Texas’ Bexar County agreed on April 22, 2024, to pay $2.4 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of Curtis Raymond Smith, 66, who was killed just hours after his arrest by fellow pretrial detainee Mark Anthony Wong at the county lockup in San Antonio.
Police encountered Smith ...
On April 11, 2025, amended judgment was entered in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois, awarding $4,384,216.16 to state prisoner Timothy Kyles, who successfully prosecuted his claim that state Department of Corrections (DOC) officials were guilty of failure to protect him and of intentional infliction of emotional distress. ...
On December 17, 2024, the Court of Appeals of the State of Washington, Division II, held that a trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over the state Department of Corrections (DOC) and dismissed a motion to enforce a released prisoner’s community custody condition. The Court concluded with an important warning for ...
A $2.8 million partial settlement was reached on March 4, 2024, in a national class action lawsuit challenging excessive fees on jail and prison “debit release” cards. The case was filed in 2015 by the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), publisher of PLN, on behalf of Danica Love Brown ...
On December 18, 2024, notice was filed in the federal court for the Central District of Illinois that a $6 million good-faith settlement had been reached resolving a lawsuit seeking compensation for the April 2022 death of pretrial detainee Brian Downs at the Morgan County Detention Facility (MCDF). The complaint ...
by David M. Reutter
One year after Illinois eliminated cash bail, state courts are not only remanding fewer people to jail to await trial but also engaging in more deliberation about pretrial detention. Those results are part of the findings in a report published by the Loyola Chicago Center for ...
by David M. Reutter
The City of Philadelphia agreed on November 3, 2023, to pay $9.1 million to settle a wrongful conviction lawsuit brought by Walter Ogrod, 59, a former state prisoner exonerated of murder and released after more than 28 years of wrongful incarceration—including 23 years on death row. ...
by David M. Reutter
On November 12, 2024, the federal court for the Eastern District of California entered judgment in favor of state prisoner Anthony Penton, adding $788,744.97 to an earlier $475,000 jury award on his claim that a guard violated his civil rights by withholding his mail without notice ...
by David M. Reutter
On May 15, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed summary judgment on a New York prisoner’s First Amendment free exercise claim while also affirming a jury’s verdict finding continuous lighting in his cell did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. ...
by David M. Reutter
On May 8, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit clarified the standards to determine whether Baltimore County prisoners are considered employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 203, when working in a recycling facility overseen by the County Department ...
