by David M. Reutter
Michigan’s Auditor General has issued a report that criticizes the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) prison transport system as inefficient and wasteful of taxpayer money. The report notes that MDOC has failed to implement recommendations made in a 1996 report.
To transport its prisoners, the MDOC ...
by David M. Reutter
Florists in Colorado are crying out against a prison program that is competing against them, undercutting their prices due to the help of prisoner slave labor. What started as a prison program to keep prisoners busy has now turned into a business that florists in Canon ...
by David M. Reutter
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the convictions of two guards convicted in a sex-for-contraband scheme at the Women’s Federal Correctional Institute in Tallahassee, Florida. PLN previously reported the arrests and indictments in this case. [See: PLN, Aug. 2007, p.38; Oct. 2006, p.12].
Before ...
by David M. Reutter
“Regardless of my personal opinion about the death penalty, I do not have confidence in the criminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to who lives and who dies for their crime,” said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, ...
by David M. Reutter
When 27-year-old Jonathan Magbie entered the District of Columbia Jail to serve a 10-day sentence, he was a quadriplegic confined to a mouth-operated wheelchair. Four days later he was dead.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith E. Retchin sentenced Magbie to jail after he pleaded guilty to ...
by David M. Reutter
Population: 52. That’s how many sex offenders have been forced to live under the Julia Tuttle Causeway in Miami, Florida as of March 2009. In late 2007, the population was only 19. [See: PLN, June 2008, p.1].
With city and county laws creating restricted residency zones, ...
by David M. Reutter
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that pepper spraying a prisoner, keeping him in a small cell for longer than necessary to gain his compliance, and not allowing him to decontaminate properly or receive medical care after being sprayed can constitute excessive force and deliberate ...
Pro Se Muslim Prisoner Reaches Religious Rights Settlement Agreement with Virginia Prison Officials
by David M. Reutter
A pro se Virginia prisoner has entered into a settlement agreement with prison officials that provides him a $2,250 cash payment and a change in policies surrounding the provision to allow prisoners to ...
Lawsuits Challenge Prohibition on Prisoner Pen-Pal Services in Indiana, Florida
by David M. Reutter
To the extent that an Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC) policy “denies prisoners the right to advertise for pen-pals and receive material so they can advertise for pen-pals, the [policy] violates the First Amendment to the ...
$1.4 Million Settlement in Three-Day Long Sexual Assaults of Alaska Prisoners
by David M. Reutter
Two male Alaska prisoners who were sexually assaulted by other prisoners have reached a $1.4 million settlement in a lawsuit filed against prison officials. The incident occurred at the Yukon Kuskokwin Correctional Center in September ...
