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Article • April 1, 2025 • from PLN April, 2025
Sixth Circuit: Dismissals of Mixed-Claim Complaints Not Strikes Under PLRA by Since the 1996 passage of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e, federal courts have struggled to interpret and apply its various provisions. That struggle continues today with a recent ruling by the United States Court of …
Article • February 15, 2025 • from PLN February, 2025
Legal Gaffe Prolongs Case of Former St. Louis Detainee Held Eight Months After Dismissal of Charges by Matthew Clarke by Matthew Thomas Clarke On June 17, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided a civil rights complaint brought by former St. Louis jail detainee Michael Jones, …
Charges Dismissed Against Connecticut Guards Who Assaulted Prisoner by Misdemeanor assault charges were tentatively dismissed in November 2024 against three Connecticut Department of Corrections (DOC) guards accused of assaulting Garner Correctional Institution prisoner Elijah Hamlin, 26, in a 2023 incident captured on leaked cellphone video. Danbury Superior Court Judge Charles …
1994 Crime Bill Turns 30: A Legacy of Controversy by Thirty years later, 1994’s Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA) is still criticized by progressive politicians for stoking mass incarceration in the United States. Others, like former Pres. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D)—who co-sponsored the bill as a …
Article • December 15, 2024 • from PLN December, 2024
In Failure-to-Treat Claims, Wellpath Denied Dismissal in Virginia, Settles in Pennsylvania by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On November 11, 2024, private prison and jail healthcare contractor Wellpath LLC filed for bankruptcy protection from debtors collectively owed $544 million, casting doubt on its ability to continue in business, much …
Article • September 15, 2024 • from PLN September, 2024
NaphCare Settles One Suit At Oregon Jail, Loses Motion to Dismiss Second by On August 2, 2024, after losing a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Jeffrey Simms-­Belaire, a former detainee at Oregon’s Washington County Jail (WCJ), private jail medical contractor NaphCare, Inc. secured an agreement with a …
Mom of Murdered California Prisoner Defeats Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit by Guard Who Posted Pics of Corpse Online by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On March 28, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California largely denied a motion to dismiss a civil rights action filed …
No Dismissal for San Diego Jail Medical Contractor from Suit Filed Over Detainee’s Withdrawal Death by On February 8, 2024, the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California declined to dismiss all the claims brought by the family of a San Diego Jail detainee who died in custody …
Article • April 26, 2024
Fourth Circuit: South Carolina Prisoner’s Bivens Claim Must Detail Unconstitutional Acts of Each Defendant by Benjamin Tschirhart by Benjamin Tschirhart  The Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) recognized a limited cause of action for money damages against agents of the federal government in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of …
Ninth Circuit Says Federal Prisoner in California May Have Bivens Claim for Delays in Medical Care Allegedly to Cover Up Assault by BOP Guard by by David M. Reutter On August 15, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed dismissal of an Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference …
Texas Fights Fetal Rights After Forcing Prison Guard to Stay At Work Until She Delivered Stillborn Baby by by Matt Clarke On August 18, 2023, the federal court for the Western District of Texas granted defendant officials with the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) only partial dismissal of a …
Second Circuit Strips Qualified Immunity from Connecticut Officials Who Ignored Prisoner’s Scalp Lesions by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Observing that “Eighth Amendment claims for the deprivation of medical care are not analyzed body-part by body-part,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on July 14, …
Article • December 1, 2023 • from PLN December, 2023
Filed under: Grievances, Dismissal
Seventh Circuit Revives Indiana Prisoner’s Claim Over Dismissed Grievance by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On May 4, 2023, the U.S. Court of appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the grant of summary judgment against a federal prisoner in Indiana who claimed he was subjected to a physical assault …
Eleventh Circuit Says Florida Prisoner’s Dismissed Complaint Doesn’t Count as a “Strike” by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On May 11, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the moment a prisoner files a motion to dismiss his federal civil rights suit, a district …
Article • November 30, 2022 • from PLN December, 2022
Filed under: PLRA, Dismissal
Eighth Circuit Says Judge Dismissing Claim of Federal Prisoner in Arkansas Was Premature in Counting It a PLRA ‘Strike’ by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On January 12, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said a lower court erred in declaring that a federal prisoner’s dismissed …
Article • November 30, 2022 • from PLN December, 2022
Filed under: PLRA, Dismissal
Eleventh Circuit Says No PLRA ‘Strike’ for Dismissal of Case Removed From State to Federal Court by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On January 25, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a prisoner who loses a federal lawsuit does not earn a “strike” …
Ninth Circuit Terminates Idaho Prison Conditions Lawsuit After 40 Years of Litigation by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On March 22, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed termination of all prospective relief in a long-running class action alleging unconstitutional conditions at the Idaho State …
Article • June 1, 2022 • from PLN June, 2022
Sixth Circuit Revives Tennessee Detainee’s Suit, Holds Lower Court Not Required to Retain Jurisdiction of State Law Claims After Dismissing Federal Claims by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On September 22, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit extended the life of civil rights claims brought under …
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 …
Article • February 1, 2022 • from PLN February, 2022
California Appeals Court Reverses Dismissal of Charges Against Prisoners Charged in Pelican Bay Riot by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On June 9, 2021, the California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal to a decision handed down by the state’s First District Court of Appeal on March 29, …
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