by Douglas Ankney and Casey J. Bastian
A spate of jail deaths in California’s San Bernardino County dating back to 2017 has led to at least four legal settlements totaling $3,232,500. Two additional settlements netted another $35,000 for detainees allegedly beaten by guards. Meanwhile one of the most …
by Douglas Ankney
On September 14, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dealt a death blow to claims filed by the estate of a Texas jail detainee against the county that held him when he died. But all was not lost for the Estate …
Douglas Ankney
According to an analysis from California’s Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD), reforms to the state’s felony-murder statutes had a dramatic effect by August 3, 2023. By then the agency had found sentence reductions granted to 602 state prisoners, since state lawmakers passed SB 1437 …
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit offered an Illinois state prisoner a hard lesson on July 27, 2023, affirming dismissal of his medical neglect claim against prison contractor Wexford Health Sources, Inc., for lack of evidence that expert testimony could have provided.
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Douglas Ankney
Prisoners beware: On June 5, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit refused to stop the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) from “turn[ing] over the full amount” in a prisoner’s trust account to be applied toward “his outstanding restitution obligation.”
In 2019, …
by Douglas Ankney
In June 2023, the South Carolina Insurance Reserve Fund paid $8,700 to each of 23 former detainees at Berkeley County’s Hill-Finklea Detention Center (HFDC)—a total of $200,100—to settle claims they were exposed to toxic fumes while in custody.
According to the complaint they filed, …
by Douglas Ankney
When Indiana state prisoner Tony Love participated in a brawl, he was apparently unaware of the severity of the consequences he faced. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit made sure he knew, ruling on July 7, 2023, that the loss of …
by Douglas Ankney
On July 10, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed Texas prisoner Anthony Prescott’s appeal, once again explaining the requirement of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) that applications to waive filing fees and proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) must be denied where …
by Douglas Ankney
A report on July 6, 2023, from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs (WLCCR&UA) exposed abuses suffered by prisoners at the hands of Bureau of Prisons (BOP) guards while confined in the now-closed Special Management Unit (SMU) at the U.S. Penitentiary …
by Douglas Ankney
On July 13, 2023, Oklahoma’s Court of Criminal Appeals granted a new trial to state prisoner Robert Leon Hashagen III, 60, after finding his trial judge and his prosecuting attorney failed to disclose their prior sexual relationship to his defense team.
Hashagen was convicted …
