Missouri Department of Corrections

Missourians are seeing massive delays in receiving services, ranging from call center wait times to court-ordered mental treatment.

A prison nurse said she felt trapped between two corrections officers as one described plans to kidnap, drug and rape her. Her attorney said there were “daily ‘rape jokes’ from other corrections officers and retaliation by the warden and other jail personnel.”

Barely one month after Kevin Johnson, another St. Louis County defendant is scheduled to be executed.

Under a proposed settlement before a Cole County judge, Missouri corrections officers would get back pay and future payments worth more than $100 million for claims the state underpaid officers.

Washington County Prosecutor Josh Hedgecorth last week filed a motion to vacate conviction in the case of Michael Politte, saying there was "clear and convincing evidence" that Politte was erroneously convicted of killing his mother.

Corrections officials say the move is necessary to stem the flow of drugs into Missouri prisons. But criminal justice reform advocates warn it could violate inmates’ privacy and further isolate them from their families.

The bill directs the Missouri Department of Corrections to establish a nursery within a women’s correctional facility by July 2025, and allow incarcerated women to stay with their newborns for their first 18 months.

About half of all people released from prison in Missouri return within five years. But decades of research has shown prison education programs can help break the cycle.

Terrell Robinson has served 12 years in prison for violations he said were never even explained to him.

The Department of Missouri Corrections will lift its coronavirus pandemic visitor restrictions on April 1. Visitors can see loved ones in state prisons without wearing a mask or taking a health screening test prior to entry.

Michael Politte was a teenager when he was convicted of murdering his mother, Rita. He has long insisted he did not do it.

A pair of St. Louis Democrats sought entry to the Eastern Reception and Diagnostic Center in Bonne Terre under a state law granting lawmakers access "at any time" to state prisons.