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Shebelske v. Marathon County Jail, WI, Settlement Agreement, Medical Neglect Anemia, 2016

Brief • December 6, 2016

Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Blood, Malpractice, Eighth Amendment

Shebelske v. Marathon County Jail, WI, Settlement Agreement, Medical Neglect Anemia, 2016 HURLEY, BURISH & STANTON, S.C. 33 EAST MAIN STREET, SUITE 400 Mailing Address: POST OFFICE Box 1528 MADISON, WI 53701-1528 ATTORNEYS AT LAW Tel. (608) 257-0945 Fax. (608) 257-5764 www.hbslawfirm.com Author's e-mail: aerlandson@hbslawfirm.com Stephen P. Hurley* John C. …

Wisconsin: Prison Hunger Strike Reaches Crisis Point

Article • November 8, 2016 • from PLN November, 2016

Filed under: Hunger Strikes, Toxic Fumes/Chemicals, Water, Sanitation, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides

Wisconsin: Prison Hunger Strike Reaches Crisis Point by According to an August 22, 2016 report from Workers World, an ongoing hunger strike at the Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin has reached a crisis point. A group of at least eight prisoners at Waupun and the Columbia Correctional Institution began refusing …

Wisconsin Court Orders Dismissal of Jail Negligence Suit

Article • November 1, 2016

Filed under: Work Release, Jail Misconduct, Drug Overdose, Failure to Protect (General), Overcrowding, Jail Specific, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death)

Wisconsin Court Orders Dismissal of Jail Negligence Suit by Lonnie Burton On October 16, 2014, District IV of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reversed a lower court and granted summary judgment in favor of defendants in a case brought by the estate of a prisoner who overdosed while at the …

Wisconsin Jail Policies Unconstitutional But Not Enjoined

Article • November 1, 2016

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Notice of Rules, Legality of Rules, Witnesses (Disciplinary Hearings), Hearing Officers, Notice of Charges, Notice of Hearing, Jail Specific, Telephones, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Due Process, Censorship

Wisconsin Jail Policies Unconstitutional But Not Enjoined by Mark Wilson A Wisconsin federal court held that a jail's disciplinary, mail, and publication rules were unconstitutional. The court declined to enjoin those practices, however, essentially rendering its holding a mere advisory opinion. On September 29, 1970 pretrial detainees of the Milwaukee …

Wisconsin: Wrongfully Convicted Former Prisoner Receives $6.5 Million

Article • October 3, 2016 • from PLN October, 2016

Filed under: Police Misconduct, DNA Testing/Samples, Wrongful Conviction, Wrongful Imprisonment

Wisconsin: Wrongfully Convicted Former Prisoner Receives $6.5 Million by Chaunte D. Ott received a $6.5 million settlement from the City of Milwaukee for spending over 12 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction, after being cleared by DNA evidence that connected the crime to a serial killer. Ott, now …

Wisconsin Prison Enters into Consent Decree to Correct Tainted Water

Article • September 30, 2016 • from PLN October, 2016

Filed under: Failure to Protect (General), Water

Wisconsin Prison Enters into Consent Decree to Correct Tainted Water by Derek Gilna In 2014, Wisconsin’s Fox Lake Correctional Institution (Fox Lake) executed a consent decree with the state Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) in response to complaints about high levels of copper and lead in the prison’s water supply. …

Parolees Violated Without New Charges Bloat Wisconsin Prison Population

Article • September 6, 2016

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Statistics/Trends, Parole, Parole Conditions, Collateral consequences of prison, Visiting, Family

Parolees Violated Without New Charges Bloat Wisconsin Prison Population by Matthew Clarke 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 …

Wisconsin Civil Commitments a Major Expense

Article • August 25, 2016

Filed under: Cost of Prison Systems, Sex Offender Treatment, Civil Commitment

Wisconsin Civil Commitments a Major Expense by Matthew Clarke When the Wisconsin Legislature first passed the Sexually Violent Persons Law allowing for civil commitment of certain sex offenders who had served all of their prison sentences, the additional expense was expected to be minimal. Today's reality proves that such a …

Wisconsin Uses Prisoner Workers to Cut Labor Costs

Article • August 25, 2016

Filed under: Prison Labor

Wisconsin Uses Prisoner Workers to Cut Labor Costs by Derek Gilna The recent news that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was planning to utilize prisoners to perform work previously done by state employees has ignited controversy from those who feel that such work will reduce the number of public employees. In …

Wisconsin DOC Unexpectedly Releases Use of Force Video

Article • August 25, 2016

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Disclosure of Records

Wisconsin DOC Unexpectedly Releases Use of Force Video by The Associated Press (AP) settled a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WDOC) for $5,000 in attorney’s fees and an edited copy of a use of force video. The AP sued the WDOC in October 2009 when it refused to …

7th Circuit Affirms as Proper Jury Instructions on Intent and Harm Elements of Excessive Force Claim Brought by Wisconsin Pretrial Detainee

Article • August 24, 2016

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Eighth Amendment, Jail Specific, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers

7th Circuit Affirms as Proper Jury Instructions on Intent and Harm Elements of Excessive Force Claim Brought by Wisconsin Pretrial Detainee by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has affirmed a lower court’s use of jury instructions including harm and subjective intent elements of a use of …

7th Circuit: Minimal Use of Force Not An Eight Amendment Violation

Article • August 19, 2016

Filed under: Eighth Amendment

7th Circuit: Minimal Use of Force Not An Eight Amendment Violation by Wisconsin prisoner Juan Guitron alleged that a prison guard bent and injured his wrist. Following a preliminary screening required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, the district court dismissed the complaint and the 7th Circuit affirmed.             While prison …

$295,001 Awarded to Wisconsin Prisoner for Wet Mattress

Article • August 11, 2016

Filed under: Eighth Amendment, Water, Bedding

$295,001 Awarded to Wisconsin Prisoner for Wet Mattress by In the United States District Court, Western District of Wisconsin at Madison, on September 17, 2008, a jury returned for plaintiff, Wisconsin state prisoner Reggie Townsend on an 8th amendment civil rights case that was previously granted summary judgment for the …

Wisconsin Parole Hampered by Prison Bureaucrats

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Parole Board Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Parole, Parole Conditions

Wisconsin Parole Hampered by Prison Bureaucrats by David Reutter An “irrational” and unaccountable system is preventing Wisconsin’s parole eligible prisoners from satisfying requirements to merit release on parole. About 15% of Wisconsin’s more than 32,000 prisoners have sentences that allow them to be paroled. They are the remnant that lingers …

Results from Seven States Shows Program-Driven Recidivism Reduction

Article • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Release and Reentry

Results from Seven States Shows Program-Driven Recidivism Reduction by The National Reentry Resource Center has published a new study of seven states showing that with proper pre-release programming, recidivism rates can be reduced by a significant amount.  The study, which covered the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, …

Wisconsin’s Mass Incarceration of African American Males: Workforce Challenges for 2013, Pawasarat and Quinn, 2013

Publication • August 10, 2016

Filed under: Discrimination, Racial Discrimination

Wisconsin’s Mass Incarceration of African American Males: Workforce Challenges for 2013, Pawasarat and Quinn, 2013 Wisconsin’s Mass Incarceration of African American Males: Workforce Challenges for 2013 Prepared by John Pawasarat and Lois M. Quinn Employment and Training Institute University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 2013 Executive Summary Among the most critical workforce issues …

New Contracts Pull Wisconsin Prison Industry Out of Red for 2012

Article • August 9, 2016

Filed under: Cost of Prison Systems

New Contracts Pull Wisconsin Prison Industry Out of Red for 2012 by Fiscal year 2012 was a profitable year for Badger State Industries. A memorandum from the Wisconsin Department of Correction (WDOC) to the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Finance shows WDOC’s prison industries gained $3.6 million for the …

Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in WI Justice System - Final Report, Doyle, 2008

Publication • August 9, 2016

Filed under: Discrimination, Racial Discrimination, Prison Reform

Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in WI Justice System - Final Report, Doyle, 2008 Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in the Wisconsin Justice System Jim Doyle Governor Spencer Coggs ◊ Noble Wray Co-Chairs Final Report February 2008 Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in the Wisconsin Justice System Co-Chairs Spencer Coggs, …

Negligence not Grounds for Prosecution in Deaths of Wisconsin Prisoners

Article • August 5, 2016

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Failure to Protect (General), Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Suicides

Negligence not Grounds for Prosecution in Deaths of Wisconsin Prisoners by Gary Hunter It was a Thursday in late July 2009 when Myron Weston, a prisoner at Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF), drank cleaning fluid from the supplies given to him to perform his janitorial duties. A short time later …

Milwaukee Man Receives $506,000 Award for Wrongful Stop

Article • August 5, 2016

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Strip Searches, Police Searches, False Arrest, Racial Profiling

Milwaukee Man Receives $506,000 Award for Wrongful Stop by A Wisconsin federal jury awarded $506,000 to a man who was stopped without reason and wrongfully arrested. As Leo Hardy was leaving his mother’s home, Milwaukee police officers Michael Gasser and Keith Garland, Jr., stopped him on March 13, 2012, for …