by David M. Reutter
On November 7, 2023, the Supreme Court of Ohio rebuffed a request from the office of state Attorney General Dave Yost (R) to reconsider a grant of a state prisoner’s mandamus action. That left to stand the Court’s earlier order issued on August 31, …
by David M. Reutter
A unanimous vote by Connecticut’s House Committee on Judiciary on March 1, 2024, all but assured state lawmakers would approve an agreement made in August 2023 by state Attorney General William Tong (D) to pay a total of $25.2 million to Ralph “Ricky” Birch, …
by David M. Reutter
On October 12, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the grant of summary judgment to Defendant officials with New York’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) in a state prisoner’s civil rights action. The Court recognized that Steven …
by David M. Reutter
On October 16, 2023, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia reversed denial of mandamus relief to a prisoner and compelled the Commissioner of the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) to “develop a policy directive and/or operational procedure that is in …
by David M. Reutter
On October 6, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a consent decree in a class-action lawsuit filed over solitary confinement of mentally ill detainees at the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County, California.
As PLN reported, the suit …
by David M. Reutter
On October 24, 2023, the Alabama Personnel Board (APB) reinstated Capt. Timothy McCorvey, a guard dismissed by the warden at Ventress Correctional Facility in 2023 for using excessive force against a prisoner who later died of blunt force trauma.
Around 2:20 a.m. on …
by David M. Reutter
In a maddening decision issued on January 31, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the denial of qualified immunity (QI) to four guards from Arkansas’s Benton County Detention Center (BCDC), in a lawsuit accusing them of deliberate indifference to …
by David M. Reutter
On December 15, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to Illinois jail guards who relied upon a nurse’s claim that a detainee was faking his medical condition, which then proved fatal. The estate of …
by David M. Reutter
On April 13, 2023, the Supreme Court of Florida directed its Clerk to “reject any future pleadings or other requests for relief” submitted by state prisoner Daryl A. Sanders, “unless such filings are signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar.”
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by David Reutter
On March 13, 2023, the federal court for the Southern District of Georgia denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a guard for private prison giant CoreCivic, alleging she was unconstitutionally strip-searched at Wheeler Correctional Facility (WCF).
“Though Defendants attempt …
