On March 7, 2011, an Iowa federal district court granted a motion for a new trial after a jury awarded $259,155 to a woman who was improperly strip searched when she was arrested and booked into jail. Before another trial was held, a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling changed the ...
by Matt Clarke
The number of prisoners granted medical parole in Texas decreased in fiscal year 2012 compared with those paroled due to medical reasons in the previous two years. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved just 72 prisoners for medical parole in FY 2012, down from 100 ...
by Matt Clarke
On March 7, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in which it questioned the constitutionality of a Maricopa County, Arizona jail policy that requires male pretrial detainees who have not been convicted of a crime to wear pink underwear. The appellate court did ...
Colorado County Jail Refuses to Accept Cities’ Prisoners
By Matt Clarke
A spat over how many prisoners the county jail in Adams County, Colorado will accept went public when five chiefs of police for cities in Adams County called a press conference to criticize the sheriff. They said he was ...
by Matt Clarke
In 2009, former Harris County, Texas state district judge Woodrow “Woody” Densen was caught on surveillance video keying a neighbor’s car, causing significant damage. The video received widespread media coverage. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief and agreed to pay a $1,500 fine ...
by Matt Clarke
Studies have shown that the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among adult prisoners is more than seven times higher than among non-incarcerated adults.
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a person suffers a disruption of brain function due to an injury – such as an impact from ...
by Matt Clarke
The prospects for cost savings in the operation of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), now the nation’s largest state prison system, seemed optimistic in 2011 when the state made the unprecedented decision to close a prison. The closure of the 1,000-bed Central Unit in Sugarland ...
by Matt Clarke
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice has released the most recent in a series of statistical reports on state prosecutors.
The report covers 2,330 prosecutors’ offices serving judicial districts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Other than D.C., ...
by Matt Clarke
The deaths of five prisoners in 18 months might pass without notice in a large jail system, but that many deaths at the 270-bed Portage County jail, located about 30 miles southeast of Cleveland, Ohio, raised red flags.
An investigation by the Cleveland Plain Dealer revealed that ...
by Matt Clarke
Against the backdrop of the recent hunger strike involving thousands of prisoners in California, the death last year of an Illinois jail prisoner who died after refusing to eat or drink is especially poignant.
Lyvita Gomes, 52, died in January 2012 following a 15-day hunger strike that ...
