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Articles by Matthew Clarke

New York Local Governments’ Sex Offender Residency Restrictions Invalid

On February 17, 2015, the New York Court of Appeals held that sex offender residency restrictions enacted by local governments were invalid because the state had already created a comprehensive and detailed regulatory scheme.

Michael Diack was convicted of possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child. After his release ...

Man Detained in Dallas Jail without Trial Longer Than Maximum Sentence

A man who was arrested for criminal trespass spent 200 days in the Dallas County Jail awaiting a court date on a charge that carries a maximum of 180 days in jail.

The 37-year-old unidentified man had previously been arrested 27 times for criminal trespass. After his arrest for criminal ...

UN Committee Against Torture Issues Report on United States

The United Nations Committee Against Torture issued a combined report encompassing its third to fifth periodic reports on the United States at its 1276th and 1277th meetings held on November 20, 2014. The report lauded some improvements under U.S. jurisdiction, but still found plenty to criticize. PLN had submitted comments ...

National Park Service Lockups Improperly Managed

A report by the Office of the Inspector General (IG) of the U.S. Department of Interior released in May 2014, found that the lockups at Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks were out-of-compliance with the Departmental Manual and National Park Service (NPS) Law Enforcement Reference Manual. Examining twenty of those manuals' ...

Guards Falsifying Texas Jail Records Leads to Resignations and Demotions

An investigation into staff falsifying records of prisoner welfare checks at the Smith County Jail in Tyler, Texas, has led to the resignation of four guards and the demotion of one jail lieutenant to sergeant. Another guard and a sergeant are on paid administrative leave.

The documents that were falsified ...

Poor Parents Fail to Pay Child Support, Go to Jail

Child support is an enormous issue in the United States. In August 2015, Mark Greenberg, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, wrote that 1 in 4 children nationwide had an active child support case. ...

Jail Prisoner’s Death Results in $1 Million Judgment against Texas County

On October 22, 2015, a federal jury awarded $1 million to the survivors and estate of a prisoner who died in a Texas jail, finding jail employees were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs.

Terry Lynn Borum, 53, was booked into the Swisher County jail on January 28, 2013. He ...

Medical Study Reports Taser Shock May Cause Fatal Heart Rhythm Disruption

In an article published by the American Heart Association, a study of eight cases of people who lost consciousness immediately after being shocked by a TASER X26--the most common electronic control device (ECD) used by police, prisons and the military--concluded that ECD shocks can induce fatal cardiac arrest by capturing ...

Arizona Prison Conditions Unconstitutional Alleges ACLU Class-Action Federal Lawsuit

On March 6, 2012, the Phoenix-based Arizona Center for Disability Law (ACDL) and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Arizona (Arizona ACLU) with the assistance of the Berkeley, California-based Prison Law Office, filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 class-action civil-rights lawsuit in federal court alleging inadequate medical, dental and ...

El Paso County Settles Ex-Prisoner's Disabilities Suit for $6,650

On June 26, 2012, representatives of the County of El Paso, Texas signed a settlement in a suit brought by a deaf former jail prisoner over the lack of accommodations for disabled prisoners at the El Paso County Jail.

Jose Luis Rodriguez is a deaf man with limited written English ...