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Articles by David Reutter

Former Georgia Sheriff Gets 18 Months for Punishing Detainees in Restraint Chair

by David M. Reutter

On March 14, 2023, a federal judge in Georgia sentenced former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill to an 18-month federal prison term for violating the civil rights of pretrial detainees in the county jail.

A jury in the federal court for the Northern District of Georgia ...

$1.2 Million Paid by St. Louis County for Jail Detainee’s Death from Untreated Ulcer

by David M. Reutter

On September 8, 2022, the federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri approved a settlement under which St. Louis County agreed to pay $1.2 million to resolve claims that a state prisoner detained in the county jail died due to denied medical care.

From his ...

Alabama Prisoner’s Deliberate Indifference Claim Dies for Lack of Proper Affidavits

by David M. Reutter
On November 11, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of an Alabama prisoner’s civil rights action that alleged overlong delays in treatment for hernias and post-surgery complications. The case provides a lesson in the proper preparation of affidavits to support ...

$350,000 Settlement Reached in Florida Prisoner’s Murder

by David M. Reutter

The Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) agreed on March 25, 2022, to pay $350,000 to resolve a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of murdered prisoner Anthony Vidal.

The lawsuit was filed after Vidal was killed by his cellmate, Torrin Blue, on March 11, 2016, ...

Fourth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of “Overbroad” Claim from Federal Prisoner in Virginia, Says Not Allowed Under Bivens

by David M. Reutter
In an opinion issued on December 2, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a federal prisoner’s claim for money damages based on “degenerate” conditions of confinement. The Court found the cause of action was a new ...

Tenth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Utah Jailers After Detainee’s Withdrawal Death

by David M. Reutter

On September 7, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to officials at Utah’s Unitah County Jail in a lawsuit accusing them of deliberate indifference in a detainee’s death from complications related to alcohol withdrawal.

Coby Lee ...

Riot and Escape at Nevada Prison Lead to Charges Against Four Guards, Firings or Resignations of Top Officials

by David M. Reutter

Some recreation was suspended at Nevada’s Southern Desert Correctional Center [SDCC] after 20 prisoners got into a brawl on October 10, 2022. The violence carried echoes of a riot involving at least 40 prisoners on December 8, 2021.

Eight of those 40 were indicted on a ...

Fifth Circuit: Texas Prison Property Rules Withstand Scrutiny Under Religious Free-Exercise Clause

by David Reutter

On October 4, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit considered the question: When is cleanliness not next to godliness? In answer, the Court said that the Texas prison system’s rules for storage of a prisoner’s personal property may not be broken, even if ...

Seventh Circuit Revives Indiana Prisoner’s Claim He Was Wrongfully Fired From Prison Commissary for Attending Religious Service

by David M. Reutter

On August 2, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed dismissal of an Indiana prisoner’s claim that he was wrongfully terminated from his job in the prison commissary when he missed work for a religious service he thought he had permission to ...

Illinois Supreme Court Orders State DOC to Fund Required Treatment and Housing for Sex Offender’s Conditional Release

by David M. Reutter

On September 22, 2022, the Supreme Court of Illinois agreed with a former state prisoner that when the state sets conditions for release that he can’t afford, it is obliged to help him meet them as long as it retains him under its custody. In the ...