Blood in the Water Author Wins Censorship Challenges Against Illinois, New York Prison Systems by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney In 2016, University of Michigan Professor Heather Ann Thompson published Blood in the Water, a book about the 1971 uprising at New York’s Attica State Prison that claimed the lives …
Illinois Shutters Decrepit Prison by As of September 30, 2024, the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) had transferred most of the 558 prisoners held at Stateville Correctional Center a month before. The move followed a preliminary injunction (PI) issued by the federal court for the Northern District of Illinois on …
Seventh Circuit Lets BOP Restrict Access to Federal Register from Prison in Illinois by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held on July 30, 2024, that the First Amendment does not require the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to provide full, daily access to the Federal Register …
Former Warden at Troubled Illinois Lockup Promoted to Run BOP Training Academy by Overlooking a troubling record of overseeing abusive conditions, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) promoted Andrew Ciolli in July 2024 to serve as director of the agency’s Management and Specialty Training Center (MSTC) in Aurora, Colorado. Ciolli …
Illinois Prisoners Stage Hunger Strikes Over DOC Failure to Implement New Sentence Reduction Law by Two Illinois prisoners staged hunger strikes in June 2024 to protest the state’s foot-­dragging in granting sentence credits provided a year earlier under a new law. With promises from Robinson Correctional Facility officials to expedite …
$1.5 Million Settlement Approved in Chicago Jail Suicide Case by On July 12, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved a $1.5 million settlement in a case involving the suicide of detainee Areon Marion in Chicago’s Cook County Jail. The order directed how the funds …
Illinois Pays $3 Million for Subjecting Prisoners to Degrading Mass Strip Search by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso After a dozen years of fighting over a mass strip-search conducted during a training exercise in an Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) prison for women, the federal court for the Central …
News in Brief by Arizona: State prisoner Brigido Montoya made the briefest of escapes from the State Prison Complex in Eyman on August 10, 2024, before he was recaptured 48 minutes later by Florence Police, the Florence Reminder & Blade-Tribune reported. The state Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (DCRR) …
Chicago Jailers Publicly Call Detainee Death a Medical Emergency, Privately Admit Guard Brutality by After Corey Ulmer, 41, died at Chicago’s Cook County Jail on June 21, 2024, deputies of Sheriff Tom Dart informed the detainee’s survivors that “he went to the hospital, and unfortunately he didn’t make it,” recalled …
Illinois Parole Board Member Resigns After Violator Turns Deadly by Illinois parolee Crosetti Brand, 37, is back in prison after stabbing his former girlfriend and her son on March 13, 2024. Laterria Smith, 33, survived, but 11-­year-­old Jayden Perkins died. State Prisoner Review Board (PRB) member LeeAnn Miller, 63, who …
Illinois Prisoner Succumbs to Heat Wave by The death of Illinois prisoner Michael Broadway, 51, during a heatwave on June 19, 2024, has focused attention on squalid conditions at Stateville Correctional Center. Windows remained unopened and no working fan was provided at the un-­air-­conditioned lockup, according to family attorney Terah …
Amor v. Gomez, IL, Order, Wrongful Conviction, 2024 Case: 1:18-cv-02523 Document #: 385 Filed: 08/05/24 Page 1 of 1 PageID #:36828 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION JEANNE OLSON, as successor plaintiff for WILLIAM E. AMOR, Plaintiff(s), Case No. 1:18-cv-02523 Judge John …
Seventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Retaliation Claim By Federal Prisoner Against Guard in Illinois Lockup Who Saw Grievance Against Him by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On November 28, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit declined to let a federal prisoner sue officials with the …
Seventh Circuit Finds No Problem With Surveillance of Chicago Detainees on Toilets by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On December 18, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the grant of summary judgment to Defendant officials of Cook County in a civil rights action …
Illinois Prisoner Awarded Over $822,000 For Hernia Care Denied by Wexford Health by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On April 2, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois denied relief to Wexford Health Sources, Inc., the private healthcare contractor for the state Department of Corrections …
“Are You Freaking Kidding Me?” Former BOP Warden Accuses Guards of Recruiting Prisoners for Assaults at Troubled Lockup in Illinois by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Before he retired in July 2023, Warden Thomas Bergami was sent by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to the U.S. Penitentiary (USP) …
Seventh Circuit: Heck Bars Civil Rights Challenges to Civil Commitment by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke On December 20, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that an Illinois prisoner’s challenge to civil commitment as a sexually violent person after release cannot be raised …
Christian v. The State of Illinois, IL, Complaint, Sexual Abuse, 2024 FILED COURT OF CLAIMS MAYO 6 2024 Secretary of State Ex-Officio Clerk Court of Claims IN THE COURT OF CLAIMS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS JEFFERY CHRISTIAN, CALVIN MCDOWELL, STEPHEN LUCAS, A.B ., E.C., L.D., B.P., D.T., J.L., N.A., …
Former Illinois Prisoner Pursuing PhD After 27 Years of Incarceration by When Illinois prisoner J. Le’Dell Pippins, 54, defied the odds to gain acceptance into the University of Iowa’s Ph.D. in Criminology program, it proved a key factor in the decision by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) to commute Pippins’ 30-year …
Seventh Circuit Lets Illinois Prisoner Proceed In Forma Pauperis, Despite Trust Account Balance Exceeding Filing Fee by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On October 10, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion offering guidance to judges deciding whether to grant a prisoner’s motions to …
