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Articles by Douglas Ankney

South Carolina Supreme Court Denies Prisoner’s Challenge to DOC Policy Restricting Visitors to People He Knew Before Incarceration

by Douglas Ankney

On April 5, 2023, the South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed that denying a state prisoner visits from people he didn’t know prior to incarceration did not implicate any liberty interest created by the state – so he was not entitled to relief when his grievance over the ...

$30,000 Paid by Pennsylvania to Prisoner Who Alleged Guards Beat and Tortured Him

by Douglas Ankney

On December 8, 2022, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania agreed to pay state prisoner Warren Easley $30,000 to settle claims that guards and medical staff at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) in Frackville violated his civil rights.

Easley filed his suit pro se in federal court for the ...

Number Held in U.S. Prisons and Jails Dipped in Pandemic’s Second Year

by Douglas Ankney

According to a report released by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS Report) in December 2022, “the number of persons under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities in the United States declined 1%, from 1,221,200 to 1,204,300” between December 31, 2020, ...

Court Orders Preliminary Injunctive Relief for Transgender Massachusetts Prisoners

by Douglas Ankney

In consolidated cases, the Massachusetts Superior Court for Suffolk County ordered preliminary injunctive relief on December 30, 2022, for a pair of transgender women incarcerated at the state’s Souza Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC).

Each woman filed a suit, which the Court consolidated. In the lead case, Jerome ...

$2,060,000 Awarded to Former New York Prisoner Left Quadriplegic After Assault by Guards

by Douglas Ankney

On February 21, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered judgment in favor of a now-paroled prisoner against the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), after an assault by guards left him paralyzed. Based upon a jury’s verdict in ...

The Almost Unknown Turkey Bowl and Black Sheep

by Douglas Ankney

While fans of college football get excited in November about upcoming bowl games, few ever mention the Turkey Bowl, likely because almost none of those fans will be in attendance. Played annually – except for the unusual 2020 season canceled due to COVID-19 – the game draws ...

Virginia Prisoner Wins Habeas Release on Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claim

by Douglas Ankney

There was good news and bad news for former Virginia prisoner Jeramiah Chamberlain on December 22, 2021. That’s when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed dismissal of his suit against officials with the state Department of Corrections (DOC), alleging they failed to treat ...

Former BOP Guard Gets Light Sentence for COVID-19 Fraud

by Douglas Ankney

On February 17, 2023, a former guard at the Federal Correctional Complex in Yazoo City, Mississippi, got a light sentence for defrauding the U.S. of $12,586 in loans she swindled from the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). When she pled guilty to wire fraud on November 9, ...

Citing Improvements at Mississippi State Prison at Parchman, Rappers Drop Suit

by Douglas Ankney

In January 2023, rappers Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Mario “Yo Gotti” Mims agreed to dismiss the lawsuit they had brought on behalf of 227 prisoners challenging conditions at Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. The stipulation provided for dismissal of all claims “without prejudice” – meaning they could ...

Texas Death Row Prisoners Challenge Blanket Policy of Automatic Solitary Confinement

by Douglas Ankney

On January 26, 2023, Texas death-row prisoners Mark Robertson, George Curry, Tony Egbuna Ford and Rickey Cummings filed suit in federal court for the Southern District of Texas on behalf of themselves and a putative class of similarly situated prisoners against officials with the state Department of ...