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 ...
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 ...
by Matt Clarke
A national audit of state parole systems conducted in 2019 gave Texas an “F” grade, noting it had some of the most burdensome requirements prisoners must meet before being approved for parole. Now a new study by the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public ...
by Matt Clarke
According to the Sacramento Bee, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office employees used money from a fund paid for by profits from the prisoners’ commissary purchases and phone calls to pay for airline fares, hotel rooms, routine jail maintenance, employee salaries, and security-related equipment. The prisoner welfare fund is ...
by Matt Clarke
On April 29, 2021, the Supreme Court of Mississippi reversed the dismissal of a Mississippi Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoner’s pro se lawsuit challenging a prison disciplinary action. In doing so, the court applied pro se leniency and accepted service of the petition for judicial review (PJR) ...
by Matt Clarke
In June 2021, the Vera Institute of Justice issued a report entitled People in Jail and Prison in Spring 2021, detailing the changes in jail and prison populations through the end of March 2021. The report showed that, following an unprecedented decline of 14%, from 2.1 ...
by Matt Clarke
On April 22, 2021, the Civil Rights Division (CRD) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a notice to Alameda County, California and its Santa Rita Jail, finding that both engage in practices which violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134, and ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 2, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a federal prisoner’s claims of insufficient due process used in maintaining his Special Housing Unit (SHU) status for 280 days. In doing so, the court refused to expand the ...
by Matt Clarke
On May 28, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Corrections Corporation of America (now known as CoreCivic) was not entitled to summary judgment in a lawsuit over a pretrial detainee held for 355 days in solitary confinement without a court ...
California Inspector General’s office issues another reports highly critical of health care at Corcoran and statewide prison employee disciplinary process
by Matt Clarke
In April 2021, the California Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report highly critical of the medical care prisoners received at the 2,976-man California State Prison ...
