News in Brief by Alabama: Clarke County Jail guard Larissa Thompson was arrested on December 5, 2024, for plotting to smuggle drugs into the lockup, the Thomasville Times reported. An investigation by state law enforcement, the office of County Sheriff DeWayne Smith, and Jackson Police uncovered evidence that Thompson planned …
HRDC Files Suit on Behalf of Florida Man Wrongfully Convicted and Incarcerated for 31 Years by On December 5, 2024, the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), PLN’s non-profit publisher, in conjunction with attorneys from Loevy & Loevy in Chicago, filed a federal civil rights suit on behalf of Tony Hopps, …
$150,000 Settlement But No Charges After Schizophrenic Florida Detainee Killed by Jail Guards by On June 7, 2024, officials in Florida’s Marion County agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a suit filed by the survivors of Scott L. Whitley III, 46, a diagnosed schizophrenic who died naked and Tasered under …
Florida Prisoners Sue Over Deadly Heat by A group of Florida prisoners held at Dade Correctional Institution near Miami sued the state Department of Corrections (DOC) on October 31, 2024, alleging that sweltering conditions were leading to serious health risks and deaths. Filed by attorneys with the Florida Justice Institute, …
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 …
After Florida Appellate Court Holds Crimes of ‘Attempt’ Eligible for Incentive Gain Time, Supreme Court Refuses Review by Kevin Bliss by Kevin W. Bliss On November 14, 2024, Florida’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by officials with the state Department of Corrections (DOC) to an appellate court ruling that exempted …
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 …
Two Hurricanes in Two Weeks Threaten Prisoners and Jail Detainees in Six States by Hurricane Helene left a trail of disaster across six states after making landfall in Florida on September 26, 2024. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton reached Florida’s Gulf Coast on October 9, 2024, causing more …
Armor Health Liquidates Assets—to Firm’s Founder by On August 2, 2024, Florida-­based Armor Health Management LLC petitioned the Miami-­Dade County Circuit Court to liquidate its assets to Enhanced Management Services (EMS), as part of a global settlement with creditors. That will free EMS and its owner, Dr. Jose Jesus Armas, …
Florida Prisoners Exposed to Cancer-Causing Chemicals by When Florida lawmakers approved a $116.5 billion annual state budget on March 8, 2024, it included $3.5 million for a new Alachua County water pipeline that is critical to the health and safety of state prisoners confined at Lowell Correctional Institution and the …
Florida DOC Failed to Investigate Background of Guard Convicted in Mass Shooting by On June 26, 2024, a Florida jury recommended the death penalty for former state prison guard Zephen Xaver, 27, who was convicted of the execution-­style murders of five women at a Sebring bank in 2019. The slayings …
Wilson v. Dixon, FL, Complaint, Denial of Disability Accomodations, 2024 Case 1:24-cv-24253-KMW Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 10/31/2024 Page 1 of 63 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA MIAMI DIVISION CASE NO. 1:24-cv-24253 DWAYNE WILSON, TYRONE HARRIS, and GARY WHEELER, individually and on behalf of those similarly …
Prisoners Reportedly Locked in Showers in Oklahoma, Florida by David Reutter by David M. Reutter According to a lawsuit removed to federal court for the Western District of Oklahoma on May 1, 2024, prisoners at Great Plains Correctional Center (GPCC) were confined in a tiny shower stall for days on …
Paternity Questions Dog Miami Jail Birth by A South Florida woman gave birth to a baby girl at Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK) on June 19, 2024. But it remained unclear how Daisy Link, 29, became pregnant or who the child’s father is. Link is accused of …
Florida Court of Appeals Reinstates Voter Fraud Charges Against Ex-Felons by On July 17, 2024, the Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeals of Florida reinstated voter fraud charges against two former prisoners which had previously been dismissed. Ronald Lee Miller was charged with illegally voting as an ex-felon in …
News in Brief by Arizona: State prisoner Brigido Montoya made the briefest of escapes from the State Prison Complex in Eyman on August 10, 2024, before he was recaptured 48 minutes later by Florence Police, the Florence Reminder & Blade-Tribune reported. The state Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (DCRR) …
Florida Reentry “Success” Story: Convicted Embezzler Promoted to Oversee Miami-Dade County Contracts by Though convicted of stealing nearly $500,000 from the Florida town where he used to work, Christopher Kovanes was hired and promoted by Miami-Dade County. That is to the County’s credit, for giving the former prisoner a chance. …
Parole Denied for Indigenous Activist Leonard Peltier by A Native American activist incarcerated for nearly half a century was once again denied parole on June 10, 2024. Despite support from human rights groups and seven Democratic U.S. Senators, the U.S. Parole Commission decided to keep Leonard Peltier, 79, behind bars …
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 …
Florida Prisoner Whose Case Ended LWOP for Juveniles Released by On February 13, 2024, a judge in Florida’s Duval County amended state prisoner Terrence Graham’s sentence, paving the way for the 37-­year-­old’s release later that same month. Sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) in 2006 for crimes committed when he …
