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Article • September 15, 2026 • from PLN October, 2025
Indiana Supreme Court Announces Whether Defendant’s Actions Were “Objectively Reasonable” Justifying Self-Defense Can Be Considered in Hindsight by Sagi Schwartzberg by Sagi Schwartzberg In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Indiana held that the state’s self-defense statute justifies the use of force necessary for self-protection, even if …
Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Nebraska Supreme Court Clarifies Award of Time Served Credit for Non-Citizen Awaiting Extradition by Matthew Clarke On December 6, 2024, the Supreme Court of Nebraska clarified when a sentencing court is required to award credit for time served while incarcerated in a foreign country awaiting extradition. It held that crediting …
DOJ Finds Unconstitutional Conditions in Texas Juvenile Detention by Chuck Sharman Texas lawmakers took steps in opposite directions toward solving a crisis in state juvenile detention centers, after all five lockups operated by the state Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) were found to be violating the civil rights of youthful offenders …
Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Sixth Circuit Upholds $45 Million Verdict for Wrongfully Convicted Former Ohio Prisoner by Chuck Sharman A $45 million wrongful conviction award to an exonerated Ohio prisoner was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on May 2, 2025. Miami Township and its Police Department (MTPD) had …
Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Fourth Circuit Revives Wrongful Conviction Claim of Exonerated Maryland Prisoner, State Pays Him $3.1 Million by Chuck Sharman On January 6, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reinstated the claim of a now-exonerated Maryland prisoner against a trio of Baltimore cops who allegedly coerced a confession …
Texas Lawmakers Restrict Bail and Raise Criminal Penalties, Punt on Prison and Jail Conditions by Chuck Sharman When the Texas legislature adjourned its annual session on June 2, 2025, lawmakers had taken some steps to restrict bail and successfully fought back an effort to expand parole. Most other jail and …
Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Two Exonerated Illinois Prisoners Win Settlements Totaling $14.5 Million by Chuck Sharman A pair of former Illinois prisoners, each exonerated after spending 23 years behind bars for crimes they did not commit, accepted a total of $14.5 million in settlements from the City of Rockford, which voted in April 2025 …
Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
On Remand, Eleventh Circuit Clarifies, Affirms Grant of Habeas Relief to Death Row Prisoner by Joseph Clifton Smith beat Durk Van Dam to death during a robbery, and was sentenced to death following his conviction in 1997. He has been appealing his case for almost three decades, most recently resulting …
Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Life Sentences, by the Numbers by According to a report by The Sentencing Project published in January 2025, almost 200,000 prisoners in the United States are serving life sentences. The report—the non-profit organization’s sixth national census on this issue—included data related to sentences of life with parole, life without parole …
Former Prisoner Informant Appointed Deputy Director of BOP by On June 5, 2025, Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) tapped Tennessee businessman Joshua J. Smith, 50, to serve as Deputy Director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Smith, whom Trump pardoned in his first term, is the first former prisoner …
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 • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Percentage Of Prisoners Serving Life Without Parole Is Up Despite Overall Decrease in Prison Population by Anthony Accurso A new report by The Sentencing Project (TSP) shows that the percentage of prisoners serving terms of life without parole—or “death by incarceration”—nationwide has increased, even as overall prison populations decreased. It …
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Trump Pardons Virginia Sheriff Convicted of a Bribes-for-Badges Scheme by On May 27, 2025, President Donald Trump (R) issued an unconditional pardon for Scott Jenkins, 53, a former Northern Virginia sheriff who was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for 12 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and bribery. The pardon …
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
D.C. District Court Dismisses Class Action Against BOP Over Earned Sentence Credits by On June 9, 2025, the federal court for the District of Columbia dismissed a class action lawsuit that challenged the way the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) treated sentence credits earned by prisoners toward early release under …
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
$12 Million for Former California Prisoner Exonerated After 17 Years by On June 18, 2024, City Commissioners in San Jose, California, voted to approve a settlement paying $12 million to Lionel Rubalcalva, 45, who spent 17 years wrongfully incarcerated for a 2002 gang shooting that he didn’t commit.  Rubalcalva was …
Tennessee Board of Parole Spanked for Failing to Make Recommendation to Governor on Prisoner’s Clemency Application by In Tennessee, a state law—T.C.A. § 40-27-101—allows prisoners to apply for clemency in the form of commutation of their sentence or a pardon. When the Board of Parole receives an application, it is supposed …
$22.5 Million Verdict Arrives Too Late for Wrongfully Convicted Illinois Prisoner by David Reutter On August 8, 2024, the federal court for the Northern District of Illinois entered judgment for the estate of a former state prisoner after a jury awarded $22.5 million in damages for 22 years he spent …
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
$1.6 Million Class-Action Settlement for Virginia Prisoners Subjected to Delayed Release by In an amended agreement filed in the federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia on January 28, 2025, state Department of Corrections (DOC) Director Chadwick Dotson and his predecessor, Harold Clarke, promised to pay a total of …
Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025
$7.75 Million Settlement for Exonerated North Carolina Prisoner by David M. Reutter The city of Durham, North Carolina agreed on May 20, 2024, to pay $7.75 million to resolve the wrongful conviction claim of exonerated prisoner Darryl Howard. He spent almost 24 years in prison before a federal jury agreed …
Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025
$13 Million Awarded to Exonerated Massachusetts Prisoner for Wrongful Conviction by David M. Reutter In November 2024, a Massachusetts jury awarded $13 million to former state prisoner Michael Sullivan, 64, as compensation for his wrongful conviction for a 1986 armed robbery and murder. Sullivan’s case involved false laboratory test results, …
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