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Articles by Matthew Clarke

$10 Million Post-Appeal Settlement in Oklahoma Jail Prisoner Death Suit

by Matt Clarke

After having most of its defenses rebuked by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, opted to settle for $10 million a lawsuit brought by the estate of a jail prisoner who died after police and jail personnel ignored obvious signs of suicidal intent and ...

$550,000 Settlement in Nationwide Class-Action Lawsuit Over High-Fee Debit Cards

by Matt Clarke

In September 20, 2019, an Ohio federal court granted preliminary approval of a settlement in a class action lawsuit against Stored Value Cards, Inc., doing business as Numi Financial, and Republic Bank & Trust over jails using their high-fee debit cards to return prisoners’ funds upon release ...

Report Decries Ongoing Inadequate Medical Care for Pregnant Arizona Prisoners

by Matt Clarke

ACLU and Prison Law Office attorneys representing Arizona state prisoners toured the Perryville prison for three days in April 2019, interviewing 25 women who had recently given birth or suffered miscarriages in prison. The report they gave the court describes “shocking and horrifying” stories of a “deficient” ...

Federal Court Orders Videophone Access for Deaf Prisoners in Colorado

by Matt Clarke

On September 18, 2019, a federal district court ordered the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide access to videophones for all of its deaf and hard of hearing prisoners and prisoners who wish to communicate with people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The court ...

$2.5 Million Settlement Over Prisoner’s Restraint Death in Houston, Texas Jail

by Matt Clarke

The family of a man who died at a jail in Harris County, Texas while being subjected to a dangerous form of restraint settled for $2.5 million in a lawsuit they brought against the county and seven jail officials.

Kenneth Christopher Lucas, 38, was arrested on a ...

Neither Fines Nor Lawsuits Deter Corizon From Delivering Substandard Health Care

by Matt Clarke

In 2018, Corizon Health was the largest for-profit provider of prisoner health care in the country. It contracted with 534 correctional facilities in 27 states holding about 15 percent of the nation’s prisoners. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Corizon was sued for malpractice 660 times ...

Lethal Prison Electric Fences May Violate International Law

by Matt Clarke

A solicitation of bids last Novem-­​­ber to refurbish a “non-lethal/lethal” electric fence surrounding a federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) prison in Tucson, Arizona, resulted in three offers between $3.3 million and $3.8 million and some questions over whether the electric fences comport with international law.

The trend ...

Federal Class-Action Lawsuit Seeks Hepatitis C Treatment for Texas Prisoners

by Matt Clarke

A Texas prisoner has filed a federalclass-action lawsuit seeking the current standard of care for treatment of hepatitis C.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prisoner Matthew Roppolo, 53, has the hepatitis C virus, a serious illness that can eventually lead to liver failure and death. Despite ...

Terminal Texas Prisoner’s Morphine Withdrawn After He Filed Sexual Harassment Complaint

by Matt Clarke

A Texas prisoner with a rare and virtually untreatable form of leukemia filed a sexual harassment complaint against a medical provider. Then the morphine he was being given for the pain caused by his terminal cancer was cut off, he alleged in a pro se lawsuit.

Jeremy ...

$102,500 Settlement in Lawsuit Over Alaska DOC’s Discrimination Against Muslims

by Matt Clarke

On September 3, 2019, the Alaska Department of Corrections (DOC) settled a lawsuit brought by two Muslim prisoners who had been given inadequate food or no food during the fast of Ramadan, were denied religious congregation rights, and were denied the right to hold religious services and ...