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Class-Action Suit at BOP “Rape Club” in California Settled for Record $116 Million by After it was signed into law in 2003, the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), 42 U.S.C. ch. 147 § 15601 et seq., remained unused for a decade while standards were developed and implemented to curtail rape …
Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025
National Class Certified in Washington Jail Debit-Release Card Suit by In a suit challenging excessive fees charged on debit cards issued to those released from Washington’s Pierce County Jail, former detainee Plaintiffs secured nationwide class certification on February 13, 2025. But first they had to defeat a motion by Defendant …
Tennessee DOC Found in Violation of ADA With Failure to Accommodate Hearing Impaired Prisoners by As previously reported in PLN, hearing-impaired prisoner Ernest Trivette filed suit against the Tennessee Department of Corrections (DOC) in March 2020, accusing the prison system of failing to accommodate his disability. [See: PLN, Jan. 2024, …
New York City Held in Contempt in Long-Running Rikers Island Class-Action by On November 27, 2024, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York held the city Department of Correction (DOC) in contempt of a consent decree and subsequent remedial orders entered in a long-running class …
Eighth Circuit: Evidentiary Admissibility Is a “Red Herring” At Class Certification of St. Louis Jail Conditions Challenge by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On June 3, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit declined to join most sister circuits, which admit evidentiary challenges to class certification …
Article • December 15, 2024 • from PLN December, 2024
Filed under: Visiting, Class Actions
Two Michigan Jails Face Class-Action Suits for Banning In-Person Visits by In a disturbing trend, local jails are discontinuing in-person visits in conjunction with adopting fee-based video calling services. Based on 2015 data, the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative found that “74% of jails banned in-person visits when they implemented video …
Article • December 15, 2024 • from PLN December, 2024
Illinois Shutters Decrepit Prison by As of September 30, 2024, the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) had transferred most of the 558 prisoners held at Stateville Correctional Center a month before. The move followed a preliminary injunction (PI) issued by the federal court for the Northern District of Illinois on …
Brief • July 10, 2024
Lilgerose, et al. v. Polis, et al., CO, Motion for Class Cert., Prison Slave Labor, 2024 DISTRICT COURT, DENVER COUNTY, COLORADO Denver City and County Building 1437 Bannock Street, Denver, CO 80202 PLAINTIFFS: RICHARD LILGEROSE and HAROLD MORTIS, on their own behalf and on behalf of those similarly situated v. …
Ninth Circuit Affirms Class Action Consent Decree at California’s Alameda County Jail by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On October 6, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a consent decree in a class-action lawsuit filed over solitary confinement of mentally ill detainees at the …
One Detainee Dying Every Week in L.A. County Jails by As of December 31, 2023, Los Angeles County jails had recorded 34 detainee deaths in seven months—over one every week, far more than New York City’s notorious Rikers Island complex, which recorded seven deaths during the same period. Overcrowding is …
Article • March 1, 2024 • from PLN March, 2024
Nearly $11 Million Settlement Reached in Suit by BOP Prisoners Held Without Heat, Electricity During New York Winter Storm by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On August 18, 2023, an agreement was reached by Defendant officials with the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) paying $10,936,250 to settle claims brought in …
Illinois Failing to Grant Dying Prisoners Medical Releases by of dying and medically enfeebled state prisoners were expected to be released when Illinois lawmakers passed the Joe Coleman Medical Release (JCMR) Act. But an investigative report released on August 30, 2023, found that two-thirds of prisoner requests had been denied …
Nevada Prisoner Wins Injunction Requiring DOC to Provide Exercise Despite Guard Shortage by by Matt Clarke On June 6, 2023, Judge Cristina D. Silva of the federal court for the District of Nevada renewed a preliminary injunction she issued on March 3, 2023, ordering state prison officials to provide prisoner …
Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023
North Carolina Supreme Court Affirms Class Certification Denial in Prisoners’ Challenge to Solitary Confinement by On November 4, 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court refused to overturn a lower court’s decision denying class certification in a challenge brought by state prisoners to the use of solitary confinement. In its ruling, …
Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023
Suit Against Delaware DOC Advances With 39 Prisoner Plaintiffs and 40 Defendants by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On August 17, 2023, lawyers for a group of 39 current and former prisoners at Delaware’s Sussex Correctional Center (SCC) largely beat back a motion brought by defendant prison officials to …
Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023
Deadline Looms for Payouts Under California’s Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program by December 31, 2023, will be the last day to file for reparations under California’s Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program (FISCP). State lawmakers created it in 2021 to offer compensation to thousands of victims who were sterilized …
Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023
Ohio Prisoner’s Suit Claims Exposure to Toxic Chemicals Released in Train Derailment by On May 31, 2023, the federal court for the Northern District of Ohio consolidated a state prisoner’s pro se suit into a class-action with almost 30 others that have been filed over exposure to toxic vinyl chloride …
Article • October 15, 2023 • from PLN October, 2023
After Ninth Circuit Refuses to Compel Arbitration, National Class Certified in HRDC’s Challenge to Jail and Prison Debit Card Fees by Mark Wilson by Mark Wilson In a federal suit challenging excessive fees on jail and prison “debit release” cards, the federal court for the District of Oregon on July …
Article • September 15, 2023 • from PLN September, 2023
Exasperated Federal Judge Issues Permanent Injunction to Arizona DOC in Healthcare Class-Action by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On April 7, 2023, a visibly annoyed U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver issued a highly-detailed permanent injunction (PI) specifying what must be done by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry …
Article • August 15, 2023 • from PLN August, 2023
Ninth Circuit Affirms Expanded Relief for Disabled California Prisoners in Long-Running Class Action by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On February 2, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed, in large part, an order that found ongoing violations of the rights of disabled prisoners at …
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