Sixth Circuit Reinstates Lawsuit Over Failure to Properly Classify Violent Prisoners at Kentucky Jail by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On December 17, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reinstated a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by the guardian of a man who was severely …
News in Brief by California: A suit filed in state Superior Court for San Francisco County on December 1, 2025, accuses the New York Post and Los Angeles Times of defaming Nima Momeni, 41, while he was detained in the County’s San Bruno jail before his December 2024 murder trial. …
News in Brief by Alabama: A civil rights lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Alabama by Paulette Tennison on August 29, 2025, blamed Morgan County jailers for the death of her son, John Scott Jr., on April 22, 2025, just one week after he was arrested by Priceville Police …
Trans Kentucky Prisoner Loses Bid to Block State’s New Ban on Hormone Replacement Therapy by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman On September 12, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky rejected a desperate plea from a transgender state prisoner who had been receiving hormone replacement therapy …
NEWS IN BRIEF by Alaska: Alaska Public Media reported that former Anchorage Police Department Off. Nathan Keays, 45, convicted of conspiring with a ConocoPhillips employee to embezzle over $3 million from the firm, is seeking a new trial, alleging his conviction was tainted by a secret romantic relationship between two …
DOJ Inspects BOP Food Service Operations, Finds Troubling Issues at Multiple Facilities by Anthony Accurso In the first week of June 2024, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted surprise inspection at six Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Food Service Departments, finding deficiencies at the facilities which …
DOJ Tables Controversial Kentucky Prison to Claw Back $500 Million Budget by Since 2006, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers has worked to bring a new prison to a former strip-mining site in Eastern Kentucky. Although previous budget proposals turned down the project, Rogers was able to secure $500 million in federal …
Kentucky Supreme Court Voids Prisoner’s $10,972 Jail Fee by David Reutter Striking a rare blow for fairness, the Supreme Court of Kentucky issued a ruling on February 25, 2025, reversing the imposition of $10,972 in jail fees upon Dillian Ford at his criminal sentencing in Carlisle County Circuit Court. Because …
News in Brief by Alabama: Elmore County Jail guard Lita Williams, 57, was arrested and charged with first-degree promoting prison contraband on May 21, 2025, the Wetumpka Herald reported. Her arrest followed discovery of a cellphone in a jail cell during a routine search two weeks prior. Data from the …
Lawsuits Filed After Fatal Assault on Elderly Prisoner at Kentucky Jail by John Daulton, 61, survived less than a day after he was booked into Kentucky’s Kenton County Detention Center on May 13, 2023. Arrested for a probation violation, he didn’t cooperate during the intake process and was placed in …
Sixth Circuit Limits Deliberate Indifference Standard in Kentucky Jail Medical Care Challenge by David M. Reutter Since its September 2021 ruling in Brawner v. Scott Cty., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has held that pretrial detainees challenging their medical care in jail are not fully held …
Kentucky Jail Sued for Detainee’s Death, Prisoner’s Stillborn Child by On March 3, 2025, the federal court for the Eastern District of Kentucky denied a motion to dismiss Eighth Amendment violation and negligence claims lodged against jail medical contractor West Kentucky Correctional Healthcare LLC (WKCH) by a former prisoner whose …
Wellpath Sanctioned for Discovery Violation in Suit Over Kentucky Prisoner’s Death by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney Private prison and jail medical provider Wellpath, LLC has announced a plan to exit bankruptcy proceedings, as reported elsewhere in this issue. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.56.] The plan offers some relief to …
“Swing or Kick Rocks”: BOP Guard Alleges Conspiracy to Brutalize Prisoners at Kentucky Lockup by Former federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) guard Lt. Terry L. Melvin was not the first to admit brutalizing a prisoner at the United States Penitentiary (USP) in Big Sandy, Kentucky. But with his guilty plea …
Southern Health Partners Settles Suit Over Kentucky Jail Meth Death by On June 6, 2024, an undocketed settlement was reached between a Kentucky jail’s private medical contractor and the administrator of the estate of a detainee who died of methamphetamine toxicity in 2019. The agreement followed a disappointing decision for …
Sixth Circuit Revives Challenge by Kentucky Prisoner Left Three Weeks in “Rancid” Paper Undershorts by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On June 17, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment to Defendant Kentucky Department of Corrections (DOC) officials who forced …
Former Kentucky Sheriff Indicted for Murdering Judge in Chambers by Shawn “Mickey” Stines, 43, the former Sheriff of Kentucky’s Letcher County, was indicted by a grand jury on November 21, 2024, for the murder of state District Judge Kevin Mullins. The 54-year-old judge and then-Sheriff Stines had just finished lunch …
Former Kentucky Warden, Deputy Warden Accused of Overtime Fraud by The top two officials at Kentucky’s Southeast State Correctional Complex (SSCC) who abruptly left their jobs earlier in 2024 were accused of bilking the state of pay for hundreds of hours they didn’t work, according to analysis of records obtained …
BOP Guard Indicted, Sued for Assaulting Handcuffed Prisoner at Kentucky Lockup by The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Eastern District of Kentucky announced on November 12, 2024, that a federal grand jury had returned an indictment against a federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) guard for violating a prisoner’s rights …
Kentucky’s Failure to Timely Release Prisoners Costs Taxpayers $30 Million (So Far) by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney When Kentucky prisoner Keith Bramblett complained about not receiving “good time credit” against his sentence for the class he took while incarcerated, an official with the state Department of Corrections (DOC) replied: …
