by David M. Reutter
The Disability Law Center, Inc. (DLC) has obtained an order lifting a stay of discovery in its suit against the Massachusetts Department of Correction (MDOC). As previously reported in a 2008 PLN cover article, DLC filed a lawsuit on behalf of Massachusetts prisoners claiming the failure ...
by David M. Reutter
The federal Jacob Wetterling Act of 1994 imposed a duty on the states to establish sex offender registry programs, including life-long registration for offenders classified as sexually violent predators. In 1996, Megan’s Law required the states to provide public sex offender registries and community notification programs. ...
by David M. Reutter
Former Louisiana death penalty defense attorney Jelpi Picou, 49, was sentenced on August 23, 2010 to five years in prison for stealing over $200,000 from a publicly-funded agency he had directed since 2004.
Picou was sentenced by Orleans Parish Criminal Court Judge Robin Pittman for five ...
by David M. Reutter
Internal strife within Delaware’s Board of Parole (Board) has provided ammunition to a move by the governor to abolish the Board. The squabble has resulted in claims that the Board’s chairman is acting without legal authority and refusing to set hearings requested by the other Board ...
by David M. Reutter
A lawsuit that claimed insufficient suicide prevention procedures and staff training at New Mexico’s Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility (SFCADF) resulted in a woman’s suicide attempt has been settled for $1.8 million.
When 23-year-old Nanette Romero was arrested on a minor offense and placed in ...
by David M. Reutter
Following the graduation of 23 prisoners from its boot camp program on May 27, 2010, Colorado suspended the program. A combination of high costs and low returns led to the boot camp being scuttled.
Military-style boot camps for low-risk juvenile offenders were all the rage during ...
by David M. Reutter
In partially denying state officials’ motion for summary judgment, an Illinois federal district court discussed the constitutional parameters involved in the use of a Rapiscan Secure 1000 device, which uses “back-scatter” X-ray technology to perform body scans on visitors entering a detention facility.
Before the court ...
by David M. Reutter
New technology that helps law enforcement officials track sexual predators, terrorists and other criminals has been an effective tool that has led to thousands of arrests, but privacy experts are concerned about the convergence of information used to obtain those results.
At the center of the ...
by David M. Reutter
North Carolina’s Department of Corrections (NDOC) has inadequate procedures to contain prisoner medical costs and it overpays for prisoner medical care, concludes a fiscal control audit issued by the state’s auditor.
NDOC spends over $100 million yearly in prisoner medical care, and the costs continue to ...
by David M. Reutter
With the State of New York having 5,000 empty prison beds and a large budget deficit, it would seem the logical decision would be to save taxpayer dollars by closing some prisons. That, however, is not the choice of New York’s elected officials.
Rather than shut ...
