This site contains over 2,000 news articles, legal briefs and publications related to for-profit companies that provide correctional services. Most of the content under the "Articles" tab below is from our Prison Legal News site. PLN, a monthly print publication, has been reporting on criminal justice-related issues, including prison privatization, since 1990. If you are seeking pleadings or court rulings in lawsuits and other legal proceedings involving private prison companies, search under the "Legal Briefs" tab. For reports, audits and other publications related to the private prison industry, search using the "Publications" tab.
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nearly $300 million—all with the same healthcare contractor, VitalCore Health Strategies.
In July 2020, after the DOC’s former contractor, Centurion Health, opted to terminate its contract
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Oklahoma Supreme Court Kills One Jail Death Suit, Threatening Settlement of Another by In a case with enormous implications for Oklahoma jail detainees, the state Supreme Court ruled on March 11, 2025, that a jail’s subcontracted medical providers are “employees” for the purposes of the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act …
Wellpath and VitalCore Skip Paying Nearly $2 Million in Settlements in South Carolina by In October 2024, Wellpath—a private for-profit contractor that provides medical care in prisons and jails—was ordered to pay a $1.5 million settlement it entered in a lawsuit alleging that one of the company’s nurses performed “unnecessary …
Six Deaths in Eleven Months at Washington Jail by The South County Correctional Entity, a jail shared by six cities in Washington’s King County and located in the Seattle suburb of Des Moines, recorded its sixth death in 11 months on February 1, 2025. Known locally as SCORE, the lockup …
Wellpath Sanctioned for Discovery Violation in Suit Over Kentucky Prisoner’s Death
by Douglas Ankney
by Douglas Ankney
Privateprison and jail medical provider Wellpath, LLC has announced
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Wellpath Prepares Plan to Exit Bankruptcy by Prison healthcare giant Wellpath took a step closer toward exiting bankruptcy proceedings on April 15, 2025, when it announced a settlement reached with a group a notch below those senior creditors first in line for repayment. That group of junior creditors includes prisoners …
ForensicMedicalGroup (CFMG) was first contracted to provide healthcare at MCJ in 1984. As far back as 2007, a consulting firm warned that detainee healthcare was “inadequate and result[ed
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Wellpath Declares Bankruptcy by On November 11, 2024, Wellpath Holdings, Inc., and its affiliated corporate entities filed for bankruptcy protection in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Wellpath is a private, for-profit medical and mental health care provider at approximately 420 detention facilities in 39 states; …
Turn Key Health Walks Away From Oklahoma County Jail by On October 9, 2024, Turn Key Health Clinics ended its contract to provide healthcare at the Oklahoma County Jail in Oklahoma City. The firm gave notice 30 days earlier, after winning just a one-year $7.4 million extension to the contract …
Mentally Incompetent Maine Defendants Sent to South Carolina Wellpath Lockup Called “Essentially Prison” by Pre-trial detainees found not criminally responsible in Maine are being quietly transferred from the state’s Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta to Columbia Regional Care Center, a South Carolina psychiatric lockup owned by Wellpath, Inc. Wellpath has …
release from prison. On November 3, 2022, Centurion settled the case for $75,000. Unusually, the settlement agreement specifically did not resolve claims against individual NMCD defendants or privateprison
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In Failure-to-Treat Claims, Wellpath Denied Dismissal in Virginia, Settles in Pennsylvania
by David Reutter
by David M. Reutter
On November 11, 2024, privateprison and jail healthcare
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privateprison and jail medical contractor Wellpath, LLC for destroying evidence in a suit filed over a detainee death at the Josephine County Jail (JCJ). It was the second time in just over a year
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Maryland Extends Contract with YesCare Despite Bankruptcy of Predecessor Corizon Health
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For-profit prison healthcare contractor Corizon Health had a sordid reputation even before
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Advanced Correctional Healthcare Ends Two Suits Over Deaths at Ohio Jail by Private jail medical providers usually win contracts with promises to save a county money. But after two federal lawsuits filed in federal court for the Northern District of Ohio in 2023 against Ohio’s Richland County and its privately …
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The parties notified the district court that they had reached a settlement on August 9, 2024, but as with many settlements involving privatecontractors, details remain secret. Buchanan is represented by Tulsa
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No Dismissal for San Diego Jail Medical Contractor from Suit Filed Over Detainee’s Withdrawal Death by On February 8, 2024, the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California declined to dismiss all the claims brought by the family of a San Diego Jail detainee who died in custody …
Psychiatrist Settles Virginia Jail Suicide Suit for $1.75 Million by The leading cause of death among people held in local jails is suicide. The family of Christopher Lapp, 62, learned that the hard way when he killed himself at Virginia’s Alexandria Adult Detention Center in 2021, while being held on …
$7 Million Settlement for Mentally Ill Detainee’s Death in California’s Santa Rita Jail by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke In a settlement agreement effective October 23, 2023, California’sAlameda County agreed to pay $7 million to the estate and progeny of a detainee who died while incarcerated at the county’s …
and current Sheriff Eric Watson, the privatecontractors that provided medical treatment at the jail— Quality Correctional Health Care, Inc. and Fast Access Correctional Healthcare, PLLC—were named
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