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Articles by David Reutter

Physical Injury Required for All Prisoner Suits Seeking Compensatory and Punitive Damages

Physical Injury Required for All Prisoner Suits Seeking Compensatory and
Punitive Damages

By David M. Reutter

In an unpublished opinion, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held
the PLRA bars compensatory and punitive damages in all prisoner cases that
fail to demonstrate a physical injury, regardless of the constitutional ...

Lawsuit Challenging BOP's Reporter/Writer Pay Ban Regulation Remanded to District Court

Lawsuit Challenging BOP's Reporter/Writer Pay Ban Regulation Remanded to
District Court

By David M. Reutter


The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that it does not have
jurisdiction to hear an appeal of a partial judgment dismissing a statutory
vagueness claim when a statutory over breadth claim challenging the ...

RLUIPA Kouplock Injunction Reversed; Deference to Prison Officials Required

By David M. Reutter

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed an Ohio federal district
court's temporary injunction that allowed a Native American Indian prisoner
to grow and maintain a kouplock. The district court, using RLUIPA as
authority, held that Ohio's prison regulations which prohibit hair
extending beyond the ...

Eleventh Circuit Holds RLUIPA Constitutional

By David M. Reutter


The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held the Religious Land
Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) does not violate either the
Spending Clause, the Establishment Clause, or the Tenth Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution.

Georgia Prisoner Ralph Benning, who is a Torah observant Jew,"
filed ...

Florida DOC Clamps Down on Prisoner Writers

by David M. Reutter


In an effort to limit prisoners' free speech rights, the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) has taken steps to prohibit prisoners from engaging in a business or profession. For some years now, the FDOC has had on its books a rule that states: "No inmate may ...

Michigan Prisons: Another CMS Failure in Privatized Prisoner Health Care

by David M. Reutter

Another state prison system that subjected itself to the experiment of privatized medical services has learned the same hard lesson suffered by other states: a trail of inadequate care that leaves prisoners dead or maimed. This time the Michigan prison system is under pressure by the ...

Michigan's Prison Health Care System Found Contemptuous

by David M. Reutter

"Step on a man's foot once, and a polite apology will do. Do it twice, and a profuse apology is in order. Do it thrice, and you have left the land of apology and entered the arena of self-defense." That saying is the beginning of U.S. ...

Michigan's In-Cell Restraints Considered Torture; Injunction Issued

by David M. Reutter

A Michigan federal district court has held that the use of in-cell restraints for punitive reasons constitutes torture. In reaching that conclusion, the Court reopened its previous judgment concerning mental health claims and issued a preliminary injunction.

The Court's ruling comes in the Hadix case, a ...

Florida's Prison Industry Practices Tightening

by David M. Reutter

Three years after its scathing report on the corporate nepotism that was lining the pockets of administrators of Florida's Prison Industries and Diversified Enterprises (PRIDE), Florida's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accounting (OPPAGA) has issued a progress report. The fiascos revealed by the OPPAGA?s ...

PLN Uncovers Secret Sweetheart Settlement Between PRIDE and Former Board Members

by David M. Reutter

In its continual effort to expose corruption within prisons, PLN has uncovered the confidential settlement between Florida?s Prison Rehabilitation Industries and Diversified Industries (PRIDE) and the corporations spawned by its former directors? corporations.

Our January 2005 cover article detailed how PRIDE corporate executives and directors had ...