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$13 Million Awarded to Exonerated Massachusetts Prisoner for Wrongful Conviction
In November 2024, a Massachusetts jury awarded $13 million to former state prisoner Michael Sullivan, 64, as compensation for his wrongful conviction for a 1986 armed robbery and murder. Sullivan’s case involved false laboratory test results, as well as a prosecutorial plea bargain that obtained false testimony from the real ...
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More from this issue:
- Washington’s Continuing Competency Crisis Strains Jails
- Rejected by Conviction Integrity Unit, 27 New York Prisoners Exonerated Anyway
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- $2.4 Million Settlement Reached After Elderly Pretrial Detainee Strangled by Cellmate in San Antonio Jail, by David Reutter
- Arkansas DOC Settles Retaliation Claim by Prisoner Who Also Won Back Confiscated COVID-19 Stimulus
- Oklahoma Supreme Court Kills One Jail Death Suit, Threatening Settlement of Another
- Kansas Supreme Court Revives Prisoner’s Challenge to Loss of Parental Rights, by Matthew Clarke
- Rural Virginia Jury Refuses to Hold Guards Liable for State Prisoner’s Death
- French Prisons Targeted in Coordinated Attack
- Mississippi DOC Issues Almost $300 Million in No-Bid Contracts to VitalCore Health
- Top Rikers Island Jailers Logged Overtime Equal to 14-Hour Days With No Days Off
- Fifth Circuit Refuses to Stop Court-Ordered Construction of Mental Health Facility at New Orleans Jail, by Boris Bastidas
- Ninth Circuit Revives Complaint Over Sloppy Cell Checks Before Psychotic Detainee’s Death at L.A. Jail, by Douglas Ankney
- $875,000 Award for Illinois Prisoner’s Delay in Getting Hernia Surgery, by David M. Reutter
- Salvadoran President’s Dark Secret Allegedly Behind Deal to Hold Deported Migrants in “Mega” Prison
- Over $1.1 Million Recovered for Rikers Island Janitors
- California Appellate Court: Custody Credits Must be Applied to Concurrent Terms in Multiple Open Cases, by David M. Reutter
- Four Arizona Prisoners Dead After Being Celled with Leader of 2004 Standoff
- Former Centurion Owner Accused of Helping Florida Governor Kill Legalized Weed
- $100,000 Settlement Reached For Tennessee Detainee Baptized to Get Out of Traffic Ticket, by Boris Bastidas
- Sixth Circuit Limits Deliberate Indifference Standard in Kentucky Jail Medical Care Challenge, by David M. Reutter
- Italy Begins Conjugal Visits in Prison “Sex Rooms”
- Auburn University’s Prison Education Program ‘Indefinitely Suspended’, by Charlotte West
- New Mexico Watchdog Group Sues for Video Allegedly Showing Jailers Killing Detainee, by David M. Reutter
- Gay Tennessee Prisoner Refuses to Out Himself in PREA Classification Hearings
- $500,000 for Colorado Detainee Dropped On His Face by Jailers, by Douglas Ankney
- Three New York Guards Plead Guilty to Beating Black Prisoner in “George Floyd Challenge”
- Ninth Circuit Reinstates Religious Exercise Claim from Arizona “Christian-Israelite” Prisoner Denied Passover Meal, by Michael Thompson
- Smart Communications Files for Bankruptcy Protection
- Watchdogs Fault Nebraska Prisons for Suicide Response, Overpaid Staff, by Boris Bastidas
- 11th Alabama Sheriff’s Employee Pleads Guilty in Jail Detainee’s Death, Admits Stomping Him in Genitals
- Second South Carolina Prisoner Executed by Firing Squad
- Tenth Circuit Upholds Nearly $8.8 Million Judgment for Utah Jail Death, by Douglas Ankney
- Fifth Circuit Reinstates Baha’i Texas Prisoner’s Dietary Claim, by Matthew Clarke
- Seven TDCJ Prison Guards Arrested in Alleged Smuggling Ring
- $62,500 For Idaho Prisoner Raped by Guard Who Later Committed Suicide, by Anthony Accurso
- Eighth Circuit Excuses Missouri Prisoner’s Failure to Exhaust Remedies While He Was In a Coma, by Douglas Ankney
- GTL/ViaPath Ordered to Pay $3 Million for Violations of Consumer Protection Laws
- Former Wisconsin Warden Gets No Cell Time, $500 Fine After Prisoner Deaths
- Federal Court Blocks Idaho Executions Until Media Access Improves
- $1.3 Million for Massachusetts Prisoner Stabbed by Guard in Connecticut Lockup, by Douglas Ankney
- California Enacts Counterproductive, Regressive Solitary Confinement Bill
- Government Quasi-Agency Attempts to Infiltrate Criminal Justice Nonprofit
- $7.75 Million Settlement for Exonerated North Carolina Prisoner, by David M. Reutter
- Fourth Circuit Upholds South Carolina DOC Policy Restricting Prisoner Access to News Media
- New York Lowers Minimum Age for Prison Guards
- $13 Million Awarded to Exonerated Massachusetts Prisoner for Wrongful Conviction, by David M. Reutter
- $5.6 Million Settlement for California Prisoner’s Wife Strip-searched During Visit, by Matthew Clarke
- Death Row Prisoners Challenge New Tennessee Single-Drug Lethal Injection Protocol
- Almost $4.4 Million for Illinois Prisoner’s Failure to Protect Claim, by David Reutter
- Georgia Moves to Shield Intellectually Disabled Prisoners from Execution
- Eighth Circuit Lets Missouri Guard Skate For Placing Avowed Enemies In Same Cell, Resulting In Assault, by Anthony Accurso
- Long-Running Consent Decree Again Extended at Troubled Baltimore Jail
- $50,000 for Excessive Force Claim by Maryland Prisoner Who Used to Be a Guard
- Retired California Prison Guard Killed in Colorado Jail
- Academic Study of Prison Guards’ Use of Excessive Force Details Sad State of Civil Rights for Abused Prisoners, by Matthew Clarke
- Kansas Pays $150,000 for Prisoner Killed by Cellmate, Centurion Settlement Confidential
- $52,500 for Trans Florida Prisoner Sexually Assaulted by Cellmate
- Wellpath and VitalCore Skip Paying Nearly $2 Million in Settlements in South Carolina
- U.S. Pulls $1.5 Million in Funding from Maine DOC Over a Single Trans Prisoner
- Idaho Spent $200,000 on Execution Drugs Now Expired
- Washington Appellate Court: Personal Restraint Petition Proper Vehicle to Challenge Community Supervision, by David Reutter
- Former Jail Guard Accused of Having Sex with Detainee Now Vice-Chair of Florida GOP
- New York Guards Plead Guilty to Fatally Beating Prisoner, Mopping Up His Blood
- $2.8 Million Settlement in National NUMI Debit Release Card Class Action, by David Reutter
- $3.15 Million for Illinois Prisoner Raped by Guard and Then Denied “Boot Camp”
- Rash of 5,000 False-Positive Prisoner Drug Tests Going to California Parole Board Anyway
- Trio of Guards Fired and Arrested for Smuggling at Louisiana Jails
- Two Guards Arrested in Two Weeks at Texas Jail
- $6 Million Settlement in Illinois Detainee’s Gruesome Untreated Heroin Withdrawal Death, by David Reutter
- News in Brief
More from David M. Reutter:
- $875,000 Award for Illinois Prisoner’s Delay in Getting Hernia Surgery, June 1, 2025
- California Appellate Court: Custody Credits Must be Applied to Concurrent Terms in Multiple Open Cases, June 1, 2025
- Sixth Circuit Limits Deliberate Indifference Standard in Kentucky Jail Medical Care Challenge, June 1, 2025
- New Mexico Watchdog Group Sues for Video Allegedly Showing Jailers Killing Detainee, June 1, 2025
- $7.75 Million Settlement for Exonerated North Carolina Prisoner, June 1, 2025
- $13 Million Awarded to Exonerated Massachusetts Prisoner for Wrongful Conviction, June 1, 2025
- Fifth Circuit Kills Suit by Louisiana Prisoners Whose Release Dates Were Incorrectly Calculated, Aug. 15, 2023
- Federal Court Upholds and Monitors Requirement for Tennessee Jail to Provide COVID-19 Vaccination for Detainees, July 15, 2022
- Federal Courts Order Seizure of Canteen Funds for Restitution Owed by High-Profile Prisoners, July 15, 2022
- California Court Rules Bail Bond Companies Must Give Cosigners Financial Impact Notice, July 15, 2022
More from these topics:
- Sixth Circuit Upholds $45 Million Verdict for Wrongfully Convicted Former Ohio Prisoner, Aug. 1, 2025. Police Misconduct, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment.
- Two Exonerated Illinois Prisoners Win Settlements Totaling $14.5 Million, Aug. 1, 2025. Police Misconduct, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment.
- Fourth Circuit Revives Wrongful Conviction Claim of Exonerated Maryland Prisoner, State Pays Him $3.1 Million, Aug. 1, 2025. Police Misconduct, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment.
- $22.5 Million Verdict Arrives Too Late for Wrongfully Convicted Illinois Prisoner, July 15, 2025. Wrongful Conviction, Confessions - Coerced, Confessions and Statements of Defendant.
- $12 Million for Former California Prisoner Exonerated After 17 Years, July 15, 2025. Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment, Coercive Interrogations.
- $7.75 Million Settlement for Exonerated North Carolina Prisoner, June 1, 2025. Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment.
- Rejected by Conviction Integrity Unit, 27 New York Prisoners Exonerated Anyway, June 1, 2025. Wrongful Conviction, Offense of Conviction.
- Kansas Supreme Court Denies Compensation to Former Prisoner Whose Conviction Was Overturned, May 1, 2025. Wrongful Conviction, Damages - Compensatory.
- New Orleans Public Defender’s “Redeem Team” Says: “Re-entry Is Never Over”, May 1, 2025. Settlements, Wrongful Conviction, Life without Parole (LWOP), Juveniles, Post-release, ex-offender, re-entry, Remands/Rehearings/Resentencings.
- Texas Courts, Legislature at Odds over Executing Potentially Innocent Death Row Prisoner, May 1, 2025. Wrongful Conviction, Death Penalty/Death Row, Actual Innocence/Claim of Innocence, Opposition to the Death Penalty, Lethal Injection Method of Execution.