Michigan Judge Sued for Jailing Teen Who Nodded Off While Watching in Court by In an amended complaint filed in federal court for the Eastern District of Michigan on December 30, 2024, the mother of a 15-year-old girl accused a state judge of violating the child’s civil rights when he …
Historic $7 Million Settlement in Lawsuit Over Michigan Jail Prisoner’s Fatal Beating by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On June 20, 2024, the Wayne County Commission in Detroit approved a $5 million payment on top of $2 million paid by the County’s insurer to settle a lawsuit brought by the …
News in Brief by Alabama: Clarke County Jail guard Larissa Thompson was arrested on December 5, 2024, for plotting to smuggle drugs into the lockup, the Thomasville Times reported. An investigation by state law enforcement, the office of County Sheriff DeWayne Smith, and Jackson Police uncovered evidence that Thompson planned …
Michigan Allows More Releases for Medically Frail Prisoners by Michigan prisoners considered medically frail now have a better chance of early release under a newly amended law. On July 23, 2024, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed Senate Bill 599 and expanded the definition of “medically frail” in a 2019 statute …
DOJ Settles Complaints About Conditions for Disabled Detroit Jail Detainees by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On July 11, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) approved an agreement with Michigan’s Wayne County that promised to improve conditions at its jail in Detroit for prisoners with physical and mental disabilities. …
News in Brief by Australia: Brisbane Correctional Center prisoner Jack James Peterson, 29, was sentenced to an additional 18 months in January 2023 for assaulting a guard with a squash racket, the Courier reported. Peterson struck the unnamed 34-year-old during a confrontation involving a riot response team, leaving him with …
Michigan Supreme Court Greenlights Adding Restitution At Resentencing of Former Juveniles Sentenced to LWOP by On July 8, 2024, the Supreme Court of Michigan held that imposing a new restitution obligation—by retroactive application of restitution statutes enacted after a criminal defendant committed his underlying offense—could nevertheless happen during a resentencing …
Lawsuits by Michigan Prisoner Yield $57,750 in Settlements, Plus Policy Changes by In a letter received in August 2024, Michigan state prisoner John Patrick Moore II notified PLN about three successful lawsuits he filed against the state Department of Corrections (DOC) which resulted in settlement agreements. In an important case, …
GOP Michigan County Commissioner Re-elected— and Headed to Federal Prison by Voters in Michigan’s Monroe County returned Mark Brant to the County Commission on November 5, 2024—most not knowing that he was due to report to federal prison. Brant, 68, was sentenced to an 18-month term in federal court for …
Two Michigan Jails Face Class-Action Suits for Banning In-Person Visits by In a disturbing trend, local jails are discontinuing in-person visits in conjunction with adopting fee-based video calling services. Based on 2015 data, the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative found that “74% of jails banned in-person visits when they implemented video …
News in Brief by Alabama: Former state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Henry Guice, Jr., 46, was sentenced to 75 months in federal prison on September 9, 2024, for his role in a drug smuggling conspiracy at Staton Correctional Facility. The Birmingham News reported that a fellow guard was inspecting …
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) …
Sixth Circuit Sets Up Circuit Split with Ruling on Michigan Prisoner’s PLRA Exhaustion Dispute by Before a prisoner can sue under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, he must exhaust any administrative remedies available to him; that is the threshold requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e. Not infrequently, …
$11 Million Settlement for Exonerated Michigan Prisoner by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On October 17, 2023, Michigan State Police (MSP) paid $11 million to settle claims by former state prisoner Ray McCann, Jr., 57, after a jury awarded him $14.5 million for his wrongful conviction on a perjury …
News in Brief by Alabama: On June 24, 2024, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith told the Birmingham News that county jail guard Tony Dewayne Jackson, 29, had been arrested for smuggling “non-­drug” contraband into the lockup. Jackson was no longer working at the jail, but Smith didn’t say how or …
Wrongfully Convicted Michigan Prisoners Wait for Compensation by Seven years after Michigan lawmakers adopted the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act (WICA)—and 17 years after state Sen. Steve Beida (D-Warren) began working to get it passed by a legislature then dominated by Republicans and signed by then-Gov. Rick Snyder (R)—a group of …
Over $71,000 Awarded to Michigan Prisoner for Sexual Abuse by Guard by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On September 28, 2023, the federal court for the Western District of Michigan awarded a state prisoner $16,975.00 in attorney fees and $4,459.91 in costs in a civil rights lawsuit over his …
Michigan Makes Voting Rights Restoration Automatic for Prisoner’s at Release by On November 30, 2023, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmir (D) signed HB 4983, a measure that makes voter registration automatic for state prisoners upon release. With that, the state became the first in the nation to make voter registration the …
Drunken “Karen” Jail Guard in Michigan Invades Former Home, Demands to Speak to Prosecutor When Cops Arrive by After a 20-­year veteran guard at Michigan’s Bay County Jail was caught drunk in the wrong home in July 2023, he tried to exert his privilege by demanding to speak to the …
Sixth Circuit Refuses Michigan Prisoner’s Excessive Force Claim Despite Guard’s Conviction for Battery by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On August 16, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a Michigan prisoner’s lawsuit with an outrageous-­sounding opinion that a guard “may have violated …
