South Dakota prisons struggle to prepare inmates for release, and the support systems meant to help them on the outside often fall short, according to a report from a national nonprofit. The assessment found consistent gaps in support, employment, housing and mental health and addiction treatment for people leaving prison. It also found the state […]
A correctional officer at Newberry Correctional Facility in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula digitally altered a Native American prisoner’s ID to depict him wearing a feathered headdress, stereotypical Native American attire and facial paint, a lawsuit filed in Michigan state court in early August alleges. Dylan Leenheer, who is Native American and a member of the Gun […]
An Arkansas judge has granted Attorney General Tim Griffin’s motion to dismiss his lawsuit against the Board of Corrections that accused the panel of violating the state’s law on open records and meetings. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox’s one-page order Thursday dismissing the case comes less than a month after the state Supreme Court […]
When Shane Veltkamp, now 31, entered the Newaygo County Jail in July 2023, he was fully mobile, independent and able to care for himself, although he would be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, or MS, while detained, according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against the county […]
The South Dakota Department of Corrections has lost its fourth penitentiary warden since 2021 amid staffing changes that also include the departure of two other high-ranking officials. Joseph Roemmich, who came to South Dakota from New Mexico just over a year ago to oversee the employees and inmates at the oldest parts of the penitentiary […]
“At the end of the day, I didn’t even recognize my own child,” said Izora Clark, whose daughter Krystal has become a focal point of demands for reform at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, Michigan’s only women’s prison. Clark, along with Krystal’s daughter and grandchildren, joined advocates and family members of other women incarcerated at […]
A current and former member of the Arkansas Board of Corrections were granted permission by a Pulaski County judge Wednesday to intervene in a longrunning lawsuit over the panel’s power to fire top prison officials. Benny Magness, the board’s former chair, and Lee Watson asked Judge Patricia James to allow them to intervene in the […]
Jeremy Hutchinson, a former Republican state legislator convicted in a sprawling corruption probe and pardoned by President Donald Trump, said Thursday he plans to advocate for establishing a compassionate release program in Arkansas during next year’s legislative session. Hutchinson, a state senator and the son of former U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson, was indicted in federal […]
