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$2.57 Million Settlement for Hogtying Death in NC Police Custody

Article • November 30, 2022 • from PLN December, 2022

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Settlements, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death)

$2.57 Million Settlement for Hogtying Death in NC Police Custody by Eike Blohm, MD by Eike Blohm, MD On October 20, 2022, a federalcourt in North Carolina approved a settlement obligating the City of Greensboro to pay $2.57 million for the wrongful death of a mentally ill man, after city …

North Carolina Prisoners Languish Without Air Conditioning

Article • November 30, 2022 • from PLN December, 2022

Filed under: Exposure to Heat

North Carolina Prisoners Languish Without Air Conditioning by Kevin Bliss by Kevin W. Bliss The North Carolina General Assembly approved a $30 million budget to air condition all state prisons in late 2021, but none of it had been spent by May 2022. That left about 15,400 of some 37,000 …

News in Brief

Article • October 31, 2022 • from PLN November, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A convicted bank robber had 30 months added to his 17-year prison sentence on September 26, 2022, for bribing an Alabama jail guard to smuggle him a cellphone, K2 “spice” paper, and other contraband. According to a federal Department of Justice (DOJ) press release, while …

Fourth Circuit: Prison Officials Not Liable for Poor Conditions Unless Prisoner Also Alleges They Knew About Them And Did Nothing

Article • October 21, 2022

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Immunity - Absolute and Qualified

Fourth Circuit: Prison Officials Not Liable for Poor Conditions Unless Prisoner Also Alleges They Knew About Them And Did Nothing by Mark Wilson By Mark Wilson Prisoners making court challenges to their conditions of confinement must walk a legal tightrope to avoid pitfalls fatal to their claims. The U.S. Court …

HRDC v. Ishee, et al., NC, First Amended Complaint, Censorship, 2022

Filing • October 17, 2022

Filed under: Publications/Books, Due Process, Banned Book Lists, PLN Litigation, Censorship, HRDC Publications, HRDC Litigation

HRDC v. Ishee, et al., NC, First Amended Complaint, Censorship, 2022 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA WESTERN DIVISION CASE NO. CASE NO. 5:21-CV-469-FL HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE CENTER FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT Plaintiff, vs. CASANDRA SKINNER HOEKSTRA, ERIK A. HOOKS, TIM MOOSE, DOUG PARDUE, …

HRDC v. Ishee, et al., NC, First Amended Complaint, Censorship, 2022

Brief • October 17, 2022

Filed under: Publications/Books, Due Process, Banned Book Lists, PLN Litigation, Censorship, HRDC Publications, HRDC Litigation

HRDC v. Ishee, et al., NC, First Amended Complaint, Censorship, 2022 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA WESTERN DIVISION CASE NO. CASE NO. 5:21-CV-469-FL HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE CENTER FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT Plaintiff, vs. CASANDRA SKINNER HOEKSTRA, ERIK A. HOOKS, TIM MOOSE, DOUG PARDUE, …

News in Brief

Article • September 30, 2022 • from PLN October, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A jail guard in Chilton County, Alabama, was arrested on July 21, 2022, and charged with promoting contraband, the Clanton Advertiser reported. The guard, Tyler Ryan Couch, is accused of organizing an effort to smuggle drugs to detainees. Though jail policy forbids guards from transmitting …

Fourth Circuit Dooms Suit Filed After North Carolina Guard Murdered by State Prisoner

Article • August 30, 2022

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death)

Fourth Circuit Dooms Suit Filed After North Carolina Guard Murdered by State Prisoner by Harold Hempstead by Harold Hempstead On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a substantive due process claim based on the state-created danger doctrine did not apply to Sgt. …

News in Brief

Article • August 1, 2022 • from PLN August, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

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 …

Fourth Circuit Refuses to Hold North Carolina Liable After State Prisoner Murders Guard

Article • July 25, 2022

Filed under: Hiring Liability, Wrongful Death, Assaults on Staff

Fourth Circuit Refuses to Hold North Carolina Liable After State Prisoner Murders Guard by Harold Hempstead by Harold Hempstead On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that no civil rights violation had been committed by North Carolina officials in the murder of a …

“One of the Most Egregious Violations of Church-State Separation” Prisons Welcome Fundamentalist Christian Education Programs Despite Conflicts with the Constitution

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

Filed under: Religious Freedom, Religious Practices

“One of the Most Egregious Violations of Church-State Separation” Prisons Welcome Fundamentalist Christian Education Programs Despite Conflicts with the Constitution by Jacob Barrett by Jacob Barrett At a graduation ceremony held in the Nash Correctional Institution gym on December 15, 2021, a degree in pastoral ministry was awarded to 24 …

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 …

Neville v. Wellpath LLC, NC, Settlement, Wrongful Death-Medical Neglect, 2022

Brief • May 25, 2022

Filed under: Wrongful Death, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Neville v. Wellpath LLC, NC, Settlement, Wrongful Death-Medical Neglect, 2022 SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND RELEASE KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS that I, the undersigned, SEAN NEVILLE, individually and in my capacity as the Administrator of the Estate of John Elliott Neville, (hereinafter referred to as "Releasor"), for and in consideration …

$725,000 Settlement Reached in North Carolina Prisoner’s Suicide at Troubled Jail

Article • May 1, 2022 • from PLN May, 2022

Filed under: Settlements, Suicides

$725,000 Settlement Reached in North Carolina Prisoner’s Suicide at Troubled Jail by Keith Sanders by Keith Sanders On January 18, 2019, Melissa Middleton Rice committed suicide while in custody at the Jackson County Detention Center (JCDC) in Sylva, North Carolina. As she sat in the jail’s booking room, Rice hanged …

Smith v. City of Greensboro, NC, Settlement Agreement, Excessive Deadly Force, 2022

Brief • April 14, 2022

Filed under: Excessive Force, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death)

Smith v. City of Greensboro, NC, Settlement Agreement, Excessive Deadly Force, 2022 Exhibit A Case 1:19-cv-00386-LCB-JLW Document 224-1 Filed 04/14/22 Page 1 of 36 SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND RELEASE OF ALL CLAIMS This Settlement Agreement and Release of All Claims (the “Agreement”) is made and entered into by and between Mary …

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 …

Fourth Circuit Refuses to Reinstate Suit by NC Jail Detainee Alleging Denial of Access to Grievance System and Timely Medical Care Prisoner Didn’t Ask the Court to Extend Kingsley Protections

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

Filed under: Failure to Treat, Conditions of Confinement, Grievances, Deliberate Indifference

Fourth Circuit Refuses to Reinstate Suit by NC Jail Detainee Alleging Denial of Access to Grievance System and Timely Medical Care Prisoner Didn’t Ask the Court to Extend Kingsley Protections by Keith Sanders by Keith Sanders The U.S. Supreme Court lowered the bar for a pre-trial detainee to sustain a …

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 …

Woodward v. North Carolina Dept of Public Safety, NC, Decision and Order, Censorship, 2022

Brief • February 21, 2022

Filed under: Censorship

Woodward v. North Carolina Dept of Public Safety, NC, Decision and Order, Censorship, 2022 NORTH CAROL A INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION I . I.C. NO. TA-27840, ROBERT ~oo:qWARD, Plaintiff v. NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Defendant. I ! I DECISION AND ORDER for the Fl11 Comr.ission by MYRA L. GRIFFIN, Vice-Chair. …

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 …