by David M. Reutter
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a district court’s failure to make findings as to the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s (PLRA) “needs-narrowness-intrusiveness criteria” mooted all injunctive enforcement actions that occurred 90 days after the court entered a preliminary injunction.
The ruling came in an ...
by David M. Reutter
The state government in Missouri owes counties more than $33 million for housing and transporting state prisoners during fiscal year 2019. Although state law places no cap on the number of prisoners sent to county jails, the legislature has also not made allowance in the state ...
by David M. Reutter
As previously reported in PLN, a 2017 investigation found the 1,326-bed Augusta State Medical Prison (ASMP), operated by Georgia Correctional Health Care (GCHC) under a $190 million annual contract for the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC), had “a myriad of unsafe and unsanitary conditions.” State ...
by David M. Reutter
In October 2019, the Kentucky Department of Corrections (KDOC) announced plans to lease a privately-owned prison in Floyd County that has sat idle since 2012. State Justice Secretary John Tilley, who oversees the KDOC, hopes the prison’s 650 beds will make a “serious dent” in overcrowding ...
by David M. Reutter
Over 2,000 photos taken by staff at Alabama’s St. Clair Correctional Facility paint a graphic picture of violence in the prison that was previously described only in words. But after the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) received the leaked images in early 2019 – from someone ...
by David M. Reutter
Nashville’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) has removed for-profit prison company CoreCivic from its membership rolls. The October 8, 2019 decision to return the company’s membership fee came after a vocal outcry from the local LGBT community.
“The voices at our meeting last night were very ...
by David M. Reutter
In an effort to reduce its 18 percent guard vacancy rate, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (DPS) has eliminated the requirement that all applicants go through psychological testing.
“We are trying to make it easier for the applicants to get through the hiring process,” ...
by David M. Reutter
At least 19 employees from eight different prisons operated by the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC) have been convicted or face charges of smuggling drugs, liquor, jewelry or cell phones into the facilities where they worked. [See: PLN, July 2019, p.29]. At the same ...
by David M. Reutter
As the incarceration rate for women has grown throughout the nation, so has the focus on how they are treated while imprisoned. With the recent enactment of a new state law, Georgia joined the majority of states that have adopted statutes to protect pregnant prisoners.
The ...
by David M. Reutter
Organizers of the Smart on Crime Innovations conference – an annual gathering of community leaders, elected officials, organizers, researchers, journalists and lawyers aimed at reforming the criminal justice system – tweeted an apology for allowing Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle to speak at the event, ...
