by David M. Reutter
Inspection reports by Michigan’s Department of Human Services (DHS) concerning conditions at the Muskegon County Juvenile Detention Center (MCJDC) found an abusive environment caused by understaffing. On the verge of losing the state license to operate MCJDC, county officials agreed to make reforms.
Located in the ...
by David M. Reutter
A U.S. District Court has held that a Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) policy which prohibits “works of literature which include an explicit description of a sexual act or intercourse” is unconstitutional, both facially and as applied.
The court’s ruling was entered on cross-motions for summary ...
by David M. Reutter
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the convictions and prison sentences of two guards who were found guilty of violating a prisoner’s civil rights. The guards’ actions resulted in the sexual assault of an 18-year-old prisoner.
When J.S. was arrested for speeding and eluding ...
by David M. Reutter
“Florida’s experience with privatized prisons raises serious questions about whether the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth,” concludes an April 2010 policy brief report released by the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy. The report questions methods used to determine whether private prisons cost less ...
by David M. Reutter
An Illinois federal district court has held that existing Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) procedures for placing prisoners at the Tamms Correctional Center (Tamms) are inadequate to protect the liberty interest of IDOC prisoners to avoid confinement at the supermax facility. To cure the due process ...
by David M. Reutter
On July 13, 2010, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of a former Florida prison guard for making a false entry in a report with the intent to impede a federal investigation.
Before the Court was the appeal of Wilton Joseph Fontenot, formerly ...
by David M. Reutter
On August 20, 2010, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s order that found a warden and the secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) had “turned a blind eye” to a prisoner’s “mental health needs and the obvious danger that the ...
by David M. Reutter
At least 21 Georgia judges have been disciplined by the state’s Judicial Qualifications Committee (JQC) or have resigned amid allegations of unethical conduct since April 2008. The high rate of action by the JQC has raised questions about corruption on the bench and the secrecy that ...
by David M. Reutter
An attorney representing a prisoner who suffered a near-fatal attack by another prisoner at Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna County Prison (LCP) has claimed that the incident demonstrates a pattern of mistreatment by staff at the facility.
Prisoner Nicholas Pinto, 29, pleaded guilty to child pornography in federal court ...
by David M. Reutter
Last year, Connecticut enacted an exemption to the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that prevents disclosure of certain records requested by “any individual committed to the custody or supervision of the Commissioner of Correction or confined in a facility of the Whiting Forensic Division of ...
