Dennis J. McLaughlin, a water maintenance worker for Baltimore’s Department of Public Works (DPW), continued to earn his salary from 2007 to 2008 while serving a prison sentence for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.
McLaughlin, 37, pleaded guilty to a first-degree sex offense in 2007. Sentenced to 16 months, he ...
The rampant use of overtime to fill gaps in medical staffing in California’s prison system has resulted in windfalls for some of the state’s prison health care workers, fatigue for others, and lapses of judgment that endanger the health of prisoners entrusted to their care, according to a December 2009 ...
On November 24, 2009, a U.S. District Court judge in Wisconsin substantially denied prison officials’ motion for partial summary judgment and set for trial a class-action suit that alleges medical and mental health care provided to female prisoners at Taycheedah Correctional Institution (TCI) violates the Eighth Amendment, Title II of ...
A follow-up investigation by the California State Auditor has found that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) overpaid certain employees who supervise prisoner-workers.
In California, non-custodial staff who supervise prisoner-workers qualify for a monthly pay differential which ranges from $190 (for an office technician or a cook specialist I) ...
In October 2009, following plea negotiations with federal prosecutors, a Louisiana judge and two lawyers pleaded guilty for their roles in a bail bond-rigging conspiracy that allowed about 100 prisoners over a five-year period to get out of jail without paying any bond money, just bribe money.
Wayne Cresap, a ...
In a November 2009 letter to Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, California State Auditor Elaine Howle reported that corrections officials had greatly overstated the number of jobs they saved using $1.08 billion in federal stimulus money, claiming they retained thousands of positions that were never in jeopardy.
Faced with an ...
Nearly six years after his release from prison, Antoine Goff received a measure of belated justice – a $2.9 million settlement for almost 13 years of wrongful incarceration. Goff and his co-plaintiff, John “J.J.” Tennison, had filed complaints under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that alleged numerous Brady violations [Brady v. ...
Santa Clara County, California – where local law enforcement authorities have policies against cooperating fully with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in terms of enforcing immigration laws – has turned a blind eye to its pro-immigration values and contracted with federal officials to incarcerate immigrant detainees.
The decision to go ...
The parties to a taxpayer lawsuit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, which alleges that conditions in Sacramento County’s juvenile detention facilities violate state statutory, constitutional and regulatory laws, reached a partial settlement and signed a stipulated consent decree in December 2009.
Plaintiff David Porter, a resident of Sacramento County, California, ...
Seeking to cut costs in the face of a recession that has forced many states to reconsider their criminal justice priorities, Oregon officials have signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under which illegal immigrants who waive their right to ...
