by Nichole Manna

For 30 minutes, Brian Tracey lay naked and unable to breathe on the floor of the medical ward at the St. Johns County Detention Center, a low-roofed building south of Jacksonville, Florida. It was Dec. 15, 2023, the day Tracey was supposed to be released …

by Paul Wright

For over 40 years now the private prison industry has peddled the lie that they can cage people for less money than the government does. They no longer really promise that any savings will go to taxpayers or the government and seem content to be …

by Chuck Sharman

On June 24, 2026, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York awarded $3.25 million in damages to former jail detainee Thomas Donohue against Armor Correctional Health, which held the contract at the time of his 2014 incarceration to …

In November 2025, Calvin Duncan won 68% of the vote in an election to become the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court. But just days before Duncan was scheduled to take office, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) and the Republican-controlled legislature moved to successfully eliminate his role.

Duncan, …

by Chuck Sharman

In March 2026, after what was likely the first-ever civil sanction against a private prison company for spoliation of evidence, CoreCivic settled a suit filed over the suicide of a Brazilian migrant at the company’s Torrance County Detention Facility (TCDF), a lockup operated under contract …

by Douglas Ankney

The California Court of Appeal (CCA), First Appellate District, ruled that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) amendments to the California Code of Regulations (“CDCR Regs.”) § 3043 (“Rule 3043”) narrowing the application of credits to advance the Youth Parole Eligibility Date (“YPED”) …

On February 2, 2026, Diane Bailey, a 74-year-old detainee, died while in custody of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office at the hospital. As reported by KERA, however, her death went unreported due to a technicality.

And Bailey wasn’t the only one. There have been nearly a dozen …

by Michael Dean Thompson

A group of patients confined within the Minnesota Sex Offender Program under the Minnesota Civil Commitment and Treatment Act brought a class action lawsuit against state officials for failing to provide treatment and unconstitutional conditions of confinement. In the process, they agreed with the …

In 2019, Wisconsin incarcerated 23,826 prisoners, a record high and nearly 6,000 more than the official capacity of its prison system. Now, after several years of decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state is on track to reach its previous record. It’s currently only behind around 200 people.

…

by Douglas Ankney

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit revived a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint (“Complaint”) that alleged claims of, inter alia, deliberate indifference to serious medical needs and a failure to train, on behalf of Jovon Mitchell who died from a stroke while …

Although the state of Wisconsin can record prisoner’s phone calls freely, prisoners can face punishment for allowing other people, including journalists, to do the same. A policy from the state Department of Corrections (DOC) states that prisoners can not “allow their phone calls to be recorded by another party …

by Chuck Sharman

Long-delayed justice finally arrived for former Alabama prisoner Ervin Harris on June 19, 2026, when a state court tossed his conviction for a November 1974 rape that he has consistently denied committing. The 10th Judicial Circuit Court in Bessemer determined that modern advances in memory …

by Chuck Sharman

With a pair of rulings issued on May 26, 2026, the Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) continued to limit the relief offered by Congress to federal prisoners with passage of the First Step Act (FSA) in 2018. That law—signed during the first term of …

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 Matt Clarke

On May 12, 2026, the Supreme Court of Idaho held that indigent parents, including prisoners, facing or appealing termination of parental rights (“termination”) in a private action have the right to counsel at public expense. However, no division of the government is specifically required by …

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 …

On June 3, 2026, prisoners were evacuated from the Bridgeport Correctional Center (BCC) in Wise County after an unsafe level of carbon monoxide was detected at the facility. The deadly, odorless gas was linked to a leak originating from the prison’s boiler room, according to a Facebook post from …

A canceled policy put in place during the administration of President Joe Biden (D) required the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to file a report if a former detainee died within 30 days of being released from custody. This policy shift, which the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s …

by David M. Reutter

On November 14, 2025, the Supreme Court of Oregon held that a detainee who was in the physical custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) but in the legal custody of a sentencing court was “in jail” within the meaning of ORS 137.370(4). …

by Michael Dean Thompson

Republican Governor Mike Kehoe of Missouri has signed new legislation (SB 888) that increases the mandatory minimums for prison sentences. The new minimums may fill Missouri prisons as early as July 2029, requiring the construction of a new $825 million maximum security prison. Gov. …

by Matt Clarke

In June 2026, Worth Rises, a nonprofit organization “dedicated to dismantling the prison industry and ending the exploitation of those it touches,” published a report, The Power of Free Communication in Prisons and Jails.

The report depicts the quantitative and qualitative effects free phone …

Alexander Dockery, a former prisoner whom Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) previously granted clemency to, has been appointed to a new, five-person task force designed to oversee conditions at Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) facilities.

Dockery’s nomination to the commission—which is officially titled the State Commission of …

by Jo Ellen Knott

For four years, broken ceiling-mounted cameras at the Cuyahoga County Jail (CCJ) in Cleveland failed to record many significant events, including at least three deaths, according to reporting by The Marshall Project.

The more than 100 cameras present at the jail were incompatible …

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 Jo Ellen Knott

A New York City Department of Correction (DOC) guard captain, infamous for her tyrannical management, was indicted on June 11, 2026, for running a brazen shakedown scheme against her own staff. Latanya Brown, 51, nicknamed the “Terror of the Tombs,” faces federal extortion and …

by Douglas Ankney

After more than a dozen New Jersey guards were arrested on charges of assaulting and sexually abusing incarcerated women at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility (“EMCF”) in what may plausibly be termed “cell-extraction nacht,” state Governor Phil Murphy (D) ordered EMCF be closed and replaced …

by Matt Clarke

On March 17, 2026, the Court of Appeal of California held that a “defendant confined in jail in county one, cannot willfully fail to appear, as ordered, in county two. Such a defendant does not ‘fail’ to appear. He should not suffer a penalty for …

With Idaho scheduled to transition to firing squads as its primary method of conducting executions this month, officials from the state Department of Corrections (DOC) are recruiting law enforcement volunteers, including guards, to shoot prisoners to death.

As reported by the Idaho Statesman, the DOC is seeking …

by Douglas Ankney

It has been said that the definition of insanity is to repeat the same actions again and again while expecting a different result. Spouting old hat “tough on crime” rhetoric got Jeff Landry elected as Governor of Louisiana. Together with his Republican friends, they immediately …

by Michael Dean Thompson

The California Department of Justice (CDOJ) and Los Angeles County seem to be getting nowhere in a five-year-old judgment regarding its juvenile halls. As a result, the CDOJ wants the juvenile halls to be placed under a receivership. Now, the Board of State and …

by Matt Clarke

On May 28, 2026, the Supreme Court of the Unites States (SCOTUS) reversed the conviction and death sentence of a Mississippi prisoner whose trial counsel raised an objection to the prosecutor’s racially biased use of peremptory strikes but was not given an opportunity to argue …

Beginning on January 1, 2028, New York will mandate that judges serving in criminal and family court must visit a jail, prison or detention center at least once per year. According to a press release from the New York State Unified Court System, the “immersive yearly visits” are designed …

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 …

On June 2, Michael Popma, a former employee with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP), was indicted by a federal grand jury for accepting bribes in exchange for smuggling cigarettes, vape pens and alcohol into the Federal Correctional Institution in Florence (FCI-Florence).

Popma, who was a supervisor at …

by Matt Clarke

On April 21, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld an Oklahoma federal jury’s judgement and $33 million in compensatory damages against Ottawa County, Oklahoma in a lawsuit over a detainee’s horrific death due to untreated pneumonia that led to …

by Jo Ellen Knott

On June 3, 2026, two detainees escaped from the Vance County Jail, a dilapidated facility in a rural area about 45 miles north of Raleigh. As detainees Michael Miles Jr., 33, and LiShawn Knott, 21, fled out of the jail, they were captured on …

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

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

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 …

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 Alexandra Martinez

This article was originally published by Prism.

Federal immigration officials have transferred detainees out of the controversial detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” but environmental advocates say the fight to shut down the Florida Everglades site is far from over.

U.S. …

On May 21, 2026, the state Department of Corrections (DOC) said that it had called off the execution of prisoner Tony Carruthers, 57, after the executioners were unable to find a “suitable vein” to administer lethal injection drugs.

While Carruthers was constrained in a gurney in the execution …

by Michael Dean Thompson

The Davis Correctional Facility (DCF), a medium security prison in Holdenville, was described by The Oklahoman as little-known. Yet, over the last four years, 20 detainees and a prison guard have suffered violent deaths at the hands of prisoners. That contrasts with the better-known …

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 Jo Ellen Knott

A medical crisis has put the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV), the only women’s prison in Michigan, in the public eye as three prisoners died unexpectedly in less than a month.

Detroit Metro Times reported that 36-year-old prisoner Ashley Hoath died on …

by Michael Dean Thompson

A man convicted of two robberies and “ongoing criminal conduct” in Iowa attempted to escape his prison sentence. In the process of the failed escape effort, prisoner Michael Dutcher bludgeoned an infirmary nurse and a guard over the head, killing them both. In addition …

At least two top Colorado prison officials, Warden Jeff Long and his brother, former Warden Ryan Long, were longtime participants in a group chat which exchanged racist, homophobic messages between them and other high-ranking Department of Corrections (DOC) staffers, The Denver Post reported in June 2026.

Uncovered through …

by Michael Dean Thompson

When Delaware County, Pennsylvania, took over the George W. Hill Correctional Facility (GWH) in April 2022, it ended nearly three decades of management by private prison giant The GEO Group, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Dec. 2022, p.32.]

Democratic candidates for the County …

by Matt Clarke

On April 1, 2026, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) instituted a ban on prisoners receiving hardback books and used books. TDCJ claimed the book ban was instituted in response to finding 385 books mailed to prisoners that tested positive for synthetic drugs in …

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 …

In what could be New York state’s second-largest salmonella outbreak in history, over 320 of 450 detainees at the Broome County jail were exposed to food contaminated by the bacteria between May 15 and May 25, 2026. According to the county’s health department, 140 of the exposed detainees reported …

On August 9, 2023, detainee Kayla Turley, 32, died while locked up in the Garvin County Jail (GCJ). In her final days at the jail, Turley suffered physical abuse, multiple trips to hospitals and organ failure, as nonprofit news source Nondoc reported. In November 2024, guards Tiffani Stapp and …

by Ella Carter-Klauschie

This article was originally published in CalMatters.

Across California, every incarcerated individual taking a college course now has a tool those of us on the outside take for granted: a laptop.

In the past three years, the prison system spent $23.2 …

The Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) briefly suspended visitations at each of its 21 facilities after an incident left two prisoners dead and one injured at the Bent County Correctional Facility (BCCF) in the southeastern corner of the state.

The deaths occurred on Saturday, June 6, 2026 and …

by Jo Ellen Knott

Former San Diego County sheriff’s deputy Aaron Russell was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison on May 29, 2026, for the fatal shooting of an unarmed, mentally ill detainee, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District …

Alabama: After a technical glitch, the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) website erroneously indicated that over 7,000 detainees and prisoners were released from the County lockup in Guntersville on May 31, 2026, leaving just 11 in custody. WHNT in Huntsville said that the jail actually holds about 300 …