Michigan Study Shows Incarceration Can Cause Illness in Loved Ones by Gary Hunter A study, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and released in December 2008, concludes that “Incarceration may not only affect those individuals incarcerated, but also those family members and friends left behind in the …
Call Your Attorney from Jail, Go to Prison by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg Jail prisoners in California, Florida, Michigan and Texas have unknowingly had their phone calls to defense attorneys secretly recorded and handed over to prosecutors. The recordings surfaced before trial, when prosecutors were required to divulge …
Failure to Raise Issue in Rule 50 Motion Prohibits Argument on Appeal; $214,000 Verdict Upheld by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a jury’s verdict that found a municipality liable despite there being no finding of liability on the part of the individual defendants. The facts in this …
$245,000 Settlement in Michigan Jail Prisoner’s Death by In what one lawyer described as round one, Michigan’s Lenawee County has paid $245,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that the deficient medical care at the County’s jail caused a prisoner’s death. The 24 page second amended complaint in the action begins …
$325,000 Settlement in Michigan Jail Prisoner’s Ruptured Appendix Lawsuit by Michigan’s Lenawee County Jail (LCJ) paid $325,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a former prisoner who was denied medical care before and after his appendix ruptured. This is the second such settlement within a month. (See accompanying article.) As …
Failure to Raise Issue in Rule 50 Motion Prohibits Argument on Appeal; $214,000 Verdict Upheld by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a jury’s verdict that found a municipality liable despite there being no finding of liability on the part of the individual defendants. The facts in this …
Prison Health Care, Political Choice and the Accidental Death Penalty in Michigan by Elizabeth Alexander by Elizabeth Alexander1 In Hadix v. Caruso, I represent a class of prisoners in a decades-long case challenging conditions of confinement, including medical care, at various Michigan prison facilities.2 Since August 2006 I have been …
Hadix Litigation Winding Down by David Reutter by David M. Reutter After nearly thirty years, a class-action lawsuit challenging conditions of confinement at the State Prison of Southern Michigan-Center Complex is on the cusp of ending. The end is in sight not because prison officials have fully complied with a …
Eight More Prison Closures in Michigan by Since taking office in 2003, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has closed six prisons. To pare $120 million from the state’s budget, she recently decided to close eight more, including five minimum-security prison camps. The announcement of the closures on June 5, 2009 created …
$100 Million Settlement in Michigan Prisoners’ Sexual Abuse Suit by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A record-breaking settlement has been reached in a 13-year-old class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of female prisoners who were “subjected to sexual abuse, sexual harassment, privacy violations by male [prison] staff ... and/or retaliation …
Michigan’s Prison Industries Mismanaged and Unprofitable by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A June 2009 report issued by Michigan’s Office of the Auditor General on the performance of the state’s Bureau of Correctional Industries (BCI), which operates under authority of the Department of Corrections, listed several reportable conditions of …
Class Action Alleging Unconstitutional Michigan Indigent Defense System Survives Summary Judgment by Michigan’s Court of Appeals has upheld the denial of a summary judgment motion filed by state officials in a class action lawsuit that claims indigent defendants subject to felony prosecutions in trial courts in three Michigan counties have …
$1.95 Million Settlement in Michigan Man’s Taser Death by Michigan’s Shelby Township has paid $1.95 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed police used excessive force by using a Taser that resulted in a man’s death. Police confronted Steven Spears, 49, on August 4, 2007, after receiving a 911 call …
Montana, Michigan Towns Vie to Fill Prisons with Guantanamo Detainees by by David M. Reutter Despite winning a lawsuit which held that officials in Hardin, Montana could contract to receive out-of-state prisoners, the town’s Two Rivers Detention Facility sits empty and the bonds issued to finance the prison are in …
Michigan Changes Overtime Rules; $4 Million Savings on Prison Budget by In order to cut operating costs, Michigan has changed the way state employees can receive overtime. Statewide, the change is expected to save $8 million annually, with half of the savings coming from prisons. The change, which became effective …
Duration of Confinement in Segregation Affects Due Process Inquiry by On May 12, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the length of a prisoner’s confinement in administrative segregation (ad seg) affects whether there has been a due process violation. Carey Harden-Bey, a Michigan prisoner …
Evidence Found During Search of Prisoner’s Home While on Home Detention Not Subject to Suppression by On May 22, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress evidence found during the search of a prisoner’s home while he was on …
Third Circuit Upholds Ban on UCC Materials; Sixth Circuit Disagrees by Brandon Sample The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC) may lawfully ban the receipt and possession of materials related to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held on July 29, 2008. In a more recent …
Jail Guards Allowed to Assert Qualified Immunity Defense; Nurses Not by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a Michigan federal district court’s decision that denied a group of jail guards qualified immunity in a case in which a prisoner died after complaining of chest pain and breathing problems. …
Audit Report Finds Michigan Prisoner Transportation System Wasteful by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Michigan’s Auditor General has issued a report that criticizes the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) prison transport system as inefficient and wasteful of taxpayer money. The report notes that MDOC has failed to implement recommendations …
