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Articles by Matthew Clarke

Arizona Auditor’s Report Finds Underfunding of DOC’s Capital Funding Requests and Unreconciled Prisoner Trust Fund Accounts

by Matt Clarke

In October 2020, the Arizona Auditor General’s Office published a report on a performance audit of the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (DOC). The audit reviewed the DOC’s revenues, expenditures, capital funding, and management of prisoners’ monies. Although the auditors found DOC spending was largely compliant ...

$72,000 Settlement Over Corizon’s Lack of Medical Treatment to Injured Arizona Prisoner

by Matt Clarke

On August 8, 2020, Corizon Health, Inc. agreed to pay $20,000 to settle its part of a federal lawsuit brought by an Arizona prisoner who suffered a partial foot amputation after Corizon delayed effective medical treatment.

Arizona state prisoner Edmund V. Powers fell 60 to 80 feet, ...

Eighth Circuit Clarifies Legal Standards for Conditions-of-Confinement Lawsuits Brought by Civilly-Committed Sex Offenders

by Matt Clarke

On February 21, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion clarifying the legal standards to be applied to lawsuits over conditions of confinement brought by civilly-committed sex offenders (CCSOs).

This is a class-action federal civil rights lawsuit brought under 42 ...

D.C. Federal Court Rules District Providing Unlawfully Inadequate Education to Incarcerated Youth with Disabilities, Grants Preliminary Injunction

by Matt Clarke

On June 16, 2021, a federal court in the District of Columbia (D.C.) provisionally certified a class of disabled youth incarcerated in D.C. jails who were not being provided with the minimal amount of special education and related services required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ...

Lawsuit Over Denial of Medical Treatment for Painful Erection Causing Impotence in Oklahoma County Jail Reinstated by Tenth Circuit

by Matt Clarke

On January 19, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a county sheriff and three jail guards were not entitled to summary judgment based on qualified immunity in a lawsuit brought by a former jail prisoner who suffered permanent impotence after ...

Fifth Circuit Holds Defendants Entitled to Sovereign Immunity For Denial of Sex-Reassignment Surgery to Texas Prisoner

by Matt Clarke

On July 30, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated orders denying sovereign immunity to some defendants in a lawsuit brought by a transgender Texas prisoner seeking access to sex-reassignment surgery, female commissary items, and a long-hair pass.

Texas Department of Criminal ...

Fifth Circuit Holds Confessed Medical Malpractice Does Not Insulate Prison Medical Providers From Finding of Deliberate Indifference

by Matt Clarke

On August 11, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a confession of medical malpractice by prison health care providers does not prevent a district court from finding deliberate indifference. In affirming the district court’s denial of defendants’ motion for summary ...

Arizona Federal Court Rescinds Approval of Jensen Settlement; Sets Class Action Medical and Control Unit Case Against Arizona DOC for Trial

by Matt Clarke

On July 16, 2021, an Arizona federal court issued an order rescinding its 2015 approval of the settlement agreement (“Stipulation”) in a class action civil rights lawsuit challenging the adequacy of medical, dental, and mental health care in the Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) as well as ...

South Carolina Attorney General Issues Opinion That Information in State Prisoners’ Death Certificates Is Public Information

by Matt Clarke

On May 14, 2021, the Office of the Attorney General (AG) of South Carolina issued an opinion that information relating to the death of state prisoners contained in their death certificates is public information subject to disclosure under the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), S.C. Code ...

Tennessee Department of Corrections Rebids $123 Million Health Care Contract After Corizon Accuses It and Centurion of Bid Rigging

by Matt Clarke

On May 10, 2021, the Tennessee Department of Corrections (DOC) announced that it would rebid the $123 million contract it had awarded to Centurion to provide behavioral health services—including psychiatric and addiction services—to prisoners in DOC prisons. The move came after Corizon accused the DOC and Missouri-based ...