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Articles by Chuck Sharman

$11,333.33 Paid by Santa Clara County to Teenage Girl Allegedly Beaten by Guards at County Juvenile Hall

By Chuck Sharman

For a payment of $11,333.33, Santa Clara County, California, agreed on September 10, 2018, to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman who, while still underage, was allegedly brutalized by a pair of mall cops before law enforcement then took her to the county juvenile detention facility, ...

$1,250,000 Paid by Santa Clara County to Family of Man Who Died after Being Denied Oxygen at County Jail

By Chuck Sharman

 

On April 20, 2018, a settlement was entered into by Santa Clara County, California, agreeing to pay $1,250,000 to the survivors of a man who died after being denied medically necessary oxygen treatment at the county jail.

The dead man, Ryan Bascos, was arrested on a ...

USDA Gives $1,000,000 Grant to Corizon to Treat More Sick Prisoners Remotely

by Chuck Sharman

Tennessee-based Corizon Health, one of the nation’s largest private for profit health care providers to prisons, with annual revenues of at least $800 million, announced on November 3, 2021, that it had received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) “to expand distance learning and ...

$15,379,091 Judgment Entered Against Delaware DOC’s Former Health Care Provider for Narcotics and Medicare Fraud

by Chuck Sharman

Under a pair of consent judgments filed in federal court on October 29 and November 1, 2021, troubled former Delaware Department of Corrections (DOC) health care contractor Connections Community Support Programs (CCSP) agreed to pay the federal and state governments a total of $15,379,091.60 to settle claims ...

Sherburne County, MN, Settles with HRDC for $98,000 Plus New Jail Publications Policy

by Chuck Sharman

A settlement was reached on May 11, 2021, in a censorship complaint filed in August 2020 against Sherburne County, Minnesota, and its Sheriff, Joel Brott, by the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), the Florida nonprofit that publishes Prison Legal News (PLN) and Criminal Legal News (CLN).

Under ...

Indiana DOC Settles HRDC Mail Censorship Suit

by Chuck Sharman

On September 21, 2021, the Indiana Department of Corrections (INDOC) agreed to a slate of policy reforms embodied in a consent decree to settle a censorship lawsuit filed by the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), publisher of Prison Legal News (PLN)and Criminal Legal News ( ...

HRDC Represents Wrongfully Convicted Florida Man Who Spent 37 Years in Prison for a Rape Murder He Did Not Commit

by Chuck Sharman

A Florida man who spent 37 years in prison on a wrongful rape murder conviction filed a federal lawsuit on October 4, 2021, against the Tampa Police Department (TPD) officers who mishandled his prosecution, along with the city and a forensic odontologist who provided “expert” bite mark ...

CFPB Hits JPay with $6 Million in Fines and Restitution Over Fee-Heavy “Debit Release Cards”

by Chuck Sharman

In an order and settlement agreement released on October 19, 2021, by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), prison financial giant JPay, LLC agreed to pay $6 million in fines and restitution, after its prepaid debit cards were found to have taken unfair advantage of some ...

Michigan DOC Eases Up on Pregnant Prisoners, Limits Shackles and Solitary Confinement

by Chuck Sharman

Under a new policy announced on October 19, 2021, pregnant prisoners held by the Michigan Department of Corrections (MIDOC) will be restrained less and will also have more time to spend with their newborns once delivered.

When it takes effect November 22, 2021, the policy change will ...

California Slashes High Call Rates in Prisons and Jails

by Chuck Sharman

On the heels of a May 2021 decision by federal regulators that sharply lowered rates prisoners and their loved ones pay for interstate calls, the California Public Utilities Commission (CAPUC) adopted a rule on August 19, 2021, which takes a hatchet to rates on intrastate calls—the lion’s ...