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Oklahoma Prisoner’s Execution Was Expedited  by the Trump Administration

Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025

Filed under: Death Penalty, Death Row, Lethal Injection

Oklahoma Prisoner’s Execution Was Expedited by the Trump Administration by John Hanson, 61, received a three-drug lethal injection on the morning of June 12, 2025, and was pronounced dead by 10:11 a.m., reported USA TODAY. Hanson—who received a life sentence for carjacking, kidnapping, and killing Mary Bowles in Tulsa in …

Prison Gerrymandering  Alive and Well in Oklahoma

Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Census

Prison Gerrymandering Alive and Well in Oklahoma by Chuck Sharman As states across the country push to end “prison gerrymandering”—the U.S. Census practice of counting prisoners in the typically rural and white areas where they are held, thereby diluting the voting power of the urban and non-white areas that they …

Oklahoma Supreme Court Kills One Jail Death Suit,  Threatening Settlement of Another

Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025

Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Private Contractors, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Oklahoma Supreme Court Kills One Jail Death Suit, Threatening Settlement of Another by In a case with enormous implications for Oklahoma jail detainees, the state Supreme Court ruled on March 11, 2025, that a jail’s subcontracted medical providers are “employees” for the purposes of the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act …

News in Brief

Article • May 1, 2025 • from PLN May, 2025

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A Jefferson County Jail guard was briefly abducted and assaulted by detainee Reontay Harley, 33, on January 13, 2025. WBMA in Birmingham said that after Harley took the unnamed guard hostage inside a cell, responding jail Extraction Unit guards rescued their fellow guard and restrained …

Cruelty Is Now the Point for BOP

Article • May 1, 2025 • from PLN May, 2025

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Lethal Injection Method of Execution

Cruelty Is Now the Point for BOP by Just before leaving office in January 2025, outgoing Pres. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D) removed 37 federal prisoners from death row, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Jan. 2025, p.16.] But incoming Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) immediately directed his new Attorney General …

$7.15 Million for Oklahoma Prisoner Exonerated After Nearly 50 Years

Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025

Filed under: Settlements, Wrongful Conviction

$7.15 Million for Oklahoma Prisoner Exonerated After Nearly 50 Years by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso An Oklahoma prisoner who was exonerated after nearly 50 years in prison has received over $7 million in compensation so far. Glynn Ray Simmons, 71, now holds the dubious distinction of serving more …

News in Brief

Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025

Filed under: News in Brief

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 …

Four Escapes in Eight Months from Oklahoma Jail

Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025

Filed under: Escapes

Four Escapes in Eight Months from Oklahoma Jail by After slipping away from Oklahoma’s Caddo County courthouse January 22, 2025, detainee Levi Yeahpau spent a day on the run until he was recaptured. His uncle, Daron Highwalker, said that the detainee “basically [] walked out both front doors, and he …

News in Brief

Article • February 15, 2025 • from PLN February, 2025

News in Brief by Alabama: Clarke County Jail guard Larissa Thompson was arrested on December 5, 2024, for plotting to smuggle drugs into the lockup, the Thomasville Times reported. An investigation by state law enforcement, the office of County Sheriff DeWayne Smith, and Jackson Police uncovered evidence that Thompson planned …

Turn Key Health Walks Away From Oklahoma County Jail

Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Private Contractors, Contractor Liability

Turn Key Health Walks Away From Oklahoma County Jail by On October 9, 2024, Turn Key Health Clinics ended its contract to provide healthcare at the Oklahoma County Jail in Oklahoma City. The firm gave notice 30 days earlier, after winning just a one-year $7.4 million extension to the contract …

GEO Group Just Wants to Be a Landlord for Oklahoma DOC

Article • December 15, 2024 • from PLN December, 2024

Filed under: GEO Group/Wackenhut, Cost of Prison Systems, Rural Prisons, Fines

GEO Group Just Wants to Be a Landlord for Oklahoma DOC by In June 2024, after Oklahoma failed to meet a $3 million pay hike demanded by The GEO Group, Inc., the private prison operator gave notice to terminate its contract to run Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility (LCRF), the …

Prisoners Reportedly Locked in Showers in Oklahoma, Florida

Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Showers, Restraints

Prisoners Reportedly Locked in Showers in Oklahoma, Florida by David Reutter by David M. Reutter According to a lawsuit removed to federal court for the Western District of Oklahoma on May 1, 2024, prisoners at Great Plains Correctional Center (GPCC) were confined in a tiny shower stall for days on …

At Oklahoma Lockup: Deputy Warden Fired and Arrested in Smuggling Scheme, Guards Charged in Prisoner’s Assault

Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024

At Oklahoma Lockup: Deputy Warden Fired and Arrested in Smuggling Scheme, Guards Charged in Prisoner’s Assault by Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections (DOC) fired Lexington Assessment and Reception Center (LARC) Deputy Warden Tasha Parker on May 9, 2024, one day before her arrest for smuggling contraband into the prison. Within a …

News in Brief

Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Mobile Metro Jail guard Robert Aaron Small was fired and arrested for assault on June 27, 2024, one day after he allegedly used excessive force against an unnamed detainee. WKRG in Mobile said that the guard had worked at the lockup since 2019. Mobile County …

Turn Key Health Clinics: Another Private Jail Medical Provider Leaving a Trail of Death and Misery

Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024

Filed under: Private Contractors, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Turn Key Health Clinics: Another Private Jail Medical Provider Leaving a Trail of Death and Misery by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Jails face a monumental task in the provision of medical care. Those who’ve just been arrested are often experiencing withdrawal from drugs or alcohol. Other pre-existing medical …

Tenth Circuit Affirms Former Oklahoma Jail Captain’s 46-Month Sentence For Brutalizing Detainees

Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Tenth Circuit Affirms Former Oklahoma Jail Captain’s 46-Month Sentence For Brutalizing Detainees by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On February 28, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed a 46-month sentence handed to former Kay Correctional Detention Center (KCDC) guard Matthew Ware for depriving detainees …

Oklahoma Lawmakers Sue for Pardon and Parole Board Texts After Condemned Prisoner Denied Clemency

Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024

Filed under: Parole Board Misconduct, Pardons/Clemency, Text Messages

Oklahoma Lawmakers Sue for Pardon and Parole Board Texts After Condemned Prisoner Denied Clemency by On March 14, 2024, a dustup over a contentious clemency request for condemned Oklahoma prisoner Richard Glossip spilled into state court, where a judge refused to dismiss a suit filed by two state lawmakers to …

News in Brief

Article • August 15, 2024 • from PLN August, 2024

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: On June 24, 2024, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith told the Birmingham News that county jail guard Tony Dewayne Jackson, 29, had been arrested for smuggling “non-drug” contraband into the lockup. Jackson was no longer working at the jail, but Smith didn’t say how or …

After Takeover from CoreCivic, Oklahoma Prison Even More Short-Staffed

Article • June 1, 2024 • from PLN June, 2024

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Staffing

After Takeover from CoreCivic, Oklahoma Prison Even More Short-Staffed by Five days after the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) took over a state prison from private operator CoreCivic on October 1, 2023, a ceremony was held to rename the former Davis Correctional Facility. On the same day, October 6, 2023, …

Atheist Chaplain Attends Atheist Oklahoma Prisoner During Execution

Article • June 1, 2024 • from PLN June, 2024

Filed under: Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty, Death Row, Clergy

Atheist Chaplain Attends Atheist Oklahoma Prisoner During Execution by In the final hours before Oklahoma killed Phillip Hancock on November 30, 2023, he was attended by a chaplain, like almost all condemned prisoners. Unlike most though, Hancock was an atheist. So was his chaplain, Devin Moss. As the last minutes …