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Articles by Christopher Zoukis

$150,000 in Damages Ordered Paid to Injured Prisoner

By Christopher Zoukis

The Bureau of Prisons lost a tort claim brought by a prisoner who was attacked by another prisoner in 1991.

The plaintiff, Stephen E. Usselman, alleged that he was placed in the special housing unit at Federal Correctional Institution Sheridan, Oregon and was housed with a higher ...

$15.000 Settles Multiple Civil Rights Complaints

by Christopher Zoukis

The Bureau of Prisons settled multiple civil rights lawsuits brought by prisoner David Y. Merritt in March 2002.

Merritt, an imprisoned government informant, filed several lawsuits against the Bureau of Prisons in federal court between 1995 and 2001. He alleged a litany of constitutional violations, including denial ...

BOP Fails and Prevails in Prison Guard Discrimination Complaint

by Christopher Zoukis

Robert T. Aranda, an "inmate systems officer" (prison guard), was a very litigious Bureau of Prisons employee. Between 1996 and 1998, while working at multiple BOP facilities in several capacities, Aranda filed at least six complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). He alleged variations of ...

$330,000 Settles Guard-on-Prisoner Sexual Assault Claims

by Christopher Zoukis

The Bureau of Prisons agreed to pay four female prisoners an aggregate total of $330,000.00 in order to settle claims that they were all subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of prison guard Johnsie Donaldson. All four women agreed to settle their claims against the Bureau ...

$99,000 to Settle Claim Over Use of Four-Point Restraints

by Christopher Zoukis

The federal Bureau of Prisons settled a claim that alleged abusive use of "four-point" restraints in United States Penitentiary Atlanta, Georgia in the late 1990s.

Three prisoners held at USP Atlanta who were subjected to immobilization in four-point restraints filed suit over the practice in federal district ...

$11,000 for Prisoner's Constitutional Rights Violation Claim

by Christopher Zoukis

The Bureau of Prisons settled a claim that prisoner Louis Sheptin's constitutional rights were violated while in custody for $11,000 in August 2002.

Sheptin filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in March 2000. His claim, brought pursuant ...

$2,600 Settles Prisoner's Civil Rights Claim

by Christopher Zoukis

The Bureau of Prisons settled an excessive force civil rights claim brought by prisoner Allan Parmelee. The BOP agreed to pay Parmelee $2,600 in full satisfaction of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims.

According to his complaint, while being held at Metropolitan Correctional Center Chicago, Illinois in ...

$675,000 in Wrongful Death of Federal Prisoner

by Christopher Zoukis

The Estate of James F. Norton, formerly a prisoner at Federal Correctional Institution Oxford, Wisconsin, was awarded a total of $678,505.67 for the wrongful death of Norton due to negligence by prison medical staff between 1989 and 1991.

Norton had been serving a 10-year sentence for racketeering ...

BOP Agrees to Pay Attorney's Fees in Failed Attempt to Stop Construction of Private Prison in Pennsylvania

by Christopher Zoukis

The federal Bureau of Prisons agreed via stipulation to pay the attorney's fees and costs of the plaintiff who sued to stop construction of a private prison in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.

The suit, filed in May 1999 by Citizens Advisory Committee on Private Prisons (CACPP), alleged that ...

$70,000 Settlement to Female Prison Visitor Who Was Strip-Searched

by Christopher Zoukis

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, along with the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, Superintendent of the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC) Anthony Mendonsa and SBCC prison guards Jonathan W. Thomas, Carlos M. Goden, Jr., Mark A. Verdini and Maria E. Montanez have agreed to pay $70,000 to settle an improper ...