Florida DOC's Copy Cost Assessment Rule Declared Invalid by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Florida's First District Court of Appeal has held the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) does not have legislative authority to support its rule regarding the amount prisoners are charged for photographic copying services, authorizing deductions …
Florida's Privatization of Prisoner Canteen Services Under Scrutiny by by David M. Reutter An October, 2004, report issued by Florida's Auditor General (AG) criticizes a contract awarded to Keefe Commissary Services (Keefe) for the operation of the Florida Department of Corrections' (FDOC) 240 prison canteens. The three-year contract that privatized …
Private Prisons Bilk $13 million From Florida; State Awards More Contracts by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Florida's Correctional Privatization Commission (CPC) consistently failed to safeguard the State's interests in its role as steward of privately operated correctional facilities," causing Florida's taxpayers to pay $12.7 million in questionable and …
Florida Prisoner's Disciplinary Challenges Reversed for Further Proceedings by Two separate Florida District Court of Appeals decisions have reversed the dismissal of two prisoners' civil actions that challenged disciplinary reports. Prisoner Craig A. Savery was disciplined for possession of narcotics. Savery's initial appeal to Tomoka Correctional Institution's Warden was denied. …
Florida DOC's No Bid Pharmaceutical Contract Scrutinized and Criticized by by David M. Reutter A September 2004 Florida Auditor General's Report found numerous deficiencies in the Florida Department Of Corrections' (FDOC) pharmaceutical contract with Terry Yon & Associates, Inc. (TYA). The current three-year contract became effective January 1, 2004. Its …
Florida Jury Awards $225,000 in False Arrest/Malicious Prosecution Claim by A Florida jury has awarded $225,000 in a case against the City of Clearwater and an individual detective on a claim of false arrest, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Plaintiff claimed he was falsely arrested on …
Los Angeles County Jail Tests Prisoner Radio ID Tags by by John E. Dannenberg The Los Angeles (L.A.) County Sheriff's Department will spend $1.5 million to install a computerized radio ID tag system in 2006 to monitor the location of 1,900 prisoners at the Pitchess Detention Center (county jail) in …
Lethal Injection Painful, Study Suggests; U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Issue by by Michael Rigby Hundreds of prisoners killed by lethal injectionthe preferred method of execution in 37 states and the federal Bureau of Prisonsmay have suffered agonizing deaths due to a routine failure to administer enough anesthesia, according to …
GEO Group Buys Out Correctional Services Corporation by In November 2005, GEO Group, the second-largest private prison company in the U.S., finalized its purchase of the Sarasota, Florida-based Correctional Services Corporation (CSC) for $6 a share -- a total of $62 million in cash -- and the assumption of $124 …
PLN Sues The Geo Group for Public Records by On Dec. 2, 2005, Prison Legal News filed a civil suit against The Geo Group, Inc. (formerly Wackenhut Corrections) in the Circuit Court for Palm Beach, Florida, demanding access to public records held by the company. The Geo Group is a …
Florida Awards Contracts Putting Sex Offenders on GPS Supervision; Other States to Follow by The Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) has awarded three contracts for Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite monitoring of sex offenders. The contracts come on the heels on legislation that allocated $3.9 million over a three-year period …
Florida Violates Sex Offenders for Possessing Common Men's Magazines by Florida Violates Sex Offenders for Possessing Common Men's Magazines The State of Florida, in a crackdown on sex offenders, is sending probationers to jail for probation violations because they possessed racy magazines or sex manuals. The crackdown comes from increased …
McCloud v. Fortune, FL, Plf Omnibus Memo, Unwarranted Invasive Bodily Search, 2005 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE DIVISION ARNETTA McCLOUD, FREDDY McCLOUD, CYNTHIA McCLOUD, MARCUS FRASIER, BARBARA KING, BERNARD KING and CHESLEY KING, CASE NO: 4:05cv-101-RH-WCH Plaintiffs, vs. KENNETH W. FORTUNE, Sheriff of Jefferson County, in …
Jail Prisoner Strangles Psychiatrist; Jury Awards $2.6 Million by A Florida jury awarded $2,650,260 in the strangling death of a psychiatrist doing an evaluation on a prisoner at the Collier County Jail. David J. Hoyer was doing a court ordered competency evaluation on January 3, 2001, when he was attacked …
PLN Loses Florida Writer Pay Ban/Censorship by David Reutter Lawsuit: Appeal Pending by David M. Reutter A Florida federal district court has held that PLN has not suffered, and is not currently suffering, a significant First Amendment injury from Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) rule, policies, or procedures that ban …
Sexual and Physical Abuse at Florida Girl's Prison Under Investigation by By David Reutter In June, 2003, The State Attorney for Florida's Palm Beach County initiated a grand jury investigation into sexual assaults and physical abuse at the State's only maximum security prison for girls. In April, 2000, the Florida …
Flashbacks: Vietnam And Capital Punishment by by Michael Mello Professor of Law Vermont Law School Capital punishment in our time has always reminded me of the Vietnam war. Certain blood for uncertain reasons," as Tim O'Brien wrote of his war. The only measure of success was the body count. No …
Florida Juvenile Justice: Check Private "Employee's" Records? What a Concept by Florida Juvenile Justice: Check Private "Employee's" Records? What a Concept By David M. Reutter Guards employed by private contractors that operate Florida juvenile justice programs earn some of the lowest wages in the nation. The result is high turnover, …
Wackenhut's Name To Change, But Politics Remain The Same by Michael Rigby The old maxim, "the more things change, the more they stay the same," could have been tailored to Wackenhut these days. Although Wackenhut Corrections has spun off from its parent company, Wackenhut Corporation, there's no indication that the …
FL Work Releasee's Reporting to Work Late Doesn't Amount to Escape by Leon Williams, a prisoner in a state work release center, left the center to walk to work but was 90 minutes late getting there. When he arrived he was arrested and charged with escape under Fla. Stat. sec. …
