$177,500 in Settlements Reached with Detainees Assaulted by Guards at Pennsylvania Jail by Ashleigh Dye by Ashleigh N. Dye Settlement agreements totaling $177,500 were approved in the winter of 2021-22 by the Board of County Commissioners of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, resolving claims by a pair of former detainees at the …
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 …
After $10 Million Settlement in Pennsylvania Jail Mugshot Class-Action, Fewer-Than-Expected Claims Leave Windfall for Expungement Program by David Reutter by David M. Reutter In September 2021, after closing out a $10 million settlement in a class-action suit alleging its county jail violated the privacy rights of detainees by making their …
Seventh Circuit Affirms Use Of “Some Evidence” Standard in Reviewing Federal Prisoner’s Disciplinary Violations by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso In an opinion reached on December 6, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a district court’s ruling that a federal prisoner’s disciplinary sanctions were …
COVID-19’s Impact on Prisoners Far Worse Than It Needed to Be by Kevin Bliss, Edward Lyon by Kevin Bliss and Ed Lyon In September 2021, a year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit research and advocacy group Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) gave a failing grade to 42 …
News in Brief by Alabama:The Birmingham News reported that a jail guard in Mobile was arrested on May 17, 2022, for smuggling adult movies intoMobile County Metro Jail. The guard, Fredrick Johnson, 37, was charged with 21 counts of promoting contraband that included a camera, phone chargers, and flash drives, …
Miller v. Bedford County, PA, Settlement, Failure to Protect, 2022 fl' LL AND FINA L RR LEASE KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that I, JEFFREYS. MILLER, being of full legal age and of sound mind, for and in consideration of the sum of SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS 00/100 ($60,000.00), lawful …
Pennsylvania Jail Guards Accused of Smuggling, Assaulting Mentally Ill Prisoners by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott Three guards at the Beaver County Jail in western Pennsylvania were hit with contraband charges in May 2022 after allegedly taking Cash App transfers from the families of prisoners under their supervision …
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 …
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 …
