by Matt Clarke
Before Oklahoma killed prisoners Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle in early 2022 [See: PLN, May 2022, p.60], the state told a federal court hearing a challenge to their executions that a doctor would be on-hand at each killing for a fee of $15,000.
That’s quite a ...
by Matt Clarke
On April 4, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a convicted and sentenced federal criminal defendant who had not yet been incarcerated was not eligible for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(l)(A)(ii).
In October 2019, George Fower pleaded guilty in ...
by Matt Clarke
On July 5, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that the medical director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was entitled to qualified immunity (QI) in a prisoner’s lawsuit over delayed treatment of his Hepatitis-C with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 30, 2022, the federal court for the District of Arizona found that the healthcare state prisoners get is frankly awful — unconstitutionally so. As is the amount of time many spend in isolation, where their psychiatric ailments are ignored, and they go hungry not only ...
by Matt Clarke
On January 12, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said a lower court erred in declaring that a federal prisoner’s dismissed lawsuit counted as the first of three “strikes” allowed under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Why? Because only the judge who counts the ...
by Matt Clarke
Between 2016 and 2019, fatal drug overdoses more than doubled for California state prisoners. The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said that hospitalizations for drug overdoses rose almost as fast. Clearly, a new approach was needed to stem prisoner drug use.
That resulted in the ...
by Matt Clarke
On May 12, 2022, as Texas state prisoner Gonzalo Lopez, 46, was being transported in a prison bus to a medical appointment, he used a “prison-made knife and key” to loosen his restraints. He then cut through the metal cage for high-risk prisoners in which he was ...
by Matt Clarke
On May 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of Nevada ordered the state Department of Corrections (DOC) to credit a parolee for time he spent in custody awaiting parole revocation that exceeded the 60-day window state law provides for proceedings to begin.
After he was paroled, state prisoner ...
by Matt Clarke
On April 26, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced a new “fresh start” policy for people whose student loans are in default, and it may help prisoners who would otherwise be barred from receiving Pell Grants when they become available next year.
The policy brings ...
by Matt Clarke
On April 4, 2022, the federal court for the Northern District of Georgia gave final approval to a settlement in a lawsuit brought by mentally ill women incarcerated at the South Fulton Jail. The agreement included numerous changes to jail policies and practices, along with monitoring and ...
