Treatment of prisoners
Pennsylvania drops mask mandate

Jun. 28, 2021 10:37 AM EDT
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania lifted its mask mandate on Monday, more than 14 months after the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf began requiring people to...

Death-row inmates of Sri Lanka's Welikada prison protest holding banners from the roof of the prison in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, June 25, 2021. About 150 death-row inmates in Sri Lanka began a hunger strike to demand their sentences be commuted, prison officials said, after the nation's president pardoned a former lawmaker who had been condemned for an election-related killing. Banners read "Treat all inmates equally," "Grant bail on appeal applications," "Minister! Stop bogus promises," "Grant pardon to us like you did to terrorists and notorious politicians." (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Death row inmates in Sri Lanka protest ex-lawmaker's pardon

By Bharatha Mallawarachi Jun. 25, 2021 03:15 AM EDT

Pastor Marsha Hawkins-Hourd, a community leader in St. Louis, drives past a man standing on a sidewalk in a neighborhood known to locals as a gathering spot for drug use on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Hawkins-Hourd describes the vacant buildings in the neighborhood as a symbol of addiction and a community thrown away. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
In pandemic, drug overdose deaths soar among Black Americans

By Claire Galofaro Jun. 24, 2021 02:33 PM EDT

Pastor Marsha Hawkins-Hourd, a community leader in St. Louis, drives past a man standing on a sidewalk in a neighborhood known to locals as a gathering spot for drug use on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Hawkins-Hourd describes the vacant buildings in the neighborhood as a symbol of addiction and a community thrown away. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
In pandemic, drug overdose deaths soar among Black Americans

Claire Galofaro Jun. 24, 2021 02:59 AM EDT

25 people in jail custody test positive for COVID-19

Jun. 23, 2021 08:30 AM EDT
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Officials confirmed Tuesday that another COVID-19 outbreak at Multnomah County’s Inverness Jail has infected 25 people in custody in the...

Virus outbreaks in Hawaii jails prompt inmate lawsuit

By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher Jun. 09, 2021 07:13 PM EDT
HONOLULU (AP) — A class-action lawsuit on behalf of Hawaii inmates says the state has failed to protect people from COVID-19 outbreaks in unsanitary jails. ...

This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Raymond Riles. Riles, the longest serving death row inmate in the U.S. was resentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 after prosecutors in Texas concluded the 71-year-old man is ineligible for execution and incompetent for retrial due to his long history of mental illness. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP, File)
Longest serving death row inmate in US resentenced to life

By Juan A. Lozano Jun. 09, 2021 04:53 PM EDT

Illinois state Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, introduces Senate Bill 825, an election omnibus bill which would change Illinois' 2022 primary election from March 15 to June 28 along with voter access changes, on the floor of the Illinois House of Representatives at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., Monday, May 31, 2021. (Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register via AP)
While states restrict voting, Illinois would expand access

By John O'connor Jun. 06, 2021 09:38 AM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2021, file photo, an empty Swanston Street is seen at night in the Central Business District as lockdown due to the continuing spread of COVID-19 prepares to start in Melbourne. Melbourne, the city that was once Australia’s worst COVID-19 hot spot has announced a seven-day lockdown, its fourth since the pandemic began. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, File)
The Latest: W Virginia steps up prizes for vaccination

By The Associated Press May. 27, 2021 01:43 AM EDT

Licensed practical nurse Yokasta Castro, of Warwick, R.I., draws a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe at a mass vaccination clinic, Wednesday, May 19, 2021, at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Mass. A month after every adult in the U.S. became eligible for the vaccine, a distinct geographic pattern has emerged: The highest vaccination rates are concentrated in the Northeast, while the lowest ones are mostly in the South. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Edwards ends virus restrictions, lifts schools' mask mandate

By Melinda Deslatte May. 25, 2021 03:27 PM EDT

Lawsuit: Detainees put in Mace-filled cells, denied water

By Jim Salter May. 24, 2021 06:19 PM EDT
A federal lawsuit filed Monday accuses St. Louis correctional officers of putting jail detainees in a room and spraying so much Mace that they struggled to...

Aaron McGlothin, union president at the Federal Correctional Institution at Mendota, stands in front of the prison during a protest against staffing shortages, near the prison entrance in Mendota, Calif., Monday, May 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)
Cooks, nurses guard inmates with US prisons down 6K officers

By Michael R. Sisak And Michael Balsamo May. 21, 2021 06:00 AM EDT

In this May 12, 2021 photo, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Appropriations committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Biden administration will stop using immigration detention facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia that are the subject of abuse allegations. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday announced that federal authorities will no longer use the jail facilities in Bristol County, Massachusetts and the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
US ends use of 2 immigration jails accused of mistreatment

By Ben Fox And Kate Brumback May. 20, 2021 11:49 AM EDT

Editorial Roundup: U.S.

By The Associated Press May. 19, 2021 01:25 PM EDT
Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: May 19 The Boston Globe on U.S. aid to Israel should...

New Mexico ACLU sues over treatment of immigrant detainees

May. 14, 2021 05:14 PM EDT
ESTANCIA, N.M. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center on Friday sued a private prison company over the...

Governor lifting Delaware mask mandate effective next Friday

By Randall Chase May. 14, 2021 04:57 PM EDT
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Democratic Gov. John Carney said Friday that he will lift Delaware’s mask-wearing mandate effective May 21 after the U.S. Centers for...

In this photo released by Department of Corrections, COVID-19 prisoners sit inside a field hospital set up at Medical Correctional Institution to treat COVID-19 inmates, in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 8, 2021. Almost 3,000 inmates incarcerated at two prisons in Thailand’s capital Bangkok have tested positive for COVID-19, the Corrections Department said Wednesday, May 12, 2021 as the Southeast Asian nation battles a virulent third wave of the coronavirus. (Department of Corrections, Thailand via AP)
COVID-19 infections surge among prisoners in Bangkok

By Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul May. 12, 2021 09:17 AM EDT

Archdiocese sues Wisconsin over prisoner visit restrictions

May. 07, 2021 10:01 AM EDT
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed a lawsuit Friday demanding state corrections officials relax COVID-19 protocols and allow ministers to...

Mohammed Ashraf Sehrai, sitting wearing cap, listens as separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, standing, addresses a demonstration against the government in Srinagar, India, April 16, 2008. Sehrai, a prominent politician in Kashmir who challenged India’s rule over the disputed region for decades died Wednesday while in police custody. He was 78. (AP Photo /Mukhtar Khan)
Staunch anti-India Kashmir politician dies in police custody

By Aijaz Hussain May. 05, 2021 08:23 AM EDT

Editorial Roundup: Texas

By The Associated Press May. 03, 2021 10:00 AM EDT
Dallas Morning News. April 30, 2021. Editorial: Who are my parents? Texas should give adoptees access to their original birth certificates ...