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$18,000 for New York Prisoner Who Alleged Guards Planted Shank in Cell
Loaded on May 1, 2025
published in Prison Legal News
May, 2025, page 46
On July 8, 2024, New York prisoner Kerry Kotler finally achieved a small measure of justice from the state Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) officials whom he accused of planting incriminating evidence in his cell over 20 years earlier. Kotler is the rare prisoner exonerated of one …
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More from this issue:
- $1.2 Million in Settlements Reached in Suit Over Sacramento Jail Murder, by Douglas Ankney
- Multitudes Caged for Failure to Pay Child Support, Driving Mass Incarceration, by Matthew Clarke
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Florida’s “Pay to Stay” Law: A Second Sentence for Former Prisoners
- Fifth Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to Louisiana Officials Who Forced Prisoner to Work with Broken Surgical Screws in Ankle, by Anthony Accurso
- Study Finds Just 1% of Prisoner’s Eighth Amendment Claims Succeed
- Incarcerated Students Caught in Crosshairs of Trump War on Education Department
- Disbarred Cincinnati Defense Attorney Who Defrauded Prisoner Clients Gets Three-Year Sentence
- Wisconsin Prisoner Inhaled His Own Teeth in Fatal Beatdown
- South Carolina Conducts First U.S. Execution by Firing Squad in 15 Years
- Eleventh Circuit Revives Volunteer Pastor’s First Amendment Claim at Georgia Jail, by Douglas Ankney
- Trump Guts BOP Guard Union
- Los Angeles County Jails Record Almost One Death Every Nine Days
- Florida Prisoner Returns to Custody After Overturned Conviction Reinstated
- South Carolina Jailer Gets 10 Years for Sexually Assaulting Nine Detainees and Co-Workers
- Maryland Targets Highest-in-Nation Racial Incarceration Gap
- Idaho Warden Bought Execution Drugs on Roadside
- Connecticut Court Denies Access to Video of Prisoner’s Fatal Beat-Down by Guards
- Florida Prisoner Released to Die Settles With Centurion Over Ignored Prostate Cancer
- Wellpath Sanctioned for Discovery Violation in Suit Over Kentucky Prisoner’s Death, by Douglas Ankney
- Cruelty Is Now the Point for BOP
- New York Lifts Hiring Ban on Fired Striking Prison Guards, Announces Early Prisoner Releases
- Former Prisoner Appointed President’s Pardon “Czar”
- Oregon DOC Replaces Top Medical Staffers Amid Turmoil
- Rikers Island Staffers, Contractor and Detainee Sentenced for Smuggling
- Washington DOC On Hot Seat Over “Unexpected Fatalities,” Missed Autopsies
- 20 Charged in Nevada Prison Brawl That Left Three Dead
- Second Circuit Revives Connecticut Prisoner’s Challenge To Conditions In Virginia Lockup Where He Was Transferred, by Douglas Ankney
- Pittsburgh Lockup Accounts for 43% of Pennsylvania Jail TASER Use, Suit Filed
- Rikers Island Detainees Wait in “Black Hole” for Competency Treatment
- Mass Incarceration Weakens All Workers, by Eric Seligman, Brian Nam-Sonenstein
- Plans to Hold Migrants at Gitmo Hit Snag
- Third Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to Pennsylvania DOC in Prisoner’s Challenge to 26 Years of Solitary Confinement
- Studies Link Incarceration with Lower Cancer Survival Rates—For Prisoner’s Partners, Too, by Anthony Accurso
- Virginia Bribes Prisoners Not to Set Themselves On Fire
- $2.95 Million Settlement for Untreated Pneumonia Death in Washington Jail
- Medical Copays Blamed for Reducing Prisoner Access to Healthcare
- New York Guards Indicted for Prisoner’s Murder
- Missouri Repeals “Pay-to-Stay” Law
- New Jersey DOC Sued Twice for Turning “Blind Eye” to “Pervasive” Drug-Smuggling Blamed for Prisoner Deaths
- $18,000 for New York Prisoner Who Alleged Guards Planted Shank in Cell
- Kansas Supreme Court Denies Compensation to Former Prisoner Whose Conviction Was Overturned
- Los Angeles County Pays $24 Million to Two Former Prisoners Wrongly Convicted as Teens of 1997 Murder, by Matthew Clarke
- Missouri Pays More Than $1.2 Million for Deputy Warden’s Sexual Harassment Claim Against Warden, by Douglas Ankney
- New Orleans Public Defender’s “Redeem Team” Says: “Re-entry Is Never Over”
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- ACLU Sues BOP Over Failure to Implement First Step Act Release Credits, by Anthony Accurso
- Six Deaths in Eleven Months at Washington Jail
- New York Prisoner Awarded Almost $280,000 in Retaliation Claim Against Guards
- West Virginia Prison Chief Tapped to Helm BOP
- Crackdown On Pro-Palestinian Dissent Nabs New York Professor Who Found Link Between Cars and Incarceration
- Two California Prisoners Accused of Strangling Conjugal Visitors
- Wellpath Prepares Plan to Exit Bankruptcy
- Texas Prison Heat Declared Unconstitutional
- $3.4 Million Settlement for Minnesota Jail Death Called “Real-Life Nightmare”
- BOP Jettisons Transgender Offender Manual
- Kentucky Jail Sued for Detainee’s Death, Prisoner’s Stillborn Child
- Wait for Competency Restoration Averages 14 Months in Missouri Jails
- Jury Deadlocks at Trial of Last BOP Guard Accused at California “Rape Club”
- News in Brief
More from these topics:
- BOP Supervisor in Colorado Indicted for Smuggling Over 400 Vapes, July 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Bribery/Extortion/Theft.
- Colorado Prison Wardens Participated in Longstanding Racist, Homophobic Group Chat, July 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Gay/Lesbian, Employee Litigation.
- New Jersey Lawmakers Pass “Female Incarcerated Person’s Rights Protection Act”, July 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct, Prison Rape Elimination Act, Staff Training, Mothers in Prison.
- Rikers Island Captain Nicknamed “Terror of the Tombs” Indicted for Extortion, Wage Theft, July 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Threats by Staff, DOC/BOP misconduct, Bribery/Extortion/Theft, Fraud and Deceit.
- 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).
- Alabama Prison Warden Reportedly Arrested and Walked Off Job, June 1, 2026. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Government Misconduct.
- Warden, Four Other Louisiana Jailers Indicted for Brutalizing Compliant Detainees with Riot Shield, June 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Wrongful Use of Force.
- $112,500 Paid to Former New Mexico Prisoner Denied Public Records of Excessive Force by Guards, June 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Settlements, Public Records Act, False Imprisonment.
- Settlement Reached in Mental Health Care Class-Action at San Diego County Jails, June 1, 2026. Settlements, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Class Actions, Administrative Detention/Segregation, Inadequate Health Care Facilities.

