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Massachusetts Department of Corrections Sued Over Use of “Fake” Drug Tests on Legal Mail
by Casey J. Bastian
The Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) has been knowingly using drug tests described by plaintiff’s lawyers as “fake” on legal mail to both interfere with attorney/client communications and impose strict punishments without due process. These claims are the basis of a class complaint recently filed by ...
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More from this issue:
- Wrongfully Convicted Man Freed for Murder of Oregon DOC Director, But State Wants Him Back In Prison, by Mark Wilson
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Indiana DOC Settles HRDC Mail Censorship Suit, by Chuck Sharman
- HRDC Represents Wrongfully Convicted Florida Man Who Spent 37 Years in Prison for a Rape Murder He Did Not Commit, by Chuck Sharman
- Fifth Circuit Overturns Permanent Injunction Requiring Texas Prison to Observe COVID-19 Precautions, by Matthew Clarke
- $750,000 Settlement in South Carolina Pretrial Detainee’s Suicide by Southern Health Partners, by David Reutter
- Arizona Auditor’s Report Finds Underfunding of DOC’s Capital Funding Requests and Unreconciled Prisoner Trust Fund Accounts, by Matthew Clarke
- Preliminary Injunction Bars Arkansas from Confiscating Prisoners’ COVID Stimulus Money, by David Reutter
- Washington State Prison Chief Secretly Forced to Retire, But Why?
- Benevolent or Predatory?, by Casey Bastian
- Georgia Sheriff Suspended After Indictment on Federal Civil Rights Charges, by David Reutter
- Language Matters: Why We Use the Words We Do, by Paul Wright
- What’s in a Name?, by Jeffrey Ross
- Louisiana Prisoners Used as Slave Labor During Hurricane Ida, Families Left in the Dark for Weeks, by Brian Dolinar
- Will Federal Prisoners on Home Confinement Have to Return to Prison?, by Dale Chappell
- Kentucky’s Prison HCV Policy of Monitoring Without Treatment Constitutional, by David Reutter
- Seven Guards Fired Over Collins County Texas Jail Death, by Jayson Hawkins
- All Massachusetts Jails to Provide Prisoners Ten Free Minutes of Phone Calls Per Week and Cap Charges on Additional Minutes at 14 Cents
- Company Surveils Activists Opposing Construction of Prisons and Jails, by Keith Sanders
- Federal District Court Orders All CDCR Employees be Vaccinated, by Douglas Ankney
- Louisville Jail Moves to Have Free Phone Calls for Prisoners by First of the Year, by Kevin Bliss
- Hackers Breach Thousands of Security Cameras, by David Reutter
- Wisconsin Feels Effects of Staffing Shortage in State Prisons, by Kevin Bliss
- First Prisoner Elected to Hold Public Office in Washington DC, by Kevin Bliss
- $72,000 Settlement Over Corizon’s Lack of Medical Treatment to Injured Arizona Prisoner, by Matthew Clarke
- Eleventh Circuit Upholds Immunity of Federal Prison Guards Under FTCA, Even for Blatant Unconstitutional Acts, by Dale Chappell
- Weeks Without a Shower: Neglect Defines COVID-19 Containment in California Jails, by Brian Osgood
- Audit Reveals Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Chaplaincy Services Branch Critically Depleted, by Casey Bastian
- To End Mass Incarceration, We Need to Bust the Myths That Prop It Up, by James Kilgore
- CFPB Hits JPay with $6 Million in Fines and Restitution Over Fee-Heavy “Debit Release Cards”, by Chuck Sharman
- Eleven Guards Fired after Death at Houston Jail, by Brian Dolinar
- HRDC Prevails Over Wellpath as Vermont Supreme Court Rules Private Contractor Must Release Public Records, by David Reutter
- Second Circuit Reversed Dismissal of Former BOP Prisoner’s FTCA Claim Against Dentist, by David Reutter
- Indiana Prisoner Entitled to Credit Time During Period of Erroneous Liberty, by David Reutter
- Eighth Circuit Clarifies Legal Standards for Conditions-of-Confinement Lawsuits Brought by Civilly-Committed Sex Offenders, by Matthew Clarke
- $731,000 Jury Award to Illinois DOC Prisoner Held 23 Months Beyond Release Date, Over $210k in Fees Awarded As Well, by David Reutter
- Prisoner Voting Population Grows as Illinois Bill Extends Polling Sites to County Jails
- Massachusetts Department of Corrections Sued Over Use of “Fake” Drug Tests on Legal Mail, by Casey Bastian
- Seventh Circuit: Local Rules Requiring Specific Filings to Summary Judgments Should Not be Used as a Sanction, by Dale Chappell
- Michigan DOC Eases Up on Pregnant Prisoners, Limits Shackles and Solitary Confinement, by Chuck Sharman
- D.C. Federal Court Rules District Providing Unlawfully Inadequate Education to Incarcerated Youth with Disabilities, Grants Preliminary Injunction, by Matthew Clarke
- Prison Officials Actions to Correct Inhumane Cell Conditions Merit Judgement in Their Favor
- $129,000 Bench Verdict for BOP Prisoner in Failure to Warn of Valley Fever
- Lawsuit Over Denial of Medical Treatment for Painful Erection Causing Impotence in Oklahoma County Jail Reinstated by Tenth Circuit, by Matthew Clarke
- CoreCivic Prison at Center of Georgia Drug Trafficking Investigation
- Fifth Circuit Holds Defendants Entitled to Sovereign Immunity For Denial of Sex-Reassignment Surgery to Texas Prisoner, by Matthew Clarke
- Sixth Circuit Holds Court Lacked Jurisdiction to Rule on Summary Judgment in Retaliation Suit by BOP Prisoner
- $5,000 Award for Pro Se Florida DOC Prisoner in Unjustified Pepper Spraying
- California Fire Crew Prisoner’s Escape Attempt Leaves Trail of Destruction
- Forced Shaving of Muslim Colorado Prisoner’s Beard Unconstitutional, by David Reutter
- Oregon Suspends Outside Prisoner Work Crews After Prisoner Escape Sparks International Incident, by Mark Wilson
- Broward County Florida Sheriff Rejects Independent Reviews of Detainee’s Death
- $170,000 Settlement By New Jersey DOC in Transgender Lawsuit With New Policy, by Jayson Hawkins
- $8.6 Million Award Against Wexford for Deliberate Indifference to Prisoner’s Kidney Cancer
- Arizona Federal Court Dismisses NAACP’s Challenge to Private Prisons as Violating Thirteenth Amendment by Commodifying Prisoners for Profit
- Fifth Circuit Holds Confessed Medical Malpractice Does Not Insulate Prison Medical Providers From Finding of Deliberate Indifference, by Matthew Clarke
- $23,000 Settlement Against Pennsylvania Dental Healthcare Company for Inadequate Dental Care
- News in Brief
More from Casey Bastian:
- Demonstrable Remorse, Psychiatric Diagnoses, and Alternatives to Incarceration, Aug. 1, 2024
- Minnesota Sex Offender Program: The Indefinite Detention of the Reviled, Aug. 1, 2024
- The 153 Exonerations in 2023 Include 19 Resulting From Threats or Sentences of Death, July 15, 2024
- Four Dead in One Month in San Bernardino County Jails, $3,232,500 in Settlements Paid So Far, March 1, 2024
- Dangerous Encounters: Interactions Between Autistic Individuals and Law Enforcement, Dec. 15, 2023
- U.S. Sentencing Commission Publishes Compassionate Release Datafile for Fiscal Years 2020-2022, Oct. 1, 2023
- Two Dead and $4.675 Million Paid After Deputies’ Alleged Misconduct in California’s Sonoma County, Sept. 15, 2023
- Collaborative Project Between Innocence Project and National Registry of Exonerations Produces Interim Report Reconciling Data Coding Discrepancies, Sept. 1, 2023
- Deceiving Themselves: How Cops’ False Belief in Their Ability to Detect Deception From Nonverbal Cues Leads to Miscarriages of Justice, Aug. 1, 2023
- Bureau of Justice Statistics Releases Latest First Step Act Data, June 15, 2023
More from these topics:
- After Spike in Jail Deaths, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Under California Department of Justice Investigation, Aug. 15, 2024. Jail Misconduct, Wrongful Death.
- New York Revises 2,772 Prisoner Disciplinary Records After Inspector General Finds Defects in Another Contraband Drug Test, Aug. 15, 2024. False Charges (Disciplinary Hearings), Evidentiary Ruling (Disciplinary Hearings), Drug Testing, junk science.
- Inspectors Catch L.A. Jailers Watching Porn, Aug. 15, 2024. Guard Misconduct, Jail Misconduct, Pornography/Pornography Laws, Discovery and Inspection.
- Alaska Supreme Court Revives Prisoner’s Claim for 11-Month Solitary Confinement That DOC Admitted Was Improper, Aug. 15, 2024. Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Jail Misconduct, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Prison Regulations.
- Seventh Circuit Finds No Problem With Surveillance of Chicago Detainees on Toilets, July 1, 2024. Jail Misconduct, Strip Searches, Electronic Surveillance.
- Report Finds Inaccurate Field Drug Tests Major Cause of Wrongful Convictions, June 15, 2024. Drug Testing, Statistics/Trends, Databases, Wrongful Conviction, False Arrest.
- Arkansas Sheriff Grilled Over Hit Netflix Show Filmed at Jail, June 1, 2024. Jail Misconduct, Media.
- After Stripping Crucial Jail Services, NYC Splurges on $90,000 in Submachine Guns for Rikers Island Guards, April 26, 2024. Jail Misconduct, Release and Reentry.
- Class-Action Lawsuit Challenges Use of Presumptive Drug Tests by Washington DOC, April 1, 2024. Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, False Charges (Disciplinary Hearings), Evidence, Drug Testing, Estimates/Averages - Use of, Inmate Disciplinary Hearings, Prison Disciplinary Proceedings.
- Kansas DOC Claims Discrimination Against Wiccans Was “Inadvertent”, April 1, 2024. Religious Discrimination, Mail, Publications/Books, Banned Book Lists, Censorship, Prison Mail.