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Articles by David Reutter

Fired Mississippi Jail Guard Sues for Wrongful Arrest

Fired Mississippi Jail Guard Sues for Wrongful Arrest

by David Reutter

A former guard at Mississippi’s Hinds County Jail (HCJ) has sued the Hinds County Sheriff Department after being fired and arrested for bringing contraband into HCJ.

The arrest followed the escape of two female prisoners on August 31, 2013. Guard Jackie Jenkins was fired, arrested, and charged with aiding the escape. Guard Jackie Jenkins, who had worked at HCJ for three months, was fired and arrested “for introduction of contraband into a correctional facility,” said sheriff’s spokesperson Othor Cain. “Tobacco products of any kind are not allowed in our facility at all.”

Jenkins’ attorney, Dale Danks, Jr. said Jenkins was following a supervisor’s instructions and that tobacco is not defined as contraband under Mississippi law. He stated that Jenkins “was told to keep them in the box.”

He was referring to the ammunition box that deputies place firearms in before entering HCJ, which is outside the facility under the sally port. Cain said the investigation following the escape revealed Jenkins “was not in her assigned area and that contributed to these inmates leaving.” Jenkins claimed she had a supervisors’ permission to be outside to smoke a cigarette at the ...

$127,000 Settlement for Michigan Jail Guards Use of Excessive Force

$127,000 Settlement for Michigan Jail Guards Use of Excessive Force
by David Reutter

Michigan’s Kent County Correctional Facility (KCCF) agreed to pay $127,198 to settle a civil rights action alleging a guard used excessive force against a pre-trial detainee.

After being involved in a one-car accident in the early morning ...

$48,000 in Attorney Fees Awarded in Prisoner-Injury Civil Action

$48,000 in Attorney Fees Awarded in Prisoner-Injury Civil Action          

by David Reutter

On November 18, 2013, a Colorado federal district court awarded more than $48,000 in attorney fees in a civil rights action involving a prisoner being injured after an accident involving the prison van that was transporting him.

Sterling ...

$1.1 Million Awarded to New York Prisoner Raped by Guard

$1.1 Million Awarded to New York Prisoner Raped by Guard

by David Reutter

A New York Court of Claims awarded $605,750 to a female prisoner who was raped by a guard at the Albion Correctional Facility. The award followed a $500,000 award against the guard by a federal court.

In ...

$80,000 Award for New York Prisoner Injured During Scuffle with Guard

$80,000 Award for New York Prisoner Injured During Scuffle with Guard

by David Reutter

A New York Court of Claims awarded $80,000 to a prisoner for injuries sustained after a confrontation between the prisoner and a guard.

On November 14, 2008, following a court appearance, prisoner Samuel Saunders, then 62, ...

$35,000 Award to New York Prisoner Burned in Kitchen Accident

$35,000 Award to New York Prisoner Burned in Kitchen Accident

by David Reutter

A New York Court of Claims awarded $35,000 to a prisoner in a negligence suit seeking damages for injuries sustained while working in the prison kitchen. Having found the prisoner 20% liable, however, the court reduced to ...

TDCJ’s $100 Annual Fee for Prisoner Health Care Held Constitutional

TDCJ’s $100 Annual Fee for Prisoner Health Care Held Constitutional

by David M. Reutter

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has found constitutional a Texas statute requiring prisoners to pay a $100 annual health care services fee when they receive medical treatment.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Texas prisoner Robert C. Morris, who challenged a 2011 amendment to Texas Government Code § 501.063, naming Governor Rick Perry as the defendant. As amended, the statute provides that any prisoner “who initiates a visit to a health care provider shall pay a health care services fee to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) in the amount of $100.”

The annual fee “covers all visits to a health care provider that the inmate initiates until the first anniversary of the imposition of the fee.” If the prisoner’s trust fund balance is insufficient, then “50 percent of each deposit to the fund shall be applied toward the balance owed until the total amount owed is paid.” Prison officials “may not deny an inmate access to health care as a result of the inmate’s failure or inability to pay a fee.”

The amendment to § 501.063 further removed exemptions for fees ...

Michigan to Accommodate Religious Rights of Muslim Prisoners

Michigan to Accommodate Religious Rights of Muslim Prisoners

by David M. Reutter

After a Michigan federal district court ruled the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) had violated the religious rights of Muslim prisoners by denying them the ability to attend Eid meals and refusing to accommodate their need to attend weekly prayer services, the MDOC reached an agreement which included the provision of halal food and attendance at religious services that conflict with prison work schedules.

Those legal victories came in a class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Michigan in 2009 on behalf of Muslim and Seventh-day Adventist prisoners alleging violations of their rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In a May 24, 2013 order, the district court granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs after adopting a magistrate’s report and recommendation. The court’s subsequent order of relief declared the class members have a right “to attend, congregate for, observe and celebrate ... the Eid ul-fitr and Eid ul-Adha feasts.” The MDOC was ordered to use the Handbook on Religious Groups to identify those feasts, as well as Ramadan fasts and Seders.

Special provisions ...

Grand Jury Report: Prisoners in Charge at Mississippi County Jail

Grand Jury Report: Prisoners in Charge at Mississippi County Jail

by David Reutter

The prisoners seem to be in control of the Hinds County, Mississippi Detention Center because the jail does not have enough staff to adequately monitor them, according to a scathing Hinds County Grand Jury report filed on October 2, 2014 in County Circuit Court. The grand jury members inspected the facility, which became the focus of a U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation to determine if prisoners were in danger of violence following a March 2014 riot that left one prisoner dead and at least seven others injured.

“We noted that there were not enough officers to secure the Jail,” the report said. “Those officers that were on duty there were frightened of the inmates. The inmates seemed to be in control of the Jail as a result of the shortage of guards.”

The grand jury laid the blame directly at the feet of Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis. “After hearing from the Sheriff and his team, we are of the opinion that Sheriff Lewis is incompetent to oversee the jail or keep pretrial detainees or state inmates in a safe manner or to keep the ...

North Carolina Prisons Slow to Change Attitudes about Mentally Ill Prisoners

North Carolina Prisons Slow to Change Attitudes about Mentally Ill Prisoners

by David M. Reutter

The head of North Carolina’s Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice is calling for more than $20 million in additional state funding to pay for changes in the way the state prison system takes care of its approximately 4,600 mentally ill prisoners – 12% of North Carolina’s total prison population.

The request by corrections commissioner W. David Guice came in the wake of the high-profile dehydration death of mentally ill prisoner Michael Anthony Kerr on March 12, 2014 after more than a month in solitary confinement, when the water to Kerr’s cell had twice been disconnected. [See: PLN, May 2015, p.60]. Guice made the request when he appeared before a December 11, 2014 meeting of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety that was convened to examine the state’s treatment of mentally ill prisoners.

Guice requested $16 million to hire 308 new employees to help manage mentally ill prisoners, plus additional funding to operate 72 beds for mentally ill prisoners at Central Prison in Raleigh that are in place but not being used due to budget cuts, according to Terri Cartlett, ...