Skip navigation

Articles by Matthew Clarke

Fifth Circuit: No Liberty Interest in Discretionary BOP Sentence Reduction

By Matt Clarke

The Fifth Circuit court of appeals upheld the denial of sentence reduction to a federal prisoner who had completed the Residential Drug Abuse treatment Program (RDATP).

Michael Richardson, a federal prisoner incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Seagoville, Texas, was told by FCI staff that …

Louisiana Court Of Appeals Overturns Strip Tier Cell InjunctionOverturns

Louisiana Court Of Appeals Overturns Strip Tier Cell Injunction

By Matt Clarke

On June 20, 2007, a Louisiana state court of appeals overturned a district court’s granting of an injunction against prison officials placing the prisoner into a strip tier cell (STC) without his having committed a new disciplinary infraction.

Maine Supreme Judicial Court Reinstates Challenge to Maine SORNA

By Matt Clarke

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has reversed the dismissal of a challenge to the Maine Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 34-A M.R.S. §§ 11201-11256.
John Doe is the pseudonym of a person convicted after 1982 and before 1986 of a sex offense against a family …

Texas Prisoner's Premises Defect Suit Against Dallas County Reinstated

by Matthew T. Clarke

A Texas court of appeals has reinstated the pro se, in forma pauperis negligence and premises defect tort suit brought by a Texas prisoner against Dallas County and the Sheriff of Dallas County after finding that the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing the suit.

Sundry Claims Board Only Remedy For Maryland Prisoners Injured On Paid Jobs

by Matt Clarke

A Maryland court of appeals has ruled that Maryland state prisoners injured on paid jobs may only seek compensation through the Sundry Claims Board (SCB).

Melvin James Dixon, a former Maryland state prisoner, was on a work detail paying $0.90 a day at the Pre-Release Unit of …

Impartial Prison Disciplinary Hearing Officials Required in Nevada

By Matt Clarke

On February 9, 2009, a Nevada state court restored the statutory good conduct time lost by a prisoner in a disciplinary proceeding in which the presiding official was biased.

Brian Eugene Lepley, a Nevada state prisoner, was charged with the disciplinary infraction of knowing he was infected …

Deaths of Three North Carolina Prisoners Raise Suspicions

by Matt Clarke and David M. Reutter

The deaths of two prisoners at the Maury Correctional Institution (MCI), a 1,000-bed close-security prison for men located in Greene County, North Carolina, have raised suspicions due to questionable circumstances surrounding those incidents. The eventual death of another prisoner who suffered injuries at …

State Audit Finds Maryland Prison Employees Misused Funds in Prisoner Accounts

by Matt Clarke

State lawmakers have registered outrage after a state audit, released in October 2010, revealed that employees of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC) at five finance offices in the Baltimore area used a prisoners’ trust account for paycheck advances. Irregularities were also discovered in …

Former Virginia Beach Sheriff Received Insider Information on Jail Contract

by Matt Clarke

Within a few days after his retirement as Sheriff of Virginia Beach, Virginia in late 2009, Paul Lanteigne went to work for Conmed Healthcare Management, Inc. and began exchanging emails with and receiving documents from his former coworkers at the Sheriff’s Department. The subject of the emails …

Fifth Circuit: Habeas Petition Challenging Recent Parole Denial Not Considered Successive

by Matt Clarke

On April 1, 2009, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order holding that a federal habeas corpus petition challenging procedures used to deny parole at a parole hearing which occurred after a previous habeas petition had been filed was not a successive petition.

Richard Delaney …