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Articles by David Reutter

Nominal Damage Award Verdict Nets $197,505 in Attorney Fee Award

A federal district court awarded $197,505 in attorney fees following a jury's nominal damage award after finding excessive force by guards upon detainees was a custom or practice at the Sacramento County Main Jail (SCMJ).

The plaintiffs, a prisoner and non-prisoner at the time the action was filed, brought suit ...

$10,000 Negligence Settlement for Ohio Prisoner

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) agreed to a $10,000 settlement in a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging injuries due to a guard’s negligence and failure to provide medical treatment.

While working on a work crew at Lebanon Correctional Institute (LCI), prisoner Christopher T.  Jackson was “negligently struck, knocked down, ...

PLN’s Florida Censorship Suit Passes Summary Judgment Stage

Florida Northern District federal court denied the cross-motions for summary judgment in PLN’s lawsuit challenging the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) impoundment and rejection of PLN based upon ad content.

The current suit is not the first round of litigation on the issue of FDOC censoring PLN. FDOC began censoring ...

Settlement in Lawsuit Alleging Kentucky Jail Allowed Prisoner to Die From Untreated Diabetes

A confidential settlement was reached on July 30, 2013 in a lawsuit stemming from the death of a pre-trial detainee from untreated diabetes while held at Kentucky’s Whitley County Detention Center (WCDC).

Ronald S. Lawson, 26, was booked into WCDC on July 24, 2010. His family advised jail personnel upon ...

Tennessee Jail Duped into Allowing Filming of Rap Video

Officials at Tennessee’s Davidson County Jail (DCJ) are outraged at being “duped” into allowing a film crew record inside DCJ under the guise of creating a documentary and then seeing it be transformed into a music video.

Rapper Struggle Jennings, whose real name is William Harness, was serving time at ...

Releasees under Three Strikes Reform Have Lower Recidivist Rate

More than 1,000 prisoners have been released since California voters approved in 2012 the reform of the state’s harsh three strikes law. Despite not being provided pre-and post-release services afforded other prisoners, the strikers have a lower recidivism rate than other released prisoners.      

At the height of ...

Louisiana Jail Phone Consultants Resign Due to Conflicts of Interest

Two consultants hired to analyze the cost of prisoner phone calls charged by Louisiana’s Sheriffs have resigned due to conflict of interest.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) held two hearings in 2012 on the prison phone issue. Much anger was expressed about the exorbitant costs of call from prisoners ...

California’s Lack of Oversight for Probationary Programs Allows Questionable Business into Loop

California law encourages life-skill organizations to become involved in criminal justice, but a lack of oversight has allowed some non-profits to talk about responsibility while the organization itself shirks it.

A review by the Voice of San Diego (VOSD) of the Corrective Behavior Institute uncovered serious problems with the well-intentioned ...

California’s Efforts to Hide Deficiencies at Prison Psych Unit Failed

With a federal court order looming, the psychiatric unit at California’s Salinas Valley State Prison (SVPP) violated its own policies and made risky admissions to reduce its patient waiting lists.

As a three-judge panel was about to decide whether it should continue the decades long oversight of California’s prison mental ...

California Photo Ban Rule Turns SHU Prisoners into Ghosts

Hunger strikers and a federal lawsuit have pushed California prison officials to reverse a decades old policy that banned personal photographs of prisoners held in the state’s four special security housing units (SHU). While the reversal currently only applies to prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP), pressure is being ...