News in Brief by Alabama: On August 21, 2020, Sylvester Hartley became the seventh prisoner to die of complications from COVID-19 at Alabama’s St. Clair Correctional Facility, according to a report in the St. Clair News-Aegis. The 60-year-old, who was serving a life-without-parole sentence for three counts of first-degree kidnapping, …
Former Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Complaint Cures Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a former Pennsylvania prisoner’s civil rights action was not barred for failing to exhaust administrative remedies. The court found the prison’s grievance policy for a …
Pennsylvania Prisoner Off Death Row After 33 Years by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A Pennsylvania prisoner whose death sentence was tossed by a federal court 17 years ago has finally won release from the state’s death row after spending more than three decades in solitary confinement there. In …
News in Brief by Alabama: Chanting “not one more,” about 30 carloads of protesters from “Alabamians Who Care” caravanned to the governor’s mansion in Montgomery on August 1, 2020, protesting a plan by Gov. Kay Ivey (R) to build three new “mega-prisons.” According to a report by Montgomery TV station …
Privatized Food Service Problems at Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County Jail by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins A recent audit at an Allegheny county jail revealed a series of shortcomings by a food service contractor tasked with providing meals to prisoners. Florida-based contractor Trinity Services Group was paid $3.5 million to provide …
Researchers, Prison Officials to Study Effects of Prison Violence Comprehensively by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A research team of internationally recognized prison experts from multiple academic institutions will be working with state prison officials from Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas to perform the most comprehensive study …
Third Circuit Reinstates Claims by Immigration Detainee in GEO-Operated Prison Seeking to Marry U.S. Citizen by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On June 11, 2020, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reinstated some of the claims brought by a couple seeking permission to marry, one of whom is …
Walker v. Raible, PA, Complaint, Excessive Force - Beatings, 2020 Case 2:20-cv-01868-LPL Document 1 Filed 12/01/20 Page 1 of 40 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA APRIL WALKER, LAVONNA DORSEY, and ALEXUS DIGGS; Plaintiffs, v. JOHN RAIBLE, Sergeant; ORLANDO HARPER, Warden of Allegheny County …
Abran v. City of Philadelphia, PA, Opinion, Wrongful Death - Suicide, 2020 Case 2:18-cv-01107-MSG Document 125 Filed 11/17/20 Page 1 of 29 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA : : : : : : : : : : : RENA ABRAN, Plaintiff, v. CITY …
News in Brief by Alabama: The Birmingham News reported that an Alabama prison guard had been arrested for drug trafficking after a search of his vehicle when he arrived for work at the St. Clair County prison turned up 138 grams of methamphetamine and 16 grams of heroin. Ivan Caldwell, …
Former Pennsylvania Prison All Solitary with Silence Mandatory by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon To be penitent is generally defined to be sorry for the wrongs, sins, misdeeds or offenses a person has committed. The word penitent is actually the root of the word penitentiary, which is another word for …
Third Circuit: District Court Erred in Ruling Against Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Civil Rights Complaint by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held on April 27, 2020 that a district court erred when ruling against a Pennsylvania prisoner’s civil rights complaint and allowed the case to …
Lives at Stake as Pennsylvania County De-privatizes Prison by David Reutter by David M. Reutter In March 2020, Florida-based GEO Group formally asked the government of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, to terminate a five-year, $264 million contract, which it signed in 2018 to manage the county’s George W. Hill Correctional Facility …
$225,000 Windfall in Lehigh County, Pa. But Officials Don’t Cut Jail Phone Costs by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Renegotiation of its jail telephone contract netted Pennsylvania’s Lehigh County an unbudgeted $225,000 windfall. Mark Pinsley, the county comptroller, urged county officials to put that “revenue back into efforts to …
Pennsylvania Prisoner Loses Part of Leg, Wins Appeal in Precedential Grievance Process Case by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On May 20, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, issued a precedent-setting ruling that clarified when a “misrepresentation” to a prisoner renders a …
PrimeCare, Berks County Prisoner Who Loses Leg Agree to $850,000 Settlement by PrimeCare Medical agreed to an $850,000 settlement in a civil rights action alleging it failed to provide care for a prisoner at Pennsylvania’s Berks County Prison (BCP). The prisoner suffered amputation of her left leg below the knee. …
Why Did 77 Ohio Prisoners Die of COVID-19, but Just 10 in Pennsylvania? by Cid Standifer, Brie Zeltner A look at how overcrowding and poor design contributed to two of the worst national outbreaks by Cid Standifer and Brie Zeltner, Eye on Ohio, Aug. 21, 2020 This article was provided …
News in Brief by Alabama: In February 2020, a grand jury in Limestone County, Alabama, returned an indictment for “possession/receipt of a controlled substance” against Travis Wales, a former guard at the Limestone County Correctional Facility in Harvest. According to Columbus, Georgia, TV station WBRL, Wales was arrested in September …
Damage to South Carolina Prisons Shifts Prisoners to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania by Derek Gilna by Derek Gilna Damage from tornados with winds in excess of 150 miles per hour in April of 2020 forced the immediate transfer of 956 low-security federal prisoners from Estill, South Carolina to the maximum-security U.S. Prison …
Philadelphia Jails to Release Prisoners Earlier in the Day by Bill Barton by Bill Barton Independently obtained and analyzed data from April 2017 to April 2018 showed that 73 percent of all prisoners — more than 16,000 in total — were released after Philadelphia jail facilities’ cashier offices were closed, …
