Guards Have Constitutional Privacy Right to Associate with Ex-Prisoners Off-Duty by Guards Have Constitutional Privacy Right to Associate with Ex-Prisoners Off-Duty A Delaware federal district court has held that a prison regulation that prohibits guards from associating with ex-prisoners violates the guard's privacy rights. This action was filed by a …
$130,000 Settlement in Former Prison Employee Harassment Suit by In 1999, Thomas G. Bailor, filed a law suit against the Delaware Correctional Center (DCC), after he was forced to quit his job as an internal affairs investigator, for filing a report accusing prison guards of misconduct. Bailor, was investigating charges …
DE FOIA's Citizens-Only Clause Declared Unconstitutional by In 2003, Matthew Lee, a New York attorney and consumer advocacy journalist, requested under Delaware's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Del. Code Ann. § 10003 et seq., documents relating to Delaware's joining a deceptive lending practice settlement. The Delaware State Solicitor, Malcom Cobin, …
Releasing Disabled Prisoner into Cold Weather Upheld by The plaintiff alleged that he was released in January into freezing cold temperatures without a coat or a ride home, despite his disability. The plaintiff's ADA claim is dismissed based on sovereign immunity, since Title II of the ADA is not congruent …
Deplorable Delaware Prisoner Health Care; Another Prisoner Death Results by by David M. Reutter Despite mainstream media pressure, public outcry, and a federal investigation, the Delaware Department of Corrections (DDOC) continues to keep its head in the sand about prisoner health care. Not surprisingly, it has resulted in another prisoner's …
Delaware Law: Punishing Prisoners for Reporting Sexual Abuse by Guards by David Reutter by David M. Reutter In July 1980, the state of Delaware criminalized all sex in its prisons. Critics cry that the law requires a prisoner to be convicted even when the sex is non-consensual, preventing prisoners from …
Delaware Legislature Rejects Bill Upgrading Prison Health Care by David Reutter by David M. Reutter After a public outcry condemned the health care services provided to prisoners held by the Delaware Department of Corrections, (DDOC) the Delaware Legislature has passed a bill that provides an inflation adjustment for services and …
SJ Reversed on Delaware Detainee Triple-Celling Claim; Due Process, Not Eighth Amendment Controls by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Delaware District Court improperly analyzed a conditions of confinement claim brought by pre-trial detainees under the Eighth Amendment, rather than the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth …
Court Invalidates Mental Health Supervised Release Condition; Condition Impermissibly Delegates Judicial Authority to PO by Court Invalidates Mental Health Supervised Release Condition; Condition Impermissibly Delegates Judicial Authority to PO The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Delaware district court improperly imposed a supervised release condition requiring mental health …
Privatized Medical Services in Delaware Kill and Maim by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Anthony Pierce was serving a 14 month sentence for parole violation of a burglary charge at Delaware's Sussex Correctional Institution when he discovered a marble-sized lump growing on the back of his head. A prison …
Delaware Prisoner's $100,000 Damage Award For Retaliation Upheld by by Michael Rigby A disabled Delaware prisoner's $100,000 damage award for retaliation will stand, a federal district court in Delaware has held. On August 20, 1999, Roger Atkinson, a blind prisoner with a host of medical problems, sued Delaware prison officials …
Delaware Prisoner Killed In Hostage Standoff, Counselor Raped by By Michael Rigby On July 12, 2004, Scott A. Miller, a Delaware prisoner serving a 699-year sentence for rape, assault and kidnapping, was shot to death by a prison guard at the Delaware Correctional Center. The shooting ended a 6 ½ …
Absolute Immunity For Acting On Court Order Denied In Failure To Protect Claim by Bob Williams Absolute Immunity For Acting On Court Order Denied In Failure To Protect Claim by Bob Williams The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the denial of absolute immunity against prison guards who claimed …
Two Courts Interpret Provisions of Federal Appellate Rule 4; Prisoner Appeals Dismissed as Untimely by Two different federal circuit appeals courts have interpreted provisions of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4, which relates to the filing of notices of appeal. Both courts held the prisoners failed to comply with the …
No Qualified Immunity for Prison Officials on Tobacco Smoke Complaints by No Qualified Immunity for Prison Officials on Tobacco Smoke Complaints The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of summary judgment and qualified immunity for the Delaware prison guards who exposed a prisoner …
Sexual Assault Violates Eighth Amendment by A federal district court in Delaware has held, in denying a motion to dismiss, that a sexual assault during an obstetric medical exam violates the Eighth Amendment. Baylor Women's Correctional Facility prisoner Shalnessa Goode sued, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Correctional Medical Services (CMS) …
En Banc Third Circuit Rules on PLRA Three Strikes by In a 134 en banc decision, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals abandoned its prior interpretation of the "imminent danger" exception to the PLRA's "three strikes" rule, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), and adopted the interpretation given to the phrase by …
Cell Search, Property Seizure Suit Set for Trial by Cell Search, Property Seizure Suit Set For Trial A federal district court in Delaware held that summary judgment was not appropriate to decide if a prisoner's cell had been illegally searched and his papers improperly seized. Michael Jordan, a Delaware prisoner, …
Consent No Defense For Guard Accused of Raping Prisoner by by Matthew T. Clarke A federal district court in Delaware has held that a prison guard may not use consent as a defense in a suit by a prisoner alleging he raped her. Dorothy Carrigan, a Delaware state prisoner, filed …
CMS Settles Wrongful Death Suit for $75,000 by In 1998 Correctional Medical services (CMS) and the estate of Mark Murphy settled a wrongful death suit for $75,000. CMS is the largest provider of privatized medical care to prisoners and jail detainees. Mark Murphy was imprisoned at the Delaware Correctional Center …
