An Orange County man who prosecutors say led a drug-trafficking ring that exported hundreds of pounds of meth to Australia and Papua New Guinea has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Records obtained and analyzed by CalMatters offer the first glimpse into what happened to some of the former prisoners after state leaders chose to shrink a prison population imperiled by the pandemic.

A onetime county teacher of the year at a SoCal elementary school has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for grooming and sexually assaulting two young boys on campus.

The then 73-year-old victim went from owning her own home and having around $1,000,000 in investments to live on, to being financially destitute,” prosecutors said.

The move ends nearly 18 months of litigation by one of the five men, who said he was looking forward to the change of scenery.

Earthquakes, wildfires and floods all could cause problems for California prisons. A new audit says they aren't ready to quickly evacuate prisoners.

The former Employment Development Department worker received hundreds of thousands in fraudulent unemployment claims.

Sara Jacqueline King was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison on Monday after she pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges in 2023. King was also ordered to pay $8,785,045 in restitution. She had faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.