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.
A youth development specialist allegedly received $72K in payments from youth and associates while smuggling razor blades, oxycodone and marijuana into Crossroads Juvenile Center
Stephen Bryant will be the third person executed by firing squad in South Carolina since executions resumed in 2024
Veteran CO Michael Dempsey, a veteran CO and court-appointed monitor, described a culture of fear, chronic absenteeism and untrained staff in testimony on L.A. County’s juvenile justice failures
A U.S. Penitentiary prisoner plotted with two people to send him drugs that he could sell at the prison, prosecutors said; the shipment was disguised as “legal mail” from a law office
The Marlboro County sheriff and a deputy were indicted in an incident involving the use of a TASER on an unruly prisoner in their custody
Thomas Lane was convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights and was sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison; he has been released to supervision, with one year left in his state sentence
The Aug. 16 order came a month after a U.S. District Judge found the city in contempt of its 2022 settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit
“To allow sex offenders to change their names from that of which they were called at the time of the crime would undermine the very purpose of the act,” the judge wrote
Calif. DA weighing whether to retry or release death row inmate of 33 years
“There’s evidence of serious prosecutorial misconduct, and a lack of accountability in this office at the time,” Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said
The new law expands the program, which already issues ID cards to those leaving the Department of Corrections, to every county jail and federal prison in the state
Missouri Department of Corrections acting director Trevor Foley has a week to release a man from South Central Correctional Center or will face a $1,000 daily fine
The incident occurred when the officer tried to force the allegedly intoxicated arrestee to stand still for an X-Ray photo; the officer has been sentenced to 4 years in prison
The court order, which came after a lawsuit that claimed inmates were housed in unsafe conditions, hurries a plan to demolish the prison and build a new one in its place
The inmate was sentenced to more than four years for his role in the 2018 fatal bludgeoning of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger at USP Hazelton
The idea is that the inmates will play card games, and perhaps they will know something about the case in the deck
The two former Southern Regional Jail employees pleaded guilty to violating the inmate’s civil rights by not protecting him from being physically assaulted by other COs
The judge’s decision comes from multiple incidents at the Metropolitan Detention Center, including a caught-on-video stabbing
The ex-warden, along with eight other Waupun staff members, have been charged with inmate abuse and misconduct following probes into two deaths at the facility
The inmate has already been sentenced to life after pleading guilty in the March escape from a Boise hospital, but the murder charge is in a different county
The 24-person deal included releasing a Russian assassin to free journalists, suspected spies, political prisoners, and others
As the state of Alabama plans additional nitrogen gas executions, questions and disagreements continue over what happened at the first one.
The state said in its argument before the state Supreme Court that lethal injection, electrocution and firing squad all fit existing death penalty protocols
The Walker County CO agreed to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter involving reckless conduct in the inmate’s 2023 death
Flagler County Sheriff’s Office body cam video shows the inmate was practically invisible when the K-9 sniffed him out, bit down on his forearm and dragged him into the open
The bill creates a federal prison ombudsman to collect complaints via a hotline and online form, then investigate and report dangerous conditions to the AG and Congress
“What will happen to you and your body when I’m located & you didn’t report me: you overlook’d me continuously?” the letter said
The CO is charged with one count of negligent homicide in connection with the shooting death of Lt. Rodney Osborne at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility
Investigators were tipped off to the laundering activity when deputies listened to the Harris County Jail inmate’s calls and observed his high balance in his commissary account
Michigan DOC said the men, convicted in the plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, were transferred to federal prisons for “general safety concerns” for the facility and defendants
The new rules cap the costs of phone calls and video calls in prisons, allowing easier access for people in custody to contact people on the outside
A lawsuit filed by the man’s family claims that, contrary to policy, the Garfield County courthouse jail is monitored by dispatchers instead of COs, violating state law
The man, who was in custody for a fatal brawl, was convicted of aiding two inmates’ escape by cutting a fence hole at the Philadelphia Industrial Correction Center in 2023
Idaho DOC officers were preparing to transport the inmate from a Boise hospital back to prison when the inmate’s accomplice outside the hospital began shooting
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