There are many arguments against the privatization of prisons, jails and other detention facilities. Over the years, Prison Legal News has published numerous articles detailing the problems with having a for-profit company fulfill the essential governmental function of incarceration – including higher levels of violence, higher average recidivism rates, lack of public accountability and, in some cases, outright corruption and fraud.
Such reporting has revealed common factors in the private prison industry that have contributed to deficiencies at for-profit prisons, such as inadequate staffing, inexperienced and low-paid guards, high staff turnover rates and inadequate medical care.
For private prison companies, their business model of cutting costs in order to generate profit unsurprisingly results in occasional lawsuits – “occasional” because engaging in litigation is a daunting task filled with procedural hurdles and complexities that are beyond the ability of the average prisoner, as most lack even a high school education. And in cases where a prisoner is rendered incapacitated or dies, a legal action seeking to hold a private prison firm accountable only results if there are family members willing to seek justice on the prisoner’s behalf.
However, when confronted with a lawsuit that reaches the point of an impending trial ...
The City of St. Louis, Missouri and Correctional Medical Services (CMS, now Corizon Health) both agreed to pay settlements in a lawsuit filed by the estate of a jail detainee who died due to heroin withdrawal.
Upon being booked into a St. Louis jail in July 2007, Isaac Bennett, Jr. ...
Debtor’s prison has come to an end in the city of Montgomery, Alabama. Following a federal district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction requiring the city to correct its unconstitutional practice of jailing people who could not afford to pay fines, the city capitulated and entered into an extensive settlement ...
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held on August 11, 2015 that guards who subject prisoners to sexual fondling may violate the prisoners’ constitutional rights. The ruling came in the wake of media reports that the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) has high rates of staff-on-prisoner ...
A Vermont Superior Court held the policy of the Vermont Department of Corrections (VDOC) to send hundreds of male prisoners to out-of-state facilities, regardless of whether they have close bonds with their young children, while keeping all women prisoners at in-state facilities, violates the equal protection clause and common benefits ...
The state of Minnesota agreed to a $203,000 settlement in a lawsuit brought by a civil detainee at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) that alleged a policy or custom of disregarding patient safety, resulting in the detainee suffering “a brutal physical and sexual assault by his roommate.”
MSOP detainee ...
A New York Court of Claims awarded $725,000 to a prisoner who lost an eye after being attacked by a jail guard.
Prisoner Warren Davis, 31, suffers from keratoconus, a congenital eye condition in which the cornea changes from a spherical to a more conical shape, adversely affecting vision. The ...
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 ...
