by David M. Reutter
The Montana Department of Corrections (MDOC) agreed to pay $5,400 to resolve a former prisoner’s claim that alleged religious discrimination and failed equal opportunities for women.
The November 7, 2019 Conciliation Agreement resolved complaints brought by prisoner May Simmons, who was held at the Montana Women’s ...
by David M. Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held on March 6, 2020 that prison officials did not retaliate against a prisoner by transferring him to another prison where the transfer was a response to the prisoner’s grievances concerning confinement conditions.
Indiana prisoner Robert Holleman was described by ...
by David M. Reutter
An Ohio prisoner received a $110,518.94 settlement in a civil rights action that alleged guards used excessive force on him. The settlement, finalized on February 13, 2020, further provided for reversal of misconduct reports related to the incident.
While at Southern Correctional Facility on January 21, ...
by David M. Reutter
On February 28, 2020, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the parties’ conflicting self-serving statements precluded the grant of summary judgement for defendants in a lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution.
Before the court was the appeal of Michigan prisoner Chris Davis, who is housed at ...
by David M. Reutter
Ohio’s Cuyahoga County Jail (CCJ) agreed to a $140,000 settlement on February 14, 2020 in a civil rights action alleging a prisoner was subjected to excessive force and retaliation by guards.
Corrionne Lawrence was booked into CCJ on September 16, 2018, for a probation violation.
When ...
by David M. Reutter
On January 30, 2020, a Michigan federal district court found the state Department of Corrections (MDOC) “places a substantial burden” on Jewish prisoners’ “religious beliefs by mandating a vegan diet for inmates approved for kosher.” Its order found that injunctive relief was required to cure the ...
Prisons beset with gang-related violence, overcrowding, understaffing and weak funding.
by David M. Reutter
Between late last year and early April 2020, more than 30 Mississippi prisoners died due togang violence, suicide or illness – over 10 times the average of 3.4 prisoner deaths per year between 2014 and 2018. ...
by David M. Reutter
As the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread across the nation, so did the push to release prisoners from the “Petri dish” of close confinement that exists inside jails and prisons. While some Florida jails released non-violent offenders, the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) battened the hatches ...
by David M. Reutter
Much has been made of essential employees as the economy shut down in an effort to “flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus has been on the bravery of health-care workers in hospitals and nursing homes. One group that has gone ignored are guards ...
by David M. Reutter
A Michigan federal district court found on January 6, 2020 that allegations by a prisoner tutor that prison officials retaliated against him for blowing the whistle on GED test cheating were sufficient to survive summary judgment.
Munin Kathawa, a prisoner at Michigan’s G. Robert Cotton Correctional ...
