by Chuck Sharman
On April 29, 2026, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky awarded exonerated state prisoner Jeffrey Dewayne Clark $24,350,000 from Meade County officials, after finding that they fabricated evidence to wrongfully convict him and fellow exoneree Garr Keith Hardin …
by Chuck Sharman
After New Mexico’s Otero County agreed to pay a $1,050,000 settlement, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico granted dismissal on January 20, 2026, to a suit filed over the death of Jacob Gutierrez, 27, who committed suicide while he was detained …
by Chuck Sharman
Under the terms of a settlement reached on April 16, 2026, Colorado’s La Plata County agreed to pay $5 million to the estate of Daniel Foard, 32, whose death in the County lockup was both “gruesome and preventable,” according to the complaint filed on his …
by Chuck Sharman
On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a jury verdict awarding $10 million in damages to exonerated Michigan prisoner Alexandre Ansari, who served six and a half years in a state prison for murder before his conviction was …
by Chuck Sharman
The Maine Department of Corrections (DOC) agreed to pay $250,000 to former state prisoner Zachary Swain on February 26, 2026, settling his claims that he was subjected to excessive and debilitating solitary confinement during his six-year incarceration at Maine State Prison (MSP). The payout is …
by Chuck Sharman
In a one-paragraph opinion issued on May 14, 2026, the Arkansas Supreme Court declined to review a lower court’s ruling that invalidated two new laws transferring much of the prison oversight authority formerly held by the state Board of Corrections (BOC) to Gov. Sarah H. …
by Chuck Sharman
A former New Mexico prisoner’s excessive force complaint against guards morphed into a public records suit over his stonewalled demand for documentation of the incident before the state agreed to a settlement on March 4, 2026. Under its terms, $112,500 was paid to the former …
by Chuck Sharman
A massive six-year-old class-action challenge to conditions of confinement in the San Diego County jail system moved a step closer to resolution on March 12, 2026, when the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California granted preliminary approval to a partial settlement resolving …
by Chuck Sharman
Manhattan District Attorney (D.A.) Alvin Bragg (D) announced on April 27, 2026, that his office had successfully moved a state judge to vacate the conviction of and dismiss the indictment against Harry Ruiz, 57, who served 25 years in a state prison for murder before …
by Chuck Sharman
Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County Council voted on April 28, 2026, to pay $75,000 to Jerome Williamson, a former prisoner in the county lockup who accused a guard of shoving him to the floor and breaking his wrist.
The incident unfolded in September 2023 at the …
