by Daniel A. Rosen
My most vivid memory of Aramark’s food service inside jails and prisons came early on in my incarceration: I watched a man at the D.C. Jail dig into the entrée on his evening meal tray and uncover half a dead mouse. Those of us …
by Paul Wright
Our cover story this month reports on the privatization of prison and jail food services. Prison food has long been the punchline of many jokes and generally the criticism is well deserved. That said, its quality and quantity have steadily declined over the years, and …
by Chuck Sharman
The Richmond City Justice Center remained under state oversight through May 20, 2026, after the Virginia Board of Local and Regional Jails (BLRJ) extended a compliance plan that the lockup had been operating under since a spate of four jail deaths in 2022 and 2023. …
by Michael Dean Thompson
Prison guards in Connecticut employed too much force and used improper techniques on a prisoner suspected of carrying drugs, according to the Connecticut correctional ombudsman.
The May 2025 incident was originally planned by guards, who had received information that Richard Benson had been …
by Jo Ellen Knott
In a move to control its mounting fiscal crisis, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) announced on July 1, 2026, that it will shutter at least six low- and minimum-security facilities housing thousands of prisoners.
The sweeping consolidation plan targets facilities plagued by …
by Chuck Sharman
In what is quite possibly the first damages payout to U.S. prisoners for injuries suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, Oregon has agreed to a $49 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of state prisoners sickened or killed by the disease. Gov. Tina …
by Michael Dean Thompson
The reality of consistent prison overcrowding sparked new legislation in Colorado, which Governor Jared Polis (D) signed in May of this year. Senate Bill 159 (SB 159) expands earned time credits for some prisoners while also establishing a working group that will make recommendations …
by Chuck Sharman
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit partially reversed summary judgment granted in favor of officials with the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) in a challenge to two of its mail policies brought by the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), the nonprofit publisher …
by Chuck Sharman
In a settlement signed on May 19, 2026, Illinois’ Cook County agreed to pay $4.5 million to resolve claims filed by the Estate of Michael O’Connor, 33, a detainee who fatally hanged himself in the County’s massive jail on Chicago’s Southwest side on Christmas Day …
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
August, 2026, page 16
Colin Wolf, a prisoner at Maryland’s Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, was found dead in his cell at around 11:15 p.m. on May 20, 2026. Earlier that day, a guard performing rounds told Wolf’s cellmate that he needed to see Wolf, 32, as part of his count, according …
by Jo Ellen Knott
On the early morning of June 29, 2026, detainees at the Bertie-Martin Regional Detention Center—a jail in rural North Carolina—staged a rebellion, gaining control of the facility and taking three guards hostage.
Detainees “assaulted on-duty guards and gained control of portions of the …
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
August, 2026, page 18
Jose Crespo and Jeffrey Tapia, both Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) prisoners at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, were reportedly involved in an altercation with prison guards on September 18, 2024. The incident led to assault and other related charges against the two prisoners, as well as a …
The Detroit City Council voted on July 14, 2026, to pay a $5.8 million settlement to resolve claims filed by former state prisoner Aaron Salter, who served 15 years of a life sentence for a murder he didn’t commit before his 2018 exoneration.
Salter was 21 in 2003 …
by Michael Dean Thompson
Prisons have become more violent and deadly over the past five years, in a large part due to a nationwide shortage of prison staff. Safe Inside is a nonpartisan, national initiative focused on making prisons safer and healthier places to work and live. Using …
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
August, 2026, page 21
The federal immigration jail in Aurora, Colorado came under scrutiny in recent weeks due to both its unsanitary conditions that led to a tuberculosis outbreak as well as an incident in which a guard shot a protester at the facility’s entrance.
The tuberculosis outbreak at the Aurora jail …
by Jo Ellen Knott
death-in-custody crisis continues to unfold at the Tarrant County Jail (TCJ) in Fort Worth, where three prisoners perished within a single four-day span in June 2026. According to a report by KERA News in …
by Chuck Sharman
On February 17, 2026, the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) agreed to pay former prisoner Tajuddin Ashaheed a total of $245,000 to settle his religious discrimination claims against Sgt. Derrick D. Porcher, a former guard at the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center (DRDC) accused of …
by Chuck Sharman
In a ruling on April 9, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted approval to a $3 million settlement of attorney’s fees and expenses, in a class-action challenge to sexual abuse by federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff of women …
by Chuck Sharman
Ohio’s Lorain County and the City of Elyria reached a settlement on June 16, 2026, paying a total of $6.35 million to Jeffrey Fry, a former detainee in the County jail who was left permanently damaged after a former guard slammed him head-first into a …
by Jo Ellen Knott
The Nevada Department of Corrections (DOC) is facing a severe medical healthcare crisis characterized by chronic understaffing, systemic neglect, and delayed treatments. Last year, Nevada correctional facilities saw a record 76 deaths, with over half stemming from unaddressed medical issues.
A recent investigation …
by Chuck Sharman
Washington’s King County agreed on May 26, 2025, to pay $3.5 million to Karen Rowland, the widow of a detainee who died in the County jail under a pile-on of guards just hours after his arrest in April 2022. Michael Rowland, 63, was one of …
by Chuck Sharman
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia granted approval on March 26, 2026, to a $3.25 million settlement resolving claims filed on behalf of a state prisoner who died of a heart attack caused by heat exhaustion while locked in a recreation …
by Chuck Sharman
When an elderly detainee was released from a two-day stay in the Sacramento County Main Jail on October 7, 2024, a jailer frustrated with her evident mental confusion cursed at her. The detainee, Ourania Thimmhardy, 71, took offense to this. But jailer Matthew Gurich twisted …
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
August, 2026, page 29
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) reduced access to hundreds of programs operating within state prisons as the agency clamps down on overtime spending, CalMatters reported.
The programs include those focusing on restorative justice, violence prevention, higher education, arts and entrepreneurial training. Corresponding with the end …
by Chuck Sharman
New York was ordered to pay $25,000 to state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) prisoner Patricio Nunez on July 1, 2026, on his claim that guards failed to protect him from a violent attack-from-behind by an unknown fellow prisoner at Sing Sing Correctional …
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
August, 2026, page 30
After a spot inspection in early May 2026, the Oklahoma County Jail (OCJ) in Oklahoma City has failed twelve consecutive inspections conducted by the state health department. The inspection found many of the same issues present during previous reports that found the facility “not in substantial compliance,” as The …
by Jo Ellen Knott
Maryland’s state prisons are facing a deadly surge in violence, with nearly half the 46 prisoner homicides since 2015, occurring between 2024 and 2025. In the last three years, more prisoners have been killed in Maryland prisons than in all four neighboring states combined. …
by Chuck Sharman
On April 3, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon granted dismissal to a complaint filed by the mother of a state prisoner who died by suicide in a solitary confinement cell, after she accepted $2.3 million from the state Department of …
by Chuck Sharman
Under terms of a settlement executed on March 16, 2026, the City of Chicago agreed to pay $13 million to Arnold Day, 63, for the 26 years he spent in Illinois prisons because a now-retired cop with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) had him tortured …
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
August, 2026, page 35
A former deputy at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for violating the civil rights of a pretrial detainee. According to prosecutors, ex-guard Jeremiah Manuyag Flores, 45, shoved the 57-year-old victim into a cell wall while the man’s hands …
by David Reutter
On March 4, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a prisoner’s religious rights claims were not moot because the prisoner transferred to another prison but was subjected to nearly the same restrictions at the new prison. The Court …
by Michael Dean Thompson
The Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) has updated its Money of Mass Incarceration report, which had previously been released in 2017. The February 2026 report shows some striking growth in prison expenditures exceeding that of inflation, even as the actual number of incarcerated persons shrank …
by Jo Ellen Knott
The Jersey Vindicator reported thatthe GEO Group-operated Delaney Hall, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Newark, New Jersey, is facing severe infrastructure failures and exposing detainees to dangerous conditions.
In early July 2026, as the worst heat wave in New Jersey …
by Chuck Sharman
On June 30, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado dismissed a suit filed over a gruesome death in the Huerfano County Jail, after the Estate of the dead detainee, Michael Burch, accepted a $9.19 million payout from the County, plus another …
by Douglas Ankney
Corizon Health, Inc. (“Corizon”) was a private profiteer that, in 2019, contracted with 149 prisons to provide medical care to incarcerated persons. While Corizon’s business shrank to serving just 52 prisons by May 2022, its decadence expanded from cheating prisoners and their families out of …
by David Reutter
On April 16, 2026, the Michigan Court of Appeals found a trial court abused its discretion by ordering that a prosecution witness appear before a jury wearing jail clothes. The Court concluded that the principle of creditability fairness that applies to a defendant also applies …
by Michael Dean Thompson
The 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) requires prison officials to consider vulnerabilities such as LGBTQ+ status when making housing decisions precisely because LGBTQ+ prisoners are more likely to be victims of sexual violence. For incarcerated transgender prisoners, the threat of sexual violence is …
by Douglas Ankney
"I bled every day for five years until I finally had a hysterectomy,” said Lisa Rae Wright, describing her injuries after her husband had repeatedly punched her in the stomach during her pregnancy with their son.
In 2024, the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act (OSA) was …
by Chuck Sharman
New York’s Onondaga County agreed to pay a former detainee in the County jail $100,000 on March 3, 2026, resolving her claim for denial of medical care during a gruesome 30-hour labor while giving birth to an infant daughter who was then transported to a …
by Douglas Ankney
A Procedural Report (“Report”) issued by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor on February 4, 2026, detailing the findings of an audit of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC), revealed that the DPSC continues to fail to adequately review changes to prisoners’ time computations; …
by Michael Dean Thompson
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan organization that issues fact-based reports to help guide Congress and federal agencies, was tasked with reviewing the federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) efforts to eliminate sexual assaults via compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
…
by Michael Dean Thompson
Former Sergeant J. Corbin Douglas Tunstall was being dismissed from the Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC) when he filed his resignation in February 2022. His subsequent lawsuit against DOC for racial discrimination revealed an utter disregard by guards and medical staff as a stabbing …
by Matt Clarke
On May 29, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a district court’s denial of qualified immunity to two police detectives who, by asking questions of a state prisoner in front of his cell, may have revealed to other prisoners …
by Matt Clarke
On June 5, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that federal criminal law prohibiting forced labor, 18 U.S.C. §1589, applies to a county jail threatening immigration detainees with loss of phone and commissary privileges or up to 10 days …
by Jo Ellen Knott
The administration of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) announced the permanent closure of the North Infirmary Command (NIC) on Rikers Island on June 29, 2026. The Department of Correction handed the building over to city managers, who plan to turn the old …
by Michael Dean Thompson
A report published this year by the Office of Correction and Law Enforcement Monitoring (OCLEM) showed how an unnamed Santa Clara County jail worker traded drugs with incarcerated women in exchange for sexual favors. OCLEM is a county watchdog office that monitors the Santa …
by Matt Clarke
On June 15, 2026, the Supreme Court of New Mexico held that regulations promulgated by the New Mexico Corrections Department (CD) did not create an enforceable regulatory bar to the disclosure of public records under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (PRA), NMSA …
by Michael Dean Thompson
The New York State Commission of Correction (SCOC), a uniquely powerful body that is intended to monitor prisons and jails for compliance with state regulations, has only two of the five commissioner’s seats filled, leaving the SCOC unable to meet and vote due to …
by Matt Clarke
On May 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a Management Advisory Memorandum (MAM) directed to federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director William K. Marshall expressing concerns about BOP personnel misusing their law enforcement credentials to illegally purchase …
by Michael Dean Thompson
Wexford Health Services, Inc. is a private healthcare profiteer that contracts with prison systems and jails across the country, offering “comprehensive” medical services to incarcerated persons. However, Wexford provides opioid withdrawal treatment only as an optional service at additional cost to the prison or …
by David Reutter
On March 26, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity under Michigan law in a gross negligence claim related to a scabies infestation at a women’s prison. The Court also affirmed the grant of qualified …
by Matt Clarke
n June 9, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a district court’s grant of summary judgment against three former Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) guards who were fired for …
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
August, 2026, page 60
On July 24, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols announced that the city will immediately close its municipal jail (TMJ), a much smaller facility than the Tulsa County Jail with a capacity of up to 70 detainees.
The day before the announcement, The Frontier, a non-profit news publication based …
by Matt Clarke
On June 7, 2026, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of Republican President Donald Trump’s executive order that all biologically male federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) prisoners be housed in men’s facilities.
“On …
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
August, 2026, page 61
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 Leon Lott announced that James …
by David Reutter
On March 13, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found material issues of disputed facts were present in a South Carolina prisoner’s Eighth Amendment claim that alleged the disabled prisoner was confined to a cell and denied out-of-cell exercise time. The …
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2026
published in Prison Legal News
August, 2026, page 62
Alabama: Tipped off by a public complaint, a state Department of Corrections (DOC) K-9 guard intercepted a drone making a massive contraband drop at the Donaldson Correctional Facility on June 12, 2026, WABM in Birmingham reported. Recovered was a duffle bag packed with three pounds of marijuana, synthetic …
