Jailers in California, Georgia Acquitted of Abusing Prisoners by Matthew Clarke In unrelated cases, jail guards charged with abusing prisoners were acquitted of the most serious charges filed against them in California and Georgia. Former jail deputies Christopher Johnson and Robert Kirsh were acquitted by a federal jury on the …
Peanut Company Executives Appeal Prison Sentences in Rare Corporate Prosecution by Christopher Zoukis In Georgia, a state where the death penalty is regularly imposed in cases involving multiple deaths resulting from criminal conduct, executives of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) received relatively light federal prison sentences for their roles …
Georgia: Dozens of Indictments for Prison Contraband Smuggling by David Reutter The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) has had a rough couple of years. Through several rounds of law enforcement stings and federal indictments, scores of prison employees, prisoners and outside collaborators have been charged for their alleged roles in …
Georgia Prisoner Caught Sneaking into Prison Charged with Escape by FBI Special Agent James Hosty wrote in a recent federal criminal complaint that “Since in or about January 2013, the Atlanta Police Department ... has been investigating instances of inmates temporarily escaping from the prison camp at USP Atlanta and …
Federal Strikes Do Not Count as Strikes for Georgia PLRA by A Georgia Court of Appeals held in March 2016 that strikes for dismissed frivolous federal lawsuits do not count as strikes under Georgia’s Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Since his imprisonment in 2010, Georgia state prisoner Willie Wright, Jr. …
$175,000 in Damages, Attorney Fees Against Sentinel Offender Services by A Georgia state jury awarded $50,000 to a woman for false arrest and imprisonment by Sentinel Offender Services, a private probation company. The award was the outcome in the first trial of more than a dozen lawsuits filed against the …
Lamontagne v. Georgia Department of Corrections, GA, summons and complaint, wrongful death, 2017 2. Amber LaMontagne, Bazlyn Lewis and Stevie McGilvray are the surviving children of. . . Bonnie Rocheleau, and are therefore authorized to bring this action for the wrongful death of . . . Bonnie Rocheleau. 3. Amber …
Georgia Prison Guards Face Sexual Assault Charges by Two prison guards have been criminally charged with sexually assaulting prisoners at the Emanuel Women’s Facility in Twin City, Georgia. Capt. Edgar Daniel Johnson was the highest ranking officer at the prison, and Channel 2 Action News was present to record his …
Two Fulton County Jail Employees Subject to Liability in Detainee’s Suicide by A Georgia Court of Appeals held in March 2016 that two employees of the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office could be held liable in the suicide of a pre-trial detainee. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the …
Georgia’s Supreme Court Rules on Private Probation Services by The Georgia Supreme Court held on March 25, 2016 that common law allows for tolling of privately-supervised misdemeanor probation sentences, and that such common law was not abrogated when lawmakers passed the State-Wide Probation Act. The case was before the state …
Merits Ruling on Procedurally Flawed Grievance Satisfies PLRA by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that district courts may not enforce a prison’s procedural rule to find a failure to exhaust administrative remedies after prison officials declined to enforce the rule themselves. The Court also found the district …
Improper Analysis of Sovereign Immunity Defense Requires Remand in Georgia Negligence Claim by The Georgia Supreme Court vacated the rulings of two lower courts because they failed to apply the proper legal analysis in deciding the application of sovereign immunity. The matter before the court came on a petition for …
Photo of Prisoner Beaten by Georgia Gang Members Posted Online by Prisons are designed to be closed institutions, cut off from the rest of the world. Contraband cell phones, however, are opening them up and exposing the reality of what happens behind the walls. When Demetria Harris saw a photo …
Merits Ruling on Procedurally Flawed Grievance Satisfies PLRA by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that district courts may not enforce a prison’s procedural rule to find a failure to exhaust administrative remedies after prison officials declined to enforce the rule themselves. The Court also found the district …
Potential Class-action Suit over Domestic Violence “Victim Fees” in Georgia by The Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) and Columbus, Georgia attorney Mark C. Post filed a federal lawsuit on October 5, 2016 on behalf of Cleopatra Harrison and a potential class of other women who were charged controversial …
N.T., et al. v. Howell, et al., GA, complaint, child sexual abuse, 2016 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION N.T., Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated, ) ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) OFFICER RAPHAEL HOWELL, OFFICER ) ) …
Eleventh Circuit Reverses Finding that Seizure of Prisoner’s Legal Mail Stated Claim by A Georgia federal district court, in denying a motion to dismiss, found an attorney has a Fourth Amendment right to “privacy and possessory interest in letters mailed to him, and that the government may not take and …
Georgia Sheriff Opens Veterans Jail that's 'Too Good for Everyone Else by A Columbus, Georgia, sheriff opened what's believed to be a first-of-its-kind jail in April 2012 dedicated to providing offenders who are military veterans with mental health treatment, substance abuse counseling and community transition skills in a sort of …
Jail Officials Compelled to Provide Medical Reports in Wrongful Death Lawsuit by Lonnie Burton The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has ordered the defendant in a lawsuit stemming from the beating death of a prisoner to provide county morbidity and mortality reports to the plaintiff …
Federal Court Finally Ends Oversight at Fulton County Jail by David Reutter Three years ago, the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) moved to dismiss its federal contempt of court proceeding that cited staff shortages, broken locks and an overcrowding problem that resulted in prisoners sleeping on the floor at …
