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Former Prisoner Informant Appointed Deputy Director of BOP by On June 5, 2025, Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) tapped Tennessee businessman Joshua J. Smith, 50, to serve as Deputy Director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Smith, whom Trump pardoned in his first term, is the first former prisoner …
Article • May 1, 2025 • from PLN May, 2025
Rikers Island Staffers, Contractor and Detainee Sentenced for Smuggling by On March 10, 2025, the last of four former Rikers Island Jail staffers was sentenced to federal prison for her role in a massive smuggling scheme at the New York City lockup. The group, including three guards and a program …
Article • March 1, 2025 • from PLN March, 2025
Warden, Top Deputy Walked Off the Job at “Wild West” Missouri Prison by Warden Michele Buckner’s 25-year career with the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) came to an abrupt end on January 7, 2025, when she was reportedly walked off the job at South Central Correctional Center (SCCC) in Licking. …
Article • November 15, 2024 • from PLN November, 2024
50 Years After Starting “Scared Straight,” Former N.J. Prison Warden “Would Do It Again” by In a May 2024 interview about the “Scared Straight” program he founded 50 years earlier, former New Jersey prison warden Bob Hatrak, 83, dismissed research showing that the program actually has a counterproductive effect on …
Alabama Guard, Prisoners Among 13 Sentenced in Phone Scam and Drug-Smuggling Ring by On July 1, 2024, the last of 13 people was sentenced in a drug-­smuggling scheme at Alabama’s Donaldson Correctional Facility that included five prisoners. The last of those, Otis “Big O” Bowers, 44, had been sentenced on …
Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024
Three Former Rikers Island Guards Among Five Ex-Employees Charged in Massive Smuggling Scheme by Corruption charges against three former guards and two other former employees at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex were continued on May 9, 2024, a week after a massive stash of contraband was uncovered at …
Article • October 15, 2024 • from PLN October, 2024
Alabama Warden and Wife Busted for Making “Magic” Mushrooms by Warden Chadwick “Chad” Ray Crabtree, 45, of Alabama’s Limestone Correctional Facility (LCF), was behind bars at Limestone County Jail on April 19, 2024, after agents from the state Department of Corrections (DOC) joined local and state cops to execute five …
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 …
Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023
Prison Walls No Barrier to America’s Deadly Opioid Crisis by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney When Missouri prisoner Robert Hebert learned in January 2023 that he had less than two years remaining on his prison sentence, the father of six and his family shared in the excitement. He planned to …
Article • September 15, 2023 • from PLN September, 2023
Five Years After Limiting Personal Visits and Banning Mail, Drug Use Worse in Pennsylvania Prisons by As reported by the Harrisburg Patriot News on April 21, 2023, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) implemented a solution to the drug problem in state prisons in September 2018 that has proved cruel …
Article • May 9, 2023
Filed under: Cell Searches, War on Drugs
Four Charged with Using Drones to Smuggle Drugs into California Prisons by Jordan Arizmendi by Jordan Arizmendi In an indictment unsealed on April 13, 2023, four people were accused of using drone aircraft to deliver drugs into California state prisons. The indictment was brought in federal court for the Eastern …
Article • April 1, 2023 • from PLN April, 2023
Despite Official Claims, Stopping Mail to Missouri Prisoners Has No Effect on Drug Overdoses by Benjamin Tschirhart by Benjamin Tschirhart The drugs are coming in the mail. Or so they say. There’s no question that the drugs are coming into Missouri state prisons; an average of 34 prisoner overdoses a …
Article • March 1, 2023 • from PLN March, 2023
More Drugs Seized by Florida DOC During COVID-19 Lockdowns Than Before by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Contraband statistics obtained from the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) during pandemic lockdowns debunk officials’ theory that visitors and mail are the main source of smuggling into state prisons. Instead the August …
Article • September 30, 2022 • from PLN October, 2022
Filed under: War on Drugs, Boot Camps
New York Closes Moriah ‘Shock Camp’ by Kevin Bliss by Kevin W. Bliss The New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) shuttered its upstate “shock camp” on March 10, 2022. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced in her 2022 budget the closing of several prisons including the Moriah Shock …
Article • May 1, 2022 • from PLN May, 2022
$6,500 Paid by Nevada DOC After Ninth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity for Withholding Evidence From Prisoner Accused of Smuggling Meth in Mail by David Reutter by David M. Reutter AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED BY PLN, OFficials with the Nevada Department of Corrections (DOC) in 2020 lost a suit filed …
Article • June 23, 2021
A Life Sentence for Pot? Not if Beth Curtis Can Help It by Daniel A. Rosen by Daniel A. Rosen Seventy-nine-year-old Beth Curtis has been nicknamed the “Mother Theresa of Pot Prisoners” for good reason. The self-described “incessant nag” has lobbied for years on behalf of those sentenced to life …
Article • December 1, 2020 • from PLN December, 2020
The Role of Prosecutors in Mass Incarceration by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins Mass incarceration has long been recognized as a serious and abiding problem in the American social landscape. Historically, mass incarceration has been attributed to a combination of the war on drugs, politically driven harsh sentencing, and the …
Collateral Consequences Resource Center - Pathways to Reintegration Criminal Record Reforms in 2019 Pathways to Reintegration: Criminal Record Reforms in 2019 February 2020 s COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES RESOURCE CENTER The Collateral Consequences Resource Center is a non-profit organization established in 2014 to promote public engagement on the myriad issues raised by …
Article • December 11, 2019 • from PLN December, 2019
Filed under: War on Drugs, Probation
New York Stops Testing Probationers for Marijuana Use by Dale Chappell by Dale Chappell The New York City Council voted in April 2019 to stop testing probationers for marijuana use. The move was a step toward reducing re-incarceration of probationers and parolees, and may be a foreshadowing of the legalization …
Article • November 23, 2019
Filed under: War on Drugs
DEA Turning Probable Cause into a Lost Cause by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney For over 20 years, the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) has run multiple bulk records collections. According to a report from the Inspector General (“IG”), the DEA targeted phone calls placed to “drug nexus” countries. (Almost anywhere …
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