by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a report that found the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) violates prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights by frequently using excessive force. The report found overcrowding and understaffing are major contributors to the improper use of force.
The DOJ’s July 23, ...
by David M. Reutter
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held on April 27, 2020 that a district court erred when ruling against a Pennsylvania prisoner’s civil rights complaint and allowed the case to proceed
Prisoner Casey Dooley, pro se, filed a civil rights action in state court that ...
by David M. Reutter
A New Jersey prison guard was acquitted on charges of official misconduct and conspiracy to commit sexual assault. It is the second acquittal for guard Brian Y. Ambroise, who worked at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, New Jersey’s only women’s prison.
The March 13, 2020, verdict by ...
by David M. Reutter
Renegotiation of its jail telephone contract netted Pennsylvania’s Lehigh County an unbudgeted $225,000 windfall. Mark Pinsley, the county comptroller, urged county officials to put that “revenue back into efforts to aid those held in the county jail.”
Pinsley’s March 5, 2020, letter noted that research shows ...
by David M. Reutter
On May 20, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, issued a precedent-setting ruling that clarified when a “misrepresentation” to a prisoner renders a grievance process “unavailable” as a matter of law under the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). ...
by David M. Reutter
Florida’s legal battle to defend a 2019 law that requires felons to pay all “legal financial obligations” (LFOs) to be eligible to vote has cost taxpayers over $1.7 million, according to state records as of August 2020. [See PLN, July 2020, p.54.]
In November 2018, ...
by David M. Reutter
Chicago’s Cook County Jail expanded its electronic monitoring program (EM) and moved detainees to home confinement in response to COVID-19. As officials ran out of ankle monitors, at least 10 detainees who were ordered released on EM were held in jail when it was one of ...
by David M. Reutter
The University of Michigan (UM) is building a graduate campus on the grounds of the former site for a new Wayne County Jail (WCJ). The 190,000 square-foot research and graduate education building for UM students will focus on automotive mobility, artificial intelligence, sustainability, cybersecurity and financial ...
by David M. Reutter
On June 18, 2020, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the grant of summary judgment to prison officials in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging the officials’ failure to clear snow and ice from outdoor exercise yards for an entire winter violated the prisoner’s ...
by David M. Reutter
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Florida Department of Corrections’ (FDC) treatment satisfies constitutional requirements even though it does not require that Hepatitis C (HCV)-positive prisoners be treated with expensive antiviral drugs during early stages of the disease.
The court’s August 31, 2020, ...
