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Articles by David Reutter

Almost $950,000 Paid by Inmate Services Corp. for Hellish Prisoner Transports

by David M. Reutter

On September 30, 2023, the federal court for the Eastern District of Arkansas gave final approval to a settlement agreement under which for-profit prisoner transport firm Inmate Services Corp. (ISC) agreed to pay a total of $949,379.48 to resolve claims that it violated the constitutional rights ...

$10,000 Verdict for Fired Guard’s Failure to Protect Louisiana Prisoner From Stabbing

by David M. Reutter

The federal court for the Middle District of Louisiana found on July 18, 2023, that a guard at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center (EHCC) violated a prisoner’s Eighth Amendment rights by failing to intervene when he was assaulted by another prisoner. After a bench trial, the Court ...

$9,000 Settlement for Florida Prisoner’s Retaliation and Excessive Force Claims Against Guards

by David M. Reutter

On June 28, 2023, Florida prisoner Quincy Williams reached a settlement with the state and its Department of Corrections (DOC), which agreed to pay him $9,000 to resolve claims he was retaliated against—repeatedly—for exercising the right to grieve his conditions of confinement. The case illustrates the ...

Second Circuit Strips Qualified Immunity from Connecticut Officials Who Ignored Prisoner’s Scalp Lesions

by David M. Reutter

Observing that “Eighth Amendment claims for the deprivation of medical care are not analyzed body-part by body-part,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on July 14, 2023, that a lower court erred in dismissing a Connecticut prisoner’s claim he was for years ...

West Virginia Pretrial Detainee’s Lawsuit for Sexual Abuse Survives Dismissal Stage

by David M. Reutter

On June 9, 2023, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed denial of defendant state prison officials’ motion to dismiss all but a negligent supervision and training claim that arose from a sexual and physical assault on a pretrial detainee at Potomac Highlands Regional ...

West Virginia High Court Decides Medical Practice Liability Act Not Applicable to Prison System

by David M. Reutter

In June 8, 2023, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that the Medical Professional Liability Act (MPLA), W. Va. Code §§ 55-7B-1 to 12, does not apply to the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR).

Before the court was a motion by DCR ...

Florida Prisoners Not Required to File Rulemaking Petition to Satisfy PLRA Exhaustion Requirement

by David M. Reutter

On July 31, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected an argument by the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) that a state prisoner’s suit should be dismissed because he was required to file a Petition to Initiate Rulemaking before proceeding to court. ...

“Missing” Texas Prisoner Prompts Lockdown

by David M. Reutter

On December 20, 2022, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDJC) said that a prisoner reported missing the day before at the Stiles Unit in Beaumont had been “found within the prison’s perimeter fence.” But in a letter to PLN, fellow prisoner David W. Jones challenged ...

$26,500 in Settlements in Former California Prisoner’s Retaliation Lawsuits

by David M. Reutter

As of March 2023, a long-term California prisoner now paroled had received settlements totaling $26,500 in two lawsuits that alleged his First Amendment rights were violated when prison officials took retaliatory actions because of grievances and litigation he filed.

The most recent victory for Jared M. ...

NaphCare Nurse Faces Liability in Ohio Detainee’s Death from Sickle Cell Disease

by David M. Reutter

On May 1, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the grant of summary judgment to a NaphCare nurse accused of deliberate indifference to a pretrial detainee’s sickle cell disease that resulted in his death at Ohio’s Hamilton County Justice Center. But ...