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Articles by David Reutter

Florida Jail Ends Postcard-Only Policy as Part of Settlement

Last year, the Sheriff of Florida’s Flagler County agreed to a settlement that revoked a postcard-only policy at his jail and allowed prisoners to receive and send mail in envelopes.

Jennifer Underwood’s husband was held at the Flagler County Jail, making them subject to the postcard-only policy. The policy required ...

Male Guards’ Videotaping of Female Prisoners Being Strip Searched Results in $675,000 Settlement

In August 2014, a Massachusetts federal district court granted summary judgment to a class of 176 former and current prisoners who challenged a policy at the Western Regional Women’s Correctional Center (WCC) that allowed male guards to videotape female prisoners being strip searched. The court held the policy violated the ...

Florida’s Department of Corrections: A Culture of Corruption, Abuse and Deaths

Florida, with the nation’s third-largest prison system, has a long and sordid history of abusing, neglecting and even killing its prisoners. Because most state prisons are in insular rural areas, the general public, aside from those with incarcerated loved ones or friends, has minimal awareness of what really occurs within ...

Undisclosed Monetary Settlement Follows Abandonment of Defense Blaming Juvenile for Rape

In defending itself against a lawsuit brought by a juvenile who was raped by a guard, Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish Juvenile Detention Center cast blame for the incident on the 14-year-old victim. The matter was resolved with an undisclosed settlement amount.

At issue were the actions of the guard, Angelo Vickers, ...

Georgia Judge Issues $20,000 Sanction for Whistleblower Suit Discovery Violation

A Georgia state court ordered the state Attorney General and head of the state ethics commission to each pay $10,000 as sanctions for discovery violations in a whistleblower suit filed by the former executive director of the Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission (ethics commission).

While head of the ethics ...

Nominal Damage Award Verdict Nets $197,505 in Attorney Fee Award

A federal district court awarded $197,505 in attorney fees following a jury's nominal damage award after finding excessive force by guards upon detainees was a custom or practice at the Sacramento County Main Jail (SCMJ).

The plaintiffs, a prisoner and non-prisoner at the time the action was filed, brought suit ...

$10,000 Negligence Settlement for Ohio Prisoner

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) agreed to a $10,000 settlement in a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging injuries due to a guard’s negligence and failure to provide medical treatment.

While working on a work crew at Lebanon Correctional Institute (LCI), prisoner Christopher T.  Jackson was “negligently struck, knocked down, ...

PLN’s Florida Censorship Suit Passes Summary Judgment Stage

Florida Northern District federal court denied the cross-motions for summary judgment in PLN’s lawsuit challenging the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) impoundment and rejection of PLN based upon ad content.

The current suit is not the first round of litigation on the issue of FDOC censoring PLN. FDOC began censoring ...

Settlement in Lawsuit Alleging Kentucky Jail Allowed Prisoner to Die From Untreated Diabetes

A confidential settlement was reached on July 30, 2013 in a lawsuit stemming from the death of a pre-trial detainee from untreated diabetes while held at Kentucky’s Whitley County Detention Center (WCDC).

Ronald S. Lawson, 26, was booked into WCDC on July 24, 2010. His family advised jail personnel upon ...

Tennessee Jail Duped into Allowing Filming of Rap Video

Officials at Tennessee’s Davidson County Jail (DCJ) are outraged at being “duped” into allowing a film crew record inside DCJ under the guise of creating a documentary and then seeing it be transformed into a music video.

Rapper Struggle Jennings, whose real name is William Harness, was serving time at ...