by David M. Reutter
On April 24, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a lower court and granted qualified immunity (QI) to officials with Missouri’s Department of Corrections (DOC) in a state prisoner’s complaint accusing them of violating his due process rights with a false ...
by David M. Reutter
On July 12, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania unsealed the settlement agreement between PrimeCare Medical and the Estate of Charles Freitag.
As PLN reported, Freitag, 57, committed suicide on August 25, 2018, at the Bucks County Correctional Facility (BCCF), one ...
by David M. Reutter
On August 15, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a paraplegic Arkansas jail detainee’s deliberate indifference and conditions of confinement claims, while reviving claims under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. ch. 126 § 12101 et. seq.
The ...
by David M. Reutter
On August 7, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed summary judgment for Defendant Wisconsin prison officials in a prisoner’s lawsuit that alleged a due process violation when he was deprived of an impartial disciplinary hearing decision maker.
Terrance Prude helped a ...
by David M. Reutter
On August 14, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida awarded a permanent injunction to state prisoner Owen D. Denson, a Muslim known as Abdul Hakeen Jahmal Naseer Shabazz, permitting him to “maintain an untrimmed beard” without being “subject to any disciplinary ...
by David M. Reutter
On August 24, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s orders granting California prisoners a pair of 12-month extensions to a Settlement Agreement reached in 2015 with the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to end the practice ...
by David M. Reutter
Back in June 2022, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) agreed to pay $40,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a prisoner repeatedly subjected to sexually assault by a guard at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Mariana, Florida. But the settlement with “Jane Doe” specifically ...
by David M. Reutter
A civil rights action filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 1, 2023, alleged that officials at Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGKCC) were deliberately indifferent to the serious medical needs of pretrial detainee Randy Heath, whose death ...
On August 18, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for officials with the Nevada Department of Corrections (DOC) in a prisoner’s claim that it limited his access to courts. The Court’s ruling maintains a perfect score for prison officials facing such challenges across ...
by David M. Reutter
On August 8, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed dismissal of a claim alleging two guards at Florida’s Polk County Jail (PCJ) interfered with Ricky Lee Christmas’ First Amendment right to communicate freely and confidentially with his attorneys by forcing him ...
