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Articles by Matthew Clarke

Kentucky Court of Appeals Upholds Jail Confiscating Cash and Checks to Pay Fees

On November 13, 2015, a Kentucky court of appeals held that neither a jail nor a bank acted illegally when the confiscated the checks prisoners had on them when they were booked into the jail, deposited the unendorsed checks and used some or all of the money to pay jail ...

Kansas Supreme Court Holds State Immune from Suit Over Murder by Escapee

On April 22, 2016, the Supreme Court of Kansas held that the son of a woman murdered by an escaped state prisoner could not sue the state for her personal injuries and wrongful death. The district court had granted the state summary judgment after finding it was immune from liability ...

Few Oklahoma Exonerees Paid for Their Wrongful Incarceration

Despite Oklahoma having a wrongful-conviction compensation statute on the books since 2003, few exonerees in that state have received payment.

One example of the battles exonerees face is the case of Greg Wilhoit, who was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of his wife. Her body was discovered in ...

Controversy over Oklahoma's Calculation of Prisoners' Release Dates

High-profile crimes allegedly committed by two former Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoners after they were released early from prison has generated controversy over how the DOC calculates release dates.

Desmond La'don Campbell was convicted of attempted kidnapping and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Between 2007 and 2012, he ...

Colorado Prisoner Sues Over Prison Officials' Failure to Treat Dental Infection

A Colorado state prisoner filed a federal civil rights action in September 2014, alleging denial of medical care for a dental infection that nearly killed him and left him with partial paralysis of his tongue and a resulting severe speech impediment.

According to court documents, Christopher Tantlinger, 32, was a ...

Colorado Guards Joke While Prisoner Dies from Easily Preventable Cause

The death of 35-year-old Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoner Christopher Lopez at the San Carols Correctional Facility on March 17, 2013, would have been rejected if submitted as a plot for a novel. It is too unbelievable! Guards found him nearly unconscious on the floor of his cell and, ...

Banished Texas Civilly Committed Sex Offenders Commit Crimes in Other States

The Texas Office of Violent Sex Offender Management (OVSOM), which supervises civilly committed Texas sex offenders, has been the subject of multiple controversies in recent months. These included secretly housing civilly committed sex offenders (CCSOs) in residential neighborhoods in Austin and Houston, contract mismanagement, missing records, administrative errors and officials ...

Arizona Private Prison Profits Disappear As Immigration Arrests Decline

The San Luis Regional Detention and Support Center opened with a capacity of 548 beds in 2007. Initially, it housed male and female immigration detainees. In 2009, Emerald Correctional Management took over operation of the center, located in San Luis, Arizona. Emerald initiated a 368-bed expansion of the center which ...

Prison-Area Cell Phone Companies Not Liable for Attempted Hit on Guard

In a March 25, 2015, opinion, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that cell phone service providers and owners of cell towers in the area around a South Carolina prison were not liable for the attempted murder of a prison guard ordered by a prisoner using a smuggled cell ...

Illinois Man Falsely Convicted of Rape Released After 20 Years

On March 9, 2015, the rape and kidnapping charges against Angel Gonzalez that had held him in prison for nearly 20 years were dismissed. He had been exonerated by DNA evidence. However, he was not immediately released because he had been convicted of damaging a sink while in prison and ...