Disability rights advocates argued in federal court Tuesday that the state of Oregon should be held in contempt for not meeting the needs of criminal defendants who require mental health treatment.
Read moreAn attorney for a Muslim inmate who says his civil rights were violated when a Georgia prison refused to provide him with a vegan diet conforming to his religious beliefs asked an 11th Circuit panel Friday to reinstate his case.
Read moreThe Fourth Circuit ruled Friday in favor of a South Carolina man who claimed he was excessively shocked with a stun gun for refusing to hold still for a mug shot, finding it is unclear whether the force was applied in a good faith effort to get his photo.
Read moreA class of inmates represented by the American Civil Liberties Union brought a federal lawsuit Monday to stop solitary confinement at two maximum-security prisons in Virginia, arguing that a program meant to return prisoners to the general population is actually a veiled attempt at keeping them in solitary.
Read morePope Francis washed the feet of 12 prisoners Thursday and urged them to serve one another as brothers, as he ushered in the solemn pre-Easter rituals made more poignant this year after the devastation of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral.
Read moreA Louisiana inmate whose case led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling extending the hope of freedom to juvenile offenders sentenced to life without the possibility of parole was again denied that freedom on Thursday after more than five decades in prison.
Read moreTennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill Tuesday that sends cases where the death penalty has been handed down directly to the Tennessee Supreme Court for review, bypassing the state appeals court.
Read moreAn Iowa judge ordered state prison officials to stop barring inmates’ access to materials that contain non-sexually explicit depictions of nudity while a lawsuit brought by 13 inmates is heard by the trial court.
Read moreThree inmates who challenged a Tennessee prison’s short-lived policy of providing sentencing credits for vasectomies will have their day in court, after a Sixth Circuit ruling Thursday.
Read moreIt’s a sign of how violent Alabama prisons for men have become: Makeshift knives and other homemade weapons are everywhere. Inmates scrounge metal from dish racks, light fixtures and yard fences and fashion them into long knives. Many keep more than one.
Read moreReligion and executions are now oil and water in Texas as the state has banned men and women of the cloth from accompanying the condemned in the execution room in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that stayed the execution of a Buddhist prisoner.
Read moreA federal judge dismissed peonage claims against GEO Group from a class of inmates, because they do not owe a debt to the private prison company, but allowed them to press their claim that they are forced to work for no or subminimal wages.
Read moreHaving signed into law a major criminal justice reform bill last year, President Donald Trump on Monday said his administration will shift its focus to making it easier for people to get jobs and successfully rejoin their communities after prison.
Read moreA federal judge approved a $1.45 million settlement of a prisoners’ class action involving abuses at the jail in Placer County, Calif.
Read moreA federal judge on Wednesday ordered Alameda County jail officials to stop depriving female jail inmates of their constitutional right to sleep, but told attorneys to hammer out the details of a final order on their own.
Read moreA divided Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a prisoner is not entitled to a sentence credit for time he spent outside of jail after being accidentally released during a transfer between facilities.
Read moreSidelining a lawsuit over a prison power outage said to have interfered in attorney-client communications, a federal judge faulted lawyers Friday for not naming any inmates as plaintiffs.
Read moreReferring to it as a “basic necessity of life,” a federal judge hinted Thursday he might order Alameda County jail officials to stop depriving female inmates of sleep.
Read moreAn Iowa judge denied the state’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of prison inmates who say a law enacted last year violates their constitutional rights by denying them access to materials that are sexually explicit or feature nudity.
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