$667,000 Awarded to Muslim Missouri Prisoners Pepper-Sprayed for Praying by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman On March 9, 2026, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri awarded a total of $667,000 to a group of Muslim state prisoners pepper-sprayed by Department of Corrections (DOC) …
The Same Company that Built Guantanamo Bay Is Building Kansas City’s World Cup Jail by With an anticipated 650,000 tourists visiting Kansas City, Missouri this summer for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the city rushed to construct a municipal jail in seven months. The jail is scheduled to open on …
Missouri Prisons Called Out for Incomplete Death Records, Hellish Solitary Heat by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman Missouri has made clear its disregard for its state prisoners as much through what it doesn’t do as what it does, according to new research that found dozens of unreported deaths, as well …
Showers at St. Louis County Jail Riddled with Mold, Report Finds by In September 2025, inspectors from the American Correctional Association (ACA) visited the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton for an audit. In compiling their 92-page report, three inspectors toured the jail—which locks up an average of 1,340 people …
Missouri Judge Heavily Sanctions DOC for “Deliberate Disregard for the Authority of This Court” in Suit Over Prisoner’s Suicide by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On January 6, 2026, a Missouri circuit court struck the defenses of the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) as a sanction in a lawsuit over …
Missouri Pays $212M for Prison Health Care, But Prisoner Deaths Aren’t a Performance Measure by Rudi Keller by Rudi Keller This article was originally published in the Missouri Independent. Whether prisoners die while in state custody is not used to measure the performance of Missouri’s private prison health care …
Missouri Prisoners Forced to Shovel Snow in Subzero Temperatures by As the record-breaking winter storm blew through Missouri on the weekend of January 23, 2026, some prisoners were forced to go outside to clear snow from walkways, according to the Missouri Independent. As the storm brought heavy snowfall and wind chills …
The St. Louis Jails Are Running Out of Guards by Ivy Scott This article was first published by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletter at themarshallproject. org/subscribe and follow them on instagram.com/marshallproj, tiktok.com/@marshallproj, reddit.com/user/marshall_project, and facebook. com/TheMarshallProject.org …
Competency Crisis in Missouri’s Jails by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The cover story of the June 2025 issue of PLN reported that “[d]espite years of litigation, injunctions, consent decrees, and contempt fines ranging into the hundreds of millions,” the State of Washington had “consistently failed to provide timely competency …
$450,000 Paid by Missouri County for Jail Detainee’s Death After 11 Days Without Medical Attention by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman Relatives of a Missouri jail detainee who became nonverbal and fatally ill—while fellow detainees pleaded in vain with jailers to get him medical help—accepted a $450,000 settlement of their …
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. …
$5,000 Settlement for Missouri Prisoner’s Retaliation Claim After Eighth Circuit Dismissed Due Process Claim Over Falsified Disciplinary Report by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman It took over 15 months, but PLN finally received documentation that the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) paid $5,000 to state prisoner James Spann to settle …
$4 Million Settlement Reached in Class Action Challenge to Conditions at Shuttered St. Louis “Workhouse” Jail by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman It sounded like a jail from a 19th century novel: “infestations of insects, spiders and rodents”; “extreme and dangerous heat and humidity” in warm weather; exposure to “extreme …
Missouri Blocks Spiritual Advisors from Prison Pastor’s Execution by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott On October 14, 2025, at around 6 p.m. in the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, Lance Shockley, 48, was executed by lethal injection after Governor Mike Kehoe (R) denied him clemency. The state …
Monroe v Foley, MO, Settlement Agreement, Wrongful Death-Failure to Protect, 2025 SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND RELEASE This Settlement Agreement and Release ("the Agreement") memorializes the terms and conditions made between Latasha Monroe in her capacity as personal representative for the Estate of Honesty Jade Bishop ("Plaintiff') and Trevor Foley, Doris Falkenrath, …
Missouri Prison Nurse Sentenced to 12 Years for Poisoning Husband by On June 25, Amy Murray, a 46-year-old former prison nurse in Miller County, received a 12-year sentence after she entered an Alford plea—a guilty plea in which the defendant maintains innocence—around charges related to poisoning her husband, Joshua, and …
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 $60,000 Awarded to Mother Of Dead Missouri Prisoner In Suit For His DOC Records by Anthony Accurso On April 23, 2024, the mother of a deceased Missouri prisoner prevailed on appeal against the state Department of Corrections (DOC), which a lower court had found knowingly violated the Missouri Sunshine …
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, …
Eighth Circuit Excuses Missouri Prisoner’s Failure to Exhaust Remedies While He Was In a Coma by Douglas Ankney On November 15, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reinstated a deliberate indifference claim lodged by Missouri prisoner Tremonti Perry, whose alleged medical neglect left him in a …
