by Chuck Sharman
Texas’ Harris County agreed to pay $1.25 million to the surviving mother of Fred Harris, a teen suffering from diminished mental capacity who was fatally beaten by a cellmate at the county lockup in Houston in 2022. The November 2025 agreement was approved by County …
by Chuck Sharman
On March 30, 2026, the Arkansas Board of Corrections (BOC), which manages and oversees the state’s Department of Corrections (DOC), gave up its fight against two new laws that severely limit its power and authority over state prisons.
In a vote conducted after seating …
by Chuck Sharman
Massachusetts prisons are not going to meet a December 2026 deadline to achieve substantial compliance with the terms of a 2022 settlement agreement covering the provision of mental healthcare to state prisoners. That was the key takeaway from the most recent progress report delivered on …
by Chuck Sharman
In its 41st semiannual report on staff investigations by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the state Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that prison officials adequately handled complaints against prison staff in just 10 of 89 cases reviewed—a little over 11%. …
by Chuck Sharman
For bloodying a state prisoner and then deleting video of his teary account to cover up the assault, the last of six Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) guards involved was sentenced in federal court on April 21, 2026.
The assault …
by Chuck Sharman
After a spate of deaths at the Onondaga County Justice Center (OCJC), the New York Attorney General’s office found the jail’s private medical contractor, NaphCare, Inc., in violation of state medical licensing laws, leading to an $875,000 fine and a five-year ban on practicing in …
by Chuck Sharman
On January 20, 2026, the Connecticut Office of Correction Ombuds (OCO) released its first annual report on conditions in state prisons, finding them so deplorable that Ombuds DeVaughn L. Ward could only conclude the state Department of Corrections (DOC) “is operating in a state of …
by Chuck Sharman
On February 27, 2026, an Indiana court found the state’s Department of Corrections (DOC) in violation of its Access to Public Records Act (APRA), granting summary judgment to the Indiana Capital Chronicle in its challenge to the DOC’s refusal to divulge the amount paid for …
by Chuck Sharman
On March 9, 2026, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri awarded a total of $667,000 to a group of Muslim state prisoners pepper-sprayed by Department of Corrections (DOC) guards while engaged in religious prayer at the Eastern Reception, …
by Chuck Sharman
A $950,000 settlement received approval from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on January 28, 2026, resolving claims against the City of Norfolk by the Estate of Philemon S. Vinson, alleging that his suicide in the city lockup should have been …
