by Matt Clarke

On January 10, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that an Arkansas prisoner had not failed to state an actionable claim against prison medical officials when he accused them of not maintaining his bilateral hearing aids. The decision reversed a ruling by a lower court, though affirming a companion ruling on the prisoner’s other claim that prison officials were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs when they failed to diagnose and treat an alleged bacterial infection.

Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoner Christopher De Rossitte filed suit pro se in federal court for the Western District of Arkansas in 2017, accusing DOC and its privately contracted health care provider, Correct Care Solutions (CCS)—now known as Wellpath—of inadequate medical care, in violation of his rights under the Eighth Amendment and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. ch. 126, §12101 et seq., as well as making state-law medical malpractice claims.

Prior to that, De Rossitte filed multiple grievances alleging CCS staff failed to diagnose and treat a “likely” bacterial infection, his complaint recalled, listing symptoms that included pain in his face and head, headaches, excessive thirst, difficulty swallowing, boils and bumps on ...

by Kevin W. Bliss

On January 14, 2022, Judge Jennifer Dorsey ruled for the federal court for the District of Nevada that it has jurisdiction over a nationwide potential class of defendants in a suit by attorney Kathleen Bliss, who alleged her rights were violated when private prison operator CoreCivic recorded privileged conversations with her clients at a state prison the firm manages.

Bliss’ suit was sent back to the district court after a key ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that found the case was not time-barred by the statute of limitations. [See: PLN, Mar. 2021, p.47.]

In the Court’s latest ruling, Judge Dorsey stated Bliss alleged a plausible claim that CoreCivic intentionally recorded conversations with clients in which she had “a reasonable expectation of privacy,” in violation of federal and state wiretap acts. The Court then denied CoreCivic’s motion to dismiss and allowed the case to move forward.

Represented by attorneys from the Minneapolis firm Nichols Kaster, PLLP, Bliss filed her complaint on June 27, 2018, on behalf of herself and a proposed nationwide class of attorneys whose conversations with their clients in prisons and detention centers were recorded by CoreCivic, as ...

by Matt Clarke

On March 8, 2022, PLN finally obtained documents revealing that private prison operator GEO Group, Inc., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., paid $10 million to settle two lawsuits brought by the family of a prisoner who was murdered at a Texas jail the firm operated. The ...

by Anthony W. Accurso

A man disabled in a Louisiana jail privately operated by LaSalle Corrections has settled claims of neglect and mistreatment he suffered there and at another lockup the firm ran, accepting $405,000 for the months he allegedly spent in debilitating pain without treatment for his condition, further ...

David M. Reutter

For prison officials and healthcare providers who refused to grant an Illinois prisoner an exemption from wearing “black box restraints” during medical transport, a federal district court in the state also refused to find an Eighth Amendment violation, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed that decision on October 1, 2021.

The prisoner, Lavertis Stewart, “suffers from several medical ailments including carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists, Hepatitis C, Grade III cirrhosis of the liver, neutropoenia, lateral epicndylitis (tennis elbow), arthritis, shoulder impingement, shoulder capulitis/arthritis and bursitis, and arthritis bone spurs,” the Court recalled. In addition to the care he was receiving at Dixon Correctional Institution (DCC), Stewart also made visits to doctors outside the prison with some frequency.

Under prison policy, prisoners transported outside the facility were required to wear a “black box” restraint, a hard plastic box that encloses the chain and keyhole portions of the handcuffs the prisoner is wearing. A metal slide clamps the box shut, and a metal fixture attached to the prisoner’s waist then slides through the box and clamp. Once that is in place, a chain is wrapped snuggly around the prisoner’s waist and looped through ...

by Jo Ellen Nott

Laeddie Coleman was the second prisoner brutally stabbed at Tennessee’s Hardeman County Correctional Facility (HCCF) on September 7, 2021. The first, Devin Jamison, was allegedly stabbed 15 times with a homemade knife in the jail day room by fellow detainee Nicholas Tipton, who ran and hid in his cell, while three other prisoners carried Jamison to get treatment for his wounds.

When they returned, the three erstwhile Good Samaritans— Brian Gallegly, Kellum Williams and David Tackett—allegedly launched the fatal attack on Coleman, taking turns stabbing him multiple times. With his blood squirting in all directions, Coleman tried to escape and ran for the door, where surveillance video showed he fell to the floor and died before guards arrived. Meanwhile Jamison was taken to a local hospital and survived. 

​Coleman’s family learned of his death thanks to another prisoner with a cellphone inside HCCF who called a relative. Coleman’s father and sister then called the prison warden, who transferred the call to a chaplain, who then hesitated to confirm Coleman’s death but agreed to check his computer. He finally confirmed the family’s fears, offering his condolences for their loss but refusing to give any details.

​Eight months ...

by David M. Reutter

On February 8, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denied a petition for the full court to rehear en banc a decision by a three-judge panel three months earlier vacating a lower court’s $8 million award to an Illinois prisoner against private ...

by Kevin Bliss

On December 14, 2021, the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) canceled its contract with the Keefe Group as provider of prison commissary items. The next day, the state’s chief procurement officer, Ellen Daley, released a 25-page ruling determining the firm’s bid was improper and erroneous.

DOC had solicited bids for vendors to supply prisoner canteen items in March 2021 using the state’s e-procurement system, BidBuy. Vendors were told to submit a bid using a provided spreadsheet listing items to be offered. For each item, bidders needed to calculate a total annual cost based on estimated usage supplied by DOC.

Three vendors submitted bids: Keefe, Union Supply Group (USG) and Performance Food Group (PFG). Keefe was awarded the bid with a quote of $207 million. PFG’s bid was declared non-responsive, and USG’s quote—a whopping $7 billion—was rejected.

USG then filed a protest, stating the solicitation was ambiguous and that Keefe violated the bid solicitation’s requirements. Daley agreed with USG’s evaluation, after finding ambiguities in the spreadsheet.

Snickers candy bars, for example, come in cases of 384 bars, and DOC had estimated its usage at 17,570. But 17,570 of what—candy bars, or cases? USG requested clarification from DOC, which ...

The Citrus County Detention Facility(CCDF) in Lecanto, Florida, serves a modest-sized county with a population of 149,383, slightly over the average in all 2,843 jail jurisdictions in the U.S. The mortality rate in all U.S. jails in 2018—the last year for which federal Bureau of Justice statistics were published—averaged 154 deaths per 100,000 people detained. But at CCDF, the rate is two-and-a-half times higher: an eye-popping 426 per 100,000.

That’s thanks to nine deaths recorded in just three years at the jail, which is run for the county by Tennessee-based private prison operator CoreCivic.

In 2021 alone, CCDF recorded six deaths, including two previously reported by PLN: the suicide of Lisa Ann Trombley, 48, on October 17, 2021, and the death the following November 2 of Valerie Bogle, 63. After those fatalities, the county began to fine CoreCivic $2,500 for each day the jail remained understaffed, leading the firm to replace several jail officials, including Warden Mike Quinn. [See: PLN, Apr. 2022, p.34.]

Two prisoners died at CCDF in 2020, including Wayne Charles Washer, 53. He was serving a sentence for the state Department of Corrections (DOC) and transferred to CCDF for a court appearance when he sustained fatal ...

by Harold Hempstead

A November 2021 investigation by Knoxville TV station WBIR found prisons and jails across the Volunteer State were underreporting in-custody deaths to the state Bureau of Investigation (TBI), in apparent violation of Tennessee law. The investigation counted 602 people who died in custody from 2017 to 2020, while only 337 deaths were reported to TBI.

Failures in fatality record-keeping were among those cited in a January 2020 report by the State Comptroller of the Currency that was highly critical of the state Department of Corrections (DOC) and Nashville-based private prison giant CoreCivic, which operates several prisons for DOC. See: Tenn. Comptroller of the Currency, Performance Audit Report, Dept. of Corrections, Jan. 2020.

Accurate reporting of deaths remains a problem for DOC as well as numerous county jails in the state. In its investigation, WBIR found 265 unreported deaths at state prisons and jails in just four years, raising the total 78.6% above TBI’s tally. Missing from the 2017 TBI Law Enforcement Related Deaths Report were 30 unreported fatalities. The next year the number was 18. In 2019, it jumped to 64. The trend continued in 2020, when 153 deaths went unreported.

Twenty-nine-year-old Kelsey Wolfe was one of ...