Alabama: According to the Birmingham News, former state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Mario Grant, 35, was sentenced to four years in prison on August 17, 2026, for smuggling contraband into the Kilby Correctional Facility (CF). An August 2023 K-9 search turned up methamphetamine, marijuana and a cell phone that was traced to Grant, who took bribes routed through his wife, Carol. His split sentence included two years of prison time and three years of supervised probation for each of two counts on which he was convicted, use of his position for personal gain and conspiracy to deliver drugs. Carol Grant, 33, admitted to acting as co-conspirator on the latter charge and received a 48-month suspended sentence on August 6. Charges remain pending against incarcerated co-conspirator Jeffery Frank, 46, who is serving five life sentences for a 1998 knife attack in his family’s Huntsville home, which killed his parents and injured three younger siblings. He is now held at Bullock CF, the DOC said.

Alabama: On August 26, 2026, another former DOC guard, Melvin Ledarrius Thomas, 35, was arrested and booked into the Jefferson County Jail on a manslaughter charge in connection with the 2025 death of prisoner Antwion Webb, 45, at William E. Donaldson CF. Also charged was prisoner David Ja Mal Coleman Jr., 32, who is accused of stabbing Webb in the chest before Thomas forced the critically wounded prisoner back into general population and denied him necessary emergency medical care, Advance Local Media reported. Thomas was released on bond after his arrest; his DOC employment ended shortly after Webb’s murder.

Arizona: State Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Re-entry (DCRR) guard Yanet Dowden was arrested on September 11, 2026, when Mexican authorities caught her near the U.S. border smuggling an AK-47, multiple firearms and 5,445 rounds of ammunition in her Jeep.

According to NewsNation, DCRR officials linked the rogue guard directly to the “Los Mayos” faction of the Sinaloa drug cartel, placing her mid-level in the operation under leader Ismael Zambada Sicairos. She was placed on administrative leave pending termination from the DCRR.

Arkansas: According to the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Eastern District of Arkansas, former federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) guards Robert Cochran, 37. and Tejuana Dillard, 42, were sentenced on August 19, 2026, to 30 months each in federal prison for taking bribes to smuggle contraband into the Forrest City Federal Correctional Complex. Cochran pleaded guilty to accepting $58,775 from associates of unnamed prisoners to bring in tobacco, over-the-counter drugs, and Gucci sunglasses, which he left in an office for prisoner retrieval. Dillard pleaded guilty to making false statements when he lied to federal agents questioning him about smuggling cigarettes to two other unnamed prisoners, for which he took $91,788 in bribes.

California: The USAO for the Eastern District of California said that former BOP guard Antonio Ray Ramirez, 35, pleaded guilty on August 6, 2026, to distributing methamphetamine at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Herlong. Court documents reveal that in August 2024, Ramirez smuggled 869 grams of methamphetamine and 127 grams of heroin past prison security during an overnight shift, stashing it in a laundry room and tipping off an unnamed prisoner to the location in exchange for a $15,000 bribe. Fellow BOP guards intercepted the contraband. At sentencing, Ramirez faces up to life in prison and a fine up to $10 million.

District of Columbia: On August 29, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered BOP officials to forcibly feed and administer medical treatment to pretrial prisoner Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, CBS News reported. An Afghan national facing capital-eligible federal charges for the November 2025 ambush shooting of West Virginia National Guard members near the White House, Lakanwal began refusing food and water in June 2026, requiring an emergency hospital transfer the following month. The force-feeding directive remains in effect through October 28, 2026, as Lakanwal awaits trial on murder and firearm counts.

Florida: Former state DOC Sgt. Rachel M. Black, 38, was arrested on September 6, 2026, and charged with running a drug ring inside the Florida State Prison with a prisoner boyfriend, WOKV in Jacksonville reported. He was not named, and no additional charges were announced for him. Investigators found that one of the duo’s incarcerated buyers had his girlfriend transfer an $1,800 payment to Black for a delivery of pot and meth. They also said that Black admitted to repackaging and smuggling “paper dope”—LSD tabs—for her prisoner paramour, leaving it in a mop closet for other prisoners to retrieve. It was unclear when her DOC employment ended. She was booked into the Bradford County Jail on charges of conspiracy to introduce contraband into a correctional institution and unauthorized use of a two-way communication device.

Florida: On September 22, 2026, former prison guard Devin Scott Waldeck, 35, received a 20-year sentence in federal prison for child exploitation and distribution of child pornography, WCJB in Ocala reported. Waldeck’s charges followed an investigation by the FBI and the Dixie County Sheriff’s Office. Court documents reveal that, in November 2025, Waldeck posed online as the mother of a minor and described ways the child could be sexually exploited in message boards. Waldeck also possessed explicit images and videos of the child stored in a hidden app on his cell phone.

Georgia: Former state DOC guard cadet Julius Deshawn Williams Jr., 29, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on August 19, 2026, for attempting to smuggle methamphetamine into Dooly State Prison. WGXA in Macon reported that guards conducting a routine search in June 2024 discovered four packages hidden in Williams’ pants holding 640 grams of meth. They also recovered a handgun from his vehicle in the parking lot. Williams confessed his intent to deliver the contraband to an unnamed prisoner and pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine in December 2025, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, June 2026, p.63.] In addition to his prison term, he was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release.

Georgia: WMGT in Macon said that another state DOC employee was arrested on September 1, 2026, for illegally accessing surveillance technology. Special Agent in Charge Robert “Bobby” Michael Keim, 45, was charged with misusing the Flock network of automated license plate readers for unauthorized personal purposes. The nine-year DOC veteran conducted and headed up both internal and external investigations and criminal investigations. His current employment status was unclear, and it was unknown if he posted bond or remained in custody. Also unclear was whether the DOC had interdicted any contraband since signing up for the Flock service, which costs up to $3,000 per camera every year. At least 11 police officers and dispatchers in Georgia have been charged since July with abusing the surveillance system.

Georgia: According to Georgia Prisoners Speak, the failure of Wilcox State Prison officials to keep rival gang members segregated resulted in a fatal attack on prisoner Maurice Antonio Brown, 36, on September 3, 2026. The killing occurred shortly after a 15-member tactical squad of guards completed a five-hour shakedown, confiscating contraband and removing one unnamed prisoner before they departed, leaving the dorm unlocked for showers. Brown, who had been serving a 25-year sentence for kidnapping since December 2009, was pronounced dead at the scene. The state DOC blamed a “gang-related altercation” for the death at the overcrowded prison, which is currently operating at 366% of its design capacity.

Georgia: Fulton County Jail contract nurse Shakimia G. Johnson, 36, was arrested on September 14, 2026, for allegedly smuggling unauthorized prescription medication to a prisoner with whom she shared a secret romantic relationship, WSB in Atlanta reported. Johnson is accused of using her official medical access to hand-deliver drugs to detainee Caleb Sims, who lacked a valid prescription or medical order. Jail surveillance footage captured Johnson entering the housing unit under the guise of conducting routine medication rounds to execute the exchange. Jail investigators then uncovered 144 recorded communications between the two. Johnson confessed during questioning and now faces felony charges of providing prohibited items to a prisoner.

Georgia: WJCL in Savannah said that former BOP guard Ashley Brown, 37, was sentenced to four years in prison on September 17, 2026, for taking bribes to smuggle contraband into FCI-Jesup. She pleaded guilty to 24 counts of accepting bribes as a public official and 16 counts of money laundering following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General that found she accepted over $80,000 via Cash App from prisoners between May and September 2022, in exchange for smuggling them methamphetamine, synthetic cannabinoids (K2), marijuana and contraband cell phones. Also convicted in the scheme were prisoners Adrian Sims, 53, and Navarus Bryant, 48, who received additional federal prison sentences of 78 months and 57 months, respectively.

Germany: Prosecutors are investigating a 105-year-old man who is suspected of having been an accessory to multiple murders at a Nazi prisoner of war camp. The case centers on Stalag 326 VI K, a prisoner of war camp in western Germany. The camp, where the man may have been a guard, held between 180,000 to 200,000 Soviet prisoners of war between 1941 and April 1945. The investigation is part of an effort by Germany to prosecute alleged Nazi war criminals before they die.

Illinois: According to the USAO for the Northern District of Illinois, former FCI-Thomson cook supervisor Danny L. Spyker, 42, was sentenced to 41 months in prison on September 15, 2026, for sexually abusing two prisoners under his direct supervisory and disciplinary control in March 2024. As PLN reported, he was placed on administrative leave in June 2024 and indicted the following year. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.62.] For exploiting his position for personal gratification, a federal jury convicted Spyker of two counts of sexual abuse in May 2026.

Indiana: Former state DOC Lt. Jacob Kauth pleaded guilty on August 31, 2026, to fraud charges stemming from payroll manipulation at the Plainfield Correctional Facility. WRTV in Indianapolis reported that Kauth falsified state time records for a subordinate employee, Sandra Vargas, with whom he was romantically involved and cohabitating. An agency audit then found that she had failed to enter the prison on a number of shifts, and she was fired in June 2024 and charged with collecting $3,163.90 for 98 hours that she never worked. Kauth’s misdemeanor plea agreement requires him to make full financial restitution and give 80 hours of community service, in addition to completing theft diversion classes and one year of probation. Charges against Vargas remain pending.

Iowa: An unnamed Scott County Jail guard sustained a skull fracture, a broken nose, fractured orbital sockets and deep lacerations requiring staples when he was assaulted with handcuffs by pre-trial detainee Johntarrius A. Thorpe, 22, on September 9, 2026. KWQC in Davenport reported that Thorpe started the altercation during a morning lockdown by hurling a plastic meal tray that struck the guard. A struggle ensued, during which Thorpe seized a set of metal handcuffs and used them to strike the guard repeatedly in the head. Thorpe, who was being held on an attempted murder charge, now faces additional felony charges.

Iowa: The Sioux City Journal reported that former Woodbury County Jail guard Austin Svendsen, 31, was found guilty on September 14, 2026, of assault causing bodily injury when he savagely beat a prone prisoner who had been carrying his mattress and belongings during a 2025 cell transfer. After kneeing the defenseless prisoner in the abdomen, Svendsen forced him to the ground and struck his face four times. Ten seconds later, Svendsen punched the prone, restrained prisoner a fifth time, leaving him with a concussion, head trauma and a facial cut. District Associate Judge Mark Cord rejected defense claims of justification, ruling the prisoner posed no threat. It was the former guard’s second trial on the charge after a February mistrial.

Israel: The New York Times said that Israeli authorities filed criminal charges against 12 Israel Prison Service guards on September 1, 2026, for the fatal beating of Palestinian prisoner Thaer Abu Asab at the Ketziot detention center. Prosecutors charged the guards with reckless homicide and aggravated assault following a November 2023 incident in which they entered Abu Asab’s cell and beat him with fists, boots and clubs, reportedly after he inquired about a Gaza ceasefire. Abu Asab, 38, died shortly after from severe heart and respiratory damage.

Maine: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Cumberland County Jail guard Nilton Ribeiro on August 22, 2026, accusing him of overstaying his temporary visa after entering the country in 2022 from his native Angola. At least three other guards at the Portland lockup have been detained by federal authorities since last year, Maine Public reported. County Sheriff Kevin Joyce defended the guard as a “very good employee” who passed background polygraph checks, publicly questioning ICE claims that it prioritizes dangerous criminals over low-threat community members. Ribeiro’s current location remained undisclosed.

Massachusetts: Essex County Sheriff’s Department guard Christal Dunston, 33, was arrested on September 17, 2026, for smuggling synthetic drugs and contraband cell phones to detainees and prisoners inside the Middleton Jail and House of Correction. WCVB in Boston reported that she pleaded not guilty in Salem District Court to multiple charges, including conspiracy to violate drug laws and delivering drugs to a prisoner. Investigators observed Dunston purchasing five sheets of paper soaked in synthetic cannabinoids (K2). During interrogation, they said, Dunston admitted to bringing the K2 paper and an illegal cellphone into the jail.

Mississippi: Two former state Department of Corrections (DOC) guards each received 30-year sentences as a result of smuggling methamphetamine and synthetic marijuana into the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. As WDAM reported, Somalia Moneisha Funchess, 30, and Aaliyah Keyonna Reid, 26, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges. Investigators said the two ex-guards concealed the drugs, brought them into the prison and placed them in a trash bag before delivering them to a prisoner. Funchess was paid $500 for the drop-off, while Reid received $400.

New Jersey: Former senior-level state DOC guard Christopher Santana, 33, pleaded guilty on August 17, 2026, to accepting thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle contraband into Northern State Prison in Newark. The New Jersey Globe said that he faces a recommended three-year state prison sentence and must forfeit $4,500 in bribe payments that he took. He was also banned permanently from public employment in the state. Investigators caught Santana entering the prison in June 2025 with tobacco and unknown liquids hidden under his vest, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Aug. 2025, p.62.] His sentencing was set for October 2026.

New York: Former state Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) guard Gregory S. Gorman, 30, pleaded guilty in state court to multiple felony charges on September 9, 2026, for smuggling narcotics into the Cayuga Correctional Facility. The Finger Lakes Daily News reported that he admitted to possessing over half an ounce of cocaine and unlawfully introducing heroin into the state prison while on duty in March—reversing the not-guilty plea he entered to a seven-count contraband smuggling indictment in May, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, June 2026, p.62.] Under a plea agreement, Gorman resigned from the DOCCS and accepted lesser charges, for which he faces three years in state prison plus two years of post-release supervision for drug possession, running concurrently with a one-to-four-year sentence for promoting prison contraband. Formal sentencing was scheduled for November 2026.

New York: A violent gang uprising at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn on September 6, 2026, left multiple BOP detainees stabbed and slashed, forcing a multi-day lockdown of the lockup. The New York Daily News said that at least 20 members of the Trinitarios gang clashed with rival gang members on the seventh floor of the west building. The BOP confirmed several injuries that required hospitalization. The brawl is the latest stain on the prison, which is plagued with deferred maintenance, short-staffing, rampant contraband and deadly violence, including two prisoner murders in 2024 and recent prisoner deaths from a suspected suicide and drug overdose.

North Carolina: Former Guilford County Jail guard Michael Shaun Diehl, Jr., 40, was fired and arrested on September 11, 2026, for allegedly forging court documents to illegally detain people. The Charlotte Observer said that Office of County Sheriff Danny Rogers was alerted to suspicious paperwork used to process federal immigration holds. State law requires ICE detainers to be formally submitted to a magistrate before holding individuals for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released. An internal review uncovered 20 instances in which Diehl allegedly forged magistrates’ signatures on official state forms. The 16-year veteran guard was charged with 20 felony counts of forgery and released on a $5,000 bond.

North Dakota: On September 23, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota denied a habeas corpus petition filed by state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR)guard Abubakar Swalley Alhassan, challenging his detention and threatened deportation. He has been in ICE custody since June awaiting deportation proceedings. In his petition, the Ghanaian national asserted that he successfully passed state background checks for his job—a claim corroborated by DCR employment records. But after a response filed by Attorney General Todd Belance, the district court ruled Alhassan’s detention was not unconstitutional and dismissed his claim. See: Alhassan v. Blanche, USDC (D.Minn.), Case No. 0:26-cv-03818.

Ohio: WOIO in Cleveland reported that Clermont County Jail guard Matthew Mullenix was indicted on two counts of felonious assault on September 15, 2026, for a brutal and unprovoked assault on an unnamed 60-year-old detainee. After entering a cell to intervene in a suicide attempt, the guard quickly removed a shirt tied around the detainee’s neck but then repeatedly struck him without cause, investigators said. The excessive force left the prisoner with six fractured ribs and a head laceration requiring 23 staples. Following an external review that deemed the force completely unnecessary and unlawful, Mullenix was charged and held on a $15,000 bond. Several of his fellow guards attended the arraignment to show their support.

Oklahoma: Oklahoma City’s KOCO reported that the Oklahoma County Detention Center officially pulled corn from its meal menus on September 14, 2026, after a shakedown found prisoners and detainees were using the staple to brew contraband alcohol. Alongside more than 15 improvised weapons, search teams uncovered “hootch,” a fermented mix of corn, water and Kool-Aid packets. Because corn’s starch content easily converts into fermentable sugars, officials replaced it with green beans to curb intoxication; as Jail Administrator Tim Kimrey noted, green beans lack the necessary sugar content to facilitate fermenting. Kimrey revealed the policy change during a County Criminal Justice Authority board meeting.

Pennsylvania: Former Philadelphia Department of Prisons guard Christopher Knight, 48, was sentenced on September 23, 2026 to 42 months in federal prison for pepper-spraying prisoners and falsifying records about the incidents, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Knight had pleaded guilty to the charges in March, admitting to pepper-spraying five subdued individuals between January and March 2023 at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. In one case, Knight sprayed a prisoner while he was writing on a piece of paper and not posing a threat, continuing to spray him as he writhed on the ground in pain.

South Carolina: Matrese Grant, a former guard at the jail in Arlington County, was fired for bringing home-cooked meals for detainees. Grant was charged with misconduct in office and furnishing contraband, WKRC reported. Attempting to evade security cameras, Grant allegedly brought the food into the jail under a blanket and left it in a location for a detainee to retrieve later. The ex-guard was arraigned and bond was set at $15,000.

South Carolina: According to the Queen City News, Charles Alexander Dieterich, 30, escaped the Chesterfield County Detention Center on September 1, 2026. Exploiting the jail’s 50-year-old infrastructure, Dieterich lifted his cell door and jammed a pencil into the locking mechanism to trip the lock. He then went into the kitchen and slipped through an unlocked exterior door before scaling a barbed-wire perimeter fence. Jail staff discovered the breach 21 minutes later during routine rounds. Within another 30 minutes, Dieterich was recaptured just half a mile away, where he assaulted an unnamed County Sheriff’s deputy while being taken into custody. He was being held on pending charges in North Carolina after serving time for theft and drug-related offenses in the Palmetto State. Dieterich now faces additional felony escape and assault charges.

South Carolina: The state DOC is investigating a surge of suspected prisoner suicides at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, The State newspaper reported. Between late August and early September 2026, three prisoners died in their cells at the high-security prison. DOC officials reported that Anthony Nicholas Argoe, 64, who was appealing a life sentence for murdering his wife, was found unresponsive in his cell on September 5, 2026. His death followed that of prisoners Glenn Richard Brown Jr. on August 26 and Quintavis Antonio Toomer on August 27. The state Law Enforcement Division, the Richland County Coroner’s Office and the DOC Inspector General’s office are conducting investigations into the fatalities.

Tennessee: An active riot in the maximum-security “A-Pod” housing unit at the Grundy County Jail during the first week of September caused up to $20,000 in structural damage and severe flooding, WRCB in Chattanooga reported. After detainees and prisoners destroyed security cameras, telephones, fire alarms, windows and the unit’s sprinkler system, Sheriff Virgil McNeece warned that he would not tolerate destruction of county property. Mutineers also placed broken mop handles near the entryway to impale entering guards. Outside agencies provided additional manpower for deputies to breach the pod and quell the disturbance without any reported injuries. Participating—but unnamed—detainees and prisoners face felony charges of aggravated rioting, vandalism over $10,000, and attempted aggravated assault on law enforcement; two of them were also charged with attempted escape.

Tennessee: Prisoner Reginald Steed, who was accused of fatally stabbing a guard at the Riverbend Maximum Security Insitution in Nashville, was pronounced dead on September 22, 2026, according to the state DOC. While Steed’s cause of death was not released, he was serving a 27-year sentence for aggravated assault and attempted voluntary manslaughter, among other charges. Steed faced additional charges for the murder of guard Dustin Pedigo in February of this year at a separate prison. Steed allegedly manipulated a faulty cell lock and stabbed Pedigo eight times in the neck with a shank; a grand jury heard testimony about the widespread problem of faulty locks in the DOC while considering criminal charges against Steed.

Texas: Three Shelby County jailers were indicted on felony charges on August 27, 2026, for the in-custody death of James Elliott Perry Jr. According to Shelby County Today, Andrew Valadez, Phillip Youngblood and Jayne Sharnberg were charged with manslaughter, official oppression, civil rights violations and tampering with government records, for holding Perry too long in a restraint chair on July 19. The trio then allegedly falsified restraint chair observation logs. The grand jury accused the guards of denying Perry basic necessities, including medical care, food and restroom access, while violating state jail standards.

Texas: According to San Antonio’s WOAI, former Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) employee Bianca Lopez, 37, was arrested and charged with violating the civil rights of a person in custody on September 16, 2026, after admitting to a year-long sexual relationship with an unnamed prisoner at the Dominguez Unit in San Antonio. She had worked there since 2014 as an inventory and store specialist, commonly known as an assistant commissary manager. The prisoner told TDCJ investigators that she performed oral sex on him four times and that they also had sexual intercourse once—the most recent incident occurring inside a commissary medical closet just two weeks before her arrest warrant was issued. She was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on a $10,000 bond.

Virginia: Former state DOC guard David McMurry, 52, was sentenced to 12 months in federal prison on August 20, 2026, for striking a mentally ill prisoner in the head over 40 times. The Roanoke Times reported thatthe incident occurred during a 2022 cell extraction at Wallens Ridge State Prison, where McMurry wrapped his fists with handcuffs and used them like brass knuckles to beat the unnamed restrained prisoner. Prosecutors originally filed a felony charge carrying a sentence up to 10 years in prison, but they let him plead that down to a misdemeanor, along with surrender of his law enforcement credentials. Although defense counsel requested probation, citing safety risks for former guards behind bars, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia ordered him to prison.  

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