Archive: 2021

January

Kentucky Consolidated Local Government Entitled to Sovereign Immunity by David M. Reutter
Fifth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Lawsuit Over Texas Jail Prisoner’s Suicide
Tougher Than the Rest: No Criminal Justice Reform “Miracle” in Texas by Marie Gottschalk (p 1)
North Carolina Prisoners at Deadliest Federal Prison File Suit on COVID-19 Response by Matthew Clarke (p 20)
From the Editor by Paul Wright (p 20)
Preliminary Studies: Black/Latino Populations Disproportionately Affected by COVID-19 by Douglas Ankney (p 22)
Sixth Circuit Grants Qualified Immunity to Sheriff in Tennessee Prisoner’s Assault Case by David Reutter (p 22)
North Carolina Cancer Patient Dies From COVID-19 After BOP Denies Compassionate Release and Sentencing Judge Rejects Appeal by Derek Gilna (p 24)
Federal Lawsuit Claims Texas Jail Released Man When Medical Problems Became Too Much Trouble, Resulting in Coma by Dale Chappell (p 24)
Pandemic Medical Update: The Latest on Vaccines and Prisoners by Michael D. Cohen, MD (p 26)
Magic as Rehabilitation by Jayson Hawkins (p 28)
CoreCivic Sued Over Prisoner Who Committed Suicide in Tennessee Prison by Matthew Clarke (p 28)
California: Prisoner-Run Journalism Thrives with San Quentin News, Ear Hustle by David Reutter (p 30)
In Prisons, the Press Also Yearns to Be Free by Casey Bastian (p 30)
My Ankle Monitor Won’t Let Me Take Out The Garbage by Eleanor Bader (p 32)
Tennessee Juvenile Murderer’s Sentence Commuted by Edward Lyon (p 33)
How Jails Became a Breeding Ground for the Coronavirus by Keith Sanders (p 34)
Charges Finally Announced 32 Months After South Carolina Prison Riot by David Reutter (p 36)
Alabama Court Allows Lawsuit Over Indigent Traffic Offenders Jailed for Not Paying Fines by David Reutter (p 38)
Salt Lake County, Utah, Settles Federal Civil Rights Wrongful Death Claim for $950,000 by Derek Gilna (p 38)
Court Rejects Class Status for Nebraska Prisoners Facing Substandard Health Care by David Reutter (p 40)
Urban Redo: Lorton, Virginia Prison Recreated as Liberty Village by Kevin Bliss (p 40)
Seventh Circuit: Nurse’s Deliberate Indifference to Prisoner’s Pain Negates Summary Judgment Grant by David Reutter (p 42)
Second Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment in New York Prisoner’s Due Process Lawsuit by David Reutter (p 42)
St. Louis, Missouri Guard Has History of Taser Abuse by Daniel A. Rosen (p 43)
South Florida: Jail Hotline Releases Report on Inadequate Health Care During Pandemic by Saraana Jamraj (p 44)
Former Prisoners Making Less Than Minimum Wage Working for Nonprofit Doe Fund by Dale Chappell (p 44)
Rapper Sues BOP Alleging Torture by David Reutter (p 45)
Montana Supreme Court: Jail’s Blanket Strip Search Policy Violates Law by Matthew Clarke (p 46)
As Prison COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Rise, Washington State Supreme Court Looks Away by Mark Wilson (p 46)
Over Half the Prisoners Test Positive for COVID-19 at Arizona Prison by Matthew Clarke (p 48)
Some Prisons Bear Names of Enslavers, Oppressors, Racists and Segregationists by Matthew Clarke (p 48)
Louisiana’s COVID-19 Prisoner Furlough Panel Next to Useless by Edward Lyon (p 50)
New Book on Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Edward Lyon (p 50)
COVID-19 Hits Fairfax, Virginia Juvenile Detention Center by Kevin Bliss (p 51)
Seventh Circuit Holds Illinois Prisoners Retain Fourth Amendment Rights to Bodily Privacy, Overruling Circuit Precedents by Matthew Clarke (p 52)
Federal Class Action Settlement Aims to Eliminate Horrific Conditions at Santa Barbara, California Jails in Three Years by Derek Gilna (p 52)
Almost Half of North Dakota Jail Tests Positive for COVID-19 by David Reutter (p 53)
Former Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Complaint Cures Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies by David Reutter (p 54)
U.S. Prisons Originally Designed to Prevent Spread of Disease Become Breeding Ground During Pandemic by Edward Lyon (p 54)
Opioid Crisis in Canadian Prisons Needs to be Addressed by Kevin Bliss (p 55)
Georgia Prisoners Lacked Food, Water, Leading to Melee by Jayson Hawkins (p 55)
CoreCivic and Securus Technologies Agree to Pay $3.7 Million to Settle Suit for Illegally Recording Attorney-Client Conversations by Douglas Ankney (p 56)
$2 Million Settlement in Lawsuit Over N.Y. Prisoner Denied Emergency Eye Surgery Until She Went Blind by Matthew Clarke (p 56)
Scottish Prisoners Issued Mobile Phones During Pandemic by Kevin Bliss (p 57)
Private Health Care Services in County Jails Comes at High Price by Kevin Bliss (p 58)
Sixth Circuit Holds Ohio Prisoner Can Be Executed Despite Previous Botched Attempt by Matthew Clarke (p 59)
Second Circuit: No Error in Blocking New York Parolee from Attending His Own Civil Rights Trial Against Prison Officials by Matthew Clarke (p 60)
First Former Felon Elected to Washington State Legislature by Daniel A. Rosen (p 60)
Tennessee Prisons “Naughty” List Shows Prison Staff Often Bring in Contraband by Edward Lyon (p 61)
As Millions Suffer, Congress Awards BOP $356 Million for New Kansas Prison by Mark Wilson (p 61)
Alabama Guards Accused of Excessive Use of Force, Hospitalizing One Prisoner and Injuring Another by Kevin Bliss (p 62)
News in Brief (p 62)