by Matt Clarke
In September 2009, Wisconsin officials discovered that the profiles of 17,698 convicted felons were missing from the state’s DNA database.
An investigation into Milwaukee serial killer suspect Walter E. Ellis revealed that his DNA was not in Wisconsin’s 128,065-profile database, though it should have been. An audit ...
by Matt Clarke
On September 14, 2009, the parties in a class action lawsuit against Gloucester County, New Jersey over the county jail’s strip search policies filed a settlement agreement in federal district court agreeing to a $4 million settlement.
Sandra King Wilson was 51 years old when she was ...
by Matt Clarke
On July 5, 2009, prisoners at the Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge, Massachusetts staged a disturbance after 11 prisoners and 2 guards presented flu-like symptoms and the hospital discharge papers for one prisoner indicated probable H1N1 (swine flu). [See: PLN, Feb. 2010, p.1]. However, the Sheriff, jail ...
by Matt Clarke
On September 18, 2009, a U.S. District Court in Washington state granted preliminary approval to a settlement in a class-action lawsuit that challenged booking fee procedures at the Spokane County Jail.
Shawn Huss, a former jail prisoner, filed suit against Spokane County pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § ...
by Matt Clarke
On October 2, 2009, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, held that shackling a pregnant prisoner while she was in labor constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Shawanna Nelson was six months pregnant when she was sent to the ...
by Matt Clarke
A Texas Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging that he suffered retaliation for litigation activities. However, after the case was again dismissed following remand, the appellate court affirmed the dismissal based on untimely service of process.
William Espinoza Pena, a Texas state ...
by Matt Clarke
A federal district judge has held the Governor, Attorney General and Director of Corrections of the U.S. Virgin Islands and other prison officials in contempt for not correcting inadequate prisoner mental health treatment.
Virgin Island prisoners filed a class-action suit in 1994, “challenging inhumane and dangerous conditions ...
by Matt Clarke
On August 27, 2009, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an almost $102 million judgment in a lawsuit filed against the federal government after the FBI helped an informant secure the convictions of four men for a murder they didn’t commit.
In March 1965, Edward “Teddy” ...
by Matt Clarke
In the 1980s, faced with overcrowded prisons and probationers who often failed to pay their court-ordered fees and fines, some Texas counties came up with what sounded like a good idea: the Probationer Restitution Center (PRC). A PRC is essentially a group of dedicated jail beds used ...
by Matt Clarke
On August 6, 2009, a federal judge ruled that hearings held by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) to determine whether onerous sex offender conditions should be imposed on parolees not convicted of sex offenses had violated a parolee’s right to procedural due process.
Ray ...
