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Articles by Matthew Clarke

After Second Circuit Rules in His Favor, Connecticut Prisoner Required to Exercise in Full Restraints for Six Months Takes $100,000 Settlement

by Matt Clarke

After a federal appeals court vacated a district court’s judgment in favor of Connecticut prison officials, they settled for $100,000 with a prisoner forced to exercise in full restraints for six months a decade ago.

On January 27, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second ...

Corporations Using Prisoners to Fight Phantom Labor Shortage

by Matt Clarke

Recently, during an industrial conference, executives from Waste Management Services (which recorded $15.22 billion in 2020 revenues), discussed using immigrants as truck drivers, and other industry executives suggested using prison or work-release programs to fill openings in the sanitation, waste, and recycling industry.

But Chuck Stiles, director ...

Fifth Circuit Refuses to Issue Injunction After Mississippi Psychiatric Prison Improves Conditions

by Matt Clarke

On August 5, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit refused to reverse a district court and order an injunction against the Mississippi Department of Corrections (DOC) because, during the pendency of the lawsuit, DOC had improved conditions at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility ...

Texas Agrees to Settlement Providing Prisoners Hep C Treatment, Will Pay $950,000 in Attorney Fees

by Matt Clarke

A trio of pro se prisoner appeals denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on September 22, 2021, left intact an agreement approved earlier in the year by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, under which the Texas Department ...

Third Circuit Revives Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Lawsuit Over Censorship of Incoming Mail Containing Key Evidence

by Matt Clarke and Dale Chappell

On August 9, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed the dismissal of a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging his due-process and access-to-courts rights were violated when the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) failed to notify him it had censored a letter ...

NJ Supreme Court: Excess Time in Prison Must Be Used to Reduce Parole Period

“Parole is the legal equivalent of imprisonment”

by Matt Clarke

On August 3, 2021, the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that the time a prisoner spent in prison in excess of that allowed by his sentence must be used to reduce his period of parole supervision.
Paulino Njango agreed ...

Eighth Circuit Holds Arkansas Jailers Entitled to Qualified Immunity in Prisoners’ Suit Over Black Mold in Showers, Lack of Cleaning Supplies

by Matt Clarke

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that Arkansas jailers were entitled to qualified immunity in a lawsuit brought by prisoners in 2017 who alleged their shower area was covered in black mold and they were never given any cleaning supplies. The court also ...

Fifth Circuit Overturns Permanent Injunction Requiring Texas Prison to Observe COVID-19 Precautions

by Matt Clarke

On March 26, 2021, the Fifth Circuit court of appeals overturned a permanent injunction that required a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison to observe certain precautions against the spread of COVID-19.

Laddie Valentine and Richard King are state prisoners incarcerated at a TDCJ geriatric prison, ...

Arizona Auditor’s Report Finds Underfunding of DOC’s Capital Funding Requests and Unreconciled Prisoner Trust Fund Accounts

by Matt Clarke

In October 2020, the Arizona Auditor General’s Office published a report on a performance audit of the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (DOC). The audit reviewed the DOC’s revenues, expenditures, capital funding, and management of prisoners’ monies. Although the auditors found DOC spending was largely compliant ...

$72,000 Settlement Over Corizon’s Lack of Medical Treatment to Injured Arizona Prisoner

by Matt Clarke

On August 8, 2020, Corizon Health, Inc. agreed to pay $20,000 to settle its part of a federal lawsuit brought by an Arizona prisoner who suffered a partial foot amputation after Corizon delayed effective medical treatment.

Arizona state prisoner Edmund V. Powers fell 60 to 80 feet, ...