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Punitive Damages Are Prospective Relief Under PLRA
Loaded on March 15, 2003
by David Reutter
published in Prison Legal News
March, 2003, page 25
by David M. Reutter
Filed under:
Attorney Fees (PLRA),
Injunctions (PLRA),
Excessive Force,
Guard Brutality/Beatings,
Damages,
Jury Instructions,
Qualified Immunity.
Location:
Georgia.
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the PLRA makes punitive damages prospective relief that requires the district court to make a factual finding the award is narrowly drawn to correct the violation of the Federal right. This appeal was filed by defendant guards …
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More from this issue:
- Georgia Parole Corruption Deepens, by Gary Hunter
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Louisiana Prisoners May Access Savings Funds Exceeding $250
- Suits Against Individual State Employees Available Under ADA
- California Three-Year Lockdown of "Southern Hispanics" Held Unconstitutional, by Marvin Mentor
- Thaddeus-X Standard Retroactive Except for Qualified Immunity Defense, by Bob Williams
- Iowa Guards Fired for Beating Prisoner
- Gender and Incarceration: How Men and Women Experience Life Behind Bars, by Silja JA Talvi
- Criminal Guards and Escaping Prisoners in Texas
- Maryland Pays $700,000 to Settle Suit Over Murder Committed by Parolee in Colorado
- Texas Eliminates Habeas Corpus Following Probation Revocation
- Virginia Law Repeals Phone Rate Ruling
- $2.5 Million Verdict in California Medical Neglect Case, by Marvin Mentor
- Vehicle Forfeited for Smuggling Drugs into Arizona Prison
- Tribal Funds Exempt from Washington LFO Seizures
- Florida's Private Food Service Demonstrates that Profit Overrides Sanitary Practice, by Marvin Mentor
- Habeas Hints: Standard of Review, by Kent Russell
- Drug Addiction Disability Cannot Be Used to Deny Parole
- California Parole Official Demoted
- Disclosure of Transsexual, HIV+ Status States Eighth Amendment Claim
- Class Action Filed on Washington DOC Seizure of Tribal Funds
- Habeas Corpus Sole Remedy for BOP Sentence Reduction
- $90,169 Plus Injunction in California Retaliation Suit
- Hawaii Prison Doctor's Retaliation Judgment Upheld
- Prisoner Phone Recordings not Exempt from FOIA Disclosure
- Veteran's Benefits Deposited to Prisoner Trust Account Cannot Be Attached
- Denial of Reporter's Access to Jail Unconstitutional
- North Carolina DOC Supervisor Implicated in Scandal
- Medical Claim Accrues on Last Date of Treatment Denial
- Court Must Notice Pro Se Prisoner of Resonse Rights Before Granting Summary Judgment
- Punitive Damages Are Prospective Relief Under PLRA, by David Reutter
- New York County Liable for Jail Strip Searches
- Ohio Prison Officials Cannot Alter Jail-Time Credit Award
- Sandin Applied to Wisconsin Sexual Offender Civil Commitment
- Release of Medical Liability May Establish Deliberate Indifference
- New York Jail Strip Search Policy Unconstitutional
- Woman Gang Raped in Back of Jail Van
- Failure to Assert Hearing Officer Bias Administratively Waives Claim on Habeas
- News in Brief
- Home Detainee Has Fourth Amendment Rights
- New York Prisoner Awarded $411,000 in Failure to Protect Suit
- BJS Releases New Recidivism Study
More from David Reutter:
- Eight Circuit Reverses Denial of Partial Qualified Immunity in Detainee’s Pepper Ball Claim, Remands Excessive Force Claims, Sept. 1, 2026
- Nevada Prisoners, Families Call Out Predatory Tablet Program, Sept. 1, 2026
- Fourth Circuit: Error in Granting Judgment Prior to Adjudging Spoliation Motion, Sept. 1, 2026
- Fourth Circuit Affirms Qualified Immunity in Strip Searches Resulting from Anonymous Tips, Sept. 1, 2026
- Tenth Circuit: Colorado Governor Unentitled to Eleventh Amendment Immunity on Claim Related to DOC Religious Policies, Aug. 1, 2026
- Michigan Appeals Court: Witnesses Cannot be Forced to Wear Jail Clothes at Trial, Aug. 1, 2026
- Sixth Circuit Affirms Denial of State-Law Qualified Immunity in Scabies Case, Aug. 1, 2026
- Fourth Circuit Revives Disabled Prisoner’s Claim for Denial of Out-of-Cell Exercise Time, Aug. 1, 2026
- Sixth Circuit Announces State-Law Exceptions to Appeal Deadlines Preserve “Pending” Status Under AEDPA, Holding Belated-Appeal Procedures Toll Federal Habeas Limitations Period, April 1, 2026
- Florida Supreme Court Announces Rule 3.170(f)’s Good-Cause Plea-Withdrawal Standard Does Not Apply at Post-Appeal Resentencing, April 1, 2026
More from these topics:
- Eleventh Circuit Upholds Most of Relief Ordered in Class-Action Lawsuit Challenging Unconstitutionally Inadequate Mental Health Care in Alabama Prisons, Oct. 1, 2026. Eighth Amendment, Staffing, Injunctions (PLRA), Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides.
- Fourth Circuit Upholds Denial of Qualified Immunity to Jail Supervisors Who Ignored Detainee’s Cranial Abscesses, Oct. 1, 2026. Failure to Treat, Infections, Qualified Immunity, Fourteenth Amendment, rights, Deliberate Indifference.
- Sixth Circuit: Qualified Immunity Granted to Guard in Delayed Treatment for Prisoner who Suffered Heart Attack, Oct. 1, 2026. Pain, Cardiovascular, Failure to Treat, Qualified Immunity, Deliberate Indifference.
- Ninth Circuit Rules Favorably for Washington Prisoner Whose Writing Submission Was Censored, Oct. 1, 2026. Retaliation, Qualified Immunity, Mail Regulations, Censorship, First Amendment, rights.
- San Francisco Jail Survey Exposes Abuse, Malnutrition and Constitutional Violations, Oct. 1, 2026. Failure to Protect (General), Food, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Attorney Visits, Pretrial Detention and Detainees.
- Eighth Circuit Reverses District Court’s Denial of Motion to Dismiss Some Defendants from Lawsuit Over Missouri Prisoner’s Suicide, Oct. 1, 2026. Qualified Immunity, Sovereign Immunity, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Suicides, Deliberate Indifference.
- South Dakota Supreme Court Affirms Prisoner’s Simple Assault on Guard Conviction Despite Four-Second Skip in Surveillance Video Footage, Oct. 1, 2026. Jury Instructions, Double jeopardy, Failure to Object, Evidence - Integrity/Reliability of, Denial of Due Process.
- $4,000 Awarded to Ohio Prisoner for Denied Records Requests, Oct. 1, 2026. Damages, Retroactivity, Public Records Act, Statutory Construction/Interpretation.
- Second Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity but Clarifies that 14th Amendment ‘Objective Reasonableness’ Is Standard of Review for Pretrial Detainee’s Claim of Sexual Abuse, Oct. 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Qualified Immunity, Fourteenth Amendment, rights, Pretrial Detention and Detainees, Wrongful Use of Force.
- Eighth Circuit Grants Summary Judgment to Sheriff and County of Nebraska Jail Where Guard Sexually Assaulted Female Prisoner, Oct. 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Failure to Protect (General), Qualified Immunity, Failure to Train/Supervise, Monell Liability.

