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Articles by Matthew Clarke

Study Reports on Undiagnosed HIV Infections in New York City Jails

by Matt Clarke

An article in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome reported that the HIV infection rate among people being booked into New York City jails was much higher than the average in the general population, but lower than the 1998 rate. In ...

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Rules Against Parole Board on Imposition of Sex Offender Restrictions on Non-Sex Offenders

by Matt Clarke

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was required to provide due process in the form of a hearing similar to a parole revocation hearing before imposing onerous sex offender restrictions (Special Condition X) on prisoners who had been ...

Family of Prisoner Strangled in Oklahoma GEO Private Prison Awarded $6.5 Million

by Matt Clarke

In June 2011, the family members of an Oklahoma state prisoner who was murdered by his cellmate at a privately-operated GEO Group prison in Lawton, Oklahoma received a $6.5 million jury award.

On January 30, 2005, Lawton Correctional Facility prisoner Ronald L. Sites, 48, was strangled to ...

North Carolina Jury Awards $10 Million in Wrongful Death Suit Against Taser

by Matt Clarke

On July 19, 2011, a federal jury in North Carolina awarded $10 million to the parents and estate of a teenager who died after being shocked with a Taser fired by a police officer. The defendant in the case was Taser International, Inc.

In March 2008, 17-year-old ...

Russian Prison Officials Sentenced for Torture and Rape of Prisoners

by Matt Clarke

In March 2011, Lt. Colonel Vyacheslav Tippel, former head of the prison department for the St. Petersburg region in Russia, received a seven-year sentence for ordering the rape and torture of a prisoner. Six other prison officials with the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishment (FSIN) ...

Sixth Circuit Upholds $2.5 Million Jury Award for Wrongly Convicted Women

By Matt Clarke

On April 12,2011, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion upholding the $2.5 million jury award and $250-per-hour attorney-fees award to two women who were wrongly convicted of felonies.

Kimberly Sykes and Tevya Grace Urquhart were wrongly convicted of larceny by conversion and false report ...

New York’s Sex Offender Civil Commitment Program Proves Expensive, Problematic

by Matt Clarke

At an annual cost of $175,000 per civilly-committed sex offender, New York’s civil commitment program is the second most expensive in the country (Washington state is first at a cost of $177,000 per prisoner). As of December 2010, the more than $40 million-per-year program, which has the ...

Arizona Court of Appeals Authorizes Attorney Fees in Bilke Minimum Wage Class-Action Suit

By Matt Clarke

On January 29, 2009, the Arizona Court of Appeals held that plaintiffs’ attorney fees must be paid by the state in the Bilke case.

Mitchell Paul Bilke, Charles Roberts, Kenneth Asherman, Felton Hale, Richard S. Berry, Mervin L. Davis and Damon D. Fisher are Arizona state prisoners ...

Sixth Circuit: Prisoner Must be Allowed Direct Appeal When Prison Delayed Appeal Mailings

by Matt Clarke

The Sixth Circuit held that Michigan had to allow the appeal of a prisoner’s criminal conviction when prison officials had delayed the mailing of his appeal documents until after the filing deadline had expired.

Following his criminal conviction in state court, John Andrew Dorn, a Michigan prisoner, ...

The Sun Never Sets On Torture in American Military Prisons

by Matthew T. Clarke

PLN has reported extensively on some of the issues surrounding the treatment of prisoners in the American military prisons which were set up to hold people suspected of committing or supporting terrorism. This ranges from the murder, torture and abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan ...