Skip navigation

Articles by David Reutter

New York Federal Guard Sentenced to 25 Years for Sexually Abusing Prisoners

New York federal judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto on July 31, 2019, sentenced former Bureau of Prisons Lieutenant Eugenio Perez to 25 years in prison. A jury in May 2018 found Perez guilty of six counts of deprivation of civil rights, four counts of aggravated abuse, five ...

$500,000 Settlement for Colorado Prisoner Beaten During Seizure

Colorado prison officials agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging a guard severely beat a prisoner who was experiencing a seizure.

Prisoner Jayson M. Oslund entered the Colorado Department of Corrections for the second time in September 2010. He had a documented history of ...

Florida Prison Officials Ordered to Not Retaliate Against Prisoner

Florida federal district Judge Mark E. Walker entered a protective order to end retaliation against state prisoner Johnny Hill.

The court’s January 28, 2020, order was entered to protect one of the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit challenging the conditions of confinement in Florida’s segregation units. ...

$2,800 Verdict As Jury Finds Pennsylvania Jail Discriminated Against Women Prisoners in Reentry Center

Pennsylvania state court jury found on November 19, 2019 that the Berks County Jail violated the constitutional rights of women by denying them the same access to reentry privileges as men. The jury awarded $2,800 in compensatory damages to the lead plaintiff in the case, Theresa ...

Federal Judge Keeps Heat on Florida to Implement Amendment 4 Voter Restoration for Ex-Felons

On April 7, 2020, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and its GOP-dominated legislature lost another round in their battle to limit a voter-approved amendment to the state constitution providing automatic restoration of voting rights to most convicted felons “upon completion of all terms of sentence including ...

Lawsuit: Release Prisoners in Virus Tinderbox to Home Confinement

Patrick Jones first federal prisoner to die after judge rejects plea

by David M. Reutter

A non-violent federal drug offender who pleaded for early release in the months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic hitting America died of the disease. Patrick Jones, 49, was the first federal prisoner to die of ...

Emergency Cancellation of Attorney Visits Subject to Court Oversight

On March 20, 2020, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the cancellation of lawyer-client visits at the Metropolitan Detention Center-Brooklyn (MDC). The court urged a quick resolution in the district court with a mediator to deal with access to ...

Undisclosed Settlement in Kentucky Case a Textbook Case of Negligent Privatized Prison Medical Care

The provision of medical care is an expensive proposition regardless of whether a citizen or prisoner is in need of care. Tight budgets have pushed many jails and prisons to turn to prison profiteers to provide medical and mental health care to detainees and prisoners. When ...

Alabama Grandma Sentenced to Life on Drug Charge Finally Paroled

In recent years many states have made changes to their criminal codes in an effort to reduce their prison populations. Those amendments, however, are rarely retroactive and leave those already imprisoned to serve out lengthy sentences that are no longer imposed.

Alabama is one state that ...

Kentucky Governor’s Executive Order Restores Voting Rights for Felons

by David M. Reutter

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear issued an executive order that restored the voting rights of over 140,000 convicted felons. The order was signed just days after Beshear was sworn in in December 2019, and it upheld a campaign promise.

“My faith teaches me to treat others with ...