By Matthew T. Clarke
On December 8, 2004, the Texas Court of Appeals held that a prisoner's
lawsuit was considered filed the day he turned it over to prison officials
for mailing.
Edwin H. Witherspoon, a Texas state prisoner, filed a civil rights suit
against prison officials in state court. ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
A report by the New Jersey State Auditor released in July 2005, finds that the $1.5 million Life Skills Academy (LSA) contract was not properly monitored by prison system officials. The problems included prisoners who had graduated from the program previously and were facilitating the program ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
It has often been said that it?s hard to tell the cops from the crooks. In Texas this may be true for prison guards as well. In April 2006, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) released information indicating that record numbers of guards have been ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
On May 16, 2006, a New York federal district court magistrate recommended awarding $143,774.55 in attorney fees and costs to the attorneys who represented a prisoner in a civil rights action.
Byron Lake was a prisoner in the Schenectady County (New York) Jail. Due to overcrowding, ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
Ohio and Illinois have recently expanded the scope of persons required to register with the state as sex offenders to include persons who have never been charged with or convicted of a sex crime.
In Ohio, the law was intended to register persons suspected of having ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
A violent criminal predator used Maine's sex offender registry web site to identify two sex offenders so he could murder them.
Stephen A. Marshall, 20, of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, used his laptop to methodically research the information posted on 34 registered sex offenders in ...
Early Release Debacle Prompts Nevada Prison Director's Resignation
by Matthew T. Clarke
Jackie Crawford, director of the Nevada state prison system since May 2000, announced her resignation from the $116,000-a-year position on September 15, 2005. The announcement cited health issues -- a worsening back problem -- as the reason for ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
According to a report released by the U.S. Department of Justice?s Bureau of Justice Statistics in April, 2006, the U.S. spent a record $185 billion for police protection, detention, and judicial and legal activities in 2003. This represented a 418% unadjusted increase over 1982 justice expenditures. ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
In a ground-breaking decision the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (Vienna Convention) created individual rights to consular notification that may be enforced in a civil action. Thus, the Seventh Circuit allowed a former state prisoner who ...
by Matthew T. Clarke
On June 29, 2006, e federal judge in Georgia granted class-action status and a temporary restraining order (TRO) suspending enforcement of some provisions of Georgias sex offender residency law (SORL), Ga.Code.Ann. § 42-15.
The SORL was passed in 2006 and included provisions prohibiting registered sex offenders ...
