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News In Brief

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

Filed under: News in Brief

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 …

$170,000 Damages and Fees As New Jersey Prisons Settle Transgender Lawsuit With New Policy

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

Filed under: Settlements, Failure to Protect (Transgender)

$170,000 Damages and Fees As New Jersey Prisons Settle Transgender Lawsuit With New Policy by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins As of June 29, 2021, the New Jersey Department of Corrections (DOC) has changed its policy of housing prisoners according to their gender assignment at birth, regardless of whether they …

News in Brief

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

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: In Mobile on January 21, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama announced that an 18-month federal prison sentence for bribery had been handed down by a federal court to Lakerdra Shanta Snowden, 31, a former guard at the Escambia County …

Third Circuit: Retroactive Application of Amended New Jersey Parole Guidelines May Violate Ex Post Facto Clause

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

Filed under: Ex Post Facto, Probation, Parole & Supervised Release

Third Circuit: Retroactive Application of Amended New Jersey Parole Guidelines May Violate Ex Post Facto Clause by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On September 22, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of a pro se prisoner’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint, …

News in Brief

Article • February 1, 2022 • from PLN February, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: According to Birmingham Real-Time News, a kidnapper was recaptured after being erroneously released from jail in Jefferson County, Alabama, on December 17, 2021. The prisoner, Matthew Burke, 35, was apprehended during a traffic stop after being released from the Jefferson County Jail on Dec. 11 …

Settlement for New Jersey Special Needs Prisoner Students Includes Damages, Fees and Education

Article • February 1, 2022 • from PLN February, 2022

Filed under: Disabled Prisoners, Settlements, Education (Juveniles), Juvenile Offenses/Offenders, Class Actions

Settlement for New Jersey Special Needs Prisoner Students Includes Damages, Fees and Education by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon On July 15, 2021, a settlement agreement and order was entered in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, putting an end to a four-year-old class action lawsuit against …

Estate of Lewis v. Cumberland County, NJ, Settlement, Suicide-Failure to Protect, 2022

Brief • January 20, 2022

Filed under: Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Suicides

Estate of Lewis v. Cumberland County, NJ, Settlement, Suicide-Failure to Protect, 2022 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY THE ESTATE OF ROBERT WAYNE LEWIS, et al., Plaintiffs, HONORABLE JEROME B. SIMANDLE Civil Action No. 16-3503 (JBS-AMD) v. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, CFG HEALTH SYSTEMS, LLC, et …

NJ Supreme Court: Excess Time in Prison Must Be Used to Reduce Parole Period

Article • January 1, 2022 • from PLN January, 2022

Filed under: Overdetention, Probation, Parole & Supervised Release

NJ Supreme Court: Excess Time in Prison Must Be Used to Reduce Parole Period by Matthew Clarke “Parole is the legal equivalent of imprisonment” by Matt Clarke On August 3, 2021, the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that the time a prisoner spent in prison in excess of that …

News in Brief

Article • January 1, 2022 • from PLN January, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

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 …

Williams v. Essex County Correctional Facility, NJ, Settlement, Excessive Force, 2021

Brief • December 27, 2021

Filed under: Excessive Force

Williams v. Essex County Correctional Facility, NJ, Settlement, Excessive Force, 2021 OFFICE OF THE COUNTY COUNSEL Hall of Records, Room 535, Newark, New Jersey 07102 973.621.5003 --- 973.621.4599 (Fax) www.essexcountynj.org Jerome M. St. John Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. Essex County Executive Tiffany Hollis foia@humanrightsdefensecenter.org 7542634568 Essex County Counsel May 24, …

Third Circuit: Gratuitous Use of Force on Prisoner Negates Qualified Immunity Defense

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

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Qualified Immunity

Third Circuit: Gratuitous Use of Force on Prisoner Negates Qualified Immunity Defense by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the grant of summary judgment in a lawsuit against a guard at New Jersey’s Cumberland County Jail (CCJ). The Court held the guard was …

$170,000 Settlement and New Policy on Gender Identity from Lawsuit Against New Jersey DOC

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

Filed under: Settlements, Discrimination (Transgender)

$170,000 Settlement and New Policy on Gender Identity from Lawsuit Against New Jersey DOC by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins The New Jersey Department of Corrections had a policy of housing prisoners according to their gender assignment at birth, regardless of whether they are transgender or of any non-binary sexual …

New Jersey Women’s Prison to Close After Latest Abuse Debacle

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

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Failure to Protect (General)

New Jersey Women’s Prison to Close After Latest Abuse Debacle by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins On the night of January 20, 2021, as the nation was buckling beneath the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a cascade of violence was unfolding inside a women’s prison in New Jersey. Prisons …

Estate of Watson v. Cumberland County, NJ,Settlement, Suicide-Inadequate Medical Care, 2021

Brief • November 30, 2021

Filed under: Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Suicides

Estate of Watson v. Cumberland County, NJ,Settlement, Suicide-Inadequate Medical Care, 2021 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY THE ESTATE OF JON LEON WATSON : by and through its Administrator ad Prosequendum, HELEN RAY LLOYD, : and HELEN RAY LLOYD, in her own right, : Plaintiffs, Hon. Joseph H. …

$170,000 Settlement By New Jersey DOC in Transgender Lawsuit With New Policy

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

Filed under: Failure to Protect (Transgender)

$170,000 Settlement By New Jersey DOC in Transgender Lawsuit With New Policy by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins The New Jersey Department of Corrections had a policy of housing prisoners according to their gender assignment at birth, regardless of whether they are transgendered or of any non-binary sexual orientation. As …

News in Brief

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

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by California: A guard at San Quentin State Prison and one of two outside co-conspirators were arraigned on September 8, 2021, on federal charges they smuggled cellphones to an unnamed prisoner on death row at the California lockup. According to a statement by the U.S. Department of …

Witt v. County of Cumberland, NJ, Settlement, Excessive Force, 2021

Brief • October 22, 2021

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings

Witt v. County of Cumberland, NJ, Settlement, Excessive Force, 2021 RELEASE This Release (hereinafter "Release") dated Oc..+. 22 n.d ,. 2021 is given by the Plaintiff, Lourenzo Witt, (hereafterreferred to as "Releasor" or "I"), and assigns, to only Cumberland County, and any and all past, present or future employees, officers, …

U.S.A v. Makos, NJ, Criminal Complaint, Conspiracy to Deprive Inmates of Civil Rights, 2021

Brief • September 29, 2021

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Completion of All Acts, Cruel and Unusual Punishment

U.S.A v. Makos, NJ, Criminal Complaint, Conspiracy to Deprive Inmates of Civil Rights, 2021 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Hon. Leda Dunn Wettre, U.S.M.J. v. Mag. No. 21-13331 (LDW) JOHN MAKOS CRIMINAL COMPLAINT I, Brittney S. Ketler, being duly sworn, state the following …

News in Brief

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

Filed under: News in Brief

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 …

Estate of Allen v. Cumberland County, NJ, Settlement, Wrongful Death, 2017

Brief • August 27, 2021

Filed under: Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Suicides

Estate of Allen v. Cumberland County, NJ, Settlement, Wrongful Death, 2017 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY THE ESTATE OF ALISSA MARIE ALLEN, et al., Plaintiffs, HONORABLE JEROME B. SIMANDLE Civil Action No. 15-6273 (JBS-AMD) v. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, A. GARCIA, RN, et al., Defendants. …