By David M. Reutter
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that 42 U.S.C. 1997e’s prohibition against a prisoner bringing a federal civil action for emotional injury without a prior showing of physical injury is an affirmative defense.
Before the Court was the appeal of Florida prisoner Lawrence W. ...
By David M. Reutter
The Virginia Supreme Court has held that there is no vested right under state law to have juvenile records destroyed. The Court, however, found that an expert’s testimony was inadmissible because that testimony was based upon an improper finding that the conduct charged in the juvenile ...
by David M. Reutter
The Washington Department of Corrections (WDOC) has agreed to change its policies that relate to preventing, reporting and investigating sexual abuse of prisoners by staff members. The changes resulted from a settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed by five female prisoners who claimed they were sexually ...
by David M. Reutter
Things that are seemingly inconsequential to people outside of prison can quickly become something of great importance when made available to prisoners. The honey bun is one such item, which has taken on its own lore and become a beloved sticky-sweet staple among prisoners.
Why are ...
by David M. Reutter
Compact video cameras smuggled into prison have allowed New Jersey prisoner Omar Broadway to become an amateur documentarian of life behind bars. His first video, taken inside a New Jersey state facility in 2004, has been turned into a full-length feature, and he plans to use ...
by David M. Reutter
A settlement agreement to remedy violations of the federal Clean Air Act at four Pennsylvania state prisons was announced on January 4, 2011. The settlement between the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice covers violations ...
by David M. Reutter
The Great Recession has put millions of Americans out of work, which has caused more people than usual to become delinquent on their child support obligations and other debts. Many courts, especially those in Georgia and South Carolina, have reacted to child support delinquencies by finding ...
by David M. Reutter
“From this day forward I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.”
—Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, Callins v. Collins, 501 U.S. 1141 (1994)
The only American producer of sodium thiopental has abandoned the market for that drug due to protests and export bans ...
by David M. Reutter
Pennsylvania-based Wexford Health Services, which bills itself as “the nation’s leading innovative correctional health care company,” entered into a confidential settlement with the estate of a New Mexico prisoner who died due to deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs.
When prisoner Michael Crespin arrived at ...
by David M. Reutter
Touting its 140-year history of using prisoner slave labor, the North Carolina Department of Correction (NDOC) announced in January 2011 that it will save taxpayers $27 million when building more than 2,700 new prison beds with prisoner labor.
The North Carolina legislature has allocated funds since ...