Maryland Prison Audit Reveals Potential Fraud "Undetectable"
by Michael Rigby
Maryland employees responsible for millions of dollars worth of equipment and funds perform their duties without adequate oversight or fiduciary controls, an audit of the Jessup Region of the Maryland Department of Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) has concluded.
The ...
by Michael Rigby
The daughters of a mentally ill man who was raped and beaten to death by another prisoner in New Jersey's Camden County Correctional Facility (CCCF) will receive a combined $4 million from the state and the jail's mental health care provider, Steininger Behavioral Care Services.
Joel Seidel, ...
In November 2006 the State of Texas paid $250,000 to settle with the family of Charles Billops, Jr., a teenager who died from an undiagnosed brain abscess caused by a sinus infection while imprisoned in 2003. The settlement was paid on behalf of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), ...
by Michael Rigby
In 2005, 16 states executed 60 prisoners?one more than in 2004, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report released in December 2006.
Those executed in 2005 included 38 whites, 19 blacks, and 3 Hispanics. As for gender, 59 men and 1 woman were executed that year. ...
The State of Rhode Island has paid $120,000 to settle with a prisoner who was forced by guards to eat his own feces.
While serving a six month sentence for shoplifting at the Adult Correctional Institution (ACI) in November 2006, Michael Walsh was confronted by six guards--including Captain Gaulter Botas, ...
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice will pay $140,000 to settle a federal lawsuit stemming from the needless asthma-related death of a prisoner at the McConnell prison unit in August 2004.
At least six guards and a nurse were present as Micah Burrell, 24, lay on the floor of his ...
by Michael Rigby
In 2003 the U.S. spent a staggering $185 billion to fund its burgeoning ?justice? system, according to a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics released in March 2006. That figure includes funds spent on prisons and jails, police protection, and judicial and legal activities.
The figure ...
By Michael Rigby
On August 18, 2006, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois awarded $7,116.35 in attorney's fees and costs to a state prisoner who prevailed in his civil rights claim against prison officials.
Plaintiff David Williams filed suit against prison personnel under 42 U.S.C. § ...
Fifth Circuit Remands Texas Prisoner's Retaliation Claim, Adopts De Minimis Standard
by Michael Rigby
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that prisoners must allege more than de minimis retaliatory acts to support retaliation claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. However, the Court further held that a transfer to ...
On November 30, 2004, federal jurors in Wisconsin awarded $1.25 million to
a state prisoner who was denied hundreds of meals over a 3 to 4-year period.
Berrell Freeman, a prisoner serving 58 years for murder, was imprisoned in
the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF), a supermax prison. When meals ...