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Oklahoma Raises Pay for Execution Doctors From $300 to $15,000 Per Execution, Still Won’t Say Who They Are or What They Do

Article • January 1, 2023 • from PLN January, 2023

Filed under: Death Penalty/Death Row, Guards/Staff

Oklahoma Raises Pay for Execution Doctors From $300 to $15,000 Per Execution, Still Won’t Say Who They Are or What They Do by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Before Oklahoma killed prisoners Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle in early 2022 [See: PLN, May 2022, p.60], the state told a federal …

‘Time for Me to Go’: Troubled Oklahoma Jail Loses Administrator

Article • January 1, 2023 • from PLN January, 2023

Filed under: Guards/Staff

‘Time for Me to Go’: Troubled Oklahoma Jail Loses Administrator by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke When Greg Williams resigned from the Oklahoma County Jail on December 5, 2022, the administrator of the scandal-plagued lockup said only that “It is time for me to go.” That was after one detainee …

Oklahoma Prison Industries Partially Shut Down After Convicted Child Molester Uses Work Computer to Download Kiddie Porn

Article • December 27, 2022

Filed under: Prison Labor, Computers, Child Pornography

Oklahoma Prison Industries Partially Shut Down After Convicted Child Molester Uses Work Computer to Download Kiddie Porn by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott On November 30, 2022, the new Executive Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) addressed a scandal that began unfolding eight months earlier, when …

Tenth Circuit Vacates Oklahoma Prisoners’ Witness Tampering Conviction

Article • October 31, 2022 • from PLN November, 2022

Filed under: Witnesses

Tenth Circuit Vacates Oklahoma Prisoners’ Witness Tampering Conviction by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On April 5, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a conviction for federal witness tampering requires an affirmative answer to two questions: (1) Did the defendant contemplate a particular …

News in Brief

Article • September 30, 2022 • from PLN October, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A jail guard in Chilton County, Alabama, was arrested on July 21, 2022, and charged with promoting contraband, the Clanton Advertiser reported. The guard, Tyler Ryan Couch, is accused of organizing an effort to smuggle drugs to detainees. Though jail policy forbids guards from transmitting …

Tenth Circuit Revives Suit Against Oklahoma Jail for Medical Neglect Leading To Detainee’s Death

Article • September 1, 2022 • from PLN September, 2022

Filed under: Settlements, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Tenth Circuit Revives Suit Against Oklahoma Jail for Medical Neglect Leading To Detainee’s Death by David Reutter by David M. Reutter In a lawsuit alleging officials at Oklahoma’s Carter County Jail (CCJ) failed to provide any medical attention in the days leading up to a pretrial detainee’s death, the U.S. …

News in Brief

Article • September 1, 2022 • from PLN September, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A federal prisoner in Birmingham was gunned down outside a privately-operated reentry facility on July 16, 2022. The Associated Press reported that the prisoner, Larry Taylor, 47, had just been released from the facility, which is operated under contract from the federal Bureau of Prisons …

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 …

COVID-19 “Wonderful” to Oklahoma County Jail

Article • May 31, 2022

Filed under: COVID-19

COVID-19 “Wonderful” to Oklahoma County Jail by Kevin Bliss By Kevin W. Bliss Audio released on February 8, 2022, captured Oklahoma County Jail (OCJ) administrator Greg Williams and Oklahoma County Detention Center communications director Mark Opgrande in a discussion two months earlier about how the COVID-19 pandemic had benefitted the …

News in Brief

Article • May 1, 2022 • from PLN May, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard in Birmingham was arrested on March 9, 2022, for allegedly beating a prisoner to death, according to the Alabama Political Reporter. As PLN previously reported, prison officials at first insisted no foul play was suspected in the death of Victor …

Oklahoma Prison Guard and Gilbert Postelle’s Brother Among 125 Convicted in Drug Ring

Article • May 1, 2022

Filed under: Prison Gangs, Drug Laws/Offenses

Oklahoma Prison Guard and Gilbert Postelle’s Brother Among 125 Convicted in Drug Ring by Jo Ellen Nott By Jo Ellen Nott On April 5, 2022, federal prosecutors announced convictions in a massive drug-trafficking conspiracy for 125 associates of an Oklahoma-based prison gang, one of whom was a state prison guard …

Lifting Six-Year Moratorium, Oklahoma Treats Witnesses to Convulsing and Vomiting Prisoner During Execution

Article • May 1, 2022 • from PLN May, 2022

Filed under: Death Penalty

Lifting Six-Year Moratorium, Oklahoma Treats Witnesses to Convulsing and Vomiting Prisoner During Execution by Keith Sanders by Keith Sanders  Several journalists spoke out about what they witnessed during the execution by lethal injection of Oklahoma prisoner John Marion Grant on October 28, 2021, saying the 60-year-old convulsed over a dozen …

USA v. Matthew Ware, OK, Verdict, Deprivation of Rights, 2022

Brief • April 14, 2022

Filed under: 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights

USA v. Matthew Ware, OK, Verdict, Deprivation of Rights, 2022 Case 5:21-cr-00323-F Document 50 Filed 04/14/22 Page 1 of 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) vs. MATTHEW WARE, Defendant. …

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 …

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 …

USA v. Matthew Ware, OK, Indictment, Deprivation of Rights, 2021

Brief • November 16, 2021

Filed under: 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights

USA v. Matthew Ware, OK, Indictment, Deprivation of Rights, 2021 Case 5:21-cr-00323-F Document 1 Filed 11/16/21 Page 1 of 5 LE IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE FI NOV 1 6 2021 WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA CARMELITA REEDER SHINN., CU:AK U.S. DIST. CO~ 8Y.___ \IESTERN DlST. 01<!1.A '(.__ …

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 …

Lawsuit Over Denial of Medical Treatment for Painful Erection Causing Impotence in Oklahoma County Jail Reinstated by Tenth Circuit

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

Filed under: Failure to Treat, Qualified Immunity

Lawsuit Over Denial of Medical Treatment for Painful Erection Causing Impotence in Oklahoma County Jail Reinstated by Tenth Circuit by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On January 19, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a county sheriff and three jail guards were not …

News in Brief

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

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A former guard at the Mobile Metro Jail was scheduled to be arraigned on May 19, 2021, after being indicted for his role in an alleged scheme to smuggle cellphones into the Alabama lockup in exchange for bribes. According to a report by local TV …