Latest Prison overcrowding News
Inmate releases debated at Texas' biggest jail amid pandemic
HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday asked officials to review how more than 1,900 inmates in Texas’ largest county jail could be released to relieve overcrowding at a facility where officials worry about a potential COVID-19 outbreak. Earlier this week, attorneys for Harris County Sheriff Ed...
More than 40% of Alaska inmates have contracted coronavirus
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Data from the Alaska Department of Corrections show that more than 40% of the people incarcerated in Alaska have been infected with the coronavirus. Case counts have exceeded 100 inmates in at least six Alaska prisons, Alaska Public Media reported Monday. Jeremy Hough, the...
Nebraska proposes $230 million new prison to fight crowding
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska's corrections department will propose to lawmakers a new, $230 million prison to reduce chronic overcrowding that's likely to get worse, the agency's director said Monday. Corrections Director Scott Frakes will present the plan in the upcoming legislative session with backing...
COVID-19 runs unchecked in Pakistan's overcrowded prisons
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A human rights report released Monday harshly criticized Pakistan’s response to the coronavirus threat faced by tens of thousands of inmates stuck in overcrowded and often unsanitary prisons. Instead of following through on promises to ease prison overcrowding made when the pandemic...
Justice Department sues Alabama over prison conditions
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Alabama over conditions in the state prisons, saying the state is failing to protect male inmates from inmate-on-inmate violence and excessive force at the hands of prison staff. The lawsuit alleges that conditions in...
Kentucky reopens former private prison closed after scandal
WHEELWRIGHT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Friday that the Department of Corrections has officially reopened a prison in Floyd County that closed in 2012 after sexual abuse allegations. The former Otter Creek Correctional Center was previously run by Tennessee-based private prison...
Rights group asks Sri Lanka to probe deadly prison unrest
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — An international human rights group has asked Sri Lanka to conduct an impartial investigation into prison unrest and the use of live ammunition by guards that resulted in the death of 11 inmates and injuries to more than 100 others. Amnesty International said authorities should...
Asia Today: 8 dead in pandemic unrest at Sri Lanka prison
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Inmates unhappy about the coronavirus threat at an overcrowded prison near Sri Lanka's capital have clashed with guards who opened fire, leaving eight prisoners dead and 59 others injured, officials said Monday. Two guards were critically injured, they said. Pandemic-related...
Sri Lankan prison riot leaves 8 inmates dead, 59 injured
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Eight inmates were killed and 59 others were injured when guards opened fire to control a riot at a prison on the outskirts of Sri Lanka's capital, officials said Monday. Two guards were critically injured, they said. Pandemic-related unrest has been growing in Sri Lanka’s...
COVID-19 in custody: Alabama ranks 9th for inmate deaths
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — At the Bibb Correctional Facility in Alabama, the old prison chapel has been turned into a quarantine zone. The sound of coughing is constant. And some people appear afraid to enter the room. An inmate described life in the quarantine to The Associated Press, speaking anonymously...
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