by David M. Reutter
Mass solitary confinement in the United States did not develop as a response to violent predators, “but rather as a means for officials to achieve control of political activists and ‘troublemakers’ amongst prisoners.” That conclusion is drawn in an essay by Jules Lobel, the …
by David M. Reutter
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that each interception of an attorney’s privileged telephone is a violation of the federal and Nevada Wiretap Acts. As such, the statute of limitations is triggered anew for each intercepted call.
The court’s October 27, 2020, …
by David M. Reutter
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a Michigan federal district court to determine if a prisoner showed excusable neglect in filing an appellate notice outside time limitations. The prisoner alleged he couldn’t get needed copies made because his prison was on lockdown.
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by David M. Reutter
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that prisoners who had deductions taken from their inmate account under Act 84 are entitled to a post-deprivation process.
The court’s October 1, 2020, opinion was issued in an appeal brought by prisoner Aquil Johnson, who sought a …
by David M. Reutter
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prisoner exhausted administrative remedies when he followed the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) Inmate Grievance Procedure, but the Central Office Review Committee (CORC) failed to respond within the 30 days …
by David M. Reutter
In a ruling August 3, 2020, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals encouraged a lower court to extend its supervision over a settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit brought in 2009 against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) by prisoners placed …
by David M. Reutter
On January 6, 2021, a federal court in California issued an injunction extending the provisions of a temporary restraining order it had handed down two weeks earlier and excoriated officials from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and their private prison contractor, the GEO …
by David M. Reutter
On May 7, 2020, Kentucky’s Larue County Detention Center agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging former guard Jerome Perry sexually abused nine prisoners.
The women’s lawsuit alleged that between February 1, 2018, and August 20, 2018, Perry “harassed, assaulted, …
by David M. Reutter
The conditions under which residents exist at Parchman are subhuman and deplorable in a civilized society,” wrote Dr. Marc Stern, a correctional health-care consultant hired by lawyers representing Parchman prisoners, in a report to federal court filed June 8, 2020. “I’ve been to prisons …
by David M. Reutter
The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) on August 6, 2020 agreed to pay $4.65 million to prisoner Cheryl Weimar, who was beaten “to within an inch of her life” two years earlier by guards at the Lowell Correctional Institution (LCI). The investigation into the …
