by David M. Reutter
On October 20, 2020, after finding the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) was deliberately indifferent to a prisoner’s COVID-19 risk, the state’s First Appellate District Court ordered the transfer or release from San Quentin State Prison and a reduction in its population to no ...
by David M. Reutter
Over 1,000 people signed a letter that urges the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) to evacuate Vienna Correctional Center (VCC) “until it can be renovated or shut down completely.”
The letter was sent to IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Exile on June 10, 2020. It claims ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed June 18, 2020 the grant of summary judgment for defendants in a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging deliberate indifference to his dental infection.
Illinois prisoner Aaron Murphy had a molar in his upper-left jaw extracted on May 4, ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the dismissal of an Iowa prisoner’s lawsuit alleging violations of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Newton Correctional Facility (NCF) former prisoner Michael T. Rinehart had been diagnosed with diverticulitis, a chronic colon condition that causes ...
by David M. Reutter
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that to proceed under the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s (PLRA) three-strikes exception, the three-strike prisoner must demonstrate that he or she faced imminent danger when filing the lawsuit and upon filing the notice of appeal. The court also held ...
by David M. Reutter
On April 23, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the grant of summary judgment to defendants in a civil rights action alleging they failed to protect a prisoner from an attack from another prisoner.
Before the court was the appeal of Nevada prisoner Robert ...
by David M. Reutter
In March 2020, Florida-based GEO Group formally asked the government of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, to terminate a five-year, $264 million contract, which it signed in 2018 to manage the county’s George W. Hill Correctional Facility (GWH). The firm’s request to be relieved of its obligations by ...
by David M. Reutter
Just because prisoners get sick with COVID-19 in a jail too crowded to practice safe social distancing does not make jail officials liable because so long as they say they are doing “their best,” they can’t be guilty of “deliberate indifference” to the problem.
That was ...
by David M. Reutter
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld on June 8, 2020, that a pretrial detainee’s First Amendment claim that officials violated his right to free speech by opening incoming and outgoing legal mail outside his presence. It affirmed judgment on claims alleging violation of the Fourth ...
by David M. Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s order denying a prisoner’s motion for recruitment of counsel.
This was the second appeal brought by Wisconsin prisoner Randy McCaa. His civil rights action alleged that the defendants were deliberately indifferent to his threats to commit ...
