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University of Pennsylvania-Decarceration's Inside Partners, March 2022

Publication • 2022

Filed under: Criminal Justice, Criminal History

University of Pennsylvania-Decarceration's Inside Partners, March 2022 PennLaw UNIVERSITY of PEN SYLVANIA CAREY LAW SCHOOL Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series Research Paper No. 22-24 Decarceration’s Inside Partners Seema Saifee UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA CAREY LAW SCHOOL This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research …

Mapp v. Westmoreland County, PA, Complaint, Breach of Confidentiality, 2022

Brief • May 13, 2022

Filed under: Breach of Contract

Mapp v. Westmoreland County, PA, Complaint, Breach of Confidentiality, 2022 Case 2:22-cv-00718-PLD Document 1 Filed 05/13/22 Page 1 of 5 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA JAMES MAPP Plaintiff, v. WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Docket No. 2:22-cv-718 JURY …

News in Brief

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

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard in Birmingham was arrested on March 9, 2022, for allegedly beating a prisoner to death, according to the Alabama Political Reporter. As PLN previously reported, prison officials at first insisted no foul play was suspected in the death of Victor …

Pittsburgh Jail Records 13 Deaths in Two Years, Only One From COVID-19

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

Filed under: Wrongful Death

Pittsburgh Jail Records 13 Deaths in Two Years, Only One From COVID-19 by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott In the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, deaths have more than doubled at the Allegheny County Jail (ACJ) in downtown Pittsburgh, even as the jail …

$8.5 Million Paid by Pennsylvania DOC for Death of Asthmatic Prisoner Improperly Pepper-Sprayed

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

Filed under: Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Settlements, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death)

$8.5 Million Paid by Pennsylvania DOC for Death of Asthmatic Prisoner Improperly Pepper-Sprayed by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On October 18, 2021, a federal court in Pennsylvania approved an $8.5 million settlement reached the prior month between the state Department of Corrections (DOC) and the family of an asthmatic …

$100,000 Paid by Pennsylvania DOC to Family of Pro Se Prisoner Litigant Who Committed Suicide

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

Filed under: Settlements, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides

$100,000 Paid by Pennsylvania DOC to Family of Pro Se Prisoner Litigant Who Committed Suicide by Kevin Bliss by Kevin Bliss A Pennsylvania prisoner’s long and contentious history with the state Department of Corrections (DOC) came to a bitter end on September 29, 2021, with an agreement by the state …

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 …

Third Circuit Says Mixed Dismissal of Civil Rights Action Not a Strike Under PLRA

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

Filed under: PLRA, Dismissal

Third Circuit Says Mixed Dismissal of Civil Rights Action Not a Strike Under PLRA by David Reutter by David M. Reutter In a ruling on September 27, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that a “mixed dismissal” of a Pennsylvania prisoner’s civil rights action does …

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 …

Armored Car Company Victim of Multiple ‘Highway Robberies’ by Cops Files Federal Lawsuit for Recovery of Seized Cash

Article • February 26, 2022

Filed under: Forfeiture, Financial Institution - Definition

Armored Car Company Victim of Multiple ‘Highway Robberies’ by Cops Files Federal Lawsuit for Recovery of Seized Cash by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott  Armored car company Empyreal headquartered in Pennsylvania says “we’re not going to take it anymore” as police departments in Kansas and California have used …

Mapp v. Westmoreland County, PA, Minutes, Breach of Confidentiality, 2022

Brief • February 17, 2022

Filed under: Breach of Contract

Mapp v. Westmoreland County, PA, Minutes, Breach of Confidentiality, 2022 February 17, 2022 Pledge of Allegiance Industrial Development Corporation Agenda General Agenda Minutes of the Regular Meeting held January 27, 2022 Correction to the Minutes of November 18, 2021, item 18(D) for Westmoreland Manor, correcting the name to Complete Healthcare …

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 …

$7,500 Settlement for Pennsylvania Prisoner Assaulted by Guards And Denied Medical Care

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

Filed under: Primecare Medical, Failure to Treat, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Settlements

$7,500 Settlement for Pennsylvania Prisoner Assaulted by Guards And Denied Medical Care by On March 23, 2021, an agreement was executed paying $7,500 to settle three complaints a former pretrial detainee had brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleging …

Talber v. Beaver, PA, Complaint, Excessive Force, 2022

Brief • January 21, 2022

Filed under: Excessive Force

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Third Circuit Revives Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Lawsuit Over Censorship of Incoming Mail Containing Key Evidence

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

Filed under: Censorship

Third Circuit Revives Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Lawsuit Over Censorship of Incoming Mail Containing Key Evidence by Matthew Clarke, Dale Chappell by Matt Clarke and Dale Chappell On August 9, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed the dismissal of a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging his due-process and access-to-courts …

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 …

Wright v. Westmoreland County, PA, Minutes, Excessive Force, 2021

Brief • December 16, 2021

Filed under: Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Wright v. Westmoreland County, PA, Minutes, Excessive Force, 2021 December 16, 2021 Invocation Rev. Bob Ross of Heritage Baptist Church, Jeannette Pledge of Allegiance Salary Board Agenda Industrial Development Corporation Agenda General Agenda Minutes of the Regular Meeting held November 18, 2021, as presented Notice of Executive Session November 29, …

News in Brief

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

Filed under: News in Brief

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 …

Federal Prisons’ Switch to Scanning Mail Is a Surveillance Nightmare

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

Filed under: Mail, Police State-Surveillance

Federal Prisons’ Switch to Scanning Mail Is a Surveillance Nightmare by Lauren Gill The Bureau of Prisons has piloted a program that can give authorities “huge secret intelligence into the public sender of postal mail.” by Lauren Gill, originally published by The Intercept, September 26, 2021 In a Pennsylvania federal prison, …

Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Illegal Juvenile LWOP Sentence Undermined Validity of Later Conviction

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

Filed under: U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Juvenile Offenses/Offenders, Probation, Parole & Supervised Release

Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Illegal Juvenile LWOP Sentence Undermined Validity of Later Conviction by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney  The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that an illegal mandatory sentence of life without parole (“LWOP”) imposed upon a juvenile undermined the validity of a later conviction for assault by a life …