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Lawsuit Claims Seattle’s King County Jail Shows Little Improvement in Quarter Century Since “Hammer Agreement”
Loaded on March 1, 2024
published in Prison Legal News
March, 2024, page 8
On February 24, 2023, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington (ACLU-Wash.) filed suit accusing King County of violating a longstanding settlement agreement governing conditions at the county jail (KCJ) in Seattle. In 1998, ACLU-Wash. secured the settlement—known as the “Hammer Agreement”—to protect those incarcerated in KCJ from assault …
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More from this issue:
- Overcrowded and Understaffed, Oklahoma County Jail Remains “Deplorable”, by David Reutter
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Lawsuit Claims Seattle’s King County Jail Shows Little Improvement in Quarter Century Since “Hammer Agreement”
- No Jail Time for Former Arizona Prisons Director After Armed Standoff With Cops
- Pennsylvania County Found Skimming Prisoner-Designated Funds from ViaPath Kickbacks
- Colorado Sheriff Resigns After Deputies Fatally Shoot Motorist
- With Guard Arrests at Georgia Jail, Sheriff Asks, “What Are We Doing Wrong?”
- U.S. Sentencing Commission Greenlights Retroactive Sentence Reductions
- Redemption Songs: The Forgotten History of American Prison Music, by Maurice Chammah
- Nearly $11 Million Settlement Reached in Suit by BOP Prisoners Held Without Heat, Electricity During New York Winter Storm, by Douglas Ankney
- Massachusetts Becomes the Fifth State to Make Prison Phone Calls Free
- Federal Prisoner in Virginia Convicted on Fresh Kiddie Porn Charges After Drawing His Own
- California Slowed, But Not Barred from “Dumping” Sick, Indigent Parolees on Public Hospitals
- Rikers Island Detainees Given Pricey Weight-Loss Surgery but Little Follow-Up Care
- Illinois Eases Restrictions on Prisoners Released Under Supervision
- Moms Released from Massachusetts Prison Decry Dearth of Help
- Eighth Circuit Issues Primer on Informal Due Process Procedures to Missouri Prisoner, by David Reutter
- DOJ Finds ADA Violations in Arizona Prisons, Demands Improvements
- Sick Georgia Prisoners Forced to Choose Between Treatment and Early Release
- Unsealed Settlement Reveals PrimeCare Medical Paid $337,500 After Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Suicide, by David Reutter
- Eighth Circuit Remands ADA Claims—But Not Constitutional Claims—of Paralyzed Arkansas Jail Detainee, by David Reutter
- “Unethical At Best”: Hawaii Budget Director Charged With Financing New Prison is Former CoreCivic Lobbyist
- Alabama Conducts First Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution
- “More jobs than people”: Prisoners Training to Work on Ohio Infrastructure Projects after Release
- Escape from Oregon State Hospital Results in Changes to Detainee Transports
- HRDC Wins $14 Million Settlement for Exonerated Florida Prisoner
- Four Dead in One Month in San Bernardino County Jails, $3,232,500 in Settlements Paid So Far, by Douglas Ankney, Casey Bastian
- Seventh Circuit Revives Prisoner’s Challenge to Seized $10,000, by David Reutter
- Alabama Prisons Facing Third Class-Action Lawsuit
- Muslim Florida Prisoner Awarded Permanent Injunction to Grow Untrimmed Beard, by David Reutter
- North Carolina Prison Official Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Program Fraud
- South Carolina Sheriff Ordered to Pay $37,500 in Fees and Costs in Jail FOIA Case, by Matthew Clarke
- Guard and Four Summit Food Service Employees Arrested for Smuggling at Troubled Atlanta Jail
- New York Prisoners with Chronic Pain Win Injunction to Receive Denied Medication, by Matthew Clarke
- Ninth Circuit Shuts Down Settlement Agreement in Long-Running California Prisoners’ Gang Affiliation Suit, by David Reutter
- $470,000 Settlement After Texas Jail Nurses Fabricate Vital Signs for Detainee Who Died, by Douglas Ankney
- New Jersey Supreme Court Revives Parolee’s Challenge to Administratively Imposed Treatment Program, by Matthew Clarke
- BOP Pays $40,000 to Prisoner Sexually Assaulted at Florida Lockup by Guard, Who Must Pay Her $1 Million, by David Reutter
- Serial Killer Murdered by Cellmate at Texas Lockup
- California Felony-Murder Reform Shaves 11,000 Years Off 600 Prisoner Sentences, by Douglas Ankney
- Seventh Circuit Says Lack of Expert Testimony Dooms Illinois Prisoner’s Medical Neglect Claim, by Douglas Ankney
- Texas Fights Fetal Rights After Forcing Prison Guard to Stay At Work Until She Delivered Stillborn Baby
- Suit Filed After Mentally Ill Detainee Starves to Death in Miami Jail, by David Reutter
- Senators Grill BOP Chief—Then Say They’ll Toss Her More Money
- Nevada Prisoner Strikes Out in Access-to-Courts Claim, by David Reutter
- New Jersey Private Prison Ban Voided
- Eighth Circuit Affirms $800,000 Award After Arkansas Jail Detainee’s Fatal Appendix Rupture, by Matthew Clarke
- New Minnesota Justice Center Aims to be More ‘Humane’
- Wellpath Held in Contempt in Suit at California Jail
- Minnesota Prison on Lockdown After Protest Over Dirty Water, Lack of Phone Use and Out-of-Cell Time
- California Prison Fined $1.7 Million for Stormwater Discharges, Environmental Violations
- Seventh Circuit Reinstates Wisconsin Prisoner’s ADA Claim for Untreated Knee Injury, by Matthew Clarke
- Eleventh Circuit Revives Claim Against Florida Jail That Forced Detainee to Scan Legal Mail Into Computer with Memory Chip, by David Reutter
- Louisiana Fugitive Recaptured After 32 Years
- Illinois Failing to Grant Dying Prisoners Medical Releases
- MTC Returns $5.125 Million to Mississippi for “Ghost Workers” at Private Prisons
- Florida Pastor Accused of Running Shoplifting Ring With DUI Diversion Program Participants
- $900,000 Settlement Reached With Ohio Jail in Detainee’s Fatal Seizure, by David Reutter
- Tribal Courts Expand ‘Healing to Wellness’ Rehabilitation Programs
- Four TDCJ Guards Resign, Seven Suspended for Beating Handcuffed Prisoner Into Coma
- Michigan Reaches $1.03 Million Settlement with Exonerated Prisoner
- Oklahoma Parole Board Resignations Threaten Prisoner Clemencies
- After Eight Deaths in Eight Years, Virginia Jail Introduces—Pickleball?
- News in Brief
More from these topics:
- Multiple Detainees Escape from Dilapidated North Carolina Jail, July 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Failure to Protect (General), Overcrowding, Staffing, Jail Specific, Security Systems, Criminal Justice, Prison Conditions.
- Video Shows Guards Watched as Oklahoma Detainee Died in Cell, July 1, 2026. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Contractor Misconduct, Guard Misconduct, Failure to Protect (General), Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death).
- Detainee Deaths Went Unreported at Dallas County Jail, July 1, 2026. Jail Misconduct, Statistics/Trends, Databases, Public Records.
- Ohio Jail Leaders Knew Cameras Were Broken for Four Years Before Fixing Them, July 1, 2026. Jail Misconduct, Security Systems, Disclosure of Records, Wrongful Death, Evidence - Integrity/Reliability of.
- Washington State Supreme Court Ruling Supports Broad Immunity in Overdose Cases, June 1, 2026. Drug Overdose, Failure to Protect (General), Defenses, Immunity/Liability, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death).
- Dallas County Jail Deaths, Many Preventable, Dramatically Increase Under Sheriff Marian Brown, June 1, 2026. Systemic Medical Neglect, Failure to Treat, Jail Specific, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Deliberate Indifference.
- Number of Prisoners Awaiting Transfer from Jail Surging in Indiana, June 1, 2026. Transfers, Statistics/Trends, Cost of Prison Systems, Overcrowding, Jail Specific.
- Spate of Deaths at Tulsa Jail Highlights Medical Neglect, June 1, 2026. G4S/Group 4, Jail Misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Private Contractors, Medical Neglect/Malpractice.
- Ambulance Calls at Boston Jail Have Tripled Since 2010, June 1, 2026. Jail Misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Injury -- Misc., Failure to Treat.
- New Orleans Sheriff Indicted on 30 Charges Related to Malfeasance and Fraud, June 1, 2026. Jail Misconduct, Escapes, Security Systems, Fraud and Deceit.

