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 ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 9, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that prisoners claiming indigent status in a federal civil rights suit are not barred by the ‘three strikes’ provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e, if the prisoner ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 2, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that facts alleged in a supplemental administrative report which a district court requested from prison officials may not be relied upon if they conflict with factual allegations in a prisoner’s complaint. Such a ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 8, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated a New York jail detainee’s claim, saying he couldn’t be guilty of failure to exhaust his administrative remedies when the jail’s grievance policy specifically precluded him from grieving the matter at hand.
While ...
by Matt Clarke
When Greg Williams resigned from the Oklahoma County Jail on December 5, 2022, the administrator of the scandal-plagued lockup said only that “It is time for me to go.”
That was after one detainee sauntered out of the jail booking area in July 2022 and raped another ...
