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Articles by Matthew Clarke

Erroneously Released Texas Prisoner Entitled to Credit on Sentence

by Matt Clarke

On February 4, 2009, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that a state prisoner who had been erroneously released through no fault of his own, and who had not violated any of the conditions of his release, was entitled to credit against his sentence for the ...

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Sheriff May Not Charge Jail Fees

by Matt Clarke

On January 5, 2010, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that the Sheriff of Bristol County could not charge fees for certain jail services.

In 2002, prisoners at the Bristol County House of Correction and Jail in Dartmouth, Massachusetts filed a complaint in state Superior Court ...

Second Circuit Ruling in Post-9/11 Immigration Detention Case

by Matt Clarke

On December 18, 2009, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a federal class-action suit brought by illegal immigrants arrested in sweeps following the 9/11 attacks and incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in New York City. The Court of Appeals affirmed the ...

Sixth Circuit: No Eleventh Amendment Immunity When ADA Claim Includes Fourteenth Amendment Violations

by Matt Clarke

On January 5, 2010, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Michigan district court’s denial of Eleventh Amendment immunity for a claim involving both a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12131, et seq., and the Equal Protection Clause of the ...

Former New York Corrections Commissioner Receives Four-Year Prison Sentence

by Matt Clarke

On February 18, 2010, a New York federal judge sentenced Bernard “Bernie” Kerik, 54, to four years in federal prison after Kerik pleaded guilty to five counts of making false statements to federal agents, two counts of tax fraud and one count of making a false statement ...

Dozens of CIA “Ghost” Detainees Unaccounted For

by Matt Clarke

A U.S. Dept. of Justice memo, released in April 2009, indicated the CIA had 94 people in secret prisons scattered around the world as of mid-2005, and the agency had “employed enhanced techniques to varying degrees in the interrogations of 28” of those prisoners which is the ...

NACDL Releases Report on U.S. Drug and Mental Health Courts

by Matt Clarke

In September 2009, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) released a 74-page report on the state of America’s drug and mental health courts, reflecting the knowledge gleaned from over 130 expert witnesses who testified at hearings held in seven different states and questionnaires completed by ...

Private Manufacturers Use Cheap Arkansas Prison Labor

by Matt Clarke

Two private manufacturing companies have opened shops in Arkansas prisons. Actronix, Inc. employs 65 female prisoners at the McPherson Unit to produce wiring harnesses for medical imaging devices such as MRI machines and CT scanners, while Glove Corp. employs 55 male prisoners from the Pine Bluff Unit ...

Housing Mentally Ill Violent Offender in Nursing Home Leads to Rape

by Matt Clarke

On January 16, 2009, a 21-year-old mentally ill man with a long history of violent crimes raped a 69-year-old woman housed in the same Illinois nursing home.

Christopher Shelton, 21, suffers from bipolar disorder that causes him to have an explosive temper, which led to multiple arrests ...

Cornell Wins $19.5 Million Alaska Contract; CCA Protest Denied

by Matt Clarke

In September 2009, Alaskan officials denied a protest filed by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which was the final hurdle before awarding Cornell Corrections of Alaska (a subsidiary of Cornell Corrections) a contract worth $19,446,000 to house up to 900 Alaskan prisoners in an out-of-state private prison. ...