5.85 Million People Disenfranchised in Supposedly Democratic America
by David M. Reutter
The United States is billed as the world’s largest and greatest democracy. However, it is also “one of the world’s strictest nations when it comes to denying the right to vote to citizens convicted of crimes,” according to ...
Arkansas Jail Prisoner Can Proceed on Failure to Protect Claim Against Guard
by David M. Reutter
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the denial of summary judgment to a guard who was aware of a threat of harm to a pretrial detainee, but reversed as to a jail ...
Second Circuit: RLUIPA Disallows Individual Capacity Suits
by David M. Reutter
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held in September 2013 that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) does not create a private right of action against state officials in their individual capacities.
Anthony Washington, incarcerated at ...
Massachusetts: Order Relieving Sex Offender of Registration Not Vacated Upon Probation Violation
by David Reutter
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held that once a judge relieves a sex offender of the requirement to register, a different judge lacks the authority to order the offender to register following ...
Warden Granted Qualified Immunity for Two-year Visitation Suspension
by David Reutter
A prison official who suspended a prisoner’s visitation privileges was entitled to qualified immunity because, under the facts of the case, the prisoner did not have a clearly established right to visitation, the Fourth Circuit Court of ...
Second Circuit: Federal Prisoner States Conditions of Confinement Claim
by David Reutter
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a federal prisoner sufficiently stated a claim alleging the conditions of his confinement violated the Eighth Amendment.
The case involved an appeal from a New York ...
Seventh Circuit Clarifies Standard for Recruiting Counsel in Pro Se Cases
by David Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that an Illinois federal district court, like many federal courts in Northern Illinois, used an improper standard when refusing to exercise its discretion to recruit counsel ...
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court’s imposition of four special conditions of supervised release, due to the court’s failure to explain its reasons for imposing them.
Rashan R. Doyle was convicted in New York of attempted sexual abuse in the first degree; as a result ...
A series of investigative news reports by Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Joy Lukachick, published from February to December 2013, revealed numerous problems in Georgia’s prison system – particularly at Hays State Prison (HSP), located around 40 miles south of Chattanooga, Tennessee – and resulted in lawsuits, security improvements and ...
by David M. Reutter and Alex Friedmann
Defendants who are placed on probation and ordered to pay a growing array of fines and fees levied by local governments facing budget deficits, combined with additional fees charged by private companies hired to provide probation services, are increasingly being squeezed into burdensome ...
