by Douglas Ankney
On June 28, 2019, the Grayson County Circuit Court awarded $197.55 to state prisoner Gary Brown following a bench trial in which he proceeded pro se on a tort claim against the Commonwealth of Virginia (Commonwealth).
Brown’s complaint alleged that on July 22, 2016, he was speaking ...
by Douglas Ankney
On September 16, 2019, federal judge Roslyn O. Silver signed an order that denied, in part, a motion filed by the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC) to terminate monitoring of out-of-cell exercise time for prisoners housed in maximum-security units.
The ADOC moved to terminate its obligation to ...
by Douglas Ankney
For over 20 years, the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) has run multiple bulk records collections. According to a report from the Inspector General (“IG”), the DEA targeted phone calls placed to “drug nexus” countries. (Almost anywhere in or out of the country is defined as a drug ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (“BJS”) released its data collection on capital punishment for 2017. The BJS obtained data relating to every person under sentence of death in the federal government (excluding military prisoners) and in the 34 states that authorize the death penalty.
Here are some ...
by Douglas Ankney
Connecticut man arrested for his unintentional failure to serve a 13-year-old federal prison sentence was released from custody in March 2019.
Philadelphia native Demetrius Anderson had not only remained free for those 13 years after completing his sentence at a Connecticut state prison in 2006, he also ...
“Will You Get Back Up?”
by Douglas Ankney
In November 2017, Piper Travis was arrested for failure to appear on two misdemeanor counts of stealing a TV and a $3.48 bag of Easter candy from a Walmart in Washington state. On November 20 the 34-year-old from Whidbey Island was booked ...
by Douglas Ankney
On August 1, 2019, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that non-medical correctional staff were entitled to qualified immunity in a lawsuit alleging they had failed to provide a medical accommodation to a prisoner that had neither been ordered by the medical department nor was obvious ...
by Douglas Ankney
In 1999, Marty Schwartz started Vehicles for Change (VFC) – a nonprofit that repairs donated vehicles and sells them to low-income families for $700 to $850. The charity provides reliable vehicles to solve “the No. 1 barrier for employment for low-income residents – which is [lack of] ...
by Douglas Ankney
According to a report released on July 23, 2019, by fox43.com, a $550,000 settlement was reached in a § 1983 lawsuit brought against York County, its Prison Board, and numerous officials by the family of a woman killed by her ex-boyfriend in 2012.
CherylAnn J. Dowell was ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has defined the term “serious physical injury” in the text of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Michael Gresham is a state prisoner serving a 75-year sentence in a Michigan prison. He filed a § 1983 action against several prison ...
