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 religious gatherings. ...
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 incarceration. Simultaneously, ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 10, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that Louisiana prison officials were not entitled to qualified immunity (QI) for delays in calculating release dates that left some state prisoners incarcerated for months beyond their sentences.
After Jessie Crittindon, Leon Burse, ...
by Matt Clarke
What happens if you develop a hernia while jailed? One Missouri prisoner found the answer when he was forced to wait 16 months for surgical relief. Then, on June 30, 2022, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said that’s okay – primarily because he ...
by Matt Clarke
In an important decision for prisoners and jail detainees in Virginia, the state Supreme Court held on July 7, 2022, that a jail physician was entitled to a derivation of the state’s sovereign immunity. As a result, the Court affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit brought against the ...
by Matt Clarke
On August 24, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a district court’s denial of qualified immunity (QI) to the current and former sheriffs of Clay County, Mississippi, in a suit seeking to hold them liable for detaining a mentally ill man in ...
by Matt Clarke
On August 10, 2022, the federal court for the Southern District of New York denied a habeas corpus petition filed by the former head of the union representing guards at the New York City Department of Correction. However, the Court suggested procedures by which Norman Seabrook, the ...
by Matt Clarke
On July 15, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity (QI) to Mississippi jailers accused of ignoring the injuries and pleas for medical treatment of an injured hemophiliac detainee, who then bled to death internally.
When police in ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 17, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned a long line of prior decisions to hold that a ruling on defendants’ qualified immunity (QI) must be made at the first possible opportunity — and before discovery.
The Court’s new direction came ...
by Matt Clarke
According to a March 2022 report published by the Texas State Auditor, the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has an extremely high staff turnover rate — 32.8%, compared to a 21.5% rate for all state employees in fiscal year 2021.
Within TDCJ, the rate for prison ...
