Eighth Circuit Lets Missouri Guard Skate For Placing Avowed Enemies In Same Cell, Resulting In Assault by Anthony Accurso Missouri prisoners beware: On ­November 19, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to a prison guard who placed two “avowed enemy” …
Missouri Repeals “Pay-to-Stay” Law by When Missouri Gov. Michael Kehoe (R) signed HB 495 on March 26, 2025, authorizing a state takeover of policing in St. Louis, the bill included repeal of the Missouri Incarceration Reimbursement Act (MIRA). Also known as “pay-to-stay,” it allowed the state to sue for funds …
Wait for Competency Restoration Averages 14 Months in Missouri Jails by By late January 2025, a critical shortage of providers had stranded 418 detainees waiting for competency restoration in Missouri jails an average of 14 months each. The number wait-listed for the services had jumped from 300 a year earlier, …
Missouri Pays More Than $1.2 Million for Deputy Warden’s Sexual Harassment Claim Against Warden by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney For subjecting him to sexual harassment, the state of Missouri paid a jury award of more than $1.2 million in damages, plus legal fees and costs to former Kansas City …
News in Brief by Alabama: Former Crenshaw County Jail Administrator Christian Alexander Porter, 33, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of excessive force, falsifying records and witness tampering on January 28, 2025. According to the Washington Post, the charges stem from an October 2021 incident in which …
Warden, Top Deputy Walked Off the Job at “Wild West” Missouri Prison by Warden Michele Buckner’s 25-year career with the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) came to an abrupt end on January 7, 2025, when she was reportedly walked off the job at South Central Correctional Center (SCCC) in Licking. …
Legal Gaffe Prolongs Case of Former St. Louis Detainee Held Eight Months After Dismissal of Charges by Matthew Clarke by Matthew Thomas Clarke On June 17, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided a civil rights complaint brought by former St. Louis jail detainee Michael Jones, …
Eighth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Missouri Guards in Transgender Prisoner’s Suit Alleging Retaliation and Unreasonable Search by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On April 4, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to defendant Missouri Department of Corrections …
Eighth Circuit: Evidentiary Admissibility Is a “Red Herring” At Class Certification of St. Louis Jail Conditions Challenge by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On June 3, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit declined to join most sister circuits, which admit evidentiary challenges to class certification …
$46 Million Paid to Exonerated Missouri Prisoner Wrongfully Incarcerated for 10 Years by On November 1, 2024, a Missouri jury returned a $37.9 million verdict against Travelers Indemnity Company in favor of an exonerated state prisoner after the insurance giant balked at covering an $11 million settlement of his wrongful …
News in Brief by Alabama: Wiregrass Daily News reported that Mobile Metro Jail guard Timothy Lee Scarbrough, 39, was arrested on September 9, 2024, and charged with first-degree sodomy for the alleged sexual assaulting of a detainee who was still under the effects of anesthesia after eye surgery. Scarbrough had …
Fired Missouri Guards Charged with Murder in Prisoner’s Suffocation Death by Five former Missouri prison guards were charged on June 28, 2024, in the death of prisoner Othel Moore, Jr. at Jefferson City Correctional Center in December 2023. Four guards were charged with second-­degree murder and a fifth with accessory …
Missouri Prisoner Executed After Making—and Losing—New Plea Deal by On September 13, 2024, a Missouri judge rejected an unusual request by St. Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell to overturn the conviction of condemned state prisoner Marcellus Williams, just weeks after accepting a new plea deal that the state Supreme Court then …
Missouri Prisoners Losing Reentry Money to “Incarceration Reimbursement” by A little-known Missouri law allows the state to confiscate money from prisoners to pay for the costs of their incarceration. That alone is sadly not unusual; most states have some sort of “pay-to-stay” policy. But the severity of such laws—and how …
News in Brief by Alabama: Mobile Metro Jail guard Robert Aaron Small was fired and arrested for assault on June 27, 2024, one day after he allegedly used excessive force against an unnamed detainee. WKRG in Mobile said that the guard had worked at the lockup since 2019. Mobile County …
Missouri DOC Chief Held in Contempt of Court for Keeping Exonerated Prisoner Locked Up by On August 7, 2024, the head of Missouri’s Department of Corrections (DOC) was held in contempt by a state court judge for refusing to release Howard Roberts, 82, after the prisoner’s conviction was overturned. State …
Missouri Prisoner’s Excessive Force Claim Proceeds Against Guards After Court Excuses Missed Deadlines Under “Unavailable” Grievance Procedure by David Reutter On February 12, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denied a motion to dismiss a prisoner’s pro se lawsuit by Defendant officials with the state …
Missouri Sheriff Removed from Office for Using Detainee Labor on His Own Properties by David Reutter by David M. Reutter When Sheriff Scott Childers lost his reelection bid in Missouri’s Ray County on August 6, 2024, he had already been out of office for five months. That’s because the county …
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 …
Missouri Warden, Four Guards Out After Prisoner’s Fatal Beating by Missouri’s Department of Corrections (DOC) is fighting hard to keep details secret about the departure of five employees—including a prison warden—after the brutal death of prisoner Othel Moore at Jefferson City Correctional Center on December 8, 2023. A cellphone search …
