by Michael Dean Thompson
A South Carolina court stayed the execution of condemned state prisoner John Richard Wood on April 22, 2026. Wood, 59, has been on death row in South Carolina for 24 years following his conviction for the murder of a state trooper during a traffic …
by Michael Dean Thompson
The Tulsa Municipal Jail holds just 70 people. For a jail that size, according to a 2021 Department of Justice study, national data suggests that a person might die every 10 to 15 years. It is possible the Department of Justice undercounted national deaths, …
by Michael Dean Thompson
Prison healthcare profiteer NaphCare is a private company based in Alabama with over $300 million in revenue that is expected to exceed $1 billion within ten years. The company recently announced it is withdrawing operations from more Washington jails. In a statement, NaphCare said, …
by Michael Dean Thompson
Derek Batton, 34, died from an overdose of heroin he ingested in 2018. He was in the custody of the Grant County Jail at the time for DUI and traffic warrants. Batton, who had struggled with addiction, acquired the drugs from Jordan Tebow. Tebow …
by Michael Dean Thompson
Before this year, the last governor of Wisconsin to issue commutations was the Republican Tommy Thompson, who served from 1987-2001. Gov. Thompson issued just seven commutations along with 202 pardons during his tenure. On April 3, 2026, Gov. Tony Evers (D) signed two executive …
by Michael Thompson
The River North Center had been on lockdown for three months as of February 2026 due to the murder of a guard. Following the murder, John Holomon Russell was charged with aggravated murder, as well as the attempted murder of two other prison guards, and …
by Michael Thompson
Everett Palmer Jr. died in the York County Prison (YCP) in Pennsylvania as a direct result of attempts to extract him from his cell in 2018. Palmer was suffering a severe mental health crisis that was later attributed to a combination of methamphetamine toxicity and …
by Michael Thompson
Ohio’s weak oversight of its jails has left the state nearly powerless to effect change as the Cuyahoga County jail continues to experience a string of largely preventable deaths. The deaths have mostly been caused by natural causes or drug overdoses, but as was apparent …
by Michael Thompson
The number of unhoused people in Albuquerque doubled between 2022 and 2025. During that same period, the number of unhoused people jailed by the city more than tripled, according to a report by ProPublica.
The Bernalillo County Jail, which marks those whom do not …
by Michael Thompson
The Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) has released its newest report on how many people are locked up in prison across the country and the reasons for their incarceration. After breaking down the carceral numbers, the report addresses some of the myths associated with America’s mass …
