by Matt Clarke
On April 29, 2021, the Supreme Court of Mississippi reversed the dismissal of a Mississippi Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoner’s pro se lawsuit challenging a prison disciplinary action. In doing so, the court applied pro se leniency and accepted service of the petition for judicial review (PJR) ...
by Matt Clarke
In June 2021, the Vera Institute of Justice issued a report entitled People in Jail and Prison in Spring 2021, detailing the changes in jail and prison populations through the end of March 2021. The report showed that, following an unprecedented decline of 14%, from 2.1 ...
by Matt Clarke
On April 22, 2021, the Civil Rights Division (CRD) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a notice to Alameda County, California and its Santa Rita Jail, finding that both engage in practices which violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134, and ...
by Matt Clarke
On May 28, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Corrections Corporation of America (now known as CoreCivic) was not entitled to summary judgment in a lawsuit over a pretrial detainee held for 355 days in solitary confinement without a court ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 2, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a federal prisoner’s claims of insufficient due process used in maintaining his Special Housing Unit (SHU) status for 280 days. In doing so, the court refused to expand the ...
California Inspector General’s office issues another reports highly critical of health care at Corcoran and statewide prison employee disciplinary process
by Matt Clarke
In April 2021, the California Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report highly critical of the medical care prisoners received at the 2,976-man California State Prison ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 8, 2021, a California court of appeals held that a prisoner’s habeas corpus challenging San Quentin State Prison’s withholding of eight issues of Artists Magazine was mooted when the prison allowed him to receive the censored issues.
California Code of Regulations, title 15, section 3006(c)(l7) ...
by Matt Clarke
On May 5, 2021, the Fifth Circuit court of appeals reversed the dismissal of a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by a Texas state prisoner who alleged an assistant warden failed to protect him from an attack by a prisoner who had previously threatened him.
According to ...
by Matt Clarke
On May 18, 2021, two jail guards at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico were indicted for involuntary manslaughter in connection with the asphyxiation death of a prisoner at the jail in 2019.
Video recordings show that guards used force on MDC prisoner Vicente ...
by Matt Clarke
On May 19, 2021, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled on three questions relating to medical parole despite the two prisoners who filed for judicial review having since died.
Raymond Harmon and Brian Racine were Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) prisoners who applied for release under ...
