On July 18, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment to jailers who tasered a detainee suffering an epileptic seizure at the Pasadena city lockup in suburban Houston. Jamal Ali Shaw, 32, died at a hospital on March 29, ...
by Douglas Ankney
On April 12, 2023, the Supreme Court of Ohio compelled the Mansfield Correctional Center (MCC) to provide to Amirah Sultaana the names and identification numbers of the prisoners who assaulted her son while he was incarcerated there.
On October 7, 2021, Sultaana requested “the names of the ...
by Douglas Ankney
On May 24, 2023, the Court of Appeal of California, Sixth Appellate District, issued a mandate commanding the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to restore over $2,600 to the trust account of state prisoner Mona Salcida Murillo.
She received three money orders in 2021 for ...
by Douglas Ankney
“This appeal arises from the tragic death of Antonio May,” began the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on June 7, 2023. As longtime PLN readers know, “tragic” deaths are often those for which no one is held liable. Sure enough, the ...
by Douglas Ankney
When Missouri prisoner Robert Hebert learned in January 2023 that he had less than two years remaining on his prison sentence, the father of six and his family shared in the excitement. He planned to look for work in the concrete industry. Along with his wife, Rachelle ...
by Douglas Ankney
On April 19, 2023, the Supreme Court of Ohio awarded prisoner Franklin Woods $700 in statutory damages against the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) for failure to comply with a public-records request.
On August 1, 2022, while Woods was incarcerated at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, he sent ...
by Douglas Ankney
On August 23, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the judgment of a lower court in favor of Arkansas prisoner Deverick Scott, who claimed that a guard with the state Department of Corrections (DOC) provoked a fellow prisoner to attack Scott in ...
by Douglas Ankney
On January 25, 2023, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) signed Executive Order No. 6, establishing an Independent Prison Oversight Commission (IPOC). Created to address the “urgent need to provide transparency and accountability of Arizona’s corrections system,” Hobbs said that IPOC’s responsibilities include safeguarding the integrity of the ...
by Douglas Ankney
On April 13, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that a district court cannot dismiss a prisoner’s complaint and at the same time declare it a “strike” for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Under that statute, as amended by the Prison ...
by Douglas Ankney
On April 5, 2023, the South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed that denying a state prisoner visits from people he didn’t know prior to incarceration did not implicate any liberty interest created by the state – so he was not entitled to relief when his grievance over the ...
