Legal
Legal issues in the correctional system encompass various topics, including inmate rights, staff conduct, and compliance with state and federal laws. This directory offers articles and resources on the legal aspects of correctional facility operations, helping staff stay informed about the regulations and policies that govern their work. Understanding legal responsibilities is essential for minimizing liability and ensuring facilities operate within the law. For more information, explore our section on Corrections Policies.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the state will be deliberate on nitrogen executions and said prison expansion has broad support
Dillon Bakke died from a brain hemorrhage days after reporting severe head pain while in custody at the Ramsey County jail in 2022
César Moisés Hernández, who was on the run for four months, is accused of fatally shooting Cmdr. Abigail Esparza, who led a Mexican police unit targeting foreign fugitives
Some argue inmates will be less likely to get prison jobs if the state is allowed to take the income that they earn
Florida prison chief Edwin Buss says inmates hospitalized with smoking-related illnesses cost Florida taxpayers nearly $9 million last year
House committee tabled a pair of measures late Tuesday that called for the death penalty to be put back on the state’s books
Deal made after a lawsuit alleged that jailers routinely used stun guns on inmates who pose no threat
States wrote U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in January asking for help obtaining sodium thiopental
McDonnell on track to restore at least as many rights as predecessors
Starting Thursday, lethal injection needle insertions will take place behind a curtain in the death chamber, where an inmate could call out to an attorney
Governor Pat Quinn’s office confirmed early Wednesday that the governor would announce his decision on legislation to end capital punishment in the Midwestern state.
Ruling says a convicted criminal’s decision to ask for leniency can be used to delay the deadline inmates have to appeal to the federal courts
The prison budget still falls $2.6 million short of estimates of what the prison system will cost the state next year
More than 34,000 people in 20 cities have turned themselves in through Fugitive Safe Surrender, which got its start in Cleveland in 2005 in response to the killing of a police officer
Hank Skinner, who was about an hour away from execution when the Supreme Court intervened last year, will not be put to death soon while his legal case continues
Obama has publicly stated his support for the death penalty in heinous cases but as a state lawmaker voted against expanding the death penalty to crimes arising from gang activity
Prisoners who are released will have already had a parole date and have completed rehabilitation programs
Gov. Pat Quinn, who faces a March 18 deadline, has said his decision will be based on his conscience
In case where man was given much longer sentence by a second judge, Supreme Court says rehabilitation should have been considered
Decision signals retreat from court’s recent embrace of the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause
Union president says he’s never heard of such a visit by the National Guard.
Bernalillo County has more than 1,000 cells, and jail inspections by county commissioners are time-consuming and create safety concerns
The local prison board is weighing the ban as a cost-cutting measure
Gov. Jerry Brown’s ambitious plan for balancing his state’s budget includes moving parole services to county control and dismantling the DJJ
Reforms started in the 1980s have dramatically changed the state’s prison population
Some lawmakers are pushing to make Montana the first state to repeal a medical marijuana law
Eligible would be nonviolent foreigners and old, sick inmates
Data shows a steep rise in inmate violence
Georgia has the fourth-largest prison population in the country and spends about $1 billion a year on corrections, state officials said
Bill would prevent officials from restraining pregnant inmates who are entering labor
Corrections officials say they are preparing to test a system that would capture every cell phone signal from a prison and block unauthorized calls
Current law does not provide any criminal or financial sanctions for smuggling cell phones to state prison inmates
The bill would generally bar a court from issuing a temporary stay of execution following a defendant’s first post-conviction petition
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