MIAMI — South Florida rapper Kodak Black was freed from jail Wednesday after a federal judge sentenced him to time served for a probation violation, though a drug trafficking case from 2022 remains ongoing. U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez in Miami handed down the sentence nearly two weeks after a drug possession charge was … Read more
PORTLAND, Ore. — Kendra Sawyer spoke with her dad from the Deschutes County jail and told him she loved him. Six hours later, in the throes of opioid withdrawal, the 22-year-old took her own life. A year later, Sawyer’s father, Kent, is left wondering whether his daughter, troubled as she was, might still be alive … Read more
JACKSON, Miss. — Inmates at a Mississippi prison were forced to mix raw cleaning chemicals without protective equipment, with one alleging she later contracted terminal cancer and was denied timely medical care, a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges. Susan Balfour, 62, was incarcerated for 33 years at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility until her release in … Read more
LOS ANGELES — The tributes that poured in following Wayne Kramer’s death last week came from musicians praising the MC5 guitarist’s contributions to rock music, as well as from prison reform advocates who extolled his legacy of bringing music to incarcerated people. Kramer, who died Feb. 2 at age 75 of pancreatic cancer, influenced generations … Read more
EL CAJON, Calif. — A nurse at a California jail was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter Friday in the November 2019 death of an inmate who collapsed in her cell. But jurors deadlocked on charges against a jail doctor. Danalee Pascua was acquitted in the death of 24-year-old Elisa Serna at the Las Colinas … Read more
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina has joined a nascent nationwide effort to improve outcomes for more prisoners who return to society through an approach focused on education, health care and housing. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, signed an executive order Monday that seeks to reduce recidivism through formal training and workforce tools for incarcerated people … Read more
MINNEAPOLIS — A dying thief who confessed to stealing a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” because he wanted to pull off “one last score” is expected to stay out of prison after he’s sentenced Monday. Terry Jon Martin, 76, stole the slippers in 2005 from the Judy … Read more
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois has awarded a more than $4 billion prison medical care contract to the same company it’s used for three decades, despite multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the firm and statewide complaints alleging substandard care. Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources was one of two companies responding to a request for proposals from the Illinois Department … Read more
PLACERVILLE, Calif. — A lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died after being held in a Northern California jail alleges he contracted a preventable viral infection there when its medical staff denied him critical HIV medication for two months. When Nicholas Overfield was arrested in Feb. 2022 for a failure to appear … Read more
LAS VEGAS — A Nevada judge set bail Tuesday at $750,000 for a former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur in 1996, saying he can serve house arrest with electronic monitoring ahead of trial on a murder charge. Court-appointed attorneys for Duane “Keffe D” Davis told The … Read more
