by Douglas Ankney
On November 26, 2025, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin did not violate Ohio’s Public Records Act (“Act”), RC 149.43 and declined to award sanctions to prisoner Terry Brown.
In August 2023, Brown requested numerous records from McLaughlin …
by Douglas Ankney
Following the murders of prisoners Robert Brooks and Messiah Nautwi in two facilities of the New York Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS), the state legislature passed landmark legislation aimed at enhancing prisoner and staff safety, security training, and accountability.
Senate Bill 8415 …
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that, because Tennessee’s parole statutes created no liberty interest in parole, prisoner Michael Hester could not state a claim of violation of his right to due process even though he was held in prison beyond …
by Douglas Ankney
A January 2026 report (“Report”) released by Andrea Sapone, Virginia’s first Corrections Ombudsman from the Office of Inspector General (OSIG), did not rule out claims of racism and retaliation at Red Onion State Prison (ROSP) in rural southwestern Virginia. The Report was released after an …
by Douglas Ankney
Stonewalling by the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) in providing treatment to people convicted of sexual offenses has allowed some of those people to be released without any treatment and at the same time delayed parole consideration for others. In 1998, Colorado lawmakers overhauled the …
by Douglas Ankney
"The value of human life in prison and jail is worth less—including for these children, because of who their parents are. They are born with a stigma or they are not even born at all because they are viewed as not worthy of life,” said …
by Douglas Ankney
Evidence uncovered by InvestigateWest released in an exposé entitled “Guarded by Predators” revealed rampant sexual abuse of prisoners by staff at three women’s prisons—a condition denied by Idaho Department of Corrections (DOC) Director Bree Derrick.
As previously reported by PLN, the DOC paid former …
by Douglas Ankney
In a settlement agreement that took 15 months for PLN to obtain, Illinois’ Will County Adult Detention Facility (WCADF) agreed to reverse policies challenged in a suit by a group of pretrial detainees at the jail, which prohibited them from receiving copies of materials printed …
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma held that a Jail Trust is not a law enforcement agency and cannot withhold requested records under the law enforcement exemption of Oklahoma’s Open Records Act (ORA), 51 O.S. 2022 §§ 24A.1 et seq.
…
by Douglas Ankney
"I wanted to tell you; your son was beaten to death by an officer. That was a murder.”
Sondra Ray received that message from an unidentified Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC) official after receiving a false accounting of the death of her son Steven …
