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 ...
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 ...
