by Chuck Sharman
The Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) ruled against a former Louisiana prisoner on June 23, 2026, refusing to grant damages for his claim under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) against state prison officials who shaved his dreadlocks, which he had …
by Chuck Sharman
On February 20, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico issued a preliminary injunction (PI) preventing the state Corrections Department (NMCD) from enforcing a blanket ban on magazines, which it announced in a 2021 memorandum sent to families of prisoners. Though …
by Chuck Sharman
On May 22, 2026, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut returned a verdict against several former employees of the state Department of Corrections (DOC), awarding $130,000 in punitive damages against them in a civil rights suit filed by state …
by Chuck Sharman
In a document copied to PLN by California state prisoner Richard Carrasco, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) agreed on February 18, 2026, to pay $15,000 to settle claims that he was targeted for violence by guards at California State Prison in Los …
by Chuck Sharman
In a Facebook post on May 21, 2026, Albert Pugh reported hearing news from both prisoners and guards at Alabama’s Bullock Correctional Facility that Facility Administrator Jermaris Porter was arrested and walked off the job the day before by Law Enforcement Services Division (LESD) agents …
by Chuck Sharman
Five former officials at Louisiana’s Catahoula Parish Correctional Center (CPCC)—including the former warden, assistant warden and chief of security—were indicted on May 7, 2026, by a federal grand jury that charged them with civil rights violations for using an electrified riot shield to brutalize 13 …
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 …
