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Articles by Ashleigh Dye

Former South Carolina Sheriff Begins 46-Month Prison Term for Corruption

by Ashleigh N. Dye

On October 14, 2022, a former South Carolina sheriff reported to the U.S. Penitentiary in Big Sandy, Kentucky, to begin serving a 46-month sentence for fraud and corruption-related charges.

Alex “Big A” Underwood, 59, was the Chester County Sheriff from 2012 until he was suspended by ...

OIG Report Defers Claims That ICE Detainees in Georgia Had Forced Hysterectomies

by Ashleigh N. Dye

Did 19 women detained for federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a Georgia jail have forced hysterectomies? [See: PLN, Dec. 2020, p.60.]

A whistleblower complaint said so. That led to a January 2022 report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at ICE’s parent ...

Fourteen Officials Indicted in New Jersey Women’s Prison Abuse Scandal, $21 Million Class-Action Settlement Reached

by Ashleigh N. Dye

On September 27, 2022, a New Jersey grand jury indicted 14 officials at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility (CF), the state’s only women’s prison. It was the latest fallout from a years-long sex abuse scandal that led Gov. Phil Murphy (D) to announce the prison will be ...

California Pays $3.5 Million to Settle Suit Over State Prisoner’s Murder

by Ashleigh N. Dye

On September 24, 2022, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) signed a settlement agreement providing $3.5 million to the heirs of Shaylene Graves, a state prisoner found hanged in her cell at the California Institute for Women (CIW) in Chino in June 2016.

At ...

Former South Carolina Deputy Gets 18 Years for Driving Transport Van With Two Detainees Into Flood, Drowning Them

by Ashleigh N. Dye

A former South Carolina Sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to 18 years in prison on May 19, 2022, for driving a jail transport van onto a flooded road, where it was swept away with a pair of detainees locked in the back and they drowned.

Former Horry ...

South Carolina Death Row Doctor Breaks Silence About Years of Executions

by Ashleigh N. Dye

In an interview published in The State in Columbia on April 26, 2022, a South Carolina physician spoke out for the first time about executing condemned state prisoners — and the toll it has taken on him.

“Death is death, no matter whether it’s by disease, ...

Disgraced Virginia Sheriff Gets 12 Years for Bribery and Corruption

by Ashleigh N. Dye

On May 19, 2022, the federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia sentenced former Norfolk Sheriff Robert McCabe, to 12 years in federal prison for his role in a jail bribery scheme that went on for more than two decades. A jury convicted McCabe in ...

Indiana Caps Phone Rates in State Prisons and Jails

by Ashleigh N. Dye

On July 1, 2022, a new Indiana law took effect that caps the price charged for phone calls in state prisons and jails. With the change, those held by the state Department of Corrections (DOC) now pay 12 cents per minute for a call. However, since ...

Even as U.S. Jail Population Declines, Average Length of Stay Rises

by Ashleigh N. Dye

A recent study published in December 2021 suggests that even as U.S. jail population was falling between 2014 and 2019, the length of stay for each incarceration was on the rise.

The study, Understanding Trends in Jail Populations, 2014-2019: A Multi-Site Analysis, was conducted by ...

A First Glance in Rear-View Mirror at Pandemic

by Kevin W. Bliss, Matt Clarke, Ashleigh N. Dye and Keith Sanders

As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes from the headlines, its full effect on prisoners and detainees is coming into clearer view. One of the first glimpses was provided in a December 2021 report by the federal Department of Justice ...