by Matt Clarke
On February 23, 2023, a federal judge who had earlier refused to reduce the sentence of the former head of the New York City jail guards’ union convicted in a costly bribery scheme, instead granted compassionate release to Norman Seabrook, 63.
The former president …
by Matt Clarke
On July 11, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit granted a motion to withdraw from an attorney appointed to represent a federal prisoner in Missouri appealing his civil commitment. Though allowing the appeal was “frivolous,” the Court denied a companion motion …
by Matt Clarke
On July 13, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed dismissal of a lawsuit filed over the death of a Texas detainee during an altercation with jail guards.
Kelli Leanne Page, 46, was awaiting trial at the Coryell County Jail …
by Matt Clarke
On July 22, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reinstated claims previously dismissed in a lawsuit filed over a detainee’s fatal beating at a prison privately operated by LaSalle Management Co. for the city of Monroe, Louisiana.
Monroe ceased leasing …
by Matt Clarke
On July 22, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a district court erred when it tossed a Muslim prisoner’s lawsuit over denial of Kosher meals during a hurricane evacuation from his Texas prison. It was the Court’s second review …
by Matt Clarke
On August 31, 2022, the U.S. Court ofAppeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a district court’s grant of qualified immunity (QI) to a Texas prison guard who used his baton to beat and break the arm of a prisoner protruding from the bottom of a …
by Matt Clarke
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Global Human Rights Clinic (GHRC) of the University of Chicago Law School released a comprehensive report on June 15, 2022, detailing the way American prisoners are coerced into providing labor for little or no compensation. The practice …
by Matt Clarke
On August 16, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that grievance procedure rules which the Mississippi Department of Corrections (DOC) published online – but which were not given to prisoners – cannot trigger a failure to exhaust administrative remedies that …
by Matt Clarke
On July 11, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reinstated a Texas prisoner’s suit against officials with the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) who had banned him and other members of the Nation of Gods and Earths (NOGE) from holding …
by Matt Clarke
A 72-page report by the Brennan Center for Justice published on July 6, 2022, shows how civil asset forfeiture, fines, fees and privatized community supervision shift the costs of the criminal justice system to the accused, removing financial disincentives for prosecutors to seek alternatives to …
