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Articles by Matthew Clarke

DOJ Finds “Horrific and Inhumane” Conditions in Georgia Prisons

by Matt Clarke

"People are assaulted, stabbed, raped and killed or left to languish inside facilities that are woefully understaffed,” lockups where “[i]nmates are maimed, tortured, relegated to an existence of fear, filth and not-so-benign neglect.”

So began a scathing 93-page report published by the Civil Rights Division (CRD) of ...

Sixth Circuit Upholds $6.4 Million Jury Award Against Corizon Nurses For Michigan Jail Prisoner’s Fatal Alcohol Withdrawal

by Matt Clarke

On August 16, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the verdict and jury award of $6.4 million in compensatory damages against three nurses who worked for Corizon Health when it held the contract to provide healthcare at Michigan’s Kent County Correctional ...

En Banc Fifth Circuit Reverses Panel, Holds Mississippi Felon Disenfranchisement Does Not Violate Eighth Amendment

by Matt Clarke

On July 18, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed an earlier holding by a three-judge panel of the Court, which found that § 241 of the Mississippi Constitution was unconstitutional. That’s the portion of the state’s Constitution that disenfranchises those convicted of ...

USDC (D. Oregon), Case No. 6:22-cv-00451

by Matt Clarke

On June 5, 2024, the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) filed a notice of settlement in court indicating that it paid $135,000 to settle a prisoner’s lawsuit accusing a guard of intentionally allowing other prisoners into his cell so they could assault him.

In October 2020, Kevin ...

Legal Gaffe Prolongs Case of Former St. Louis Detainee Held Eight Months After Dismissal of Charges

by Matthew Thomas Clarke

On June 17, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided a civil rights complaint brought by former St. Louis jail detainee Michael Jones, who was held eight months longer after his charges were dismissed. Despite the outrageous government conduct in his case, ...

Among World Nations, Individual U.S. States Near Top of List for Per Capita Incarceration

by Matt Clarke

In June 2024, the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) ranked world incarceration rates as if each state in the United States was a separate country. The shocking but sadly unsurprising result: All states placed near the top of the list, with incarceration rates that far exceeded those ...

DOJ Settles Complaints About Conditions for Disabled Detroit Jail Detainees

by Matt Clarke

On July 11, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) approved an agreement with Michigan’s Wayne County that promised to improve conditions at its jail in Detroit for prisoners with physical and mental disabilities. The County also agreed to hire an expert consultant to assist in implementation ...

New York Prison Officials Found Routinely Violating HALT Act With Overuse of Solitary Confinement

by Matt Clarke

On June 18, 2024, the New York Supreme Court for Albany County found that the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) routinely violated Correctional Law § 137(6)(k)(ii), the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act, by subjecting prisoners to solitary confinement that exceeded statutory limits ...

Historic $7 Million Settlement in Lawsuit Over Michigan Jail Prisoner’s Fatal Beating

by Matt Clarke

On June 20, 2024, the Wayne County Commission in Detroit approved a $5 million payment on top of $2 million paid by the County’s insurer to settle a lawsuit brought by the estate of a County jail detainee beaten to death by a cellmate, who had a ...

Suits Filed Over Dehydration Deaths at Two Texas Jails

by Matt Clarke

On July 9, 2024, the grandmother of a mentally ill detainee who died of dehydration at Texas’ Denton County Jail (DCJ) filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, accusing jail staff of deliberate indifference in allowing Heath Aaron Vandeventer to suffer severe dehydration and malnutrition before he perished ...