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Articles by David Reutter

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 ...

Releasees under Three Strikes Reform Have Lower Recidivist Rate

More than 1,000 prisoners have been released since California voters approved in 2012 the reform of the state’s harsh three strikes law. Despite not being provided pre-and post-release services afforded other prisoners, the strikers have a lower recidivism rate than other released prisoners.      

At the height of ...

Louisiana Jail Phone Consultants Resign Due to Conflicts of Interest

Two consultants hired to analyze the cost of prisoner phone calls charged by Louisiana’s Sheriffs have resigned due to conflict of interest.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) held two hearings in 2012 on the prison phone issue. Much anger was expressed about the exorbitant costs of call from prisoners ...

California’s Lack of Oversight for Probationary Programs Allows Questionable Business into Loop

California law encourages life-skill organizations to become involved in criminal justice, but a lack of oversight has allowed some non-profits to talk about responsibility while the organization itself shirks it.

A review by the Voice of San Diego (VOSD) of the Corrective Behavior Institute uncovered serious problems with the well-intentioned ...

California’s Efforts to Hide Deficiencies at Prison Psych Unit Failed

With a federal court order looming, the psychiatric unit at California’s Salinas Valley State Prison (SVPP) violated its own policies and made risky admissions to reduce its patient waiting lists.

As a three-judge panel was about to decide whether it should continue the decades long oversight of California’s prison mental ...

California Photo Ban Rule Turns SHU Prisoners into Ghosts

Hunger strikers and a federal lawsuit have pushed California prison officials to reverse a decades old policy that banned personal photographs of prisoners held in the state’s four special security housing units (SHU). While the reversal currently only applies to prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP), pressure is being ...

Texas Guards Who Fought with Juveniles Disciplined but Not Prosecuted

Seven guards at a Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJ) facility have been fired or disciplined for assaulting teenage prisoners. Many of the incidents were caught on video.

The TJJ established the Phoenix Program in 2012 to calm and counsel incarcerated youths. Guards, who internal reports say were inexperienced and sloppily ...

Dead Convicted Rapist Cop to be Sentenced

A California court is scheduled to follow a victim’s request to sentence her rapist despite the fact that he committed suicide.

Anthony Nicholas Orban was an Orange County detective who was off-duty when he went out “boozing and stalking cute girls” with his prison guard roommate, Jeff Thomas Jelinek, on ...

Washington State Must Rehire 3 Guards Fired for Complacency

An arbitrator ordered the state of Washington Department of Corrections (WDOC) to rehire three guards fired on the heels of a guard’s murder. The arbitrator’s ruling found that “widespread… complacency” existed at the Monroe correctional Complex (MCC), which “cautioned” against singling out complacent front-line guards.

In 2011, guard Jayme Biendl ...