by David M. Reutter
Finding a Colorado state prisoner was in grave danger from gang members he’d testified against in a murder investigation, the federal court for the District of Colorado enjoined the state Department of Corrections (DOC) on May 12, 2022, to place him in protective custody (PC).
When ...
by David M. Reutter
On January 25, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a prisoner who loses a federal lawsuit does not earn a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) if the case was removed from state court by defendants. The reason: Because it ...
by David M. Reutter
On May 4, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to Nevada prison officials who “never deviated from their ‘wait and see’ treatment plan” for a prisoner, leaving him to suffer “intractable pain” for years.
“Mere disagreement ...
by David M. Reutter
On May 5, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit certified a class of Illinois prisoners in a suit accusing officials in the state Department of Corrections (DOC) of conducting unconstitutionally demeaning and unsanitary shakedowns at four downstate prisons.
The raids all occurred ...
by David M. Reutter
On June 1, 2022, the Supreme Court of Ohio rejected the argument of state prison officials that copies of a prisoner’s “kites” — informal complaints, grievances and appeals — are exempt from disclosure under state public-records law. The Court not only ordered the documents produced but ...
by David M. Reutter
On May 25, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reinstated a claim against a guard at Colorado’s Mesa County Detention Facility (MCDF) in the death of a mentally disabled detainee. Reversing a district court’s grant of summary judgment to the guard, the ...
by David M. Reutter
A Georgia prisoner who got into a spat with a prison gang and was allegedly sold out to them by guards received a $54,000 judgment in a federal civil rights action on November 21, 2021.
Mixing it up at Ware State Prison with a prisoner in ...
by David M. Reutter
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were national shortages of personal protective equipment. Hand sanitizer was in great need. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) had a solution: Put prisoners to work making it.
Cuomo turned to the state’s prison industry, Corcraft ...
by David M. Reutter
On May 24, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied a request for rehearing en banc of a case brought on behalf of a detainee at California’s Orange County Jail (OCJ) who died of an undiagnosed rupture in his aorta. See: Russell ...
by David M. Reutter
In May 2022, after a ruling in his favor by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a former California prisoner accepted a settlement over an alleged assault by guards at Mule Creek State Prison. Importantly, the Court’s ruling held that a grievance alleging ...
