by Jo Ellen Knott
A survey by the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability (DPA) published on August 24, 2026, reveals severe, widespread deficiencies within the city and county jail system and exposes a culture of physical violence, severe neglect and ongoing barriers to basic legal rights.
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by Jo Ellen Knott
Corporate influence-peddling is alive and well in the Trump brand of politics. Private prison titan The GEO Group handed over $1.4 million to President Donald Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., just days after securing federal detention contracts worth $165 million annually.
Campaign finance …
by Jo Ellen Knott
The sale of Minnesota’s shuttered Prairie Correctional Facility to the federal government has left the small city of Appleton (1,300 residents) facing tax revenue loss, infrastructure strain, and unenforceable corporate promises from private prison giant CoreCivic.
After CoreCivic sold the 1,600-bed facility to …
by Jo Ellen Knott
Graphic footage documenting the deaths of two men undergoing mental health crises in Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) custody has exposed pervasive failures by law enforcement to humanely handle arrestees following established guidelines and training.
On July 15, 2026, LAPD officers arrested Jose …
by Jo Ellen Knott
More than two dozen people have been charged following multiple criminal investigations at South Carolina’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia, exposing widespread staff misconduct and pointing to persistent operational failures at a jail already cited for unconstitutional conditions.
Richland County Sheriff …
by Jo Ellen Knott
Legal payouts by the Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) more than doubled in fiscal year 2025, reaching over $7 million in settlements and court judgments.
Despite the sharp increase from the previous year, civil rights attorneys point out that the sum represents a …
by Jo Ellen Knott
On August 4, 2026, private prison giant CoreCivic announced a lucrative five-year, $75 million annual contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to reopen Prairie Correctional Facility in rural Appleton, Minnesota. Vacant since 2010, the 1,600-bed facility is set to house immigrant detainees starting …
by Jo Ellen Knott
For over half a century, the state of Maryland buried the tragic reality of its racially segregated juvenile justice system beneath overgrown brush and nameless cinder blocks in Prince George’s County.
Between 1870 and 1939, at least 230 Black boys and teenagers died …
by Jo Ellen Knott
On July 28, 2026, Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) officials executed 80-year-old Dominick Occhicone and former police officer James Duckett, 68, marking the first double execution in the state since 1964.
According to NBC News, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has aggressively accelerated Florida’s …
by Jo Ellen Knott
Neglect and punishing isolation have turned the Joliet Treatment Center (JTC) in Illinois from a promised mental health sanctuary into a desperate inferno.
According to an investigation by The Marshall Project, WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, conditions at the lockup became hellish after …
