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News in Brief
Article • August 1, 2025 • from PLN August, 2025
Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Private Prisons, Misconduct/Corruption, Guard Misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Male Reproductive, Malpractice, Escapes, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Restraints, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death), Juvenile Prisons, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Bribery/Extortion/Theft
News in Brief by Alabama: On Sunday, June 15, 2025, state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Airika Dorsey was arrested for allegedly smuggling food to a prisoner at St. Clair Correctional Facility, according to WABM in Birmingham. The DOC confirmed that Dorsey was caught in the act and subsequently booked …
News in Brief
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct, Jail Misconduct, Failure to Protect (General), Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, halfway houses, New Trial/Judgment of Acquittal, Bribery/Extortion/Theft, Fraud and Deceit
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 …
$250,000 Verdict for South Carolina Prisoner Pepper-Sprayed 
in Face Without Cause by Guard
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Qualified Immunity
$250,000 Verdict for South Carolina Prisoner Pepper-Sprayed in Face Without Cause by Guard by David Reutter On January 30, 2025, a jury in South Carolina’s Richland County Court of Common Pleas, Fifth Judicial Circuit, awarded $250,000 to a state prisoner who accused the state Department of Corrections (DOC) of gross …
South Carolina Prisoners Granted Class-Action Status in Suit 
Over Low Wages in Prison Industries Jobs
Article • July 15, 2025 • from PLN July, 2025
Filed under: Work Release, Prison Labor, Workers' Compensation
South Carolina Prisoners Granted Class-Action Status in Suit Over Low Wages in Prison Industries Jobs by Douglas Ankney On September 18, 2024, four men, all current or former prisoners incarcerated within the custody of the South Carolina Department of Corrections (DOC), sued the agency and Director Bryan P. Stirling in …
Second South Carolina Prisoner 
Executed by Firing Squad
Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025
Filed under: Capital Punishment
Second South Carolina Prisoner Executed by Firing Squad by A South Carolina Department of Corrections (DOC) firing squad executed state prisoner Mikal Mahdi on April 11, 2025. It was the state’s second execution conducted by shooting a prisoner to death. In the first, five weeks earlier, a DOC rifle squad …
Fourth Circuit Upholds South Carolina DOC Policy 
Restricting Prisoner Access to News Media
Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025
Filed under: Access to Media, First Amendment, First Amendment, rights
Fourth Circuit Upholds South Carolina DOC Policy Restricting Prisoner Access to News Media by Those in custody of the South Carolina Department of Corrections (DOC) “lose the privilege of speaking to the news media,” a policy that makes it “unique among prison systems nationwide,” according to the American Civil Liberties …
Wellpath and VitalCore Skip Paying Nearly $2 Million 
in Settlements in South Carolina
Article • June 1, 2025 • from PLN June, 2025
Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Systemic Medical Neglect, Injury -- Misc., Private Contractors
Wellpath and VitalCore Skip Paying Nearly $2 Million in Settlements in South Carolina by In October 2024, Wellpath—a private for-profit contractor that provides medical care in prisons and jails—was ordered to pay a $1.5 million settlement it entered in a lawsuit alleging that one of the company’s nurses performed “unnecessary …
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 …
South Carolina Jailer Gets 10 Years for Sexually Assaulting Nine Detainees and Co-Workers
Article • May 1, 2025 • from PLN May, 2025
Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct
South Carolina Jailer Gets 10 Years for Sexually Assaulting Nine Detainees and Co-Workers by A former jail guard in South Carolina’s Berkeley County was sentenced on March 18, 2025, to 10 years in state prison, after he admitted to sexually assaulting nine detainees and coworkers at the Hill-Finklea Detention Center …
South Carolina Conducts First U.S. Execution by Firing Squad in 15 Years
Article • May 1, 2025 • from PLN May, 2025
Filed under: Death Penalty, Method of Execution
South Carolina Conducts First U.S. Execution by Firing Squad in 15 Years by After getting the greenlight from the state Supreme Court, South Carolina’s Department of Corrections (DOC) mustered a firing squad to fatally shoot condemned prisoner Brad Sigmon, 67, on March 7, 2025. Another prisoner, Mikal Mahdi, 41, was …
News in Brief
Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025
Filed under: News in Brief
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 …
$2.5 Million Settlement After South Carolina Jail Detainee Lost 2 Lbs.Per Day and Died
Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025
Filed under: Food, Settlements, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)
$2.5 Million Settlement After South Carolina Jail Detainee Lost 2 Lbs.Per Day and Died by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso A settlement filed in federal court for the District of South Carolina on September 3, 2024, brought a resolution to a lawsuit filed by the survivors of a Greenville …
South Carolina Prison Guard Supervisor Pleads Guilty to Smuggling, Bribery
Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025
Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Federal Funds
South Carolina Prison Guard Supervisor Pleads Guilty to Smuggling, Bribery by A former high-ranking guard with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (DOC) pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy on February 3, 2025, for her role in a smuggling and bribery scheme at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. As …
Former South Carolina Jailer Spared Prison After Testimony Fails to Convict Former Sheriff
Article • February 15, 2025 • from PLN February, 2025
Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Sentences - Adjustments and Departures, Offense of Conviction
Former South Carolina Jailer Spared Prison After Testimony Fails to Convict Former Sheriff by A former South Carolina jailer who cut a plea deal and testified against his former boss is now the only one of the two to be convicted. But David Andrew Cook, 30, will not spend any …
20 South Carolina Prisoners Sentenced So Far for Deadly 2018 Riot
Article • February 15, 2025 • from PLN February, 2025
Filed under: Retaliation, Prison Rebellion, Prison Gangs, Staffing, Cell Phone Access
20 South Carolina Prisoners Sentenced So Far for Deadly 2018 Riot by Two South Carolina prisoners were sentenced on December 10, 2024, for their roles in a riot that killed seven fellow prisoners and injured 20 more. They were the most recent of 20 prisoners sentenced so far for convictions …
Four-Month Wait for 40 Percent of South Carolina Jail Detainees Needing Psychiatric Evaluation
Article • January 15, 2025 • from PLN January, 2025
Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Detainers - Generally
Four-Month Wait for 40 Percent of South Carolina Jail Detainees Needing Psychiatric Evaluation by A backlog in court-ordered psychological evaluations had stranded 136 South Carolina detainees in jail by the end of September 2024, nearly 40% of them held over 120 days. Waiting on admission to the state’s forensic psychiatric …
News in Brief
Article • November 15, 2024 • from PLN November, 2024
Filed under: News in Brief
News in Brief by Alabama: Former state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Henry Guice, Jr., 46, was sentenced to 75 months in federal prison on September 9, 2024, for his role in a drug smuggling conspiracy at Staton Correctional Facility. The Birmingham News reported that a fellow guard was inspecting …
Another South Carolina Prisoner Convicted of “Sextortion” of U.S. Military Personnel
Article • November 15, 2024 • from PLN November, 2024
Filed under: Bribery/Extortion/Theft, Extortion, Military Commissions Act
Another South Carolina Prisoner Convicted of “Sextortion” of U.S. Military Personnel by South Carolina state prisoner Javarius G. Teague, 32, will head to federal prison when he leaves Evans Correctional Institution in 2029; the federal court for the District of South Carolina sentenced him on May 8, 2024, to spend …
Suspended South Carolina Sheriff Acquitted of Using Excessive Force on Jail Detainee
Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024
Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings
Suspended South Carolina Sheriff Acquitted of Using Excessive Force on Jail Detainee by Former Sheriff Charles Lemon of South Carolina’s Marlboro County was acquitted by a federal jury on August 19, 2024, of violating the civil rights of a detainee whose brutal assault was caught on video at the county …
South Carolina Prison Guard Supervisor Charged With Taking Over $219,000 in Bribes to Smuggle Cellphones
Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024
Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Bribery/Extortion/Theft
South Carolina Prison Guard Supervisor Charged With Taking Over $219,000 in Bribes to Smuggle Cellphones by A former guard captain at South Carolina’s Broad River Correctional Institution is headed to trial after she was indicted on April 2, 2024, on charges of taking at least $219,360 in bribes over five …
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