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Articles by David Reutter

$7,500 Award for Ohio Prisoner in Slip and Fall Accident

$7,500 Award for Ohio Prisoner in Slip and Fall Accident

by David Reutter

An Ohio Court of Claims awarded over $7,500 to a prisoner for injuries suffered from a slip and fall, after finding liability for negligence against the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) in a bifurcated trial. ...

Reading Death Row Prisoner’s Legal Mail States Sixth Amendment Claim

Reading Death Row Prisoner’s Legal Mail States Sixth Amendment Claim

by David Reutter

The Ninth Circuit has held that a prison guard’s act of reading a prisoner’s legal mail – not merely inspecting or scanning it – constitutes a Sixth Amendment violation.

The Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s ...

$345,000 Settlement in Michigan Detainee’s Suicide

$345,000 Settlement in Michigan Detainee’s Suicide

by David M. Reutter

A $345,000 settlement was reached between Wayne County, Michigan, the City of Detroit and the estate of a prisoner who committed suicide at the Wayne County Jail (WCJ).

Jason L. Smith was arrested on April 29, 2009 and booked into ...

Dismissal of Wrongfully Convicted Prisoner’s Fabricated Evidence Claims Upheld on Appeal

Dismissal of Wrongfully Convicted Prisoner’s Fabricated Evidence Claims Upheld on Appeal

by David Reutter

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a grant of judgment on the pleadings to two officers from North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in a civil rights case that alleged they had fabricated evidence.

In ...

Tasering Detainee as Corporal Inducement Violates Eighth Amendment

Tasering Detainee as Corporal Inducement Violates Eighth Amendment

by David Reutter

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has held a pre-trial detainee’s claim that a guard used excessive force could proceed where a jury could find the guard used a Taser on a non-aggressive detainee as corporal inducement to comply ...

$12,500 Settlement for Pennsylvania Prisoner Denied Medication

$12,500 Settlement for Pennsylvania Prisoner Denied Medication

by David Reutter

Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County Jail (ACJ) agreed to pay $12,500 to settle two lawsuits claiming guards and medical staff had failed to treat a prisoner’s epilepsy.

The suits involved the treatment of prisoner Tonja Jackson at ACJ. Following her arrest in ...

Report Highlights Health Concerns Related to Coal Ash Dump at Pennsylvania Prison

A preliminary report by two human rights organizations concluded that a toxic fly ash dump which surrounds State Correctional Institution (SCI) Fayette in Pennsylvania may be causing cancer and other serious health ailments to both prisoners and staff at the facility. While more study is needed to empirically prove the ...

New York Appellate Court Reverses Dismissal of Rikers Island Wrongful Death Suit

New York’s Appellate Division, First Department, has reversed a Bronx County supreme court’s dismissal of a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint that also raised claims of negligence and medical malpractice.

The suit was filed by the estate of Eva Luckey, 46, who died at a Rikers Island jail facility in ...

Tennessee County Not Required to Pay for Medical Costs after Prisoner’s Release

Tennessee County Not Required to Pay for Medical Costs after Prisoner’s Release

by David Reutter

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has held that a prisoner does not have a private right of action for being released early from jail, in a case in which a prisoner alleged he was freed ...

Claim Alleging Guard Slammed Prisoner’s Head into Wall Defeats Summary Judgment

Claim Alleging Guard Slammed Prisoner’s Head into Wall Defeats Summary Judgment

by David Reutter

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a grant of summary judgment in a prisoner’s civil rights action, holding that a reasonable jury could conclude a guard had “inflicted serious pain” on the prisoner “with malicious ...