According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the imprisonment rate for blacks is declining and has been doing so for many years. But the BJS data also indicates that the trend is headed in the opposite direction when it comes to white incarceration rates. The change is most pronounced for female offenders, where
Fourteen years ago, the nonprofit monthly magazine Prison Legal News filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking the Federal Bureau of Prisons for documentation of how much money the BOP had paid out over an approximately seven-and-a-half-year period (from 1996 through the end of July 2003) in judgments and settlements of lawsuits and claims
The federal government’s attempt to restrict a former prisoner’s First Amendment right to free speech has been reversed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Darren Chaker was convicted of a white-collar crime related to a bankruptcy filing and sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. As part of his three years of supervised release
PROVIDING A HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION COMBINED WITH MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION TREATMENT HAS PROVEN TO BE A SUCCESSFUL FORMULA TO REDUCE RECIDIVISM. In Florida, one in four released prisoners is re-incarcerated—and it’s a lack of education that’s largely to blame. With the average Florida inmate having just a sixth-grade education, the chances of finding steady
The Ninth Circuit has ruled that the former warden at the California Institute for Women (CIW) is not immune from liability for failing to protect two female prisoners from repeated sexual abuse at the hands of a prison guard. Jossie Ramos and Melissa Ortiz were incarcerated at CIW in 2010 when Guillermo Garcia was the
Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Karen V. Murphy ordered the Nassau County Police Department (NCPD) to turn over its Police Department Manual to the plaintiff in a wrongful death suit on October 6, 2015. The manual was requested through a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) petition filed by the law firm of Roth & Roth,
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a prisoner’s verbal grievance made to prison staff was protected speech under the First Amendment, and gave rise to a civil action when the prisoner faced retaliation for making a verbal complaint. Charles Mack, incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Loretto, Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit
On September 16, 2016, the Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama reversed an order by the Montgomery Circuit Court granting summary judgment in favor of state prison officials in a lawsuit filed by a state prisoner alleging constitutional violations. Ronald D. Veteto claimed that he was forced to cell with fellow prisoner Anthony Merriweather at
The Eighth Circuit of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against an Iowa halfway house and several state officials over injuries caused by a halfway house resident. Tamela Montgomery alleged that Angenaldo Bailey, who was staying at the Curt Forbes Residential Center in Ames, broke into her house and shot her three
The Eighth Circuit ruled on September 15, 2016, in a per curiam opinion, that the Sixth Amendment’s right to a speedy trial is essentially not applicable to prisoners held in administrative segregation pending criminal charges. Rashad A. Wearing was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City, Arkansas in April 2013 when he was