Ice Cream Trucks No Treat for Sex Offenders by Several cities and at least one state have passed laws that prohibit sex offenders from driving ice cream trucks. In 2004 Eduardo Grau, 56, was driving an ice cream truck in New York state when he molested a 9-year-old girl. It …
New Jersey Joins Other States in Restricting Internet Use by Sex Offenders by New Jersey Joins Other States in Restricting ?Internet Use by Sex Offenders On December 27, 2007, New Jersey enacted legislation to restrict convicted sex offenders’ Internet use. Acting Governor Richard J. Codey relied on public hysteria over …
New Jersey Prisoners’ Jail Escape Leads to Firings and Suicide by Gary Hunter About an hour into his shift on December 15, 2007, Union County, New Jersey jail guard Rudolph Zurick discovered that prisoners Jose Espinosa and Otis Blunt were missing. Zurick immediately took steps to have the jail locked …
Former Immigration Detainee Awarded $100,001 Against CSC/Esmor, Plus $137,808 in Attorney’s Fees and Expenses by A federal jury has awarded a former detainee $100,001 against a private company that operated a New Jersey detention center for the U.S. government. The jury found for the plaintiff on her negligent supervision and …
District Judge Orders Measures To Ease New Jersey Jail Overcrowding by Prisoners in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, a New Jersey county jail, filed suit alleging unconstitutional living conditions due to overcrowding. A district judge assigned a special master to investigate. The special master found serious overcrowding which caused problems …
No Liberty Interest in New Jersey Work Release by The plaintiff was charged with drinking when he returned to a work release facility; he was found not guilty at a disciplinary hearing. (Some officers said he acted and smelled drunk, others did not, and the doctor said he did not …
Police Department Acceptance of Service for Cop Upheld by A police department's offer to accept service for an individual officer did not make it an agent authorized to accept service without actual authorization or appointment from the officer. Since the officer actually got the complaint, the court holds the defect …
$390,000 Settlement in Unlawful Arrest Warrant by New Jersey’s Essex County settled a claim against it that alleged a prosecutor was “plainly incompetent” for procuring and executing an arrest warrant. The case settled for $390,000 prior to a damages trial. The plaintiff’s false arrest claim came after the Essex county …
New Jersey DNA Act Constitutional by The New Jersey Supreme Court has held that the New Jersey DNA Database and Databank Act of 1994 is constitutional under the state and federal constitutions. It also noted that a blood sample or cheek swab constitutes a search. The Court found the main …
Federal Courts Lack Authority to Expunge Valid Convictions by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision that it lacked jurisdiction to expunge criminal convictions pursuant to its inherent power to order equitable relief, or pursuant to the All Writs Act. David Rowlands, a New Jersey public …
New Jersey Appeals Court Upholds Disabled Guard’s $236,000 Award by On June 30, 2006, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, upheld a jury’s award of $236,000 to a former Gloucester County jail guard who claimed he was forced to retire because of an eye disability. Plaintiff Michael Raspa, …
New Jersey District Court: Reargument Granted In PHS Negligence Claim by On January 10, 2005, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey agreed with a state prisoner’s contention that Prison Health Services’ (PHS) failure to monitor her lithium levels fell under the common knowledge exception of N.J. …
New Jersey Abolishes the Death Penalty by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On December 12, 2007, New Jersey became the second state since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 to legislatively abolish the death penalty, replacing it with life without parole. That same day, New Jersey Governor Jon …
Nevada Criminalizes Cell Phones in State Prisons by On May 10, 2007, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons signed into law AB-106, a bill making it a felony for prisoners to possess a cell phone in prison or for a person to furnish a prisoner with a cell phone. Anyone charged with …
My Space Becomes “No Space” for Online Sex Offenders by David Reutter My Space Becomes "No Space" for Online Sex Offenders by David M. Reutter After online social networking giant MySpace.com, under pressure, disclosed on July 24, 2007 that it had purged 29,000 sex offender profiles from its website, state …
No Liberty Interest In New Jersey Work Release by The plaintiff was on work release and living in a halfway house; he was removed from the program for drinking. He was later found not guilty, but he was not returned to the halfway house, and received no hearing to determine …
Warden May Be Liable for Suicide for Lack of Mental Health Staffing by The plaintiff was sentenced to 60 days for possession of Valium in the third degree. After six days in jail he drank cleaning fluid, which was viewed by staff as a suicide attempt despite his claim he …
Third Circuit Has Appellate Jurisdiction Over Unexhausted Claims by The plain language of the exhaustion requirement ("No action shall be brought") shows that Congress did not intend that it be applied to cases already pending on the date of the PLRA's enactment However, the plaintiff was required to exhaust under …
NJ Prisoner’s Tuberculosis Suit Dismissed by NJ Prisoner's Tuberculosis Suit Dismissed The plaintiff tested positive for tuberculosis while incarcerated; he was given INH, which caused some liver problems. The defendants were not deliberately indifferent in not doing TB testing every six months rather than yearly and in giving him INH. …
Bergen County Jail, New Jersey, Provides Laptops for Legal Research by New Jersey?s Bergen County Jail is entering the 21st century with a revolutionary plan by Sheriff Leo McGuire to provide prisoners with laptop computers to do legal research while in the jail. The 80 laptops?stripped down durable mini-PCs?were purchased …
