by Harold Hempstead
On June 14, 2022, the federal Court for the District of Nevada granted summary judgment to a Muslim state prisoner, agreeing with him that the state Department of Corrections (DOC) violated his constitutional rights by restricting his ability to participate in Jumu’ah prayer.
While held at Lovelock ...
by Harold Hempstead
On August 17, 2021, after the IllinoisDepartment of Corrections (DOC) paid $450,000 to settle claims of medical neglect that cost him the use of his legs, a state prisoner successfully petitioned a federal court to dismiss his lawsuit.
In September 2017, while held at Hill Correctional Center, ...
byHarold Hempstead
In October 2022, the Mississippi Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force reported there were 2,192 more state prisoners than the year before. That pushed the state Department of Corrections (DOC) close to 95% capacity, despite reopening a former juvenile prison in 2021.
That prison, Walnut Grove Correctional ...
by Harold Hempstead
On April 12, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said a Minnesota jail detainee was not subjected to unconstitutional treatment by jailers and their contract medical providers who misdiagnosed his leukemia as gingivitis.
When Kyle Rusness arrived at the Becker County Jail (BCJ) ...
by Harold Hempstead
On September 2, 2021, the federal court for the District of Maryland denied a motion for summary judgment made by a state prison guard who is the defendant in a case brought by a prisoner who was himself a former guard, and who alleged he was subjected ...
by Harold Hempstead
On May 2, 2022, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) halted all executions scheduled for the remainder of the year for an independent investigation into the state’s lethal injection protocols. Four days later, the interim director of the state Department of Correction (DOC), Lisa Helton, filed her admission ...
by Harold Hempstead
On January 28, 2022, when Sheriff Steve Hespen retired after 35 years in Dodge County, Nebraska, he left behind unanswered a charge from the state Jail Standards Board (JSB) that the county jail was almost two years out of compliance in documenting admissions and releases.
That charge ...
by Harold Hempstead
On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a substantive due process claim based on the state-created danger doctrine did not apply to Sgt. Meggan L. Callahan, who was murdered by prisoner Craig Wissink at Bertie Correction Institution (BCI) in ...
by Harold Hempstead
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit illustrates the importance of expert testimony in a prisoner’s claim he was denied constitutionally adequate medical care. In its ruling on September 17, 2021, the Court affirmed the decision of the federal court for ...
by Harold Hempstead
On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that no civil rights violation had been committed by North Carolina officials in the murder of a guard at the hands of a state prisoner at Bertie Correction Institution (BCI).
After the guard, ...
