by David Reutter
On July 29, 2025, the Court of Appeals of the State of Washington, Division II, affirmed the conviction of a guard who conspired to be shot. The Court rejected the guard’s defense that because he was the victim of an assault and drive-by shooting he …
by David Reutter
On July 23, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed dismissal of a pretrial detainee’s civil rights complaint that alleged he was served “rotten and unsafe food” and denied the ability to engage in Jum’ah (Friday prayer). The matter was remanded …
by David Reutter
On August 6, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed the dismissal of a prisoner’s medical Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and Eighth Amendment claims for the failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The district court erred in finding the prisoner responsible …
The efficiency and functionality of every enterprise rests largely upon the staff put in place to carry out its operations. But at the heart of the most dysfunctional prisons PLN has reported on over the last 35 years is one common denominator: Understaffing. Nationwide, there are an estimated 31,000 …
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit approved the appointment of a receiver to oversee operations of the Raymond Detention Center (RDC) in Hinds County, Mississippi. The district court’s action was a contempt sanction imposed for the County’s repeated failures to comply with a consent decree.
…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a prisoner’s civil rights action for the failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The Court found the prisoner was “reliably informed” by a prison grievance coordinator that the remedy was “not available to him.”
The appeal …
In a settlement reached on December 20, 2024, Colorado’s Sedgwick County agreed to pay $2.7 million to Peatinna Biggs, an intellectually disabled former detainee in the county jail who was raped by the Sheriff during transport. The County initially beat back claims for any liability in the U.S. District …
On June 30, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a complaint filed by Abu Zubaydah, 52, a falsely accused Al-Qaeda conspirator captured after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, who is still being held without charges as an “enemy combatant” by …
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to a prison doctor who delayed the scheduling of a prisoner’s MRI due to the prisoner’s upcoming parole hearing and the possibility of a grant of parole.
Iowa prisoner Travis Dantzler sued Dr. …
On December 31, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a prisoner “need not file repeated grievances if the (prisoner) has identified one continuing harm or a single course of conduct [of] which later events are a part.” In other words, the Court adopted …
