by David M. Reutter
On June 14, 2023, the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve a state prisoner’s allegation that his Eighth Amendment guarantee of freedom from cruel and unusual punishment was violated when he was restrained and isolated in a “dry cell” without running ...
by David M. Reutter
On October 19, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to officials at St. Louis’ “Workhouse” jail in a suit over a detainee’s fatal overdose, finding the lower court “tilted the scales too far in the plaintiff’s ...
by David M. Reutter
In September 2023, just two months into a program to rebate fines and fees for vacated drug convictions, Washington state courts had paid out more than $9.4 million. That’s nearly 20% of a $50 million fund created by state lawmakers after the state Supreme Court found ...
by David M. Reutter
On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court of the U.S. declined to issue a writ of certiorari to hear a Florida prisoner’s appeal to a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, finding no constitutional violation by exposure to urine and feces ...
by David M. Reutter
On November 7, 2023, the Supreme Court of Ohio rebuffed a request from the office of state Attorney General Dave Yost (R) to reconsider a grant of a state prisoner’s mandamus action. That left to stand the Court’s earlier order issued on August 31, 2023, requiring ...
by David M. Reutter
On October 16, 2023, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia reversed denial of mandamus relief to a prisoner and compelled the Commissioner of the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) to “develop a policy directive and/or operational procedure that is in compliance” with ...
by David M. Reutter
On December 15, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed denial of qualified immunity (QI) to Illinois jail guards who relied upon a nurse’s claim that a detainee was faking his medical condition, which then proved fatal. The estate of Michael Carter, ...
by David Reutter
A California Superior Court on December 9, 2022, preliminarily approved a $155 million settlement for about 10,000 current and retired supervising state prison guards in a long-running lawsuit alleging the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) failed to pay supervisors for time worked pre- and post-shift. ...
by David M. Reutter
A lawsuit filed in federal court for the Western District of Arkansas on January 13, 2023, makes a stunning claim: That a man was left to starve to death in jail because he couldn’t afford bail.
Larry Eugene Price, Jr.,50, was suffering an acute mental health ...
by David Reutter
On March 13, 2023, the federal court for the Southern District of Georgia denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a guard for private prison giant CoreCivic, alleging she was unconstitutionally strip-searched at Wheeler Correctional Facility (WCF).
“Though Defendants attempt to parse the definition ...
