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Articles by Harold Hempstead

Florida Returning Canteen Funds for Prisoner Programming

by Harold Hempstead

Pickleball is one of America’s fastestgrowing sports. Played with a paddle and a large plastic ball on an outdoor court, the game offers the speed of ping pong with less risk of an ankle injury than tennis, while still a more competitive alternative to badminton for aging ...

Condemned Tennessee Prisoner Wins Fight Against Autopsy

by Harold Hempstead

On April 20, 2022, the federal court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued a highly unusal order enjoining the Davidson County medical examiner from performing an autopsy or collecting bodily fluids from a prisoner following his execution by lethal injection.

Oscar Franklin Smith filed his complaint ...

Massachusetts Settles One of Three Suits Alleging Retaliation by Prison Guards for Assault on One of Their Own

by Harold Hempstead

On February 17, 2023, an assistant to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (D) signed a settlement with a group of state prisoners, resolving claims they were subjected to retaliation after a January 2020 melee at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC) that sent three guards to the hospital.

The ...

Condemned Tennessee Prisoner Wins Fight Against Autopsy

by Harold Hempstead

On April 20, 2022, the federal court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued a highly unusal order enjoining the Davidson County medical examiner from performing an autopsy or collecting bodily fluids from a prisoner following his execution by lethal injection.

Oscar Franklin Smith filed his complaint ...

Sixth Circuit Won’t Hold Michigan County Liable After Mentally Ill Prisoner Impregnates Another

by Harold Hempstead

On May 3, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment favoring for defendant officials with Wayne County, Michigan, in a complaint filed by one mentally ill prisoner who was impregnated by another while they were confined for treatment.

Felicia Morgan was ...

Former CoreCivic Guard Pleads Guilty to Deprivation of Tennessee Prisoner’s Rights

by Harold Hempstead

On April 8, 2022, a former supervising guard at a private prison operated for the Tennessee Department of Corrections pleaded guilty to two counts of civil rights violations for assaulting a compliant prisoner. When sentenced in May 2023, the former security threat group coordinator for CoreCivic’s Trousdale ...

Eighth Circuit Affirms Conviction and Sentencing of Former Arkansas Sheriff for Assaulting Detainees

by Harold Hempstead

On February 10, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the judgment of a district court that convicted the former Sheriff of Arkansas’ Franklin County and sentenced him to four years in federal prison for abusing jail detainees. That leaves Anthony “Tony” Boen, ...

Fourth Circuit Says Prisoners with Gender Dysphoria not Excluded from ADA Protection

by Harold Hempstead

On August 16, 2022, in a question of first impression for federal appellate courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the complaint of a Virginia jail detainee presented sufficient facts to support the conclusion that gender dysphoria is not an identity disorder ...

After Federal Judge Censors Lawyer’s Tweets About CoreCivic, Company Settles Suit Over Tennessee Prisoner’s Murder by Cellmate

by Harold Hempstead

On July 15, 2022, in a case accusing private prison giant CoreCivic of a Tennessee prisoner’s wrongful death, a federal magistrate judge issued a gag order restricting public comments on the case made by Plaintiff’s attorney.

The suit was brought by Marie Newby in federal court for ...

$300,000 Paid by Colorado to Prisoner Sexually Harassed by Guard with Foot Fetish

by Harold Hempstead

On July 25, 2022, Colorado agreed to pay former state prisoner Susan Ullery $300,000 to settle her claims that she was sexually harassed by a former guard — who also sexually assaulted her while she wore a wire for prison officials trying to catch him in the ...