The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that an Alabama prisoner failed to state a claim against the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), when he alleged that its application of a 2011 sex offender (S.O.) statute to his 2005 conviction violated his procedural and substantive due process rights and his ...
by David Reutter
The Kansas Supreme Court held that a prison trust fund is an actual trust, subject to the provisions of the Kansas Uniform Trust Code (KUTC), therefore the lower courts erred in applying a general statute to establish venue instead of the specific statute that assigned exclusive venue. ...
by David Reutter
A California federal district court granted limited injunctive relief to a state prisoner in a deliberate indifference suit against the California Correctional Training Facility (CTF) doctors. The court held that an individual member of a pending class action suit was not barred from seeking relief on individual ...
by David M. Reutter
Tattoos are virtually a rite of prison passage, and the designs, where they are placed and what they signify often have more meaning than just self-expressive body ink.
Once considered taboo, tattoos have gained wider acceptance in today’s society, especially among the younger generation. About 23% ...
by David M. Reutter
Following the reversal of his homicide conviction by the Louisiana Supreme Court in November 2016, death row prisoner Rodricus Crawford, 29, was released on $50,000 bond after serving three years in prison. A new prosecutor reviewed the case and, on April 14, 2017, announced the dismissal ...
by David M. Reutter
Tennessee prison officials “turn a blind eye” to the medical needs of prisoners infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a class-action lawsuit filed in July 2016 alleges. While it is likely that almost half of all Tennessee state prisoners have the disease, prison officials cite ...
by David M. Reutter
In September 2015, a Georgia prison doctor was fired for lying on his employment application. The misrepresentations were uncovered earlier that year during an investigation by the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) into the deaths of nine female prisoners under the doctor’s care. He was cited in ...
by David Reutter
A Michigan state district court judge was ordered to end a “pay or stay” policy that he used to toss poor defendants in jail for their inability to pay fines, fees and court costs.
The ACLU of Michigan assigned interns and fellows to watch the court proceedings ...
by David Reutter
In finding the treatment of South Carolina’s prisoners with “serious mental illness” is unconstitutional Judge J. Michael Baxley said that the case is “the most troubling” of those he has seen in more than 14 years on the bench.
At issue was a class action lawsuit brought ...
by David M. Reutter
As the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan developed in 2015 and 2016, detainees held at the Genesee County Jail (GCJ) were told the water they drank, cooked with and bathed in was safe. [See: PLN, March 2016, p.22]. That lie was the subject of a ...
