by David M. Reutter
An Alabama federal district court allowed portions of a lawsuit to move forward that sought damages from the City of Montgomery (the City) and Judicial Correction Services, Inc. (JCS). The suit alleged due process and equal protection violations that stemmed from a privatized probation system that ...
by David M. Reutter
A Nebraska Federal district court denied class certification in a lawsuit alleging systematic deficiencies in the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NCDS) health-care system. Individual claims of some of the lead incarcerated plaintiffs were allowed to proceed.
The court’s June 8, 2020, order resolved 11 pending ...
by David M. Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held on July 23, 2020 that a prisoner acting pro se persuaded it that a factual issue remained as to whether a nurse was deliberately indifferent to his pain and suffering. The court reversed a grant of summary judgment as ...
by David M. Reutter
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a summary judgment grant to defendants in a New York prisoner’s lawsuit that alleged he was denied due process. The court’s July 23, 2020, order was issued in an appeal brought by prisoner Jarvis Elder. While incarcerated at Attica ...
by David M. Reutter
Rapper Kodak Black filed a lawsuit on September 21, 2020, alleging he “is suffering torture and religious persecution” at the hands of Bureau of Prisons (BOP) guards and officials.
Kodak Black, whose real name is Bill Kapri, was arrested on May 11, 2019, while en route ...
by David M. Reutter
Nearly half the population at North Dakota’s Grand Forks County Correctional Center (GFCCC) tested positive for COVID-19 on November 17, 2020. Of the jail’s 20 housing units, there were positive cases in 16 units.
The Grand Forks facility has a population of 195 detainees. There were ...
by David M. Reutter
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a former Pennsylvania prisoner’s civil rights action was not barred for failing to exhaust administrative remedies. The court found the prison’s grievance policy for a prisoner dealing with an emergency or urgent situation is not bound by the ...
by David M. Reutter
After releasing almost 1,000 inmates from state prisons and 700 more from county jails in April 2020, New Jersey’s Department of Corrections (DOC) announced it would release another 2,258 prisoners on November 5, 2020, with 1,000 more to follow.
The total number of releases announced represents ...
by David M. Reutter
For those with loved ones in prisons, the coronavirus pandemic has increased the desire for communication to ensure the well-being of the imprisoned. The exorbitant cost of such calls is straining already-stretched budgets.
Most prisons have curtailed visitation, leaving families to communicate via phone calls, video ...
by David M. Reutter
A Pennsylvania prisoner whose death sentence was tossed by a federal court 17 years ago has finally won release from the state’s death row after spending more than three decades in solitary confinement there. In a September 1, 2020, ruling, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of ...
