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Articles by David Reutter

Savings from North Carolina Prisoner Slave Labor Result in Additional Prison Beds

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 ...

Washington Prisoner Discovers Good Time Error; County Officials Admit and Correct Mistake

by David M. Reutter

Washington State’s Kitsap County Jail (KCJ) has corrected an error in how it calculates and awards “good time” to prisoners, after a former prisoner discovered the mistake and brought it to the attention of jail officials.

As prisoner Robert “Doug” Pierce was being shackled to be ...

Federal Courts Reject Leniency Pleas from Politically-Connected Defendants

by David M. Reutter

Despite a prosecutor’s request for a probationary sentence, a Massachusetts federal judge sentenced Patrice Tierney, 60, the wife of U.S. Representative John F. Tierney, to 30 days in prison followed by five months on house arrest as part of two years’ supervised release. She also must ...

Uproar Over Background Checks for BP Oil Spill Workers Following Rape Allegation Against Sex Offender

by David M. Reutter

A brouhaha has erupted in Mississippi after an unregistered sex offender, who was working on the BP oil spill cleanup, was charged with raping a co-worker. The uproar revolves around the failure to perform background checks.

Rundy Charles Robertson, 41, was supervising a crew of cleanup ...

Six Florida Jail Staff Arrested in Contraband Smuggling Probe

by David M. Reutter

An on-going investigation into contraband smuggling at Florida’s Broward County Jail in Fort Lauderdale has resulted in the arrest of five guards and a contract nurse.

Following months of witness interviews and a review of phone records, detectives arrested jail guards Salisia Pascoe, 30, Kiara Walker, ...

No Time Limit for Defendants to Raise a PLRA Defense

by David M. Reutter

On May 17, 2010, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment to prison officials on the eve of trial, holding it was an abuse of discretion to grant the oral motion for summary judgment so late in the proceedings. ...

Transferred Prisoners Subject to Receiving State’s Confinement Conditions Under Interstate Compact Rule

By David M. Ruetter

A Vermont state court has held that a prisoner transferred under the Interstate Corrections Compact (ICC) is subject to the confinement conditions of the receiving state, and the sending state has no authority to resolve disputes over those conditions.

The ruling came in an action filed ...

Withdrawal of Guilty Plea Required for Washington Prisoner

By David M. Ruetter

The State of Washington Court of Appeals has held that a defendant is entitled to withdraw a guilty plea where he was not informed that he could not earn early release credits during the mandatory minimum portion of his sentence.

Before the Court was the Personal ...

Eleventh Circuit Finds Disabled Prisoner in Imminent Danger for Filing Fee Purposes

by David M. Reutter

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a Georgia federal district court’s injunction that prohibited a prisoner from submitting future filings, and reversed the lower court’s dismissal of the prisoner’s complaint.

Before the Eleventh Circuit was the appeal of Georgia prisoner Tracy A. Miller, incarcerated ...

All Florida Prison Claims Challenging Gaintime Awards Preclude Lien for Filing Fee

By David M. Reutter

The Florida Supreme Court has held that imposition of a lien on a prisoner’s trust account to recover applicable filing fees is precluded in all gaintime actions, regardless of their nature, in which, if successful, the complaining party’s claim would directly affect his or her time ...