott
  29. $1.25 Million Paid for Special Needs Teen’s Fatal Beating in Houston Jail, by Chuck Sharman
  30. Oklahoma DOC Paid Prison Guards $35.5 Million in Overtime in 2025
  31. Arkansas Board of Corrections Settles Sunshine Law Charges, Caving to Governor’s Power Grab, by Chuck Sharman
  32. Monitor Says Massachusetts Prisons Will Not Meet Settlement Deadline for Mental Health Reforms, by Chuck Sharman
  33. Watchdog Finds Barely 1 in 10 Complaints Against California Prison Staff Handled Adequately, by Chuck Sharman
  34. Trump Wants $152 Million to Turn Alcatraz Back Into a Prison
  35. Six Maryland Guards Convicted in Prisoner’s Beating, Cover-up; § 1983 Suit Filed, by Chuck Sharman
  36. Trump Approves Firing Squads for Federal Executions
  37. Seventh Circuit Upholds Liability but Reverses Damages in Lawsuit Over Illinois Warden and Investigator Using Prisoner as Bait to Catch Staff Member Raping Her, by Matthew Clarke
  38. Negligence, Lack of Training at Ohio’s Cuyahoga County Jail Led to String of Deaths, by Michael Thompson
  39. Nevada Non-Profit Founder Under Investigation for Misconduct
  40. $750,000 Paid by NaphCare for New York Jail Suicide, by Chuck Sharman
  41. HRDC Sues Colorado Jail for Prohibiting Dozens of Magazines and Books, by Robert Haughn
  42. Connecticut Correction Ombuds Finds DOC in “Sustained Institutional Failure”, by Chuck Sharman
  43. Arrests of Unhoused People Driving Albuquerque Jail Bookings, by Michael Thompson
  44. Indiana DOC Found in Violation of State Public Records Act for Withholding Execution Drug Cost Information, by Chuck Sharman
  45. Federal Jury Awards $307.6 Million to Former Michigan Prisoner After Corizon Refused Surgery, Forcing Him to Wear Colostomy Bag for Two Years, by Robert Haughn
  46. Alabama DOC Terminates $1 Billion Contract with YesCare
  47. Records Show Culture of Impunity Among Kentucky Prison Guards, by Jo Ellen Knott
  48. Prisons in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula “in a Death Spiral” Due to Under-Staffing
  49. Prison Policy Initiative Updates Its Mass Incarceration Report, by Michael Thompson
  50. Texas Moves to Restrict Cashless Bond and Reverse Federal Court-Ordered Misdemeanor Bail Reform, by Matthew Clarke
  51. Judge Denies New York Prison Chief’s Motion to be Dismissed from Case Related to Robert Brooks’ Murder, by Michael Thompson
  52. Guaranteed Income Helps People Leaving Jail and Prison, and That Helps Everyone, by Aleks Kajstura
  53. News in Brief

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