BOP Settles Reverse Discrimination Suit for $2,250 by Christopher Zoukis The Bureau of Prisons settled a discrimination claim brought by Thomas R. Sniezek, a 48-year-old white male, in April 2003. Sniezek, a former associate warden at United States Penitentiary Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, brought an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint against …
Allegheny County Reaches $2.09 Million Settlement for Prisoner’s Death by A $2.09 million settlement was reached in a lawsuit stemming from the death of a prisoner who was denied medical care at Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County Jail. Derek E. Black, 28, was involved in an April 16, 2012 altercation with another …
Tainted BOP Chicken Sickens 300 Pennsylvania Prisoners by More than 300 prisoners at the U.S.P. Canaan in Waymont, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia, fell ill of salmonella after eating "tainted chicken" used to make fajitas. Four of the 300 were ill enough to necessitate treatment at a local hospital's emergency room for …
Mass Pennsylvania Prisoner Strip Search Nets Each Prisoner $1,000 by Pennsylvania prison officials have agreed to pay twenty prisoners $1,000 each to settle a claim that they were illegally strip-searched. The complaint in the action concerned an incident that occurred on September 14, 2000, at State Correctional Institution at Albion. …
Pennsylvania Policy Requiring Control Number for Qualification as Legal Mail Unconstitutional by David Reutter Finding that no legitimate penological interest existed to support a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC) policy that required a PDOC-issued control number be included on correspondence for it to qualify as legal mail, a Pennsylvania U.S. …
$200,000 Settlement in Pennsylvania County Prison Unsafe Conditions Case by Matthew Clarke On August 17, 2012, a federal lawsuit over a guard allowing prisoners to be beaten by other prisoners at a county prison and officials generally allowing unsafe and violent conditions at the prison was settled for $200,000. John …
$400,000 Award against PHS in Pennsylvania Prisoner's Medical Negligence Suit by On February 17, 2012, a Pennsylvania jury awarded a former prisoner 8400,000 in a suit over medical negligence resulting in serious injury to him. Derrick Jones was a Pennsylvania state prisoner incarcerated at SCI Albion on March 12, 2006, when …
Sixth Circuit: Requiring Admission of Guilt to Participate in Mandatory-for-Parole SOTP No Fifth Amendment Violation by Matthew Clarke On April 4, 2012, the Third Circuit court of appeals held that requiring an admission of guilt to participate in an in-prison sex offender treatment program (SOTP) did not violate the Fifth …
Pennsylvania Jail Fires Guard Major Accused of Beating Prisoner by On October 29, 2011, James M. Donis, who had been major of the guards and the third-highest-ranking official at the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was fired from his $68,631/year position. Donis had worked at the jail since 1989. …
Fifth Amendment Right Waived, If Not Invoked During Polygraph Test by Pennsylvania parolee David S. Knoble served his sentence for endangering the welfare of a child, conspiring with his wife for her to engage in sexual intercourse with his 14-year old son and then placed on four-year probation. He was …
BOP Settles Guard's Racial Discrimination Complaint for $5,000 by David Eugene Weaver, who is black, filed a grievance with the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaining that a former supervisor discriminated against him on the basis of race while he was a GS-7 …
$15,000 Settlement in Case Manager's EEOC Action by On December 4, 2002, the federal Bureau of Prisons entered into a settlement agreement that paid a correctional treatment specialist (case manager) at the United States Penitentiary Lewisburg (USP) $15,000, restored him to his previous job and made other concessions. After Prison …
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Finds Miller v. Alabama Not Retroactive by Mark Wilson The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the United States Supreme Court's ban on mandatory juvenile life without parole (LWOP) sentences does not apply retroactively. In 1999, seventeen year old Ian Cunningham shot and killed Daniel Delarge Jr., during …
Pennsylvania Arrest for Videotaping Cops Denied Qualified Immunity by Mark Wilson A Pennsylvania federal court held that police were not entitled to qualified immunity for "entering a family's home and arresting its owner for doing nothing more than attempting to videotape the officers' overreaction on her own property." Kia Gaymon, …
Deaths of Two Pennsylvania Jail Prisoners Being Investigated By Amnesty International by David Reutter Amnesty International is investigating the deaths of two prisoners at Pennsylvania’s Burlington County Jail (BCJ). The Prosecutor’s Office took the unusual step of responding to a letter from Amnesty upon conclusion of its own investigation. The …
Results from Seven States Shows Program-Driven Recidivism Reduction by The National Reentry Resource Center has published a new study of seven states showing that with proper pre-release programming, recidivism rates can be reduced by a significant amount. The study, which covered the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, …
Prison Chief Blames Rising Prison Budget on Pennsylvania Legislators by David Reutter When Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives forced Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel to appear before them for the annual round of grandstanding about prison costs, Wetzel turned the tables and placed the blame where it belongs: on the legislature. …
Jail Called to Scrutinize Detox Procedure in Wake of Increased Deaths by David Reutter The second death in six months of a pre-trial detainee at Pennsylvania’s Buck County prison has raised questions about its detox procedures. The scrutiny of such procedures should be a focal point for jail administrators throughout …
Gangwal v. Folster, PA, Motion to Stay Deadlines, Excessive Force Leg Sweep, 2016 Case 1:14-cv-02002-JEJ-SES Document 44 Filed 08/10/16 Page 1 of 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA SUDHIR GANGWAL, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No.: 1:14-cv-02002-JEJ-SES (Filed: October 16, 2014) District Judge: John …
Gangwal v. Folster, PA, Suggestion of Death, Excessive Force Leg Sweep, 2016 Case 1:14-cv-02002-JEJ-SES Document 43 Filed 08/09/16 Page 1 of 2 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA SUDHIR GANGWAL, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No.: 1:14-cv-02002-JEJ-SES (Filed: October 16, 2014) District Judge: John E. …
