Minnesota Study Shows Disproportionate Rate of Health and Mental Problems for Recently Incarcerated by Michael Thompson by Michael Thompson The Journal of General Internal Medicine recently published an open access study that looked at health conditions for people in Minnesota who had recently experienced homelessness or incarceration and compared them …
HRDC Sues Minnesota DOC Over Censorship Policy by Robert Haughn by Robert Haughn On January 7, 2025, the Human Right Defense Center (HRDC), nonprofit publisher of PLN and Criminal Legal News, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, accusing Commissioner Paul Schnell of the Minnesota …
Labor Coalition in Minnesota Demands Disney Contractor Pay Prisoners Minimum Wage by A group of prison laborers and unions in Minnesota are demanding that Anagram International, LLC, a Minnesota-­based balloon company that subcontracts with Disney, pay incarcerated workers $11.13 an hour, which is the state’s minimum wage (The current wage …
$200,000 for Detainee Thrown in “Rollover” Solitary Without Food or Water at Minnesota Jail by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman Ramsey Kettle, now 34, is a member of the White Earth Nation with a diagnosed serious mental illness (SMI). Yet when he arrived at Minnesota’s Otter Tail County Jail in …
News in Brief by California: A suit filed in state Superior Court for San Francisco County on December 1, 2025, accuses the New York Post and Los Angeles Times of defaming Nima Momeni, 41, while he was detained in the County’s San Bruno jail before his December 2024 murder trial. …
Ex-Wife of Minnesota DOC Commissioner Sentenced for Poisoning Attempt on Son by On November 7, Julie Myhre-­Schnell, 65, the former wife of Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell, was sentenced to three years for trying to kill their disabled adult son. Myhre-­Schnell’s sentence arrived three months after she pleaded …
Eighth Circuit: Former Prisoner’s Amended Complaint Filed After Release Not Subject to PLRA Exhaustion Requirement by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman On May 22, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit refused a request by officials with the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) for a rehearing before …
Eighth Circuit Orders Preliminary Injunction Requiring Minnesota to Reinstate Program Teaching Biblical “Authentic Manhood” by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On August 14, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ordered the issuance of a preliminary injunction compelling the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) to reinstate …
$3.6 Million Paid by Minnesota County After Hemophiliac Jail Detainee Died from Brain Bleed by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman Officials in Minnesota’s Ramsey County agreed on April 9, 2025, to pay $3.6 million to settle claims filed for the Estate of Dillon Bakke, a 32-year-old hemophiliac who suffered a …
News in Brief by Alabama: Elmore County Jail guard Lita Williams, 57, was arrested and charged with first-degree promoting prison contraband on May 21, 2025, the Wetumpka Herald reported. Her arrest followed discovery of a cellphone in a jail cell during a routine search two weeks prior. Data from the …
Nearly $2.6 Million Paid to Former Minnesota Jail Detainee for Injuries from Delayed Withdrawal Treatment by David Reutter On February 12, 2025, attorneys for a former detainee jailed by Minnesota’s Anoka County stipulated to dismissal of his claims for injuries suffered when he was denied withdrawal treatment while incarcerated. In …
News in Brief by Alabama: Kadarius Shermaine Todd, 28, a new guard still on probationary status at the Madison County Jail, was fired on April 4, 2025, after allegedly attempting to smuggle contraband into the lockup. He was apprehended upon arrival to meet a contact with a package containing Suboxone, …
$3.4 Million Settlement for Minnesota Jail Death Called “Real-Life Nightmare” by When Lucas John Bellamy, 41, was booked into jail in Minnesota’s Hennepin County on July 18, 2022, he informed staff that he had swallowed a bag of drugs shortly before his arrest. He was taken to a hospital, where …
Nurse Charged, $2.6 Million Settlement Reached in Minnesota Jail Death by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) filed manslaughter charges on March 7, 2025, against a former nurse at the Beltrami County Jail in the 2018 death of detainee Hardel Sherrell. His mother previously collected a $2.6 million settlement from …
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 …
Minnesota High Court Restores Voting Rights of Former Felons by On August 7, 2024, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the 2023 Restore the Vote Act (RVA), which returned the right to vote to individuals with felony convictions upon completion of their prison sentences. The law had been challenged a summer …
State Forces Minneapolis Jail to Ship Out Detainees by Facing persistent and critical short staffing, commissioners in Minnesota’s Hennepin County voted on December 3, 2024, to spend $5.4 million to ship 266 of over 800 detainees from the county jail to lockups in other Minnesota counties. The state Department of …
Minnesota Supreme Court Says Randy Guard Must Face Prisoner’s Sexual Harassment and Assault Claims by The Supreme Court of Minnesota held on June 20, 2024, that a state Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoner plausibly stated a claim under the Minnesota Tort Claims Act (TCA) when he alleged that a guard …
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 …
Two-Week Lockdown at BOP Women’s Prison in Minnesota After Nine Overdoses, Two Deaths by The Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Waseca, a women’s prison on the former campus of a University of Minnesota technical school, was locked down for over two weeks after a mass drug overdose sent prisoners to …
