Automatic Placement of Death Row Prisoner in Segregation Does Not Violate Due Process
by David M. Reutter
A Virginia federal district court held in November 2013 that automatic and indefinite placement of a death-sentenced prisoner in solitary confinement constitutes a deprivation of liberty without due process of law. The state ...
Liability against Taser for Negligence Upheld but $5.5 Million Damages Award Reversed
by David M. Reutter
In November 2013, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury’s finding that Taser International was liable for negligence in the death of a teenager tased by a police officer. However, the appellate ...
Tennessee Prisoners Suing Private Prisons Not Required to File in Local Venue
by David Reutter
The Tennessee Supreme Court has held that a state statute requiring a local venue for lawsuits filed by indigent prisoners does not apply to actions that accrued while a prisoner “was housed in a correctional ...
Kentucky Jail Prisoners Make Mattresses
by David Reutter
The Daviess County Detention Center (DCDC) in Western Kentucky has a program that uses prisoners to manufacture mattresses. The program is expected to save the 700-bed facility $10,000 a year and provide a service to the local community.
Previously, DCDC purchased around ...
Notorious Psych Ward at Miami-Dade Jail Finally Shuttered
by David Reutter
In a historic culmination to decades of “horrific” living conditions and a pattern of constitutional violations, the Miami-Dade County Jail in Florida has finally closed the “Forgotten Floor” – the notorious ninth floor at the facility that was used ...
Nebraska Law Unconstitutionally Forfeits Good Time for Refusal to Submit DNA Sample
by David M. Reutter
The Nebraska Supreme Court has held that a retroactive state law which requires prisoners to submit DNA samples violates the Ex Post Facto Clause for increasing “the quantum of punishment” when a prisoner refuses ...
Alaska High Court Reaffirms Negligence Standard to Protect Prisoners from Harm
by David Reutter
The Alaska Supreme Court, in a negligence suit filed by a former prisoner, reaffirmed its standard that a jailer has a duty to protect prisoners from all reasonably foreseeable harm. As to the merits of the ...
$1.15 Million for Florida Pretrial Detainee’s Death
by David M. Reutter
A Florida federal jury awarded $975,000 to the estate of a woman who was denied medical and mental health treatment while held at the Pinellas County Jail (PCJ), and the parties later settled the case for $1.15 million.
Jennifer ...
Virginia Must Improve Prison Medical Care Under Proposed Class-action Settlement
by David Reutter
The Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) has agreed to let a court-appointed monitor examine medical policies at all state prisons, and to allow a third-party physician to oversee health care at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women ...
Jury Awards $12,000 to Connecticut Prisoner for Unsanitary Mattress
by David M. Reutter
A Connecticut federal jury awarded $12,000 in damages to a prisoner who was forced to sleep on an unhygienic mattress that was missing much of its stuffing.
The case involved a civil rights action alleging cruel and ...
