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Maryland Pardons 175,000 Marijuana Misdemeanor Convictions

Article • August 15, 2024 • from PLN August, 2024

Filed under: Pardons/Clemency, Marijuana Laws/Issues, Use of Marijuana

Maryland Pardons 175,000 Marijuana Misdemeanor Convictions by Maryland prisoners with misdemeanor marijuana convictions had them erased as of June 18, 2024, when Gov. Wes Moore (D) issued pardons for every state misdemeanor conviction for possession of pot or related paraphernalia. The pardons will not release any prisoners; the misdemeanor convictions …

Arrested for Stealing Snacks, Baltimore Diabetic Dies in Jail

Article • August 15, 2024 • from PLN August, 2024

Filed under: Diabetes, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Fraud and Theft Loss

Arrested for Stealing Snacks, Baltimore Diabetic Dies in Jail by Louis Maurice Mason, a 67-year-old struggling with diabetes and a four-decade cocaine addiction, died on March 8, 2024, in Baltimore’s jail system. Despite his deteriorating health, a judge had set his bail unaffordably high, effectively signing his death warrant. Mason’s …

Transgender Maryland Prisoner’s Suit Accuses Guard of Shower Rape

Article • July 1, 2024 • from PLN July, 2024

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Transgender, Failure to Protect (Transgender)

Transgender Maryland Prisoner’s Suit Accuses Guard of Shower Rape by On October 2, 2023, transgender Maryland prisoner Dmitry Pronin, known now as Leyleen Lillith Aquino, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, alleging that she was raped in a state prison shower …

Maryland Prisoner Prevails in Challenge to Denial of Public Records Requests

Article • July 1, 2024 • from PLN July, 2024

Filed under: Public Records, Public Records Act

Maryland Prisoner Prevails in Challenge to Denial of Public Records Requests by As PLN has reported, prison and jail employees have been identified in racist or extremist groups. [See: PLN, Feb. 2022, p.40.] The problem was manifested in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, when participating …

$56.7 Million Awarded to “Harlem Park Three,” Exonerated of Baltimore Murder After 36 Years in Prison

Article • July 1, 2024 • from PLN July, 2024

Filed under: Wrongful Conviction

$56.7 Million Awarded to “Harlem Park Three,” Exonerated of Baltimore Murder After 36 Years in Prison by David Reutter by David M. Reutter   On September 29, 2023, Maryland’s Baltimore Board of Estimates approved a $48 million settlement for former state prisoners Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart, Jr. and Ransom Watkins, …

Maryland County Wins Fight to Let Bureaucrats Make Pretrial Release Decisions

Article • July 1, 2024 • from PLN July, 2024

Filed under: Bail/Pretrial Release

Maryland County Wins Fight to Let Bureaucrats Make Pretrial Release Decisions by David Reutter by David M. Reutter   There’s something rotten with bail decisions in Prince George’s County, but as of March 29, 2024, the federal court for the District of Maryland isn’t going to do anything about it. …

Texas Bankruptcy Court Rejects Proposed Settlement of Prisoner Claims Against Corizon Health

Article • June 1, 2024 • from PLN June, 2024

Filed under: Corizon, Malpractice, Damages, Bankruptcy

Texas Bankruptcy Court Rejects Proposed Settlement of Prisoner Claims Against Corizon Health by On April 11, 2024, a Texas bankruptcy court rejected a proposed $54 million settlement that would have paid just a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars owed to prisoners who won judgments or secured settlement …

Fourth Circuit Reinstates HRDC’s RICO Claim Against Securus and ViaPath

Article • May 1, 2024 • from PLN May, 2024

Filed under: RICO, Telephone Rates, Civil RICO, HRDC Litigation, Securus, Global Tel*Link Corp

Fourth Circuit Reinstates HRDC’s RICO Claim Against Securus and ViaPath by On June 4, 2023, a request for a rehearing en banc before the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit was denied in a suit accusing prison telecom providers Securus Technologies and Global Tel*Link (GTL)—now known as …

Maryland Compensates Exonerated Prisoner Over $340,000

Article • April 1, 2024 • from PLN April, 2024

Filed under: Wrongful Conviction, Eyewitness Testimony, Fabrication of Evidence, Recantation

Maryland Compensates Exonerated Prisoner Over $340,000 by On September 20, 2023, the Maryland Board of Public Works approved over $340,000 in compensation to Demetrius Smith, who spent years unjustly incarcerated—more than a year of that time after his innocence had been established. Gov. Wes Moore (D), who chairs the three-member …

Appleby-El v. Wexford Health Sources, MD, Settlement, Failure to Provide Medical Care, 2024

Brief • March 7, 2024

Filed under: Failure to Treat

Appleby-El v. Wexford Health Sources, MD, Settlement, Failure to Provide Medical Care, 2024 SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND RELEASE This Settlement Agreement is made this 27th day of March, by and between Nathaniel Appleby-El (“Plaintiff”), on the one hand, and Dayena Corcoran and Frank B. Bishop, Jr. (hereinafter “Defendants”), on the other …

$2.9 Million Paid by Maryland to Exonerated Former Prisoner

Article • February 1, 2024 • from PLN February, 2024

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Wrongful Conviction, Pardons/Clemency, Attorney Discipline

$2.9 Million Paid by Maryland to Exonerated Former Prisoner by A former Maryland prisoner’s January 2023 exoneration marked the end of a long and painful chapter in a 1981 double murder he was unjustly convicted of. On July 5, 2023, state authorities awarded John Huffington, 61, nearly $2.9 million for …

Gilliam v. Dept of Public Safety and Correctional Services, MD, Order Granting and Denying Part Prelim Injunction, Transgender, 2023

Brief • December 4, 2023

Filed under: Transgender, Discrimination (Transgender)

Gilliam v. Dept of Public Safety and Correctional Services, MD, Order Granting and Denying Part Prelim Injunction, Transgender, 2023 Case 1:23-cv-01047-MJM Document 75 Filed 12/04/23 Page 1 of 2 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND CHELSEA GILLIAM, et al., * Plaintiffs * v. Civil Action …

After SCOTUS Resolves Circuit Split, Maryland Guard Loses Appeal to Prisoner’s $700,000 Verdict

Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023

Filed under: Settlements

After SCOTUS Resolves Circuit Split, Maryland Guard Loses Appeal to Prisoner’s $700,000 Verdict by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On May 25, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) held that a post-trial motion is required only to preserve findings of fact for appellate review—not a purely …

News in Brief

Article • November 15, 2023 • from PLN November, 2023

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: Three jail guards in the Yellowhammer State were hit with drug smuggling charges in August 2023 and another the month after. WAFF in Huntsville reported that Morgan County Jail guard Bobby Simmons, 19, was arrested on August 3, 2023, when he was charged with promoting …

Duvall v. Moore, MD, Declaration of Oscar H. Jerkins, Conditions of Confinement, 2023

Brief • November 8, 2023

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement

Duvall v. Moore, MD, Declaration of Oscar H. Jerkins, Conditions of Confinement, 2023 Case 1:94-cv-02541-ELH Document 821-1 Filed 11/08/23 Page 1 of 17 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND JEROME DUVALL, et al. * * Plaintiffs, v. * WES MOORE, et al. * * Defendants. …

Pronin v. Armstead, MD, Complaint, Sexual Assault, 2023

Brief • October 2, 2023

Filed under: Sexual Assault, Prisoner-Staff Assault

Pronin v. Armstead, MD, Complaint, Sexual Assault, 2023 Case 1:22-cv-01864-BAH Document 48 Filed 10/02/23 Page 1 of 17 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND DMITRY PRONIN, A/KlA Leyleen Lillith Aquino, Plaintiff, CIVIL ACTION FILE NO. 1:22-CV-01864 V. LAURA ARMSTEAD , ORLANDO JOHNSON, CHERYL GOLDMAN, KAMERON …

Chestnut v. Kincaid, MD, Settlement, Wrongful Conviction, 2023

Brief • September 29, 2023

Filed under: Wrongful Conviction

Chestnut v. Kincaid, MD, Settlement, Wrongful Conviction, 2023 2023-Sep-29 15:04

Chestnut v. Kincaid, MD, Board Approval of Settlement, Wrongful Conviction, 2023

Brief • September 29, 2023

Filed under: Wrongful Conviction

Chestnut v. Kincaid, MD, Board Approval of Settlement, Wrongful Conviction, 2023 TO: Board of Estimates, Office of the Comptroller FROM: Ebony M. Thompson, Acting Baltimore City Solicitor SUBMITTING AGENCY: Baltimore City Department of Law Suite 101, City Hall DATE: September 29, 2023 SUBJECT: Chestnut, et al. v Kincaid, et al. …

Smith v. Office of Atty General, MD, Settlement, Wrongful Conviction, 2023

Brief • September 20, 2023

Filed under: Wrongful Conviction

Smith v. Office of Atty General, MD, Settlement, Wrongful Conviction, 2023 BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS REVISED at the meeting SECRETARY'S ACTION AGENDA September 20, 2023 Contact: Janee Fountain 410-576-6971 jfountain@oag.state.md.us 12. THE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS Appellate Court ofMaryland Compensation to Erroneously Confined Individual Mr. Demetrius Smith Recommendation: The Office …

No Summary Judgment for Private Transportation Company in Maryland Detainee’s Suit Alleging “Horrific” 2,000-Mile Journey

Article • September 15, 2023 • from PLN September, 2023

Filed under: Transport Companies, Transportation, Summary Judgment

No Summary Judgment for Private Transportation Company in Maryland Detainee’s Suit Alleging “Horrific” 2,000-Mile Journey by Keith Sanders by Keith Sanders Over nine days in December 2015, during transport from Maryland to South Carolina to face charges he skipped child support payments, William Karn endured a grueling trek stretching more …