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Alaska Deaths in Custody Tie Record High by In a grim milestone that reflects Alaska’s neglect of prisoners, the state Department of Corrections (DOC) reported 18 deaths in 2025, tying the previous record set in 2022. In its coverage of the concerning matter, the Alaska Beacon claimed the death toll …
D.C. Federal Court Holds Blocking Prison Reform Advocate’s Access to Federal Prisoners May Violate First Amendment and Due Process by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On April 12, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia denied the government’s motion to dismiss with respect to due process …
Eighth Circuit Orders Preliminary Injunction Requiring Minnesota to Reinstate Program Teaching Biblical “Authentic Manhood” by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On August 14, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ordered the issuance of a preliminary injunction compelling the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) to reinstate …
Former Prisoners’ Challenge to Virginia Constitution’s Felony Disenfranchisement Clause Allowed to Proceed by Douglas Ankney   by Douglas Ankney   On December 5, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed an order of the district court permitting Plaintiffs Tati Abu King and Toni Heath Johnson (collectively …
After Judge’s Letter, at Least 22 Former FCI Dublin Prisoners Granted Compassionate Release by Matthew Clarke In May 2024, California federal District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers took the unusual step of writing a letter to numerous other judges who had sentenced women formerly incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Dublin and …
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Alabama’s Oldest Prisoner Dies in Hospital by Floyd Lee Coleman, 106, passed away on May 19, 2025, at a hospital near the William Donaldson Correctional Facility, where he was a prisoner in Bessemer, Alabama. Coleman, who had spent more than forty-five years locked up, was the state’s oldest prisoner—and likely …
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Third Circuit Rejects U.S. Sentencing Commission Amended Compassionate Release Policy by Douglas Ankney In a ruling on November 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected the amended compassionate release policy published by the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) and declared that a Pennsylvania prisoner was not …
Article • February 15, 2025 • from PLN February, 2025
Filed under: Compassionate Release
Michigan Allows More Releases for Medically Frail Prisoners by Michigan prisoners considered medically frail now have a better chance of early release under a newly amended law. On July 23, 2024, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed Senate Bill 599 and expanded the definition of “medically frail” in a 2019 statute …
Court Strikes Washington Statute to Regulate GEO Group’s Notorious ICE Lockup by The Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma, Washington, owned by private prison giant The GEO Group, Inc., is the sole detention facility in the state of Washington for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In 2023, state …
Alabama Denies Parole to Dead Prisoner by Having granted release to a whopping 3% of eligible state prisoners so far in 2024—that’s 25 parole grants out of 792 hearings—the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) likely surprised no one when it denied release to Frederick Bishop on March 9, …
Alaska Supreme Court Revives Prisoner’s Claim for 11-Month Solitary Confinement That DOC Admitted Was Improper by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On December 22, 2023, the Supreme Court of Alaska reversed dismissal of a state prisoner’s claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) against officials with the state Department …
Article • April 1, 2024 • from PLN April, 2024
Massachusetts High Court Calls Denial of Prisoner’s Medical Parole without Risk Assessment Arbitrary and Capricious by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On April 3, 2023, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts called a medical parole denial by the state Commissioner of Correction arbitrary and capricious because it was made without …
Illinois Failing to Grant Dying Prisoners Medical Releases by of dying and medically enfeebled state prisoners were expected to be released when Illinois lawmakers passed the Joe Coleman Medical Release (JCMR) Act. But an investigative report released on August 30, 2023, found that two-thirds of prisoner requests had been denied …
California Slowed, But Not Barred from “Dumping” Sick, Indigent Parolees on Public Hospitals by On May 26, 2023, California’s Fifth Appellate District Court of Appeals largely agreed with a lower court’s ruling that barred the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and its healthcare arm, California Correctional Health Care …
Misadventures in Mail Censorship by Robert Schaeffer by K. Robert Schaeffer How an incarcerated writer is fighting a sad new normal of censorship and mail obstruction in Pennsylvania prisons This essay originally appeared in Inquest on October 19, 2023. The original can be found at https://inquest.org/misadventures-in-mail-censorship/ From August into September …
Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023
No Compassionate Release for Bank Robber Turned Angel of Mercy at North Carolina BOP Lockup by As reported by the Atavaist on May 31, 2023, Gary Settle, a federal prisoner in North Carolina, has outlived his 18-month diagnosis with terminal prostate cancer—and is still in prison. Settle is serving an …
Article • December 27, 2022
Ninth Circuit Tells Federal Prisoner in California to Wait Until Incarcerated Before Applying for Compassionate Release by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On April 4, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a convicted and sentenced federal criminal defendant who had not yet been incarcerated …
Article • October 31, 2022 • from PLN November, 2022
Sentencing Reports Show Longer Sentences, Few Compassionate Releases by Benjamin Tschirhart, Casey Bastian by Benjamin Tschirhart and Casey J. Bastian On July 20, 2022, the nonprofit Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) reported a spike in the share of state prisoners serving long sentences, with 57% now locked up for ten …
Article • July 25, 2022
Even a Kardashian Can’t Get BOP to Let Imprisoned Dad in KY Attend Funeral of Daughter Slain in Ulvade Massacre by Kaden Gicker By Kaden Gicker The father of one of the mass-shooting victims in Uvalde, Texas, asked for a temporary release from federal prison to attend her funeral, but …
Article • July 11, 2022
Eleventh Circuit Affirms Denial of Compassionate Release Where One Factor Isn’t Satisfied Even After Assuming Other Factors Were by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney   On September 28, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied the appeal of a federal prisoner in Florida, whose application for …
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