Survey of Arkansas Jails Reveals Strained, Costly Health Care System by Abbey Kim by Abbey Kim This article was originally published in Arkansas Advocate. County jails in Arkansas hold some of the state’s most vulnerable people, including many experiencing mental health crises.Hundreds are detained in county jails awaiting psychiatric …
Eighth Circuit Revives Case Against Guards Who Failed to Intervene As Chaplain Sexually Assaulted Arkansas Prisoner by Michael Thompson by Michael Thompson Officials at the McPherson Unit in the Arkansas Department of Corrections turned a blind eye as Chaplain Kenneth DeWitt sexually abused several prisoners for years. The chaplain has …
“Devil in the Ozarks” Gets 13 More Years for Escape by Grant Hardin, a former police chief who was convicted of rape and murder, received an additional 13-year sentence after pleading guilty to charges related to a prison escape in May 2025. Hardin had planned his escape for six months, …
News in Brief by News in Brief Alabama: The Alabama Reflector reported that state lawmakers authorized $800,000 in contracts on February 5, 2026, to defend the state Department of Corrections (DOC) against civil rights lawsuits accusing guards of brutalizing prisoners. $200,000 each will be paid to Capell & Howard in …
Arkansas Bans Outside Reading Material Sent to Prisons by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Knott In a move that further isolates prisoners from the outside world, the Arkansas Board of Corrections (BOC) voted unanimously on December 19, 2025, to ban all externally purchased books, magazines, and newspapers sent directly …
Arkansas Guards Can Now Work as Immigration Enforcers by On December 2, 2025, the Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) signed a Memoranda of Agreement (MOA), also known as 287(g) agreements, with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), allowing the federal agency to train guards and give them the power …
Arkansas “Jailhouse Attorney” Secures Return from Retaliatory Transfer Out of State by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman In a settlement reached on October 22, 2025, the Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) agreed to repatriate a state prisoner shipped to a federal lockup in West Virginia, restoring his job upon return …
Arkansas Prison Reaches ADA Settlement by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement with the Arkansas Division of Correction (DOC) on September 5, 2025, resolving violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131–12134, at the prison system’s Ouichita River …
Repairs at Arkansas Prison Wastewater Plant Keep Getting Delayed by An aging wastewater plant that serves two of Arkansas’s largest prisons regularly runs afoul of its federal water permit, having exceeded the amount of discharge that it’s allowed to release for over a decade. In 2022, the state Department of …
News in Brief by Alabama: A civil rights lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Alabama by Paulette Tennison on August 29, 2025, blamed Morgan County jailers for the death of her son, John Scott Jr., on April 22, 2025, just one week after he was arrested by Priceville Police …
USA v. Arkansas Division of Correction, AR, Settlement, ADA Violation, 2025 SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE ARKANSAS DIVISION OF CORRECTION DJ NO. 204-10-41 I. BACKGROUND 1. The parties to this Settlement Agreement are the United States of America (United States) and the Arkansas Division of …
Eighth Circuit Affirms Judgment for HRDC in Arkansas Jail Censorship Suit by David Reutter On February 24, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed judgment that the “postcard-only” policy for periodicals and books at Arkansas’ Baxter County Jail and Detention Center constituted a de facto blanket …
Arkansas Ex-Police Chief Known as “Devil in the Ozarks” Re-Captured After Prison Escape by A former Arkansas police chief who was convicted of rape and murder was recaptured on June 6, 2025, two weeks after escaping prison. The state Department of Corrections said Grant Hardin escaped dressed as a prison …
Arkansas DOC Settles Retaliation Claim by Prisoner Who Also Won Back Confiscated COVID-19 Stimulus by After the Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) reached a settlement with state prisoner Anthony Lamar in his retaliation claim against officials at the Varner Unit, the federal court for the Eastern District of Arkansas granted …
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 …
Eighth Circuit: Arkansas Prisoner Who Had Consensual Sex With Guard Cannot Sustain Eighth Amendment Claim by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On September 20, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that a prisoner’s consensual sexual encounters with a guard cannot, as a matter of …
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 …
Eighth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Arkansas Jailers Who Ignored Detainee’s Spider Bite by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso In an opinion filed on July 31, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a district court’s denial of qualified immunity (QI) to …
HRDC v. Baxter County, AR, Censorship, Appeal, 2025 United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 23-1888 ___________________________ Human Rights Defense Center Plaintiff - Appellee v. Baxter County, Arkansas Defendant - Appellant -----------------------------Clark-Fox Family Foundation; The Marshall Project; Prison Journalism Project; Arch City Defenders; Missourians to Abolish …
HRDC v. Baxter County, AR, Censorship, Appeal, 2025 United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 23-1888 ___________________________ Human Rights Defense Center Plaintiff - Appellee v. Baxter County, Arkansas Defendant - Appellant -----------------------------Clark-Fox Family Foundation; The Marshall Project; Prison Journalism Project; Arch City Defenders; Missourians to Abolish …
