by David Reutter
A report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on February 6, 2024, found that the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was holding about 8% of its population—nearly 12,000 prisoners—in Special Housing Units (SHUs), the agency’s polite term for solitary confinement. In SHU, prisoners are isolated ...
by David M. Reutter
On August 30, 2023, a Florida court entered final judgment awarding $6 million to the estate of a detainee who died at Santa Rosa County Jail (SRCJ) from pneumonia left untreated by employees of the jail’s medical contractor, Armor Correctional Health Services. The jury that made ...
by David M. Reutter
After a Nevada Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoner was blinded by guards using birdshot rounds, the state Board of Examiners (BOE) approved a $2.25 million settlement on September 12, 2023. A separate agreement reached just weeks earlier on August 28, 2023, cost the state another $1.6 ...
by David M. Reutter
On October 17, 2023, Michigan State Police (MSP) paid $11 million to settle claims by former state prisoner Ray McCann, Jr., 57, after a jury awarded him $14.5 million for his wrongful conviction on a perjury charge related to the investigation into the sexual assault and ...
by David M. Reutter
Citing Alabama’s “bad track record of botched executions,” death row prisoner David P. Wilson, 41, filed a civil rights action on February 15, 2024, alleging that the state’s intended use of nitrogen hypoxia to execute him constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Struggling to obtain necessary drugs ...
by David M. Reutter
A dustup between Republican politicians landed in Florida’s Charlotte County Circuit Court on February 15, 2024, when presiding Judge Lisa Porter reserved ruling on disclosure of grand jury proceedings that resulted in no indictments against state prison guards in the 2014 beating death of prisoner Matthew ...
by David M. Reutter
Alaska is a small state with enormous natural resources. The native people, who largely subsist off the land, enrich its culture. The beauty of its landscape draws millions of tourists annually. Yet behind the sheen of natural and cultural richness lies a deadly and degrading ...
by David M. Reutter
On December 6, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to defendant officials with Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg Police Department (HPD) and the contracted medical provider for Dauphin County Booking Center (DCBC), PrimeCare Medical, in a suit accusing ...
by David M. Reutter
In a decision issued on December 11, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said that the claim of a federal prisoner in Washington allegedly denied treatment for Hepatitis C did not require an extension of the government’s financial liability for violating ...
by David Reutter
On April 26, 2024, a long legal battle over his delayed Hepatitis C (HCV) treatment netted Georgia prisoner Ricky Johnson just over $15,000 from Defendant state prison officials and medical personnel. As PLN has reported, many prison systems have delayed HCV care due to the high ...
