by Matt Clarke
The use of arrest warrants to jail people who have defaulted on debts is increasing. In Minnesota alone, there were 845 civil arrest warrants issued against debtors in 2009, an increase of 60% compared with 2004. Over a third of the states allow people to be locked ...
by Matt Clarke
A Mexican prison director, Margarita Rojas Rodriguez, and three other prison employees were detained in August 2010 while their role in arming and releasing prisoners to kill rival gang members was investigated. [See: PLN, Jan. 2011, p.50].
“According to witnesses, the inmates were allowed to leave with ...
Select Legal Topics, by Andrew J. Schatkin,
University Press of America, 625 pp (Sept. 2009), $69.95
Book Review by Matt Clarke
The overwhelming characteristic of Select Legal Topics: Civil, Criminal, Federal, Evidentiary, Procedural, and Labor, by Andrew J. Schatkin, is density of information. This book is 625 pages long with ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 25, 2010, the Vermont State Auditor released a report entitled Sex Offender Registry: Accuracy Could be Significantly Improved. As the title implies, the auditors found critical or significant errors in 79% of the community-based Sex Offender Registry (SOR) records audited. The errors were discovered by ...
by Matt Clarke
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a person on parole for a crime that was not a sex offense, but who had completed a sentence for a prior sex offense conviction, could be subjected to sex offender parole restrictions.
David Brian Jennings was on parole ...
Fifth Circuit: "Some Evidence" Not Required To Deny Texas Mandatory Supervision
By Matt Clarke
On December 12, 2008, the Fifth Circuit court of appeals held that the "some evidence" standard of Superintendent v. Hill, 472 U.S. 445, 105 S.Ct. 2768, 86 L.Ed. 356 (1985), did not apply to denial of ...
By Matt Clarke
On March 21, 2008, a panel of the Sixth Circuit court of appeals held that a defendant could not be sanctioned for third-party spoilation of evidence in a Michigan case involving excessive use of force by a state prison guard. The panel also recommended that the en ...
By Matt Clarke
On September 24, 2008, a Texas court of appeals issued an order allowing a Texas prisoner to proceed in forma pauperis despite having improperly filed his affidavit of indigence with the wrong court.
Junior Ray Brown, a Texas state prisoner, filed suit in state district court alleging ...
By Matt Clarke
On November 26, 2008, a Texas court of appeals held that a state district court must file a prisoner's civil suit petition even if he had not paid for the court-ordered fees and costs in a previously filed suit that was currently on appeal.
Gordon R. Simmonds, ...
by Matt Clarke
On October 12, 2009, a Texas state district court held that the City of Houston had no right to keep secret over 250 government documents related to the deployment and use of traffic cameras at intersections controlled by traffic lights.
After a Rice University study found that ...
