A New York federal jury entered a verdict that awarded a state prisoner $40,002 in a case alleging a First Amendment retaliation claim, and post-trial the court awarded over $107,000 in attorney fees and costs.
New York prisoner Juan Hernandez initiated a pro se civil rights action against “no less ...
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC) paid $250,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the estate of an elderly, handicapped prisoner who was killed by his psychotic cellmate at State Correctional Institution Forest.
Elwood Brasswell, 28, had a violent history attributed to his “acute psychotic behavior.” A diagnosis of paranoid ...
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 ...
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, 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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
