Federal Court Rules Against Alabama DOC in Class-action HIV Discrimination Suit by On December 21, 2012, an Alabama federal district court entered judgment in a class-action lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), finding that the ADOC engaged in discrimination by segregating HIV+ prisoners in violation of the Americans …
Alabama Supreme Court Upholds Exemption for DOC Driver’s Liability by The Supreme Court of Alabama ruled in June 2006 for the state in a lawsuit that arose out of a state prisoner, Warren R. Robinson, on work-release and driving a Department of Corrections (DOC) van, backing into the vehicle of …
Anti-Immigrant Arizona Sheriff Outed by His Mexican Ex-Boyfriend by Paul Bebeu, Sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona and a former police officer, was a rising Republican star within the state in 2012 – crusading in support of the anti-immigrant legislation SB1070, co-chairing Arizona’s campaign for Mitt Romney’s presidential bid and espousing …
Alabama: District Court Certifies Class of HS Students Alleging Excessive Force by School Resource Officers by In August 2012, a U.S. District Court in Alabama granted a motion to certify a class of all current and future high school students in the Birmingham City Schools in a suit which alleges …
Alabama State Supreme Court Denies Mandamus for Payment of Defense Expenses by The Supreme Court of Alabama denied in June 2012 Defendant’s petition for writ of mandamus to compel the circuit court to enforce its orders to the Office of Indigent Services and the Comptroller’s Office to disburse interim payments …
Dismissal of §1983 Challenge to Alabama's Lethal Injection Procedure Reversed by Dismissal of §1983 Challenge to Alabama's Lethal Injection Procedure Reversed On March 21, 2012, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded with instructions a death row's prisoner's lethal injection procedure claim. Alabama State prisoner Thomas D. Arthur, …
Alabama: Deputy Sheriffs Immune from Suit for Damages by The Alabama Supreme Court has held that deputy sheriffs, like sheriffs, are constitutional officers who, by virtue of the doctrine of state immunity, cannot be sued for monetary damages in their individual capacity when the acts that form the basis of …
Alabama Law Meant to Ensure Transparency in Judicial Elections Not Enforced for 16 Years by Derek Gilna An Alabama law that became effective in 1996, designed to remove any appearance of impropriety in the funding of judicial election campaigns, has languished while all three branches of state government have failed …
ACLU Challenges “Jail or Church” Program in Alabama by On September 26, 2011 the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama (ACLU) sent a cease-and-desist letter to the City of Bay Minette, demanding that city officials “immediately end Operation Restore Our Community (ROC), which requires first-time, non-violent misdemeanor offenders to choose …
Alabama Prison Guards Charged in Prisoner’s Murder by Four Alabama state prison guards have been charged in connection with the brutal 2010 beating death of a prisoner at the Ventress Correctional Facility (VCF). The first guard, Lt. Michael Anthony Smith, 37, was indicted on October 17, 2011 by a Barbour …
Burdette et al v. Town of Harpersville, Al, Order, JCS private parole deptors prison, 2010 ELECTRONICALLY FILED 7/11/2012 3:26 PM CV-2010-900183.00 CIRCUIT COURT OF SHELBY COUNTY, ALABAMA MARY HARRIS, CLERK
Alabama Uses Federal Stimulus Money to Prop up Prison System by Alabama allocated 11% of its federal education stimulus funds to its prison system. Of the $1.1 billion the state received from the U.S. Department of Education from 2009 to 2010, the state gave more than $118 million to the …
Alabama Condemned Prisoner Commits Suicide with Unknown Object by An Alabama prisoner on death row killed himself with an unknown object. In 2005, Jason Jones, 29, was convicted of the 2004 beating and stabbing deaths of his parents, Nancy and Dr. Tim Jones, in their Monroeville, Alabama residence. "I am …
Settlement in Alabama Prison Overcrowding and Violence Suit by David Reutter A class-action lawsuit that alleged conditions at Alabama’s Donaldson Correctional Facility (DCF) placed prisoners “at a substantial risk of injury due to violence, lack of security, understaffing, corruption, and severe overcrowding” has concluded with a settlement agreement designed to …
Alabama Sheriff Capitulates to ACLU in Challenge to Denial of Attorney Visits by The ACLU of Alabama has reached a settlement that allows its staff members to have consultation visits with prisoners at the Fayette County Jail (FCJ). The settlement was reached within six weeks after the ACLU sued the …
Mason v. Hale, AL, Amended Complaint, Jail Overcrowding, 2011 FILED Case 2:11-cv-03155-TMP Document 21 Filed 11/08/11 Page 1 of 40 2011 Nov-08 AM 10:16 U.S. DISTRICT COURT N.D. OF ALABAMA IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION John Mason IV, ) Ishmael Khalid …
$450,000 Settlement in Alabama Jail Prisoner’s Death by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The estate of a prisoner who died at Alabama’s Washington County Jail has agreed to accept $450,000 to settle a wrongful death suit. Shawn Desmond Woodard, 33, was being held at the Washington County Jail on …
Alabama Sheriff Jailed For Starving Prisoners: States Cut Prisoner Meals by Gary Hunter By Gary Hunter Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett was arrested by federal authorities on January 8, 2009, after he admitted to pocketing $200,000 designated for prisoners' meals in the Alabama jail. Johnny Maynor and Anthony Murphree, prisoners …
Alabama Court Bans Felon Disenfranchisement Until Legislature Defines Moral Turpitude Crimes by Alabama’s Jefferson County Circuit Court has held that Alabama’s Constitution permissibly disenfranchises felons convicted of crimes of moral turpitude, but the absence of legislation defining moral turpitude prevents any felon from being disenfranchised. Before the court was a …
11th Circuit: Nominal Damages Resulting From Unconstitutional Arrest Of 9-Year-Old On School Grounds Not Sufficiently Exceptional To Justify Award Of Attorney’s Fees by Michael Brodheim By Michael Brodheim The Eleventh Circuit has vacated the award of attorney’s fees where the prevailing party, a nine-year-old Alabama child who in 2003 was …
