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
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
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
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 ...
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, ...
