by Chuck Sharman
Thousands more Californians arrested every year could be eligible for pretrial release after a ruling by the state Supreme Court on April 30, 2026. Building on an earlier decision banning pretrial detention for lack of cash to post bail, the Court reiterated that arrestees are …
by Chuck Sharman
In a whipsaw series of decisions over two weeks, federal courts first greenlighted and then canceled the execution of condemned Alabama prisoner Jeffery Lee by nitrogen hypoxia, before a divided Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) left to stand a ruling by the U.S. Court …
by Chuck Sharman
With a one-paragraph ruling on June 11, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted summary judgment to defendant officials with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC), relieving them from an order by the U.S. District Court for the …
by Chuck Sharman
In a decision issued on February 25, 2026, the Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) affirmed dismissal of an appeal filed by prison profiteer The GEO Group, after a federal district court refused to grant the firm immunity from a suit challenging conditions at a …
by Chuck Sharman
A study of North Carolina state prisoners published in September 2025 found that those who experienced solitary confinement had a mortality rate over twice as high as those who did not.
The results echo those of a 2020 Danish study, which found that the …
by Chuck Sharman
At a settlement conference in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York on March 26, 2026, Cayuga County officials agreed to pay $25,000 to settle claims by a former detainee in the county jail, who said that he was subjected to …
by Chuck Sharman
The federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was ordered to halt a four-month-old policy that began to “taper” the hormone therapy treatments of trans prisoners and transfer them to housing aligning with their birth sex, in a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District …
by Chuck Sharman
Arizona lawmakers left the state facing a constitutional crisis on June 13, 2026, when they adjourned for the year without fully funding an increase in healthcare staffing that the state prison system is under order to make from a federal court.
As PLN reported, …
by Chuck Sharman
In a massive legal victory for Colorado prisoners, a state court found that the Department of Corrections (DOC) violated a 2018 constitutional amendment when it issued its most severe punishment—solitary confinement— to prisoners who refused to work. But in the injunction that she issued from …
by Chuck Sharman
After receiving approval from the City Council of Stillwater, Oklahoma, a massive $2,550,000 settlement was incorporated into the judgement issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on April 6, 2026. The agreement resolved claims by a former detainee at the …
