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First Circuit Revives Federal Prisoner’s Claim Against Rhode Island Lockup
Article • April 1, 2026 • from PLN April, 2026
Filed under: Denial of Religious Services, Religious Practices, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Immunity - Sovereign/Municipal, Authority and Jurisdiction
First Circuit Revives Federal Prisoner’s Claim Against Rhode Island Lockup by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman When a prisoner is held in a state facility to await sentencing on federal charges, does that confer federal immunity on the lockup? That was the question presented to the U.S. Court of Appeals …
First Circuit Greenlights Rhode Island Prisoner’s Damages Suit for Disastrous 450-Day Solitary Confinement
Article • December 1, 2025 • from PLN December, 2025
Filed under: Eighth Amendment, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Immunity - Absolute and Qualified, Deliberate Indifference
First Circuit Greenlights Rhode Island Prisoner’s Damages Suit for Disastrous 450-Day Solitary Confinement by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman On August 5, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed that damages claims may proceed to trial against Rhode Island Department of Corrections (DOC) officials who kept …
News in Brief
Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Private Prisons, Misconduct/Corruption, Guard Misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Male Reproductive, Malpractice, Escapes, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Restraints, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death), Juvenile Prisons, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Bribery/Extortion/Theft
News in Brief by Alabama: On Sunday, June 15, 2025, state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Airika Dorsey was arrested for allegedly smuggling food to a prisoner at St. Clair Correctional Facility, according to WABM in Birmingham. The DOC confirmed that Dorsey was caught in the act and subsequently booked …
First Circuit Revives Rhode Island Prisoner’s 
Excessive Force Claim Against Guard
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Filed under: Showers, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Restraints, Physical Injury/Restraint
First Circuit Revives Rhode Island Prisoner’s Excessive Force Claim Against Guard by David Reutter On September 23, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment to a Rhode Island Department of Corrections (DOC) guard who pepper-sprayed a restrained prisoner and then delayed …
News in Brief
Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: State Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Arianna Kimberly Slater faces life in prison after she was arrested while attempting to smuggle contraband into Ventress Correctional Facility on February 24, 2025. According to the Birmingham News, a routine employee screening of Slater’s food container found unspecified …
Rhode Island Prison Chief Wrist-Slapped for Ethics Violation
Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025
Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Ethical Restraints
Rhode Island Prison Chief Wrist-Slapped for Ethics Violation by On August 23, 2024, the Rhode Island Ethics Commission approved an informal resolution and settlement of ethics violation claims against Wayne Salisbury, Director of the state Department of Corrections (DOC). He was fined a mere $200 for failing “to properly disclose …
News in Brief
Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Australia: Brisbane Correctional Center prisoner Jack James Peterson, 29, was sentenced to an additional 18 months in January 2023 for assaulting a guard with a squash racket, the Courier reported. Peterson struck the unnamed 34-year-old during a confrontation involving a riot response team, leaving him with …
News in Brief
Article • August 15, 2024 • from PLN August, 2024
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: On June 24, 2024, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith told the Birmingham News that county jail guard Tony Dewayne Jackson, 29, had been arrested for smuggling “non-­drug” contraband into the lockup. Jackson was no longer working at the jail, but Smith didn’t say how or …
News in Brief
Article • October 15, 2023 • from PLN October, 2023
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: On August 12, 2023, an Alabama jail guard was caught – in uniform – stealing Pokemon cards from a Walmart. WBMA in Birmingham reported that Josh Hardy then fled store security on foot before cops caught him in a nearby restaurant. Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew …
“What a Nice House You Have”: Head of R.I. Prison Guard Union Accused of Witness Intimidation
Article • April 19, 2023
Filed under: Guard Unions, Improper Judicial Intervention
“What a Nice House You Have”: Head of R.I. Prison Guard Union Accused of Witness Intimidation by Jordan Arizmendi by Jordan Arizmendi Just outside the hearing room of Rhode Island’s House Judiciary Committee on April 4, 2023, a witness supporting a proposed law to limit the use of solitary confinement …
Former Felons Elected to Rhode Island Legislature
Article • January 1, 2023 • from PLN January, 2023
Filed under: Elections, Felon Disenfranchisement Statute
Former Felons Elected to Rhode Island Legislature by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott On January 4, 2023, a pair of former felons joined the Rhode Island House of Representatives. The two Democrats, Leonela Felix, 35, and Cherie Cruz, 50, say their shared mission is to help people rebuild …
Rhode Island Prisoners Go on Hunger Strike, Staff Denies It
Article • January 1, 2023 • from PLN January, 2023
Filed under: Hunger Strikes
Rhode Island Prisoners Go on Hunger Strike, Staff Denies It by Benjamin Tschirhart by Benjamin Tshirhart On August 22, 2022, as many as half of the prisoners in the maximum-security unit of Rhode Island’s Adult Correctional Institution staged a hunger strike, protesting conditions in the 144-year-old prison. But officials with …
Former Felons Elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives
Article • December 21, 2022
Filed under: Post-release, ex-offender, re-entry, Who is the "Government"?
Former Felons Elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott On January 4, 2023, former prisoners Leonela Felix, 35, and Cherie Cruz, 50, were set to become members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. The two share a mission to help …
Liberty v. Rhode Island Department of Corrections, RI, Public Order Appointing Rule 706 Expert, Restrictive Housing, 2022
Brief • December 8, 2022
Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Eighth Amendment, Shelter
Liberty v. Rhode Island Department of Corrections, RI, Public Order Appointing Rule 706 Expert, Restrictive Housing, 2022 Case 1:19-cv-00573-JJM-PAS Document 126 Filed 12/08/22 Page 1 of 4 PageID #: 2136 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND CHARLENE LIBERTY; JOHN DAPONTE; JOHN DAVIS; DUANE GOMES; ADAM HANRAHAN; …
News in Brief
Article • November 30, 2022 • from PLN December, 2022
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: A detainee assaulted aguard at the Calhoun County Jail on August 6, 2022, the Anniston Star reported. Sheriff Matthew Wade blamed an ongoing staffing shortage, which has typically left three guards on duty to supervise 300 detainees. One of them, Jacob Hammett, was out of …
Rhode Island Supreme Court Finds Lifer “Civil Death” Law Unconstitutional
Article • September 1, 2022 • from PLN September, 2022
Filed under: U.S. Sentencing Guidelines
Rhode Island Supreme Court Finds Lifer “Civil Death” Law Unconstitutional by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Supreme Court of Rhode Island held on March 2, 2022, that the state’s civil death statute is “unconstitutional and in clear contravention of the provisions” of the state constitution. The Court’s ruling …
News In Brief
Article • April 1, 2022 • from PLN April, 2022
Filed under: News in Brief
News In Brief by Arizona: After two escaped prisoners were recaptured and returned to the Arizona State Prison in Florence on January 31, 2021, Phoenix station KNXV reported that at least part of the blame for their escape was assigned to short-staffing of guards at the state Department of Corrections …
Rhode Island Joins the Movement to End Prison Gerrymandering
Article • March 1, 2022
Filed under: Rural Prisons
Rhode Island Joins the Movement to End Prison Gerrymandering by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott In February 2022, Rhode Island joined twelve other states that have addressed “prison gerrymandering,” the practice which counts people in prison as residents of the cell in which they are detained instead of …
News in Brief
Article • December 1, 2021 • from PLN December, 2021
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: A 20-year-old guard at the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, Alabama, was arrested on October 29, 2021, on charges that he attempted to smuggle methamphetamine into the jail. According to a report by Huntsville TV station WHNT, the guard, Matthew Moran, faces one count …
Phoenix v. Day One, RI, Memo and Order, Malicious Prosecution, 2021
Brief • September 15, 2021
Filed under: Malicious Prosecution
Phoenix v. Day One, RI, Memo and Order, Malicious Prosecution, 2021 Case 1:20-cv-00152-MSM-PAS Document 58 Filed 09/15/21 Page 1 of 5 PageID #: 663 IN THE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND __________________________________________ ) ) ) ) v. ) ) DAY ONE, et al, ) Defendants. ) __________________________________________) …
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