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Massachusetts Supreme Court Continues Trend of Easing Prison COVID-19 Protocols

Article • July 15, 2022 • from PLN July, 2022

Filed under: COVID-19

Massachusetts Supreme Court Continues Trend of Easing Prison COVID-19 Protocols by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Even as the COVID-19 pandemic persisted and more variants appeared in late 2021, courts were steadily easing restrictions to mitigate its spread in prisons. A case in point: Massachusetts, where initially strong rulings by …

News in Brief

Article • June 1, 2022 • from PLN June, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A former Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC) guard was indicted on April 22, 2022, for assaulting three prisoners and then filing a false report to cover it up, the Associated Press reported. The guard, Lorenzo Mills, 55, was charged with beating three male prisoners with a wooden baton at Draper Correctional …

Massachusetts DOC Will Close Long-Time Maximum-Security Prison

Article • May 1, 2022

Filed under: Rural Prisons

Massachusetts DOC Will Close Long-Time Maximum-Security Prison by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott The Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) announced on April 7, 2022, that it will close one of its oldest prisons, Massachusetts Correctional Institution (MCI) Cedar Junction, citing a falling incarceration rate and nearly $30 million …

Massachusetts Appellate Court Reinstates Prisoner’s Lawsuit Over Food Substitution

Article • April 1, 2022 • from PLN April, 2022

Filed under: Food

Massachusetts Appellate Court Reinstates Prisoner’s Lawsuit Over Food Substitution by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On September 20, 2021, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts reversed a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a prisoner challenging frequent food substitutions at Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Norfolk, as well as …

JPay Founder Ryan Shapiro Indicted for Securities Fraud

Article • March 1, 2022 • from PLN March, 2022

Filed under: JPay, Inc., Securities Fraud, Insider Trading

JPay Founder Ryan Shapiro Indicted for Securities Fraud by Kevin Bliss by Kevin Bliss On January 6, 2022, Ryan Shapiro, the 44-year-old founder of prison financial services firm JPay, was charged in federal court in Boston with conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Also named in the criminal complaint was Shapiro’s …

Massachusetts DOC Fires COVID-19 Mitigation Ombudsman Over Previous Allegations of Document Falsification

Article • March 1, 2022 • from PLN March, 2022

Filed under: COVID-19, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, False Statements, Testimony or Documents

Massachusetts DOC Fires COVID-19 Mitigation Ombudsman Over Previous Allegations of Document Falsification by On September 22, 2021, Seth Peters, the first person appointed to the newly created position of Ombudsman for Public Health Standards Compliance and COVID-19 Mitigation for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC), was fired after a Boston …

Diggs v. Mici, MA, Complaint, Excessive Force, 2022

Brief • January 10, 2022

Filed under: Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Diggs v. Mici, MA, Complaint, Excessive Force, 2022 Case 4:22-cv-40003 Document 1 Filed 01/10/22 Page 1 of 59 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS DWAYNE DIGGS, DEMETRIUS GOSHEN, JAMES JACKS, DAVID JACKSON, RAPHAEL REBOLLO, LUIS SALDANA, DAVONGIE STONE, XAVIER VALENTIN-SOTO, and DANAVIAN DANIEL, on behalf of themselves and all …

Massachusetts Prisons Pledge to End Solitary

Article • December 1, 2021 • from PLN December, 2021

Filed under: Prison Reform, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Massachusetts Prisons Pledge to End Solitary by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins The Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) surprised many critics with a June 2021 announcement of its intent to eliminate solitary confinement as it currently exists in the state prison system. State Public Safety and Security Secretary Thomas Turco …

Massachusetts Department of Corrections Sued Over Use of “Fake” Drug Tests on Legal Mail

Article • November 1, 2021 • from PLN November, 2021

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Drug Testing, Class Notice, Mail

Massachusetts Department of Corrections Sued Over Use of “Fake” Drug Tests on Legal Mail by Casey Bastian by Casey J. Bastian The Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) has been knowingly using drug tests described by plaintiff’s lawyers as “fake” on legal mail to both interfere with attorney/client communications and impose …

All Massachusetts Jails to Provide Prisoners Ten Free Minutes of Phone Calls Per Week and Cap Charges on Additional Minutes at 14 Cents

Article • November 1, 2021 • from PLN November, 2021

Filed under: Telephone Rates

All Massachusetts Jails to Provide Prisoners Ten Free Minutes of Phone Calls Per Week and Cap Charges on Additional Minutes at 14 Cents by While the Massachusetts Department of Corrections charges prisoners ten or 11 cents per minute for phone calls, the state’s sheriffs set their own rates individually. Some …

Immigration Detention Contracts Cancelled in Georgia and Massachusetts

Article • October 1, 2021 • from PLN October, 2021

Filed under: Detention - Generally

Immigration Detention Contracts Cancelled in Georgia and Massachusetts by Daniel A. Rosen by Daniel A. Rosen The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently ordered two civil immigration detention facilities closed and terminated the contracts for both. DHS said the Carreiro Detention Center in Bristol County, Massachusetts and the Irwin County …

Silva-Prentice v. Turco, MA, Complaint, Excessive Force, 2021

Brief • September 27, 2021

Filed under: Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Silva-Prentice v. Turco, MA, Complaint, Excessive Force, 2021 Case 1:21-cv-11580 Document 1 Filed 09/27/21 Page 1 of 92 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS (EASTERN DIVISION - BOSTON) ROBERT SILVA-PRENTICE and DIONISIO PAULINO, Civil No. Civil No. Plaintiffs, -againstTHOMAS TURCO, CAROL MICI, CHRISTOPHER FALLON, PAUL …

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rules on Medical Parole Despite Death of Prisoners Who Sought Judicial Review

Article • September 1, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021

Filed under: Mootness, Medical Care/Treatment

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rules on Medical Parole Despite Death of Prisoners Who Sought Judicial Review by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On May 19, 2021, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled on three questions relating to medical parole despite the two prisoners who filed for judicial review having …

Massachusetts Cop Indicted for Lying About Checking Cell of Prisoner Who Died of Drug Overdose

Article • September 1, 2021 • from PLN September, 2021

Filed under: Drug Overdose, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, False Statements/Perjury

Massachusetts Cop Indicted for Lying About Checking Cell of Prisoner Who Died of Drug Overdose by In May 2021, a former Brockton, Massachusetts police officer was indicted for allegedly lying about performing checks on a man in police custody who died in his cell of a drug overdose. Alfonso Brandao, …

CFPB and Three States Sue Over Predatory Immigrant Bail and GPS Scam

Article • August 1, 2021 • from PLN August, 2021

Filed under: Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Bail Bonds

CFPB and Three States Sue Over Predatory Immigrant Bail and GPS Scam by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A federal lawsuit alleges that Nexus Services, Inc., “preys on consumers held in federal detention centers by offering to pay for consumers’ immigration bonds to secure their release.” In exchange, the …

Green v. MA DOC, MA, Class Action Complaint, Fake Drug Tests, 2021

Brief • July 28, 2021

Filed under: Drug Testing, Counsel - Right to, Negligence/Reckless Endangerment

Green v. MA DOC, MA, Class Action Complaint, Fake Drug Tests, 2021 COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Suffolk, ss. JULIAN GREEN, EUGENE IVEY, JAMES P. MCKENNA, and LISA NEWMANPOLK, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION, CAROL MICI, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of …

Steiner v. eBay, MA, Complaint, Retaliation for Reporting, 2021

Brief • July 21, 2021

Filed under: Threats by Staff, Retaliation, Internet

Steiner v. eBay, MA, Complaint, Retaliation for Reporting, 2021 Case 1:21-cv-11181 Document 1 Filed 07/21/21 Page 1 of 93 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS __________________________________________ | Ina Steiner, | David Steiner, | Steiner Associates, LLC, | (Publisher of EcommerceBytes) | Plaintiffs | | | | …

After DOJ Finds Unconstitutional Conditions for Mentally Ill Prisoners in Solitary, Massachusetts Experiments with Monitoring Gadget

Article • July 1, 2021 • from PLN July, 2021

Filed under: Electronic Monitoring, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Mental Health

After DOJ Finds Unconstitutional Conditions for Mentally Ill Prisoners in Solitary, Massachusetts Experiments with Monitoring Gadget by Kevin Bliss, Keith Sanders by Kevin Bliss and Keith Sanders Six months after the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a highly critical report accusing the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (MADOC) of violating the …

News in Brief

Article • June 1, 2021 • from PLN June, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Australia: A February 2021 ruling by the Supreme Court in the Australian province of Victoria presented “a rare win” for a prisoner contesting prison procedures, according to a report by The Conversation. The convict, 56-year-old Craig Minogue, argued that Barwon Prison’s random drug testing and strip-searching …

Massachusetts Medical Parole Cases and COVID-19 Prisoner Deaths

Article • June 1, 2021 • from PLN June, 2021

Filed under: COVID-19, Parole, Compassionate Release

Massachusetts Medical Parole Cases and COVID-19 Prisoner Deaths by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon As early as February 2020, medical and corrections experts warned criminal justice officials across the U.S. of the danger COVID-19 posed to crowded prison populations, encouraging them to parole as many prisoners as feasible. By late …