by Dale Chappell
In April 2019, a jury awarded a prisoner held at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution $350,000 in damages when he was attacked by other prisoners after a guard announced that he was a “PC” (protective custody) case.
Oregon state prisoner Skyler Floro, a former gang member, claimed ...
by Dale Chappell
A female Rikers Island prisoner who was raped by a guard had to sneak DNA evidence of the sexual assault out of the jail to get anyone to believe her story. As a result, the guard, Jose Cosme, was arrested and convicted.
The unnamed prisoner, identified as ...
by Dale Chappell
The New York Court of Claims ordered the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) to produce records in two cases where prisoners filed claims alleging excessive force by guards.
In the first case, in an October 24, 2018 ruling, Judge Frank Milano ordered DOCCS to turn ...
by Dale Chappell
Most people have heard about the death penalty. But how many have heard of someone being declared “civilly dead” and stripped of their civil rights after receiving a life sentence, even if they are eligible for parole?
Welcome to Rhode Island, where the concept of “civil death” ...
by Dale Chappell
A federal prisoner who won a $250,000 settlement against the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), following an injury that required surgery and a month-long hospital stay, is fighting government lawyers who want that money to go toward restitution.
Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli, 67, slipped and fell at ...
by Dale Chappell
An audit released on September 18, 2019 found, among other issues, that missing property and abuse of overtime in Illinois’ prison system cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year.
The two-year audit reported that prison staff were taking paid leave time but then coming in to work ...
by Dale Chappell
The Arizona Court of Appeals held on September 25, 2019 that the possibility of information about gang members who had dropped out or were not in “good standing” falling into the wrong hands leaned in favor of redacting records released to a defendant’s attorney, overturning a trial ...
by Dale Chappell
A federal judge has granted class-action status in a federal lawsuit filed against GEO Group, alleging the private, for-profit company forced immigration detainees to work in order to avoid punishment.
The ruling by Judge Jesus G. Bernal of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of ...
by Dale Chappell
A man sat in jail for nearly three months while the police tried twice at different labs to prove that jars of honey he had in his possession contained liquid methamphetamine. And even when they discovered it was in fact honey, they wouldn’t let him go.
Leon ...
by Dale Chappell
The New York City Council voted in April 2019 to stop testing probationers for marijuana use. The move was a step toward reducing re-incarceration of probationers and parolees, and may be a foreshadowing of the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state.
There are currently 4.5 million ...
