Skip navigation

Articles by David Reutter

Corizon Loses Indiana DOC Medical Contract Amid Lawsuits

by David Reutter

In 2005, at the urging of then-Governor Mitch Daniels, the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) awarded a contract to privatize medical care for prisoners. The winning bidder, Prison Health Services, merged in 2011 with Correctional Medical Services to form Corizon Health, which later won renewal of a ...

Parole Remains Elusive for Virginia Prisoners

by David Reutter

Virginia has more than 3,500 prisoners eligible for parole, representing over 9% of its prison population of 38,000 – a significant number considering that the state abolished parole over 20 years ago. Still, even for those long-serving prisoners who are still eligible, the odds of being granted ...

Florida Lawmaker Visits Prisons, Audits Private Prison Contracts

by David Reutter

In prison after prison across the state, over a period of two years, Florida state Representative David Richardson found that toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, pillows, sheets, shirts and soap were often withheld from prisoners, especially those in solitary confinement. Further, food had been denied as a form of ...

Tattoo Recognition: Law Enforcement’s Newest Identification Tool

by David Reutter

New technology is giving law enforcement agencies the ability to identify people by taking a photo of their tattoos; it can also group people with others who have the same type of body art.

Federal researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have launched ...

Abuses at Louisiana Jail Investigated, Ten Deputies Plead Guilty

by David M. Reutter

A federal investigation into the abuse of pretrial detainees at Louisiana’s Iberia Parish Jail resulted in guilty pleas by ten sheriff’s deputies. A trial is pending for an 11th deputy who did not plead guilty, Mark Frederick. Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal was also charged but ...

Nearly $57,000 Attorney Fee Award in Tennessee Public Records Case

by David Reutter

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County was found to be in willful noncompliance with the Tennessee Public Records Act. It was order to pay $56,884.55 in attorney fees and expenses as a result.

Plaintiff Bradley Jetmore filed suit against the two counties, claiming the police ...

Notice of Sex Offense Admission Requirement Not Required to Find Florida Probationer Violated Treatment

by David Reutter

The Florida Supreme Court held a defendant may be found guilty of violating probation for failing to admit to engaging in sexually deviant behavior during a sex offender program.

Warren Staples entered a “best-interest” guilty plea to one count of traveling to meet a minor. As part ...

Vermont Prisoner’s Ex Post Facto Challenge to Program Change Fails

by David Reutter

The Vermont Supreme Court held that statutes and policies that do not retroactively after or limit the Vermont Department of Corrections (VDOC) discretion over a prisoner’s treatment programming and early release, their application did not result in a longer sentence than under the prior statutes and policies. ...

$200,000 Settlement in City Counsel’s Refusal to Film Meetings

by David Reutter

The City of Cumming, Georgia, agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging it prohibited a citizen from filming a City Council meeting.

Nydia Tisdale attended an April 17, 2012, Cumming City Council meeting with a plan to video record the proceedings to part on her ...

Federal Prisoner Sexually Assaulted By Guard Receives $150,000 Settlement

by David Reutter

The Bureau of Prisons paid $150,000 to settle a prisoner’s Federal Tort Claim Act action that alleged she was sexually assaulted by a guard.

The plaintiff, identified as V.O.M. to protect her identity was imprisoned at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky.   She alleged that on ...