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 …
Pennsylvania Jail Guards Accused of Ripping Surgical Pin from Detainee’s Shoulder by On August 27, 2024, the federal court for the Western District of Pennsylvania closed a suit against Fayette County Prison (FCP) officials after they reported reaching a resolution with former detainee Chad St. Clair. That followed a year …
Pennsylvania Prisoner Released from Solitary After 15 Years by On March 5, 2024, the federal court for the Western District of Pennsylvania agreed to dismiss the complaint of a state prisoner held in solitary confinement for 15 years after the state Department of Corrections (DOC) reportedly agreed to a settlement. …
$25 Million Contempt Fine Prompts Release of Pretrial Detainees from Philadelphia Lockups by The Philadelphia Department of Prisons (PDP) announced the release of 100 pretrial detainees on November 5, 2024. The detainees, all held on bail they couldn’t pay, were released during a series of emergency bail hearings that began …
News in Brief by Alabama: Wiregrass Daily News reported that Mobile Metro Jail guard Timothy Lee Scarbrough, 39, was arrested on September 9, 2024, and charged with first-degree sodomy for the alleged sexual assaulting of a detainee who was still under the effects of anesthesia after eye surgery. Scarbrough had …
Allegheny County Settles Suit, Lifts Media Gag Policy for Pittsburgh Jail Employees by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On April 17, 2024, Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County settled a lawsuit brought by a Pittsburgh journalist challenging policies and practices that prevented employees of the county’s Bureau of Corrections (BOC) from speaking about …
In Failure-to-Treat Claims, Wellpath Denied Dismissal in Virginia, Settles in Pennsylvania by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On November 11, 2024, private prison and jail healthcare contractor Wellpath LLC filed for bankruptcy protection from debtors collectively owed $544 million, casting doubt on its ability to continue in business, much …
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 …
Third Circuit Affirms Qualified Immunity for Pennsylvania Guards Who Pepper-Sprayed Asthmatic Prisoner by On April 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a grant of qualified immunity (QI) to Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) guards at the State Correctional Institution in Benner, who doused an …
$500 Jury Verdict for Pennsylvania Prisoner After Federal Court Clarifies DOC Grievance Procedures by On February 29, 2024, a jury in federal court for the Western District of Pennsylvania awarded $500 to a state prisoner for his excessive force claim against a state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard. Along the …
Third Circuit Finds Relation-Back Rule Misapplied to Philadelphia Prisoner’s “Crappy” Ordeal Lawsuit by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On March 21, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated summary judgment in favor of a Philadelphia Department of Corrections (DOC) guard, who was accused of leaving …
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) …
News in Brief by Alabama: Mobile Metro Jail guard Robert Aaron Small was fired and arrested for assault on June 27, 2024, one day after he allegedly used excessive force against an unnamed detainee. WKRG in Mobile said that the guard had worked at the lockup since 2019. Mobile County …
Pennsylvania Prisoner Smuggles Cellphones, Federal Prosecutor Breaches Plea Bargain by “Prosecutors must keep their promises,” declared the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on March 8, 2024, “[a]nd if they do not, they must make things right quickly, clearly, and fully.” But that’s not what happened in the …
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 …
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Slows the Hand That State DOC Sticks Into Prisoners’ Pockets by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On December 19, 2023, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled for a prisoner who claimed that the state Department of Corrections (DOC) violated his civil rights by upping the …
Third Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to Pennsylvania Jail Guards and PrimeCare in Detainee’s Overdose Death by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On December 6, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to defendant officials with Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg Police Department …
“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) …
Lawsuit Alleges Black ICE Detainee Subjected to Racial Slurs, Choked in Restraint Chair at Pennsylvania Jail by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke According to a federal civil rights action filed by Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project attorneys Matthew A. Feldman and Evangeline Wright on November 15, 2023, a Black …
$500,000 Jury Award Cut to $250,000 for Pennsylvania Prisoner Brutally Beaten by Guards by Douglas Ankney Lack of expert testimony halved a $500,000 award made by a federal jury to Pennsylvania prisoner Michael Sherman Allen on November 1, 2023, for injuries sustained in a brutal 2019 beating at the hands …
