Skip navigation

Articles by R. Bailey

$3.279 Million in Costs and Fees Awarded in Wrongful Death Suit Involving Epileptic Prisoner

by R. Bailey

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988, a federal district court was asked to resolve an attorney fees dispute as part of a settlement in a prisoner’s wrongful death case.

Robert Awalt died while in the custody of a jail in Grundy County, Illinois. His wife, Elizabeth Awalt, ...

$375,000-plus Settlement in Wrongful Death Suit Against Jail

by R. Bailey

 A family’s wrongful death lawsuit filed against a Nisqually tribal jail operated by a sovereign Indian tribe was settled for $375,000, plus an undisclosed amount paid by the tribe.

Andrew Wrestling, 19, was arrested by police officers from the City of Yelm, Washington, for being a minor ...

Va. court finds prison employees met reasonable suspicion burden in visitor strip search

by R. Bailey

A Virginia federal district court granted the Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging constitutional violations occurred when a visitor was strip searched.

Angela Calloway sued VDOC under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, alleging Fifth and Fourteenth amendment violations and state law claims for ...

Missouri Sheriff Who Vowed to Clean Up Crime Faces Criminal Charges, Lawsuits

by R. Bailey

In March 2018, a federal grand jury returned an 11-count indictment against Mississippi County, Missouri Sheriff Cory Hutcheson. Hutcheson, 34, already faced robbery charges as well as a wrongful death suit filed by the mother of a prisoner who died at the county lockup.

At the request ...

Louisiana’s Rejection of $3.5 Million Prison Tracking Software to be Reconsidered

by R. Bailey

An audit recommended replacing outdated data management software used by Louisiana’s prison system with a previously-rejected upgrade, if the new system could be salvaged. The upgrade would help implement the Justice Reinvestment Act (Act), which was designed to reduce Louisiana’s prison population by 10 percent and its ...

CCS Seeks to Hide Internal Review in Jail Detainee’s Death; $180,000 Settlement

by David Reutter and R. Bailey

Correct Care Solutions, a for-profit company that provides medical services at correctional facilities, contested the release of documents concerning the death of Dino Vann Nixon at the Forsyth County Jail (FCJ) in North Carolina.

Upon being booked into FCJ on drug trafficking charges on ...

$10 Million Class-action Lawsuit Against Virginia Jail Results in $725,000 Settlement

by R. Bailey

A class-action complaint against the Central Virginia Regional Jail (CVRJ) has ended with a $725,000 settlement. The lawsuit alleged that jail staff violated detainees’ Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and subjected them to excessive pain and suffering by refusing to enforce written policies and placing cost savings ...

Solitary Instead of Treatment of Mentally Ill Prisoner Costs New Mexico Jail $2 Million

by R. Bailey

New Mexico’s Otero County Board of County Commissioners agreed to pay a former Otero County Detention Center (OCDC) pretrial detainee $2 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit that alleged punishment without due process.

The suit claimed that OCDC had a policy or practice of placing mentally ...

Pay for prison labor ‘unfair’ to inmates and business

by R. Bailey

Black lawmakers criticized the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC) prison service program for exploiting and even possibly enslaving prisoners with a traditional work program that pays from $6.75 to $24.25 every two weeks.

Senator Karl Allen called it “shameful.”

However, the truth is our U.S.C.A. 13th ...

Changes Affecting Exercise of Discretion for Parole Did Not Create Ex Post Facto Violation

The Vermont Supreme Court denied prisoners’ Ex Post Facto violation claims, holding that there was no sufficient evidence showing that the enactment of new policies and statutes worked to prohibit their parole release.
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, “Retroactive changes in laws governing parole of prisoners, in some instances, ...