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Articles by Kevin Bliss

Pennsylvania County Commissioner Barred from DA’s Email After Own Prison Record Is Purged and Jail Key Copied

by Kevin W. Bliss

On January 3, 2023, when Debi Domenick was re-appointed to serve as Vice-Chairwoman for the Board of Commissioners of Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna County, she chided her colleagues to face their duties and not “worry about how it’s going to affect them politically.”

Which is ironic, since Domenick’s ...

Tenth Circuit Says Prison Work Assignment Covered Under ADA Protections

by Kevin W. Bliss

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled on August 25, 2022, that prison employment falls under federally funded programs protected by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. ch. 126, § 12101 et seq., as well as the Rehabilitation ...

Former Tennessee Police Chief Sentenced to Six Years for Abusing Arrestees

by Kevin W. Bliss

A former high-ranking Tennessee law enforcement official was sentenced to six years in federal prison on August 26, 2022, for repeatedly punching arrestees in the face while they were handcuffed. Anthony Glen “Tony” Bean, 62, was the Chief of Police in Tracy City in 2014, when ...

Former Texas Prisoner Wins 12-Year Fight for Justice

by Kevin W. Bliss

In May 2006, Daryl Davis was serving a 37-year sentence for beating his girlfriend with a beer bottle, when he was assaulted — twice — at Texas’ Polunsky Unit by members of a Black prison gang, the Mandingo Warriors. They viciously beat Davis, once with a ...

Georgia Jails Faulted in Struggle With High COVID-19 Infection Rates

by Kevin W. Bliss

Nearly all of Georgia’s 159 counties struggled with medium to high levels of COVID-19 infections, especially in county jails. But an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation published on August 22, 2022, blamed a laissez-faire approach to pandemic precautions.

No state or local law required Georgia’s jails to follow ...

Award Slashed for Delaware Prisoner Sexually Groped by Guard

by Kevin W. Bliss

On August 24, 2022, the federal court for the District of Delaware granted a state prison guard’s request and nearly eliminated the damages against him awarded to a prisoner that a jury found had been sexually abused. That chopped the award to the prisoner, De Shawn ...

$98,000 Paid by BOP to Immigrant Detainees Racially Profiled as Terrorists in New York City Lockup

by Kevin W. Bliss

An out-of-court settlement between the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and a group of former immigrant detainees was made public on July 5, 2022. The plaintiffs, all Muslim, Arab, and South Asian men, were allegedly racially profiled as terrorists. They were awarded $98,000 in damages, and ...

Former BOP Warden Convicted of Sexually Abusing Prisoners in California ‘Rape Club’ Scandal

by Kevin W. Bliss

On December 1, 2022, a jury in federal court for the Northern District of California convicted Ray J. Garcia, the former warden of the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) at Dublin, on seven sexual abuse charges and another of lying about it to government agents investigating the ...

Mega-stars Accused of Plagiarizing Song from Nameless Missouri Prisoner

by Kevin W. Bliss

In October 2022, movie star Johnny Depp and musician Jeff Beck countersued artist and educator Bruce Jackson for libel and slander, after he accused them of plagiarizing lyrics for the song Sad Motherfuckin Parade, off their collaborative album 18, from his 1974 book Get Your Ass ...

D.C. Jail Guard Arrested for Stealing Union Funds to Finance Lavish Entertainment

by Kevin W. Bliss

A guard at the jail in Washington, D.C., was arrested on December 17, 2022, on federal charges he embezzled funds from the union representing him and other guards to buy himself tickets to concerts, NBA basketball games and stays at luxury hotels.

Andra Parker, 64, was ...