by David M. Reutter
"The Federal Reporter is replete with examples of prisoners losing cases because they missed litigation deadlines and courts extended little forgiveness,” the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals wrote on June 25, 2020, in vacating a federal district court’s grant of summary judgment of prison officials. Error ...
by David M. Reutter
On June 26, 2020, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a case in which “a prisoner states an Eighth Amendment claim by alleging that, without provocation, a prison official threatened the prisoner’s life on multiple occasions and took concrete steps, such as aggressively brandishing ...
by David M. Reutter
The death penalty is advocated both for punishing the most atrocious cases of murder and for its alleged deterrent effect. Yet on March 5, 2020, Alabama executed a 44-year-old man, not for committing murder but instead because he did not “try to stop the gunman from” ...
by David M. Reutter
When one thinks of financial support for America’s privatized prisons, one assumes it primarily comes from entities in the United States. But that is not always the case.
A February 18, 2020 story by Danwatch, a Danish investigative website, uncovered three Danish pension funds that had ...
by David M. Reutter
On April 24, 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the evidence to support a petitioner’s involuntary commitment was insufficient to support a conclusion the petitioner was “dangerous” under state law. In reversing the circuit court’s order, it was held that going forward lower courts must ...
by David M. Reutter
On January 29, 2020, the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) agreed to pay $80 million to resolve a class action lawsuit filed by juveniles who were housed in adult facilities where they were allegedly subjected to sexual assault and other harms.
The action consolidated in state ...
by David M. Reutter
In a 6-4 en banc ruling, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that Florida can bar ex-felons from voting until they pay all court fines, fees, and restitution — even if they are unable to pay.
The court’s September 11, 2020, opinion was written by ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued notice on February 5, 2020 that it has found the “totality of the conditions, practices, and incidents” it discovered at Broad River Road Complex (BRRC), South Carolina’s long-term juvenile commitment facility, violated the juveniles’ Fourteenth Amendment rights.
After stating ...
by David M. Reutter
On April 29, 2020, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a grant of summary judgment to Inmate Services Corp. (ISC), allowing to continue a civil rights action alleging a pretrial detainee’s constitutional rights were violated in 2016 when the private firm transported him “shackled and ...
by David M. Reutter
On April 6, 2020, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment to guards who allegedly failed to protect a Wisconsin prisoner. The court agreed that the prisoner failed to mention during the prison grievance process that the guards were aware of ...
