BOP Criticized for Failing to Oversee Healthcare Administrator at FCC Butner
by Derek Gilna
The federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is facing criticism for its apparent failure to adequately oversee a Florida-based company responsible for coordinating the payment of BOP bills for prisoner medical care in North Carolina.
Before it ...
Sentence Reductions for “Snitching” Undermine U.S. Justice System
by Derek Gilna
Imagine this scenario: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents bust a small-time drug dealer for, let’s say, nickel-and-diming in heroin. They take him to booking, run his fingerprints and discover this is his third arrest. As a multiple offender facing ...
Failure to Treat Tuberculosis Suit Survives Summary Judgment, Settles for $1.4 Million
by Derek Gilna
In January 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington denied a motion for summary judgment filed by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), seeking qualified immunity in a Bivens lawsuit brought by ...
U.S. Sentencing Commission Approves Retroactivity for Drug Offense Sentence Reductions
by Derek Gilna
It’s always hard for the federal government to admit its mistakes, especially when they have ruined tens of thousands of lives, devastated inner-city neighborhoods and cost taxpayers billions of dollars. But a recent vote by the U.S. ...
PLN Settles Lawsuit Against Kenosha County, Wisconsin for $116,500
by Derek Gilna
After 29 prisoners at a jail in Kenosha County, Wisconsin did not receive their monthly copies of Prison Legal News or informational brochures and soft-cover books mailed by PLN, PLN filed suit in federal court alleging First and ...
North Carolina: Hundreds of Federal Prisoners Legally Innocent, Some Still Incarcerated
by Derek Gilna
Following a 2011 federal appellate court ruling, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) initially tried to delay the release of federal prisoners who were wrongly convicted in North Carolina. The government later announced that it would ...
BOP Grievance System Contributes to “Compliance or Defiance” by Prisoners
by Derek Gilna
A 2013 study found that the grievance system utilized by the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) appears to have become an important tool to defuse prisoner complaints, supporting the belief that the failure of BOP officials to ...
D.C. Circuit Reinstates Prisoner’s FOIA Suit
by Derek Gilna
Carlos Marino, incarcerated for a 1997 drug conspiracy conviction, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), seeking the agency’s investigative file for a co-conspirator who had testified against him at trial. The DEA denied ...
Bureau of Prisons Mistakenly Served Meat Intended as Pet Food
by Derek Gilna
A Texas meat manufacturer has pledged to adopt new procedures to ensure compliance with food safety laws and paid almost $400,000 to resolve a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investigation into mislabeled meat that was intended for ...
European Court of Human Rights Ruling Rebukes U.S. Prison System
by Derek Gilna
A suspected terrorist diagnosed as mentally ill will not be extradited from Britain to the United States to face charges that he conspired to establish a terrorist training camp in the U.S., a European court has ruled. ...
