News in Brief by Alabama: On June 3, 2022, a guard was arrested for having sex with a prisoner at Alabama’s Pickens County Jail, according to a report by WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi. The guard, Marquita Booker, 28, was fired after her arrest, which followed an investigation that earlier in …
HRDC Sues Indiana Sheriff Over Censorship at County Jail by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman On June 27, 2022, the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), the nonprofit that publishes PLN, filed suit in federal court for the Northern District of Indiana under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, accusing St. Joseph County …
News in Brief by Alabama:The Birmingham News reported that a jail guard in Mobile was arrested on May 17, 2022, for smuggling adult movies intoMobile County Metro Jail. The guard, Fredrick Johnson, 37, was charged with 21 counts of promoting contraband that included a camera, phone chargers, and flash drives, …
Seventh Circuit Reiterates That Threats and Withholding Grievance Forms Render Administrative Remedies Unavailable to Prisoner by Mark Wilson by Mark Wilson On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated the dismissal of a federal prisoner’s suit and remanded the case to the district court, …
$1 Million Paid After Indiana Jailers Fatally Beat and Taser Detainee, But Prosecutor Finds No Crime by Keith Sanders, Benjamin Tschirhart by Keith Sanders and Benjamin Tschirhart When a caregiver fails to seek medical attention for a person during an emergency, inflicting instead additional pain and suffering and looking on …
HRDC v. St. Joseph County, IN, USDC, Complaint, Censorship, 2022 USDC IN/ND case 3:22-cv-00489 document 1 filed 06/27/22 page 1 of 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA SOUTH BEND DIVISION HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE CENTER, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Plaintiff, v. …
Cooper v. City of Elkhart, IN, Settlement, Wrongfully Convicted, 2022 MUTUAL RELEASE AND SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT This MUTUAL RELEASE AND SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT (the “Agreement”) is made effective this ____ day of June, 2022 (the “Effective Date”), by and among the City of Elkhart, Indiana; Diana Rezutko, as Personal Representative of the …
“Jailhouse Politician” Withdraws from Indiana Race, But Another Wins in DC by Jo Ellen Nott By Jo Ellen Nott On May 18, 2022, an Indiana jail detainee who had advanced in the GOP primary for the Clinton Township Board—while being held in the Boone County Jail without bond—signed to formally …
Smallwood v. Williams, IN, Brief of Amici Curiae, Excessive Force, 2022 Case: 21-3047 Document: 25 Filed: 04/13/2022 Pages: 35 No. 21-3047 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT HOWARD SMALLWOOD, v. Plaintiff-Appellant, DON WILLIAMS, ET AL., Defendants-Appellees. On Appeal from the United States District Court for …
News In Brief by Arizona: After two escaped prisoners were recaptured and returned to the Arizona State Prison in Florence on January 31, 2021, Phoenix station KNXV reported that at least part of the blame for their escape was assigned to short-staffing of guards at the state Department of Corrections …
$21,525 Awarded by Federal Court to Indiana Prisoner Subjected to Battery by Guard by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A federal district court in Indiana awarded $21,525 to a prisoner on May 30, 2021, after granting partial summary judgment in a civil rights action he filed alleging battery by …
News in Brief by Alabama: On November 17, 2021, a former Alabama state prison guard was sentenced in federal court in Birmingham to 87 months in prison. As reported by the Birmingham News, a search found the guard, Gary Charles Dixon, Jr., 36, with 497 grams of methamphetamine when he …
Indiana Supreme Court Denies Relief to Prisoner Whose Commissary Account Was Garnished by Casey Bastian by Casey J. Bastian On May 19, 2021, the Court of Appeals of Indiana refused to dismiss a lower court’s ruling against a state prisoner whose prison account was garnished by the state Department of …
Perry v. Littlejohn, IN, Verdict, Failure to Protect, 2021 Case 1:18-cv-02437-JPH-MJD Document 275 Filed 12/08/21 Page 1 of 2 PageID #: 1672 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION JASON SETH PERRY, Plaintiff, V. FRANK LITTLEJOHN, RICHARD BROWN, Defendants. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) …
News in Brief by Alabama: A 20-year-old guard at the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, Alabama, was arrested on October 29, 2021, on charges that he attempted to smuggle methamphetamine into the jail. According to a report by Huntsville TV station WHNT, the guard, Matthew Moran, faces one count …
Indiana Prisoner Entitled to Credit Time During Period of Erroneous Liberty by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Indiana Supreme Court held that a prisoner who was erroneously released early “is entitled to credit time as if he were still incarcerated during the period he was erroneously at liberty.” …
Indiana DOC Settles HRDC Mail Censorship Suit by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman On September 21, 2021, the Indiana Department of Corrections (INDOC) agreed to a slate of policy reforms embodied in a consent decree to settle a censorship lawsuit filed by the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), publisher of …
News in Brief by Alabama: On August 19, 2021, twoconvicted robbers were convicted of murder in the death of a fellow prisoner they and two others attacked in 2017 at Bibb Correctional Facility in Brent, Alabama. According to a report by Montgomery TV station WSFA, Dominique Covin and Roderick DeLaune …
Indiana DOC Settles Class-Action Lawsuit Over Ban on Incoming Mail Except That in White Envelopes Using White, Lined Paper by On August 9, 2019, an Indiana federal court memorialized the stipulations in a private settlement agreement between the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC) and a class of prisoners subject to …
News in Brief by Alabama: A former guard at the Mobile Metro Jail was scheduled to be arraigned on May 19, 2021, after being indicted for his role in an alleged scheme to smuggle cellphones into the Alabama lockup in exchange for bribes. According to a report by local TV …
