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Articles by Douglas Ankney

California: Placer County to Pay up to $1.44 Million to Settle Class Action Suit for Jail Beatings

by Douglas Ankney

In March 2019, Placer County, California agreed to create a fund of $1,449,700 to settle potential claims arising from a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of prisoners who were beaten by guards at the county’s two jails. Placer County had previously settled six suits and a claim ...

Los Angeles County to Pay Almost $4 Million for Sexual Abuse by Jail Deputy

by Douglas Ankney

In November 2018, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle claims against the county, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LACSD), Sheriff James McDonnell and Deputy Giancarlo Scotti. The Board’s decision ended a lawsuit brought by two former female prisoners ...

Landlords Challenge Ordinance that Protects Former Prisoners’ Rental Rights

by Douglas Ankney

In May 2018, landlords in Seattle, Washington filed a lawsuit claiming the city’s controversial “Fair Chance Housing Ordinance” violates their constitutional rights. The Ordinance prohibits any person from refusing to rent to a prospective tenant, or evicting a current tenant, based on arrest records, conviction records or ...

Attorney-Client Privilege Under Attack in Jails Across the Nation

by Douglas Ankney

As previously reported in PLN, the constitutional rights of prisoners at the Leavenworth Detention Center (LDC) in Kansas were violated by CoreCivic, the private operator of the facility for the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), when the company not only recorded phone calls between prisoners and ...

Tennessee County Settles Jail Prisoner’s Excessive Use of Force Claim for $160,000

by Douglas Ankney

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee has agreed to pay Timothy Warren $110,000 in damages for injuries he suffered at the county jail, plus an additional $50,000 in attorney’s fees.

On New Year’s Eve 2013, Warren was arrested and booked into the Davidson County ...

Alabama DOC Stonewalling Federal Investigation; Eight Prisoners go on Hunger Strike

by Douglas Ankney

On October 3, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a petition to enforce a subpoena naming Jefferson S. Dunn, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), as the respondent. The petition seeks an order to show cause why Dunn should not be ...

Ohio Jail’s Private Healthcare Provider Denied Summary Judgment in Failure to Treat Prisoner’s Fractured Pelvis

by Douglas Ankney

A United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio denied motions for summary judgment filed by private healthcare provider NaphCare Inc. (NaphCare) and its employee Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Jack Saunders in a suit alleging they failed to treat a jail prisoner’s fractured pelvis.
Jeffrey ...