by David M. Reutter
On April 9, 2020, Preston Bennett,
a disabled prisoner at the Cook County Jail (CCJ) in Chicago, won class-action certification to represent all of the jail’s disabled prisoners housed in its Division 10 as he proceeds with a lawsuit alleging violations of federal laws protecting the ...
by David M. Reutter
An unnamed Armor Correctional Health Services doctor was blamed for spreading COVID-19 at the Pre-Trial Detention Center in Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said the doctor “had previously shown symptoms of the virus but failed to notify the jail personnel,” according to The Florida Times-Union ...
by David M. Reutter
On March 10, 2020, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a grant of summary judgment in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that sought video from the Bureau of Prisons. It, however, affirmed as to a request concerning records related to a ...
by David M. Reutter
New York’s Suffolk County Legislature agreed on September 26, 2019 to pay $2.8 million to settle a lawsuit concerning the events surrounding the suicide six years earlier of pretrial detainee Jack Franqui.
The morning of January 23, 2013, started innocently for Franqui. He called friend Simon ...
by David M. Reutter
On June 11, 2020, a federal court in North Carolina found that 11 prisoners at the Federal Correction Complex (FCC) in Butner had failed to prove officials with the Bureau of Prisons were deliberately indifferent to preventing the introduction and spread of COVID-19.
BOP argued that ...
by David M. Reutter
A United Nations human rights expert has denounced the use of prolonged solitary confinement, which could inflict psychological torture on prisoners. His critique, given at a press conference on February 28, 2020, was aimed at conditions in Connecticut but has implications for the entirety of America’s ...
by David M. Reutter
On March 4, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held an Indiana federal district court abused its discretion in denying a prisoner’s motion for appointment of counsel in a civil rights lawsuit.
That ruling came in an appeal brought by Indiana prisoner ...
by David M. Reutter
What a politician believes about the impact of restoring the vote to a convicted felon often depends on which side of the aisle they stand on. A common belief amongst politicians is that felons are liberals who would vote Democratic. A survey of 8,266 prisoners by ...
by David M. Reutter
On January 16, 2020, a New York federal magistrate judge awarded $273,246.88 to a Sing Sing Correctional Facility prisoner who alleged a guard brutally beat him and lied about the incident.
The civil rights action was brought on May 3, 2017, by prisoner Morgan Greenburger. His ...
by David M. Reutter
A Nevada federal district court found on February 7, 2020 that prison officials were liable for failing to provide evidence to a prisoner during disciplinary proceedings. The Court’s grant of summary judgment to Nevada prisoner John Melnik ordered a trial to determine damages.
The order accepted ...