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Utah Pushes for Additional $130 Million to Expand Prison that Cost $1 Billion

Article • March 1, 2026 • from PLN March, 2026

Filed under: Cost of Prison Systems, Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), State Legislation, Reduction of Prison Population

Utah Pushes for Additional $130 Million to Expand Prison that Cost $1 Billion by In 2022, when Utah opened a new prison, the Utah State Correctional Facility, it was the largest construction project in the state’s history and cost more than $1 billion to build. Now, lawmakers are asking for …

News in Brief

Article • December 1, 2025 • from PLN December, 2025

News in Brief by Alabama: A former Blount County Jail guard received a decade behind bars on October 21, 2025, for a brutal assault that was captured on security video, according to WVTM in Birmingham. Joseph Ray Snow, 45, was sentenced for assaulting detainee Jonathan Calloway in 2022. Calloway, who …

Date of Firing Squad Execution Vacated for Utah Prisoner with Dementia

Article • October 1, 2025 • from PLN October, 2025

Filed under: Death Penalty/Death Row, Mental Health, Federal Death Penalty Act, Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Date of Firing Squad Execution Vacated for Utah Prisoner with Dementia by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman With just a week to go before his scheduled execution by firing squad, attorneys for Utah prisoner Ralph Menzies, 67, won a stay from the state Supreme Court on August 29, 2025, after …

Tenth Circuit Upholds Nearly $8.8 Million Judgment  for Utah Jail Death

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

Filed under: Injury -- Misc., Drug/Alcohol Withdrawal, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Tenth Circuit Upholds Nearly $8.8 Million Judgment for Utah Jail Death by Douglas Ankney On November 13, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld a jury award of more than $8.7 million to the Estate of detainee who died in Utah’s Davis County Jail. In its …

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 …

The Grift That Keeps on Giving: $33 Million for State Prisons Generated by Seized Native Land

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

Filed under: Native American, Abandoned Property

The Grift That Keeps on Giving: $33 Million for State Prisons Generated by Seized Native Land by In 2024, land trusts in 10 states generated an estimated $33 million in revenue for their prison systems. The figure was estimated from reports by Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, …

Jury Awards $352,300 to Prisoners Tortured at Notorious Utah Jail

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

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Settlements

Jury Awards $352,300 to Prisoners Tortured at Notorious Utah Jail by After an investigation into rampant abuse by guards, Utah’s Daggett County Jail closed its doors in 2017. A group of four state prisoners held at the jail under contract with the state Department of Corrections (DOC) then filed suit …

DOJ Sues Utah DOC, Alleging Discrimination Against Transgender Prisoner

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

Filed under: Frivolous Litigation, Discrimination (Transgender)

DOJ Sues Utah DOC, Alleging Discrimination Against Transgender Prisoner by On April 2, 2024, the U.S. Dept. of Justice sued the Utah Department of Corrections (DOC) for allegedly violating the rights of a transgender prisoner under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. ch. 126 §12101 et seq. The …

Competency Evaluation Ordered for Condemned Utah Prisoner

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

Filed under: Death Row, Competency Hearing

Competency Evaluation Ordered for Condemned Utah Prisoner by David Reutter On February 13, 2024, the Third Judicial Circuit Court in and for Salt Lake County, Utah, ordered an examination to determine if death row prisoner Ralph Leroy Menzies, 65, is competent to be executed. Menzies’ attorneys argued that he suffers …

Porter v. Daggett County, UT, Verdict, Conditions of Confinement, 2024

Brief • April 23, 2024

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement

Porter v. Daggett County, UT, Verdict, Conditions of Confinement, 2024 Case 2:18-cv-00389-DBB-DAO Document 424 Filed 04/23/24 PageID.7232 Page 1 of 7 Case 2:18-cv-00389-DBB-DAO Document 424 Filed 04/23/24 PageID.7233 Page 2 of 7 Case 2:18-cv-00389-DBB-DAO Document 424 Filed 04/23/24 PageID.7234 Page 3 of 7 Case 2:18-cv-00389-DBB-DAO Document 424 Filed 04/23/24 PageID.7235 …

Porter v. Daggett, UT, Verdict, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, 2024

Brief • April 23, 2024

Filed under: Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Punishment

Porter v. Daggett, UT, Verdict, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, 2024 Case 2:18-cv-00389-DBB-DAO Document 424 Filed 04/23/24 PageID.7232 Page 1 of 7 THE UNITED STATES DISTRJCT COURT DISTRJCT OF UTAH DUSTIN LAW PORTER, STEVEN DROLLETTE, JOSHUA ASAY, and JOSHUA OLSEN, SPECIAL VERDICT FORM Case No. 2:18-cv-00389-DBB Plaintiffs, District Judge David Barlow …

News in Brief

Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Three jail guards in the Yellowhammer State were hit with drug smuggling charges in August 2023 and another the month after. WAFF in Huntsville reported that Morgan County Jail guard Bobby Simmons, 19, was arrested on August 3, 2023, when he was charged with promoting …

News in Brief

Article • October 15, 2023 • from PLN October, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: On August 12, 2023, an Alabama jail guard was caught – in uniform – stealing Pokemon cards from a Walmart. WBMA in Birmingham reported that Josh Hardy then fled store security on foot before cops caught him in a nearby restaurant. Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew …

Utah Prisoner Blows Whistle on Abuse of Federal Grants, Leading to $1.55 Million Settlement – And New Law Restricting Prisoner Records Requests

Article • October 15, 2023 • from PLN October, 2023

Filed under: Whistleblowing, Settlements, Disclosure of Records, Public Records, Federal Funds

Utah Prisoner Blows Whistle on Abuse of Federal Grants, Leading to $1.55 Million Settlement – And New Law Restricting Prisoner Records Requests by In March 2023, Utah lawmakers approved a settlement with the federal government for abusing its grants, which may also reward Reginald Williams, a state prisoner who blew …

News in Brief

Article • August 15, 2023 • from PLN August, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard was arrested on June 10, 2023, for allegedly smuggling drugs, including meth, to a prisoner at Kilby Correctional Facility, 1819 News reported. Charlie Townsend, 28, resigned from his position upon his arrest by the Law Enforcement Services Division. …

News in Brief

Article • May 1, 2023 • from PLN May, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: On March 26, 2023, a former state prison guard at Easterling Correctional Facility was arrested for taking bribes to smuggle contraband into the lockup. The Montgomery Advertiser reported that Quindarius Thagard, 27, was fired and charged with use of office for personal gain and promotion …

A Lesson in Pleading: Utah Jail Suicide Complaint Fails for Alleging Failure to Train Rather than Failure to Provide Care

Article • April 1, 2023 • from PLN April, 2023

Filed under: Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides, Staff Training

A Lesson in Pleading: Utah Jail Suicide Complaint Fails for Alleging Failure to Train Rather than Failure to Provide Care by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On May 3, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for defendant jailers in a lawsuit seeking …

News in Brief

Article • March 1, 2023 • from PLN March, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by News in Brief Alabama: On January 9, 2023, the Montgomery Police Department (MPD) arrested a guard at the city jail for an alleged off-duty assault, the Birmingham News reported. It’s unclear who filed the misdemeanor complaint against Reba Foulks, 36; MPD didn’t begin its investigation until …

Tenth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Utah Jailers After Detainee’s Withdrawal Death

Article • March 1, 2023 • from PLN March, 2023

Filed under: Drug/Alcohol Withdrawal, Wrongful Death, Immunity - Absolute and Qualified

Tenth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Utah Jailers After Detainee’s Withdrawal Death by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On September 7, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to officials at Utah’s Unitah County Jail in a lawsuit …

Guards Saluting Fascism on the Job—Literally

Article • July 14, 2022 • from PLN July, 2022

Filed under: Guards/Staff, Failure to Protect (Staff)

Guards Saluting Fascism on the Job—Literally by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Prison guards in Arizona, Utah and West Virginia have recently been reported indulging white supremacist and anti-prisoner views on the job. Most recently, members of the Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) Special Tactics and Operations team proudly sported …