Rikers Island Detainees Wait in “Black Hole” for Competency Treatment by The number of detainees waiting for competency treatment at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex jumped from 100 in 2024 to 127 by February 2025. The average length of stay has also risen, from 70 to 80 days, …
$18,000 for New York Prisoner Who Alleged Guards Planted Shank in Cell by On July 8, 2024, New York prisoner Kerry Kotler finally achieved a small measure of justice from the state Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) officials whom he accused of planting incriminating evidence in his cell …
New York Prisoner Awarded Almost $280,000 in Retaliation Claim Against Guards by Legal costs and fees awarded on January 6, 2025, nearly tripled a $100,000 jury verdict for New York state prisoner Crushaun Hundley in his retaliation claim against a pair of Elmira Correctional Facility guards. The U.S. Court of …
New York Guards Indicted for Prisoner’s Murder by Two New York Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) guards were charged with murder on April 16, 2025, in the death of prisoner Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility. The mentally ill 22-year-old was sobbing in a shower where he was …
Crackdown On Pro-Palestinian Dissent Nabs New York Professor Who Found Link Between Cars and Incarceration by One of two New York University (NYU) tenured faculty members barred from parts of its campus in December 2024 is a sociologist who has documented a link between the proliferation of American car culture …
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 …
More New York Guards Suspended After Another Prisoner’s Fatal Beating by New York prisoner Messiah Nantwi, 22, was fatally beaten by guards at the Mid-State Correctional Facility on March 1, 2025, in plain view of at least nine prisoners as well as National Guard troops deployed during a wildcat guard …
New York Suspends Solitary Ban to Woo Back Striking Prison Guards by Under a deal reached at the end of February 2025 with striking state Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) guards, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) agreed to a 90-day suspension of a law limiting use of …
Raymond v. Mitchell, NY, Settlement, Excessive Force, 2025 Case 9:18-cv-01467-GTS-MJK Document 200 Filed 03/26/25 Page 1 of 19 Case 9:18-cv-01467-GTS-MJK Document 200 Filed 03/26/25 Page 2 of 19 Case 9:18-cv-01467-GTS-MJK Document 200 Filed 03/26/25 Page 3 of 19 Case 9:18-cv-01467-GTS-MJK Document 200 Filed 03/26/25 Page 4 of 19 Case 9:18-cv-01467-GTS-MJK …
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 …
Mayhem, Murder and Staff Misconduct at Brooklyn BOP Lockup by The Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), a notorious federal jail in Brooklyn, New York, has made the news repeatedly thanks to some high-profile detainees held there to await trial. But federal prosecutors have also charged nine detainees for a series of …
$1.5 Million Settlement For In-Custody Injury by New York Police by Rosie Martinez, then 49, was arrested in January 2015 after police searched her New York City apartment and found heroin that belonged to her boyfriend. While in custody at the 107th Precinct of the City Police Department (NYPD), she …
New York Guards Strike After 10 Charged in Prisoner’s Fatal Beating by On February 18, 2025, charges were announced against nine New York Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) guards in the fatal beating of prisoner Robert L. Brooks, 43. The announcement was followed by a rogue strike staged …
$100,000 Settlement Reached in New York Prisoner’s Solitary Confinement Suit, After Jury for First Time Finds Practice Violates Eighth Amendment by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On September 27, 2024, the state of New York agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged that the state had violated …
Rikers Island Continues Long Practice of Denying Education to Young Adults by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney As PLN reported 25 years ago, the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) was accused in a suit filed by attorneys with the Legal Aid Society of denying educational opportunities to young …
New York Governor Orders Firing of 13 Guards, Nurse in Prisoner’s Fatal Beating by On December 22, 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) ordered 13 state prison guards fired, along with a nurse, all of whom were involved in the fatal beating of state prisoner Robert Brooks, 43. Five …
Harvey Weinstein Files Notice of Claim Over Rikers Island Detention by In a Notice of Claim filed against New York City and its Department of Correction (DOC) on November 26, 2024, lawyers for disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein said that their client has suffered at least $5 million in damages …
New York Prison Officials Found Routinely Violating HALT Act With Overuse of Solitary Confinement by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On June 18, 2024, the New York Supreme Court for Albany County found that the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) routinely violated Correctional Law § 137(6)(k)(ii), the Humane …
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 …
150 People Sue Over Past Abuse at New York City Juvenile Facilities by In 2022, the City of New York passed a law opening a two-year “lookback window” for victims of gender-motivated violence, including sexual abuse, to file lawsuits over incidents that were no longer within the statute of limitations. …
