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Articles by Matthew Clarke

Corizon Sued Over Death of Prisoner in St. Louis Jail

The St. Louis Lawyer's Group is helping the family of a man who died five days after arriving at the St. Louis Justice Center sue the jail's private medical services provider, Corizon. The suit alleges denial of medical care to a seriously ill prisoner resulting in his death.

Courtland Lucas ...

Supreme Court Holds Securing Injunction Justifies Award of Attorney's Fees

On November 5, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States held that a plaintiff in a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 who secured a permanent injunction, but not nominal damages, was a "prevailing party" and thus entitled to recover attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. 1988. ...

Texas Juveniles Endangered in Jail or in Prison

A recent study by the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School of Public Policy showed that Texas juveniles who were being held in adult jails while awaiting trial as adults are often isolated with no access to education and endangered by adult prisoners. At the same time, the Texas ...

"Specter" Funds for Prisoner Education Cut Endangering Prison College Programs

Some prison systems have been providing a college education to prisoners financed, at least in part, by federal funding named after correctional education advocate Arlen Specter, a former U.S. senator. But Congress didn't renew the "Specter" funds for 2011 and 2012 and now prison education officials are scrambling to come ...

Sex Offender Registration Requirement of Louisiana Crimes Against Nature by Solicitation Statute Unconstitutional

On March 29, 2012, a Louisiana federal court held that the sex offender registration requirement of the Louisiana Crimes Against Nature by Solicitation (CANS) statute, La.R.S. 14:89(B), was an unconstitutional violation of the Equal Protection Clause when the same conduct did not require registration as a sex offender if prosecuted ...

Some Small Town Private Prison Bonds in Default

The Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Ocilla, Georgia is an example of everything that is wrong with small-town private-prison development. It's a story of local government officials seeking to make their community profit off the misery of others, only to end up in misery themselves.

ICDC had half its ...

New Mexico Community Custody House Arrestees Used to Clean Private Land

An investigation by Albuquerque television station KRQE revealed that Bernalillo County house arrestees who were assigned to wash cars, pick up trash and pull weeds as part of their community service spent close to the same amount of time on private property as on public rights of way during four ...

State Audit Finds Problems at Texas Office of Violent Sex Offender Management

The Texas State Auditor's Office released an audit report on the Office of Violent Sex Offender Management (Office) in January 2015. The report listed many problems, including a lack of controls over the management of some contracting and financial processes.

The report criticized the Office's frequent use of memoranda of ...

Report Finds Abuse of Blind, Deaf, Elderly and Disabled Texas Prisoners

The Prison Justice League (PJL), a group advocating prison reform in Texas, released a report entitled Cruel & Unusual Punishment: Excessive Use of Force at the Estelle Unit. The report found that blind, deaf, elderly and disabled prisoners were routinely physically and sexually abused at the Texas Department of Criminal ...

Parolees Violated Without New Charges Bloat Wisconsin Prison Population

Due to policies and practices which are costly to society and former parolees, well over half the 7,727 people sent to prison in Wisconsin in 2013 were imprisoned for parole rule violations without any new criminal charges. Those 4,049 revoked parolees made up a significant number of the over 22,000 ...