prisoners

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Glossip Has Unusual Ally in SCOTUS Fight

Both he and Oklahoma are pushing for new trial, citing prosecutorial misconduct

(Newser) - Glossip v. Oklahoma, a highly watched case before the Supreme Court, isn't quite what its name suggests. Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip is pushing for a new trial, arguing the one that resulted in his murder conviction and death sentence was rife with errors. But Oklahoma is of...

5 Inmates Scheduled to Die in a 7-Day Span

If all goes through, it would be the highest in the US in 20 years

(Newser) - Death row inmates in five states are scheduled to be put to death in the span of one week, an unusually high number of executions that defies a yearslong trend. If carried out as planned, the executions in Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas will mark the first time...

Inmates Flee as Floods Bring Prison Walls Down

Authorities have recaptured just 7 of the 281 inmates who escaped from prison in Maiduguri, Nigeria

(Newser) - Nigerian authorities said 281 inmates escaped after devastating floods brought down a prison's walls in the country's northeast. A major dam collapsed on Sept. 10, unleashing severe flooding that left 30 people dead and more than a million displaced, and prompted evacuations across the state of Borno, reports...

Family: Unjustly Held American Was Raped in Chinese Prison

Father, brother call attention to case of Chicago woman Dawn Michelle Hunt

(Newser) - Dawn Michelle Hunt thought she'd won a free trip from Chicago to Australia in 2014. Instead, the US woman landed in a Chinese prison for life, narrowly escaping execution. As the New York Times reports, the trip she thought she'd won was part of a drug trafficking scheme....

NC Murderer Escapes on His Way to Doctor Appointment
Cops Recapture
NC Murderer Who Escaped
UPDATED

Cops Recapture NC Murderer Who Escaped

Ramone Alston, 30, was found after multiday manhunt involving hundreds of officers

(Newser) - A convicted killer in North Carolina who escaped from a medical transport van on Tuesday has been recaptured. After a manhunt involving hundreds of local, state, and federal officers, Ramone Alston was arrested early Friday at a hotel in Kannapolis, a suburb of Charlotte, NBC News reports. Authorities said the...

Russia Frees Americans Gershkovich, Whelan in Swap

About 2 dozen prisoners on both sides are involved in the deal

(Newser) - Russia has freed Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan as part of a large prisoner swap with the West, reports the AP . Turkish officials confirmed the swap on Thursday after reports emerged at Bloomberg and the Daily Beast , among other outlets. Details were still emerging.
  • Two big names: Gershkovich, a
...

Death Row Inmate Says He Doesn't Want 'Invasive Autopsy'
Death Row Inmate Who
Sued Over His Autopsy Wins
UPDATED

Death Row Inmate Who Sued Over His Autopsy Wins

Alabama still plans to execute devout Muslim Keith Gavin, but won't carry out post-mortem procedure

(Newser) - Alabama will break with protocol and not perform an autopsy on a death row inmate who sued the state, saying the procedure would violate his Islamic beliefs. Keith Gavin, to be executed this week, sought a court order to block an autopsy, saying it would violate a tenant of Islam...

Russia Releases 10 Ukrainians Stuck Behind Bars for Years

After an intervention from Pope Francis

(Newser) - Ten Ukrainian civilians held prisoner for years by Russia arrived in Kyiv overnight Saturday after mediation via the Vatican, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said. They were freed Friday, per the AP . Some had been captured years before Russia's full-scale invasion. The pope has said the Holy See has been...

Gershkovich Has Another Bad Day in Russian Court

Moscow court refuses 'WSJ' reporter's appeal; he'll stay jailed through the end of June

(Newser) - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will remain jailed on espionage charges until at least late June, after a Moscow court on Tuesday rejected his appeal that sought to end his pretrial detention. The 32-year-old US citizen has spent over a year behind bars. Last month, his arrest was extended...

Prosecutors Hid Evidence in Convicting Mom of Murder

Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio, convicted of killing her toddler, could now go free

(Newser) - The judge who presided over Melissa Lucio's 2008 murder trial following the death of her 2-year-old daughter now says the conviction should be thrown out. State District Judge Arturo Nelson recommended on Friday that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturn Lucio's conviction and death sentence, in response...

Supreme Court Case Tests 'Sex Shaming' Defense

Prosecutors highlighted sex life of Brenda Andrew, now on death row

(Newser) - The Supreme Court will hear an appeal from the only woman on Oklahoma's death row this month, and the case may set a precedent in regard to prosecutors focusing on a defendant's sex life. Coverage:
  • The inmate: Brenda Andrew, 60, was sentenced to death in 2004 after being
...

Inmates in Prime Eclipse Path Sue for a Viewing

New York state prisoners say lockdown violates religious rights to witness the celestial event

(Newser) - Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday's total solar eclipse. The suit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates' constitutional rights to practice their faiths by...

Latest Victim of 'Hacktivists': Russia's Prison System

Per CNN, hackers angered by Navalny death say they stole prisoner database, altered commissary prices

(Newser) - The death last month of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Russian penal colony shocked the world. It also apparently angered a bunch of anti-Kremlin hackers, who are now accused of swiping a Russian prisoner database in retaliation. CNN has the exclusive on this "stunning breach of security":
  • Photo
...

Here's Your 'Ewwww' Crime of the Day
Here's Your
'Ewwww' Crime
of the Day

Here's Your 'Ewwww' Crime of the Day

Mississippi cop charged after allegedly making prisoner lick urine-coated floor

(Newser) - Holding cells aren't known for their luxe accommodations, but one prisoner reportedly had an especially gross stay during his temporary detention in a Mississippi jail. Court files show that police officer Michael Christian Green has been charged with one federal count of deprivation of rights under color of law,...

New Louisiana Law Allows 2 More Execution Methods
Louisiana Nixes
Most Future
Parole

Louisiana Nixes Most Future Parole

New law applies to anyone convicted after Aug. 1; another bill allows for 2 more execution methods

(Newser) - As Louisiana's attorney general last year, Jeff Landry pushed back hard against efforts to commute the sentences of the state's death row inmates. As governor, the Republican signed a bill this week to allow two more execution methods in the state, NOLA.com reports. "This is what...

Prison Escapees Face Murder Charges for Missing US Couple

Grenada charges 3 men who allegedly hijacked husband and wife's yacht, threw them overboard

(Newser) - Authorities have pressed murder charges against a trio of escaped prisoners, accused of hijacking an American couple's yacht last month and throwing them overboard . Per a statement from the Royal Grenada Police Force cited by CNN , 30-year-old Ron Mitchell, 25-year-old Atiba Stanisclaus, and 23-year-old Trevon Robertson (who'd originally...

Inmate's Generosity Just Made Him $100K Richer

Prisoner donated $17 paycheck—an entire month's worth of work—to Gaza; then people gave to him

(Newser) - A longtime California inmate had to put in a month's worth of work just to earn enough to buy a couple of Starbucks drinks. What he did with those earnings, however, has since made him $100,000 richer as he prepares to reenter the world upon being paroled later...

NY Murderer Freed Because He Was Held in Wrong Prison

Terrence Lewis, who was serving 22-year sentence, gets out on technicality

(Newser) - A man convicted for a 2015 killing in western New York has been freed and his indictment has been dismissed solely because he was held at the wrong prison according to an interstate law on detainees. Terrence Lewis was released earlier this month from a maximum-security prison in Seneca County,...

US Food Chain Rides Heavily on Backs of Prison Labor
US Food Chain Rides Heavily
on Backs of Prison Labor
INVESTIGATION

US Food Chain Rides Heavily on Backs of Prison Labor

Major companies are making bank off forced labor: AP

(Newser) - In a sweeping two-year investigation, the AP found that goods linked to the forced labor of US prisoners wind up in the supply chains of a dizzying array of products, from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour and Coca-Cola beverages. They're on the...

Lawsuit: Inmate's Body Was Missing His Heart

It's 'part of a pattern,' says attorney for family suing Alabama's prison system

(Newser) - The bodies of two men who died while incarcerated in Alabama's prison system were missing their hearts or other organs when returned to their families, a federal lawsuit alleges. The family of Brandon Clay Dotson, who died in a state prison in November, filed a federal lawsuit last month...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>