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Articles by Derek Gilna

Fourth Circuit Rules Maryland’s Non-Adoption of SORNA No Excuse for Non-Registration

Fourth Circuit Rules Maryland’s Non-Adoption of SORNA No Excuse for Non-Registration

 

by Derek Gilna

 

Unfortunately for Brian Lee Gould, a convicted sex offender, the 4th Circuit has upheld his new conviction for non-registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, (SORNA) Pub. L. No. 109-248, Sections 101-155, ...

Prisoner Wins Mandamus Case to Compel Colorado DOC to Consider Transfer Application

Prisoner Wins Mandamus Case to Compel Colorado DOC to Consider Transfer Application

 

by Derek Gilna

 

Colorado state court prisoner Robert D. Gandy, proceeding Pro Se, has won his appeal of a lower-court dismissal of his mandamus petition against Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) officials, who refused to consider ...

Pennsylvania Court Rules BOP Has Authority to Grant 6-months Halfway House

Pennsylvania Court Rules BOP Has Authority to Grant 6-months Halfway House

 

by Derek Gilna

 

Normally, courts are hesitant to even consider cases involving the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) designating people to halfway houses, noting that a long series of cases hold that the BOP’s power to designate ...

Kentucky Prisoner’s First and Fifth Amendment Case Reinstated by Sixth Circuit

Kentucky Prisoner’s First and Fifth Amendment Case Reinstated by Sixth Circuit

 

by Derek Gilna

 

Federal prisoner David Wayne Baker filed a “Bivins” suit against his warden and other prison mail clerks for violations of his First and Fifth Amendment rights after his “legal mail” was opened outside his ...

Arizona District Court Strikes Defense Expert in Prisoner’s 8th Amendment Case

Arizona District Court Strikes Defense Expert in Prisoner’s 8th Amendment Case

 

by Derek Gilna

 

Plaintiff Shannon Michael Clark alleged in his federal complaint that the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC), had violated his 8th Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment by failing to timely and ...

Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies Dooms 7th Circuit Prisoner Suit

Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies Dooms 7th Circuit Prisoner Suit

 

By Derek Gilna

 

The §1983 civil rights complaint filed by Wisconsin state prisoner, James R. Schultz, has been dismissed by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. Schultz had argued in ...

Nebraska Prison Officials Settle before Prisoner Pagan Religion Lawsuit

Nebraska Prison Officials Settle before Prisoner Pagan Religion Lawsuit

 

by Derek Gilna

 

The Nebraska Department of Corrections (NDOC) has settled a lawsuit brought by two state prisoners seeking to hold religious services at Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, Nebraska. The settlement ended a dispute between prison officials and ...

La Porte, Indiana Prisoner Loses Baby after Being Tasered

La Porte, Indiana Prisoner Loses Baby after Being Tasered

 

by Derek Gilna

 

In an incident certain to reignite the controversy over the use of Tasers, a pregnant La Porte County jail prisoner was tasered during an altercation with another prisoner which escalated into a fight with a jail ...

$2.85 Million Jury Verdict for Suicide at Missouri Jail

$2.85 Million Jury Verdict for Suicide at Missouri Jail

by Derek Gilna

On January 18, 2013, following a five-day trial, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri returned a verdict of $2.85 million against the City of Sullivan, finding that negligence by employees at ...

Prison Labor Boosts Wal-Mart’s Profits Despite Pledge

Prison Labor Boosts Wal-Mart’s Profits Despite Pledge

by Derek Gilna

The supplier pledge for America’s largest retailer states: “Forced or prison labor will not be tolerated by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart will not accept products from Vendor Partners who utilize in any manner forced labor or prison labor in the manufacture or ...