by David M. Reutter
On March 7, 2022, the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that a settlement agreement resolving a disciplinary action against a guard at the Cumberland County Jail (CCJ) qualified as a government record, not a personnel record, and was thus available for public review under the ...
by David M. Reutter
On March 22, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed termination of all prospective relief in a long-running class action alleging unconstitutional conditions at the Idaho State Correctional Institution (ISCI).
The Court’s opinion ended a 1981 lawsuit filed by prisoner Walter Balla, ...
by David M. Reutter
After a verdict was returned by a federal jury in favor of a disabled Illinois prisoner against the state Department of Corrections (DOC), the parties reached a settlement agreement for $1,050,000 — inclusive of attorney’s fees and costs — and attorneys for Plaintiff signed off on ...
by David M. Reutter
On July 8, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the grant of summary judgment to Prison Legal News (PLN) in a lawsuit alleging a censorship policy of the Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) ...
by David M. Reutter
As of June 6, 2022, the Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) had returned $2,551,198 in confiscated federal relief or stimulus funds to state prisoners, according to Communications Director Cindy Murphy.
A permanent injunction granted by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on ...
by David Reutter
Mistreatment of three prisoners held by the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) cost the state over $15,000 to settle their claims in separate agreements completed during 2021.
On August 12, 2021, a $5,000 payment was approved for prisoner Paul Lee, who accused guards at Pontiac Correctional Center ...
by David M. Reutter
Under the doctrine of qualified immunity (QI), prison and jail guards may be sued only when they disregard a known risk to a detainee under their watch. But in a recent case from Colorado, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said that even ...
by David M. Reutter
On March 8, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held a guard at the Detroit Detention Center (DDC) who was suspended for failing to check on a pretrial detainee cannot be liable for his overdose death because the drugs were hidden in ...
by David M. Reutter
Proving that even a small victory is still a victory, a trio of Illinois prisoners accepted a total of $6,500 to settle separate claims they were mistreated while in custody of the state Department of Corrections (DOC).
The largest payout was agreed to on June 30, ...
by David Reutter and Keith Sanders
On July 29, 2022, the federal court for the Southern District of Mississippi took the dramatic step of placing Hinds County’s Raymond Detention Center (RDC) under federal receivership.
A series of crises dates back to a 2012 prisoner riot at the 28-year-old, 594-bed jail ...
