by David Reutter
On August 6, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed the dismissal of a prisoner’s medical Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and Eighth Amendment claims for the failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The district court erred in finding the prisoner responsible …
by David Reutter
On August 4, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to two jail guards who refused to assist a pretrial detainee after he fell out of his wheelchair and requested medical assistance.
Ralph M. Hardy …
The efficiency and functionality of every enterprise rests largely upon the staff put in place to carry out its operations. But at the heart of the most dysfunctional prisons PLN has reported on over the last 35 years is one common denominator: Understaffing. Nationwide, there are an estimated 31,000 …
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit approved the appointment of a receiver to oversee operations of the Raymond Detention Center (RDC) in Hinds County, Mississippi. The district court’s action was a contempt sanction imposed for the County’s repeated failures to comply with a consent decree.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a prisoner’s civil rights action for the failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The Court found the prisoner was “reliably informed” by a prison grievance coordinator that the remedy was “not available to him.”
The appeal …
In a settlement reached on December 20, 2024, Colorado’s Sedgwick County agreed to pay $2.7 million to Peatinna Biggs, an intellectually disabled former detainee in the county jail who was raped by the Sheriff during transport. The County initially beat back claims for any liability in the U.S. District …
On June 30, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a complaint filed by Abu Zubaydah, 52, a falsely accused Al-Qaeda conspirator captured after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, who is still being held without charges as an “enemy combatant” by …
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to a prison doctor who delayed the scheduling of a prisoner’s MRI due to the prisoner’s upcoming parole hearing and the possibility of a grant of parole.
Iowa prisoner Travis Dantzler sued Dr. …
On December 31, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a prisoner “need not file repeated grievances if the (prisoner) has identified one continuing harm or a single course of conduct [of] which later events are a part.” In other words, the Court adopted …
On January 30, 2025, the Supreme Court of Oregon held that prisoners seeking to state a claim for economic damages in the form of future lost income need not plead an “enforceable right” to future employment and that the lack of a legal right to employment is not an automatic preclusion to such a claim.
Prisoner Arnold R. Huskey sued the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) and others for breach of contract and civil rights violations. Among other things, Huskey sought damages based on lost future wages and employment opportunities. Years prior, Huskey sued DOC and obtained a settlement agreement that purportedly involved DOC orally agreeing not to retaliate against Huskey.
The settlement was the contract underlying the breach of contract action. The breach was based on DOC allegedly violating its oral promise by creating, without Huskey’s permission, training videos that included footage of him and portrayed him in a negative manner. As a result, Huskey suffered $11,640 in economic damages due to DOC officials denying him job assignments, training, and other income-generating opportunities.
The trial court accepted the defendant’s argument to dismiss the action, finding that economic damages could not be pleaded by Huskey because …
