by Alan Prendergast, Westword

When Joseph Deaguero went to prison almost three years ago, he had a pretty good idea of what to expect. He had been behind bars before, for a series of assaults and domestic-violence arrests. But this time around, Deaguero, who’s currently 52 years old and serving a twelve-year ...

by Christopher Zoukis

The Eighth Circuit ruled on September 15, 2016, in a per curiam opinion, that the Sixth Amendment’s right to a speedy trial is essentially not applicable to prisoners held in administrative segregation pending criminal charges.

Rashad A. Wearing was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest ...

by Paul Wright

For the past 30 years, as mass incarceration rates have skyrocketed, so has the number of prisoners infected with hepatitis C (HCV). This is in part because so many prisoners are current or former intravenous drug users, and so much time and energy is spent arresting and ...

by Derek Gilna

In a July 2016 report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that 16 of the 18 immigrant detainees who died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody from 2012 to 2015 received substandard medical care, and that in 7 of those cases, inadequate care likely contributed to their ...

by Joe Watson

Widespread abuse by prison guards across New York State has led to at least 175 monetary awards to prisoners from 2010 to 2015 totaling around $10 million, a newspaper investigation found. Those numbers only include cases involving guard brutality; other payouts, such as for inadequate medical care ...

by David Reutter

As mass incarceration in the United States grew between 1990 and 2005, many lawmakers decided to ride the wave of “tough on crime” rhetoric by building new correctional facilities to house the increasing number of people being arrested, convicted and incarcerated. During that period, 544 detention centers ...

On May 19, 2016, the Supreme Court of Illinois held the state could not use a handpicked expert witness to give testimony in a recovery proceeding under the Sexually Dangerous Persons Act (SDPA).

James E. Grant was convicted of attempting to sexually assault a neighbor and related charges, and the ...

by David Reutter

Private medical contractors have become popular among corrections officials eager to reduce the cost of providing health care to prisoners. As PLN continues to chronicle this phenomenon, we continue to find substantial evidence that for-profit companies fail to provide adequate medical care – including in county jails ...

by Matt Clarke

Texas lawmakers recently took action to address the relationship between the Texas Mutual Insurance Company (TMIC) and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, after finding the connection between the pair was too close for comfort.

Since 2001, TMIC had paid the DA’s office around $4.7 million to ...

More than two decades have passed since the murder of 13-year-old runaway Rebecca Hedman spurred Washington State lawmakers to pass a bill allowing judges to send at-risk children to juvenile detention centers. But implementation of the “Becca Bill” has become controversial because Washington now uses the law to incarcerate children ...

by Joe Watson

With its criminal justice system bursting at the seams, one state has decided to take a controversial step to alleviate the pressure.

In 2015, Pennsylvania officials indicated the state would become the first in the nation to mandate the widespread use of risk predictors (also referred to ...

by Lonnie Burton

On October 17, 2016, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the warden and a private health care provider in a case where a prisoner suffered an asthma attack and later died. The prisoner’s estate alleged that ...

by Christopher Zoukis

A game-changing settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit over the treatment of prisoners held in solitary confinement in Delaware state prisons.

The suit, filed on August 6, 2015 by the Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI), with representation by the ACLU of Delaware and the ...

by Derek Gilna

On August 2, 2016, officials in San Diego County, California agreed to settle a federal civil rights suit stemming from a prisoner’s death caused by a drug overdose at the county’s central jail.

According to the complaint, Bernard Victorianne, 28, was arrested for driving under the influence; ...

by Matt Clarke

On January 4, 2016, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a Muslim prisoner who was denied several sack meals during Ramadan.

Michael L. Thompson, incarcerated at the Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, filed a federal civil rights action alleging ...

by Derek Gilna

On June 23, 2016, jail officials in Genesee County, Michigan entered into a federal consent decree that required them to provide detainees with bottled water to replace water at the jail that was contaminated by lead. [See: PLN, March 2016, p.22]. As part of the consent ...

In an all-cash transaction that closed on April 6, 2017, private prison firm the GEO Group, Inc. acquired New Jersey-based Community Education Centers (CEC), a for-profit reentry and treatment provider. GEO plans to integrate CEC into its existing business operations.

The $360 million deal expands GEO’s annual revenue by approximately ...

by Derek Gilna

In July 2016, New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against Armor Correctional Health Services, the medical provider for the jail in Nassau County. The suit alleged a dozen prisoners had died at the facility, in large part due to substandard medical care ...

by Lonnie Burton

On September 8, 2016, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a district court’s order granting summary judgment to a federal prison doctor who refused to adequately treat a prisoner with severe burns on his legs. However, summary judgment in favor of a health services ...

Progressives have zeroed in on electing prosecutors as an avenue for criminal justice reform, and the billionaire financier is providing the cash to make it happen.

by Scott Bland, Politico

While America's political kingmakers inject their millions into high-profile presidential and congressional contests, Democratic mega-donor George Soros has directed his ...

by Lonnie Burton

Richard Jordan and Ricky Chase, on death row in Missouri, challenged lethal injection as an execution method by contending it was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. After the federal district court denied a motion to dismiss filed by Missouri prison officials, Chase ...

by Christopher Zoukis

The Eighth Circuit of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against an Iowa halfway house and several state officials over injuries caused by a halfway house resident.

Tamela Montgomery alleged that Angenaldo Bailey, who was staying at the Curt Forbes Residential Center in Ames, ...

by Matt Clarke

The mission of the Texas Forensic Science Commission (TFSC) is to set standards for the use of scientific evidence in the state’s criminal justice system. In investigating the proper standards for DNA testing during the summer of 2015, the Commission came to the unsettling conclusion that the ...

by Lonnie Burton

On October 20, 2016, the Illinios Supreme Court declared constitutional a law that requires convicted sex offenders to report their email addresses, Internet identities and related online data to law enforcement officials. The unanimous decision found a provision of the Sex Offender Registration Act, 730 ILCS 152/101 ...

The dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Mississippi state prisoner Bobby Wilson, Jr., alleging violation of his free speech rights and retaliation by prison officials, was upheld by the Mississippi Court of Appeals on August 30, 2016.

Wilson claimed that prison guard Tameka Edwards refused to open his cell door ...

On May 31, 2017, the Philadelphia Ethics Board levied a $2,000 fine against former Prisons Commissioner Louis Giorla for violating conflict of interest rules that prohibit city employees from benefitting from any of their official actions for two years after leaving city employment. According to a settlement agreement between Giorla ...

by Matt Clarke

On March 31, 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Shira A. Scheindlin granted final approval to a historic settlement between the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and New York State that will usher in comprehensive reform of disciplinary solitary confinement in the state’s prison system. The reforms ...

by Christopher Zoukis

On September 16, 2016, the Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama reversed an order by the Montgomery Circuit Court granting summary judgment in favor of state prison officials in a lawsuit filed by a state prisoner alleging constitutional violations.

Ronald D. Veteto claimed that he was forced ...

by Matt Clarke

In many U.S. cities, local ordinances prohibit registered sex offenders from living in certain areas – generally within 1,000 feet or more of schools, playgrounds and daycare centers. But when a city is just a few dozen blocks in size, such ordinances can effectively force sex offenders ...

by Panagioti Tsolkas

"That was just like opening a fire hydrant" is how former Michigan state prisoner Glen Lilly described the thousands of pounds of raw sewage that flooded the basement at the Parnall Correctional Facility as a result of a plumbing disaster that spanned several months.

“It shot onto ...

by Matt Clarke

The original 1836 Constitution of the Republic of Texas included a prohibition against imprisoning people who were unable to pay their debts. In the modern Texas Constitution, that concept is enshrined in the state’s Bill of Rights: “No person shall ever be imprisoned for debt.” Yet despite ...

by Derek Gilna

Kevin Dixon was a pretrial detainee at the Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois when he was diagnosed with a paratracheal mass. Unfortunately, according to the Seventh Circuit, medical personnel at the facility “were aware of the problem, but they accused [him] of malingering, gave him over-the-counter ...

by Christopher Zoukis

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a prisoner’s verbal grievance made to prison staff was protected speech under the First Amendment, and gave rise to a civil action when the prisoner faced retaliation for making a verbal complaint.

Charles Mack, incarcerated at the Federal ...

by Lonnie Burton

On October 17, 2016, the Seventh Circuit granted the appeal of an Illinois state prisoner who had sued for violations of his religious rights. The appellate court held that a previous claim he had filed in state court based on the same set of facts did not ...

On March 30, 2017, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections fired eight guards amid a federal investigation into the January 9, 2017 beating of 34-year-old prisoner John Harold at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center.

An internal investigation conducted by prison officials determined that Lt. Andre Riley, Master Sgt. ...

by Matt Clarke

On April 12, 2016, the MacArthur Foundation announced grants totaling nearly $25 million to support 20 jurisdictions working to create fairer and more effective systems of local law enforcement. The grants are part of the $100 million Safety and Justice Challenge Initiative, a five-year funding push to ...

by Lonnie Burton

An Illinois State prisoner who was raped agreed to settle his lawsuit against Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) officials who punished him for reporting the sexual assault. The $450,000 payout was one of the largest in state history for a prison retaliation case.

In August 2011, James ...

by Derek Gilna

Last year the Federal Judicial Center (FJC), part of the Court Administration and Case Management Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, published a study that found criminal defendants who cooperated with the government were often harmed or threatened with harm. However, a recent federal ...

by Derek Gilna

Kevin A. Williams, a state prisoner at the Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois, was serving a 65-year sentence for murder. While at Pontiac he ordered a copy of his victim’s death certificate, but prison staff blocked his receipt of that document and an accompanying unsigned note from ...

by Carrie Wilkinson

In a September 2016 article on the fight for comprehensive prison and jail phone reform, PLN reported that while limits on ancillary fees had been implemented by the FCC, intrastate (in-state) rate caps were stayed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals after the FCC’s order was ...

by Derek Gilna

In a unanimous decision, on June 19, 2017 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a North Carolina statute that prohibits convicted sex offenders from accessing “a commercial social networking Web site where the sex offender knows that the site permits minor children to become members or to ...

by Christopher Zoukis

In its waning days, Obama administration officials announced plans to expand education efforts in federal prisons and to provide more direction and oversight to the programs previously run separately at each facility.

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced in late November 2016 that for the first time, ...

The Supreme Court's Appellate Division, Third Department, held that the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) may not hold a prisoner beyond his maximum sentence expiration date even if suitable post-release housing has not been found. It also held that DOCCS is statutorily obligated to assist ...

by Christopher Zoukis

The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has resurrected a challenge to the constitutionality of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c), the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that requires mandatory detention of undocumented immigrants who have committed certain crimes.

The challenge was brought in 2012 by ...

by Christopher Zoukis

Suicides at the California Institution for Women (CIW) in Chino have surged to alarming levels. Six prisoners have killed themselves within the past three years, according to Krissi Khokhobashvili, spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). In the same period, she added, there were ...

Division III of the Washington State Court of Appeals held on June 21, 2016 that a sentence for a conviction of “escape from community custody” may only be enhanced or increased by other escape convictions.

Washington state prisoner Terry Baker pleaded guilty in February 2015 to a charge of escape ...

by Matt Clarke

When police were notified about the death of Terry Cameron, 58, in March 2016, they quickly arrested her husband, Melvin Stubbs, 65. Stubbs was a diabetic amputee who used a wheelchair. Nonetheless, police said there were signs of a struggle, Stubbs and Cameron both had defensive wounds, ...

On October 24, 2016, a division of the California Court of Appeal reversed a ruling by a Los Angeles County judge that found a thrice-convicted sex offender was a “Sexually Violent Predator” who should be indefinitely committed to a state hospital. The appellate court held there was a lack of ...

by Christopher Zoukis

On November 2, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a district court’s denial of death row prisoner Thomas D. Arthur’s challenge to the use of the drug midazolam in the lethal injection protocol used by the State of Alabama.

Arthur challenged midazolam as the first in a series ...

On July 19, 2016 the Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma reversed, in part, a lower court order dismissing a suit against jail officials accused of providing false and misleading information about a former defendant to a website that published the information online.

Aaron Lee Benshoof was arrested in Garfield ...

by Derek Gilna

In July 2016, Pathways community Corrections, a private probation company, announced that it had voluntarily ceased operations in Tennessee following a series of complaints, a federal lawsuit and an investigation by state officials that uncovered evidence the company had unfairly extracted money from poor probationers. According to ...

by Joe Watson

A number of prisoners at the medium-security Fishkill Correctional Facility in upstate New York swore under oath that fellow prisoner Samuel D. Harrell III was kicked and beaten to death by as many as twenty guards in April 2015.

According to at least 19 signed affidavits, the ...

California: Ignacio Adrian Sobers Jr., 31, entered into a plea agreement in federal district court on February 9, 2017. He agreed to plead guilty to one count of acceptance of a bribe by a public official. The former guard at the U.S. Penitentiary in Victorville was accused of providing ...