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Articles by Matthew Clarke

Sixth Circuit: No Eleventh Amendment Immunity When ADA Claim Includes Fourteenth Amendment Violations

by Matt Clarke

On January 5, 2010, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Michigan district court’s denial of Eleventh Amendment immunity for a claim involving both a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12131, et seq., and the Equal Protection Clause of the ...

Former New York Corrections Commissioner Receives Four-Year Prison Sentence

by Matt Clarke

On February 18, 2010, a New York federal judge sentenced Bernard “Bernie” Kerik, 54, to four years in federal prison after Kerik pleaded guilty to five counts of making false statements to federal agents, two counts of tax fraud and one count of making a false statement ...

Dozens of CIA “Ghost” Detainees Unaccounted For

by Matt Clarke

A U.S. Dept. of Justice memo, released in April 2009, indicated the CIA had 94 people in secret prisons scattered around the world as of mid-2005, and the agency had “employed enhanced techniques to varying degrees in the interrogations of 28” of those prisoners which is the ...

NACDL Releases Report on U.S. Drug and Mental Health Courts

by Matt Clarke

In September 2009, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) released a 74-page report on the state of America’s drug and mental health courts, reflecting the knowledge gleaned from over 130 expert witnesses who testified at hearings held in seven different states and questionnaires completed by ...

Private Manufacturers Use Cheap Arkansas Prison Labor

by Matt Clarke

Two private manufacturing companies have opened shops in Arkansas prisons. Actronix, Inc. employs 65 female prisoners at the McPherson Unit to produce wiring harnesses for medical imaging devices such as MRI machines and CT scanners, while Glove Corp. employs 55 male prisoners from the Pine Bluff Unit ...

Housing Mentally Ill Violent Offender in Nursing Home Leads to Rape

by Matt Clarke

On January 16, 2009, a 21-year-old mentally ill man with a long history of violent crimes raped a 69-year-old woman housed in the same Illinois nursing home.

Christopher Shelton, 21, suffers from bipolar disorder that causes him to have an explosive temper, which led to multiple arrests ...

Cornell Wins $19.5 Million Alaska Contract; CCA Protest Denied

by Matt Clarke

In September 2009, Alaskan officials denied a protest filed by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which was the final hurdle before awarding Cornell Corrections of Alaska (a subsidiary of Cornell Corrections) a contract worth $19,446,000 to house up to 900 Alaskan prisoners in an out-of-state private prison. ...

Iraq: Unrest at Abu Ghraib as Camp Bucca Closes

by Matt Clarke

In September 2009 the U.S. military closed Camp Bucca in Iraq, once its largest detention facility, and the prison at Abu Ghraib experienced a two-day uprising. Camp Bucca cost the U.S. $50 million to build and once held over 22,000 prisoners in separate camps. It was permanently ...

Fifth Circuit Orders Discovery in Katrina Prisoner Evacuation Case

by Matt Clarke

On July 1, 2009, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court’s denial of summary judgment in a case involving the evacuation of prisoners from the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The case was remanded with instructions ...

17,698 DNA Profiles Missing from Wisconsin Database

by Matt Clarke

In September 2009, Wisconsin officials discovered that the profiles of 17,698 convicted felons were missing from the state’s DNA database.

An investigation into Milwaukee serial killer suspect Walter E. Ellis revealed that his DNA was not in Wisconsin’s 128,065-profile database, though it should have been. An audit ...