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News in Brief

Article • June 1, 2022 • from PLN June, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A former Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC) guard was indicted on April 22, 2022, for assaulting three prisoners and then filing a false report to cover it up, the Associated Press reported. The guard, Lorenzo Mills, 55, was charged with beating three male prisoners with a wooden baton at Draper Correctional …

Ineffective Mississippi Prison Industries on the Chopping Block After Scathing Report

Article • June 1, 2022 • from PLN June, 2022

Filed under: Prison Labor

Ineffective Mississippi Prison Industries on the Chopping Block After Scathing Report by Ashleigh Dye by Ashleigh Dye On April 18, 2022, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed House Bill 863, legislation that will repeal the 32-year-old law creating the Mississippi Prison Industries Corporation (MPIC), a non-profit entity tasked with providing …

DOJ-Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary(Parchman)-CRD, April 2022

Publication • April 20, 2022

Filed under: Prison Conditions

DOJ-Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary(Parchman)-CRD, April 2022 Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman) United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division APRIL 20, 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. SUMMARY OF THE REPORT ........................................................................................ 2 II. INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS ........................................................................................... 3 III. THE PARCHMAN FACILITY ......................................................................................... 4 IV. DEFICIENT CONDITIONS …

Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary(Parchman), DOJ CRD, 2022

Publication • April 20, 2022

Filed under: Prison Conditions

Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary(Parchman), DOJ CRD, 2022 Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman) United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division APRIL 20, 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. SUMMARY OF THE REPORT ........................................................................................ 2 II. INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS ........................................................................................... 3 III. THE PARCHMAN FACILITY ......................................................................................... 4 IV. DEFICIENT …

News In Brief

Article • April 1, 2022 • from PLN April, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News In Brief by Arizona: After two escaped prisoners were recaptured and returned to the Arizona State Prison in Florence on January 31, 2021, Phoenix station KNXV reported that at least part of the blame for their escape was assigned to short-staffing of guards at the state Department of Corrections …

News in Brief

Article • March 1, 2022 • from PLN March, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: In Mobile on January 21, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama announced that an 18-month federal prison sentence for bribery had been handed down by a federal court to Lakerdra Shanta Snowden, 31, a former guard at the Escambia County …

Fifth Circuit Dismisses Appeal by Mississippi Prisoner It Calls “Vexatious Litigant”

Article • January 1, 2022 • from PLN January, 2022

Filed under: Frivolous Litigation (PLRA)

Fifth Circuit Dismisses Appeal by Mississippi Prisoner It Calls “Vexatious Litigant” by On August 9, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a Mississippi prisoner who had filed at least a dozen federal lawsuits pro se since 2004 and admitted using them “against his custodians …

Fifth Circuit Refuses to Issue Injunction After Mississippi Psychiatric Prison Improves Conditions

Article • January 1, 2022 • from PLN January, 2022

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Injunctions

Fifth Circuit Refuses to Issue Injunction After Mississippi Psychiatric Prison Improves Conditions by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On August 5, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit refused to reverse a district court and order an injunction against the Mississippi Department of Corrections (DOC) because, during …

News in Brief

Article • December 1, 2021 • from PLN December, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A 20-year-old guard at the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, Alabama, was arrested on October 29, 2021, on charges that he attempted to smuggle methamphetamine into the jail. According to a report by Huntsville TV station WHNT, the guard, Matthew Moran, faces one count …

History Professor Fired After Criticizing University’s Racist Past and Pro-Prison Present

Article • December 1, 2021 • from PLN December, 2021

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic

History Professor Fired After Criticizing University’s Racist Past and Pro-Prison Present by Keith Sanders by Keith Sanders Dr. Garrett Felber, a history professor at the University of Mississippi (UM), has distinguished himself over the years as a vocal critic of America’s racist criminological and penological institutions. At conferences and public …

News in Brief

Article • November 1, 2021 • from PLN November, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by California: A guard at San Quentin State Prison and one of two outside co-conspirators were arraigned on September 8, 2021, on federal charges they smuggled cellphones to an unnamed prisoner on death row at the California lockup. According to a statement by the U.S. Department of …

Mississippi Supreme Court Applies Pro Se Leniency in Reversing Dismissal of Prisoner’s Lawsuit Challenging Prison Disciplinary Action

Article • September 15, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Constitutional Challenges/Law

Mississippi Supreme Court Applies Pro Se Leniency in Reversing Dismissal of Prisoner’s Lawsuit Challenging Prison Disciplinary Action by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On April 29, 2021, the Supreme Court of Mississippi reversed the dismissal of a Mississippi Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoner’s pro se lawsuit challenging a prison disciplinary …

The Fight Over Cellphones in Prisons Rages On

Article • September 1, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021

Filed under: Cell Phone Access

The Fight Over Cellphones in Prisons Rages On by Derek Gilna by Derek Gilna The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant shut-downs have focused attention on the need for connection between all members of society, and for many prisoners, denied in-person visits, a contraband cellphone has helped them keep in touch with …

News in Brief

Article • August 1, 2021 • from PLN August, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: On June 9, 2021, a former guard at the Federal Correctional Institution in Aliceville, Alabama, agreed to plead guilty to federal charges that he had sexual intercourse with a prisoner in the laundry room at the women’s prison west of Tuscaloosa. According to the Birmingham …

News in Brief

Article • July 1, 2021 • from PLN July, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: According to a report by the Alabama Political Reporter, a state prisoner was fatally stabbed by another man incarcerated with him at Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore on May 4, 2021—just one day before his scheduled release, which would also have been his twenty-fourth birthday. …

News in Brief

Article • June 1, 2021 • from PLN June, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Australia: A February 2021 ruling by the Supreme Court in the Australian province of Victoria presented “a rare win” for a prisoner contesting prison procedures, according to a report by The Conversation. The convict, 56-year-old Craig Minogue, argued that Barwon Prison’s random drug testing and strip-searching …

Auditor Appalled at Lack of Spending Controls in Mississippi Prison System

Article • June 1, 2021 • from PLN June, 2021

Filed under: Corrections Audits, Cost of Prison Systems

Auditor Appalled at Lack of Spending Controls in Mississippi Prison System by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Mississippi State Auditor on December 16, 2020, issued a report that made 18 findings of deficiencies within the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). MDOC has been plagued with violence, staff shortages, …

Disability Rights, MS, Cruel and Unsusual Punishment in Mississippi Prisons, 2021

Publication • 2021

Filed under: Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Disability Rights, MS, Cruel and Unsusual Punishment in Mississippi Prisons, 2021 ~irtf DISABILITY IA-sl~I IR I G IHI TS I MISSISSIPPI Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Mississippi Prisons: A Tale of Abuse, Discrimination & Undue Death Sentences A SPECIAL REPORT FROM DISABILITY RIGHTS MISSISSIPPI EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Investigations by Disability Rights …

Mississippi Joins Illinois and Few Other States Prioritizing Vaccination of State Prisoners to Slow Spread of COVID-19

Article • April 1, 2021 • from PLN April, 2021

Filed under: COVID-19

Mississippi Joins Illinois and Few Other States Prioritizing Vaccination of State Prisoners to Slow Spread of COVID-19 by Derek Gilna by Derek Gilna Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) officials announced on March 19, 2021, that they were beginning mass vaccination of the state’s roughly 17,000 prisoners with doses provided to …

News in Brief

Article • April 1, 2021 • from PLN April, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Two Alabama jail guards were arrested in just two months for allegedly smuggling cellphones to inmates. In February 2021, 27-year-old D’Mario Jones was fired and charged with two counts of promoting prison contraband at the Lee County Detention Center in Opelika where he worked. According …