In a recent 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a dispute among lower federal courts about how large a share of damage awards inmates win in civil rights cases must be paid towards their lawyers’ fees. In Murphy v. Smith, decided February 21, turned on how to interpret §42 USC 1977(e)(d), a provision in
Although Attorney-General Jeff Session warned a day earlier that passing the measure would be a grave error that risked putting the very worst criminals back into our communities, on Feb. 15 Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) pushed a sentencing reform bill (S. 1917) through his panel without amendment, on a 16-5 vote. Grassley
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that a man who was falsely accused of a crime and later had his record expunged cannot sue for malicious prosecution anonymously. John Doe alleged that he was arrested in the Village of Deerfield, Illinois based on false statements given to the police
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has reversed a district court’s ruling that a war crimes lawsuit brought by Iraqi nationals allegedly tortured by military contractors in 2003 and 2004 cannot go forward. The claim alleged sundry acts of heinous abuse visited upon detainees at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison by
The Florida Supreme Court has issued an unusual opinion in which it simultaneously sanctioned a prisoner for too many filings and pointed out that the prisoner may be serving an illegal sentence. The prisoner, Otis D. Blaxton, filed 21 petitions with the Florida Supreme Court between 2008 and 2016. The petitions ran the gamut from
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has allowed Sierra Club to intervene in a reverse Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records request lawsuit. The dispute stemmed from FOIA requests made to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in which Sierra Club requested documents relating to power plants operated by Entergy Gulf States
The American Bar Association (ABA) has declared war on the cash bail bond system, which it sees as crowding the nation’s jails with people who have not been convicted of a crime, but because—despite their constitutional presumption of innocence—they are too poor to come up with bail payments to guarantee they’ll appear for trial. The
A dozen U.S. Senators have asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to consider making broader use of compassionate leave to release elderly or ill inmates as a “way to focus scarce BOP resources and improve public safety.” Federal penal institutions currently hold more than 10,000 inmates aged 60 or over. The bipartisan group of
By Christopher Zoukis As government authorities come to grips with the massive and costly incarceration problem in the United States, efforts to find alternatives to expensive prison and jail sentences are underway. Pretrial diversion, an old favorite, is once again gaining popularity across the country in conjunction with bail reform efforts. [See: PLN, June 2017,
By Christopher Zoukis On November 30, 2014, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced that Ferguson (MO) Police Officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted in connection with Wilson’s fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown on August 9, 2014. The failure of the grand jury to return an indictment was not a surprise
We have profiled every prison within the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
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Criminal Center
1501 Belle Isle Avenue, Suite 110
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
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