by Douglas Ankney
In an 1829 letter, Pres. Andrew Jackson (D) told the Creek Nation of Indigenous Americans that he was speaking “straight, and not with a forked tongue” when he promised those who evacuated from Alabama would enjoy new lands in Mississippi “forever.” Almost two centuries later, another Democratic ...
by Douglas Ankney
When raw sewage flooded two cell blocks at New Mexico’s Torrance County Detention Facility (TCDF) on November 14, 2023, guards working for its private operator, CoreCivic, ordered some 40 affected migrant detainees being held for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to clean it up—and gave the ...
by Douglas Ankney
On February 24, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its final order requiring prison calling-service provider Global Tel*Link (GTL) “to change its security practices and offer free credit monitoring and identity protection” to some 650,000 customers whose personal information was stolen and made available on the ...
by Douglas Ankney
On October 13, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s denial of qualified immunity (QI) to officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in two suits filed over a botched prisoner transfer during the COVID-19 pandemic that ...
by Douglas Ankney
To paraphrase Job 1:21, the Supreme Court of Virginia did not giveth but taketh away on October 12, 2023, with a ruling on prisoner sentence credits that were extended by a 2020 law only to have a budget amendment make hash of them two years later.
Before ...
by Douglas Ankney
On October 10, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion offering guidance to judges deciding whether to grant a prisoner’s motions to waive court filing fees and proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) on appeal.
Illinois prisoner Jordan Whitaker sought to waive ...
by Douglas Ankney
In June 2021, former San Luis Obispo County Jail detainee Steven J. York was awarded $175,000 to settle a lawsuit that also prompted an investigation of the jail by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). In addition to the monetary award, the settlement agreement requires Defendants San ...
by Douglas Ankney
On August 23, 2023, a jury in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma made a massive award of $33 million to the family of Terral B. Ellis, Jr., an Ottawa County Jail (OCJ) detainee who allegedly died begging for medical attention while a nurse ...
by Douglas Ankney
Delays in improvements mandated in a 2020 consent decree resulted in at least six preventable detainee deaths at Sacramento County jails, according to a grand jury investigative report on June 2, 2023.
As PLN reported, the County’s two lockups were the subject of Mays v. Cty. of ...
by Douglas Ankney
On September 27, 2023, the Kansas Department of Corrections (DOC) appeared to back down from a fight over providing state prisoners materials from a Wiccan shop—though it maintained a ban on correspondence from the shop owner and an associated coven.
For at least 20 years, MoonShadow Coven ...
