by David M. Reutter
A Florida juvenile offender who was beaten and raped by other prisoners as a guard stood by and watched has received a $60,000 settlement from the state.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Florida imprisons more children in adult prisons than any other state ...
by David Reutter
Alabama’s prison murder rate, already the nation’s worst, is on the rise – along with an increase in assaults that do not end in fatalities, as well as prisoner suicides. Prison officials agree that the root problems – mainly overcrowding and understaffing – are correctable. But the ...
by David Reutter
A federal lawsuit filed in October 2017 accuses an Arkansas-based drug rehab center of “human trafficking and forced labor” for abusing a court-ordered pre-trial diversion program. The rehab center reportedly compelled defendants to provide cheap labor for welding companies, chicken processing plants and manufacturers – including a ...
by David M. Reutter
Food plays an integral role in our lives. It not only provides the nutrition necessary to sustain our existence, it feeds the sense of community we all crave. Social bonds are made as we break bread with those who sit and dine with us at the ...
by David M. Reutter
Virginia’s parole board is changing a policy under which the state’s “three-strikes” law was used to deny parole to 262 prisoners who previously had never been incarcerated before their current charges. The change came on the heels of an investigative report by the Virginian-Pilot, which found ...
by David Reutter
A Tennessee state court judge has reversed course on a controversial sentence reduction program following an uproar from civil rights and prisoners’ rights advocates. He later received a public letter of reprimand from the Board of Judicial Conduct.
White County General Sessions Judge Sam E. Benningfield, Jr. ...
by David Reutter
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Virginia state prisoner had stated a claim for violation of his constitutional rights when guards gave him a “rough ride” in a prison van in retaliation for filing grievances and lawsuits.
Paul C. Thompson was placed in handcuffs, ...
by David M. Reutter
After two North Carolina prisoners died in county jails, lawsuits filed by their families resulted in settlements. Under state law, the details of those agreements should have been public record; in fact, in the absence of accepted standards for jail health care or strong regulatory oversight, ...
by David M. Reutter
Three Kentucky River Regional Jail guards have been sentenced to federal prison terms for beating prisoners in two separate incidents – including one where a prisoner died.
In 2013, guards Damon Wayne Hickman and William C. Howell entered the cell of Larry Trent, 54, to remove ...
by David M. Reutter
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that removal proceedings against an alien must be terminated because Coast Guard officers committed an egregious Fourth Amendment violation, plus violated an immigration regulation when they seized him based on his Latin ethnicity alone.
Louis E. Sanchez, 45, entered ...
