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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 …

Wife of “El Chapo” Released from U.S. Prison, Son Extradited

Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023

Filed under: War on Drugs

Wife of “El Chapo” Released from U.S. Prison, Son Extradited by On September 13, 2023, the wife of former Mexican drug cartel leader Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán was released from custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Emma Coronel Aispuro, 34, had served just under two years of a …

News in Brief

Article • July 15, 2023 • from PLN July, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A guard with the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was indicted on April 27, 2023, on charges he sexually abused two prisoners at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Aliceville, according to a report by the Birmingham News. Robert D. Smith allegedly had sexual intercourse …

Guards Filmed Walking Away from Burning Mexican Detention Center Where 38 Migrants Died

Article • May 19, 2023

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Fire Hazards, Detention - Generally, Deliberate Indifference

Guards Filmed Walking Away from Burning Mexican Detention Center Where 38 Migrants Died by Jordan Arizmendi, Chuck Sharman by Jordan Arizmendi and Chuck Sharman A huge fire inside an immigration detention facility in Ciudad Juarez, just across the Mexican border from El Paso, killed 38 men on March 28, 2023. …

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 …

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 …

News in Brief

Article • February 1, 2023 • from PLN February, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: WHNT in Huntsville reported on December 16, 2022, that a Morgan County Jail detainee was charged with assaulting a guard. Ashley Nicole Taymon, 36, had gotten into an altercation at the Community Corrections Office five days earlier and was taken to a hospital. There she …

News In Brief

Article • April 1, 2022 • from PLN April, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News In Brief by Arizona: After two escaped prisoners were recaptured and returned to the Arizona State Prison in Florence on January 31, 2021, Phoenix station KNXV reported that at least part of the blame for their escape was assigned to short-staffing of guards at the state Department of Corrections …

News in Brief

Article • March 1, 2022 • from PLN March, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: In Mobile on January 21, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama announced that an 18-month federal prison sentence for bribery had been handed down by a federal court to Lakerdra Shanta Snowden, 31, a former guard at the Escambia County …

News in Brief

Article • July 1, 2020 • from PLN July, 2020

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arizona: A Maricopa County grand jury indicted Daniel Davitt, 60, on January 14,  2020 on charges of second-degree murder in the death of Lower Buckeye Jail guard Gene Lee on October 30. Buckeye Jail video shows Davitt talking to Lee on October 29, then suddenly grabbing …

News in Brief

Article • June 5, 2018 • from PLN June, 2018

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Former Draper Correctional Facility guard Johntarance Henriquis McCray was sentenced on July 27, 2017 to 54 months in federal prison for bringing crack cocaine, powder cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, Xanax and Suboxone into the facility. A search of his vehicle had also uncovered a duffle bag …

News in Brief

Article • May 4, 2018 • from PLN May, 2018

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A 33-year-old prisoner who had worked at the Koch Foods poultry plant for nearly five months while participating in a work release program was killed in an October 29, 2017 “industrial accident.” Frank Dwayne Ellington died shortly after he was caught in a machine during …

Institute for Criminal Policy Research - World Prison Population List, 2018

Publication • January 1, 2018

Filed under: Statistics/Trends

Institute for Criminal Policy Research - World Prison Population List, 2018 World Prison Population List twelfth edition Roy Walmsley Introduction This twelfth edition of the World Prison Population List gives details of the number of prisoners held in 223 prison systems in independent countries and dependent territories. It shows the …

Illegal 24-Day ICE Detention Nets Lawful Permanent Resident $99,000 Settlement

Article • September 13, 2017

Filed under: Wrongful Imprisonment, Immigration

Illegal 24-Day ICE Detention Nets Lawful Permanent Resident $99,000 Settlement by Lonnie Burton by Lonnie Burton In 2008 a lawsuit filed by a Mexican citizen who had obtained lawful permanent resident status in the United States and was later detained while trying to return to the U.S. from Mexico was …

News in Brief

Article • July 28, 2017 • from PLN August, 2017

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A guard who worked as a materials handling supervisor at FCI-Aliceville was arrested on April 21, 2017, charged with bribery and making false statements after he was accused of smuggling contraband such as tobacco into the facility in exchange for cash bribes. Prosecutors said Eric …

In Tijuana, Mexicans Deported by U.S. Struggle to Find ‘Home’

Article • March 28, 2017

Filed under: Immigration

In Tijuana, Mexicans Deported by U.S. Struggle to Find ‘Home’ by Sam Quinones Obama is reining in deportations, but for many in the border city it’s too late. by Sam Quinones, National Geographic photography by Eros Hoagland TIJUANA, Mexico—On the U.S. side of the border, an immigration officer unlocked a padlock on …

Mexico: Drug Cartel Used Prison to Dispose of Bodies

Article • September 2, 2016 • from PLN September, 2016

Filed under: Prison Gangs, War on Drugs, International, Prisoners-International

Mexico: Drug Cartel Used Prison to Dispose of Bodies by Mexico’s national defense department calls the Zetas “the most formidable death squad to have worked for organized crime in Mexican history.” U.S. officials agree, saying the gang is “the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico.” One …

Drug Violence in Mexico, Justice in Mexico Project Report, 2015

Publication • August 3, 2016

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Crime, War on Drugs, International

Drug Violence in Mexico, Justice in Mexico Project Report, 2015 Drug Violence in Mexico Data and Analysis Through 2014 SPECIAL REPORT By Kimberly Heinle, Cory Molzahn, and David A. Shirk Justice in Mexico Project Department of Political Science & International Relations University of San Diego APRIL 2015 About Justice in …

News in Brief

Article • May 5, 2016 • from PLN May, 2016

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Australia: An anal-retentive prisoner in the supermax unit at the Goulburn Jail claimed for 12 days that a metal object detected inside his body was a fragment of a surgical instrument, but his claims were proven false when his bowels finally moved on February 24, 2016 …

Report on US Efforts to Combat Firearms Trafficking to Mexico, GAO, 2016

Publication • March 31, 2016

Filed under: International

Report on US Efforts to Combat Firearms Trafficking to Mexico, GAO, 2016 United States Government Accountability Office Report to Congressional Requesters January 2016 FIREARMS TRAFFICKING U.S. Efforts to Combat Firearms Trafficking to Mexico Have Improved, but Some Collaboration Challenges Remain GAO-16-223 January 2016 FIREARMS TRAFFICKING Highlights of GAO-16-223, a report …