Cook County Detainee’s Suit Alleging Deliberate Indifference to Safety Survives Summary Judgment
by David M. Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment to a jail guard accused of being deliberately indifferent to a prisoner’s safety.
The case involved an incident that ...
Amount of Drugs a Factor for Departure Sentence in Kansas Prison Contraband Conviction
by David M. Reutter
The Kansas Supreme Court reversed a prisoner’s sentence for possession of contraband – a small amount of marijuana – after it held the sentencing court misinterpreted its statutory authority by concluding it could ...
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) intervened in a class-action lawsuit that alleged “abusive and unconstitutional conditions of confinement” at the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) in New Orleans, Louisiana. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), resulted in a consent judgment approved by ...
5.85 Million People Disenfranchised in Supposedly Democratic America
by David M. Reutter
The United States is billed as the world’s largest and greatest democracy. However, it is also “one of the world’s strictest nations when it comes to denying the right to vote to citizens convicted of crimes,” according to ...
Arkansas Jail Prisoner Can Proceed on Failure to Protect Claim Against Guard
by David M. Reutter
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the denial of summary judgment to a guard who was aware of a threat of harm to a pretrial detainee, but reversed as to a jail ...
Second Circuit: RLUIPA Disallows Individual Capacity Suits
by David M. Reutter
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held in September 2013 that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) does not create a private right of action against state officials in their individual capacities.
Anthony Washington, incarcerated at ...
Massachusetts: Order Relieving Sex Offender of Registration Not Vacated Upon Probation Violation
by David Reutter
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held that once a judge relieves a sex offender of the requirement to register, a different judge lacks the authority to order the offender to register following ...
Warden Granted Qualified Immunity for Two-year Visitation Suspension
by David Reutter
A prison official who suspended a prisoner’s visitation privileges was entitled to qualified immunity because, under the facts of the case, the prisoner did not have a clearly established right to visitation, the Fourth Circuit Court of ...
Second Circuit: Federal Prisoner States Conditions of Confinement Claim
by David Reutter
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a federal prisoner sufficiently stated a claim alleging the conditions of his confinement violated the Eighth Amendment.
The case involved an appeal from a New York ...
Seventh Circuit Clarifies Standard for Recruiting Counsel in Pro Se Cases
by David Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that an Illinois federal district court, like many federal courts in Northern Illinois, used an improper standard when refusing to exercise its discretion to recruit counsel ...
