A federal district court found that a conflict of interest existed with the Corporate Counsel of the City of New York (Corporate Counsel) representing individual employees of Prison Health Services (PHS), because they had conflicting defenses. The court’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the family of a pretrial detainee who hanged himself shortly after arriving at the Rikers Island jail.

Upon being arraigned in Queens County Criminal Court on December 18, 2007, the court set bail at $2,500 and ordered David Mercado to be placed on suicide watch. Mercado did not post bond and was incarcerated at Rikers Island.

The next day he was referred to be examined by Patricia Jones, chief of the Mental Health Unit, for an evaluation regarding any “suicidal ideation.” She assigned Simflex Nyame to do the mental health review and informed him of the court order.

Nyame, however, said he was never advised of the order. He concluded that Mercado’s suicide watch should be discontinued; he also believed Jones would obtain the countersignature of a psychiatrist, which she never did.

In general population, guards observed Mercado “showing signs of depression, [and] radical changes in behavior,” prompting a referral back to the Mental Health ...

Despite a history of abuse and bad conditions, private-prison corporation GEO Group keeps getting contracts in Texas

by Craig Malisow

Anthony Ferrell left the Ben A. Reid halfway house in northeast Houston on October 25, 2010, to go to work. He never came back.

Just over two weeks later, a Meyerland gas station security camera recorded him walking inside shortly after midnight. When he exited, a mother of three was missing her purse and a 24-year-old college student lay on the floor, bleeding to death. The man had intervened in the purse snatching, and for that he got a bullet in the stomach.

Six days later, a Crime Stoppers tipster spoiled Ferrell’s good time: Police arrested him at a nightclub and charged him with capital murder in the death of Sam Irick. Two days after that, Ferrell had the privilege of observing something Irick never again would: a birthday.

Ferrell’s criminal history dates back to 1989, when he was convicted of burglary and given seven years probation. When he later refused to provide a sample for a urine analysis, his probation was revoked and the full sentence was imposed. But he was out of state custody by 1992, whereupon he ...

In politics, sometimes a little monetary grease goes a long way. No doubt, that’s why Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest private prison operator, based in Nashville, Tennessee, has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to lawmakers in California. Although it probably could never be proven, that is also likely why CCA was rewarded with a contract worth almost $700 million to house California prisoners in the company’s out-of-state facilities.

Derek Cressman, Regional Director of State Operations for Common Cause, a government watchdog group, put it this way: “The fact that they’re putting money in really looks like they’re greasing the skids to get a lot more money out.” And money is just what CCA has been “putting in” – mostly to Republicans, but a great deal to Democrats as well.

In 2009, CCA gave $100,000 to Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget-reform ballot measure. From 2008-2010 the company also donated $5,000 to Gov. Schwarzenegger, $10,000 to Republican Meg Whitman’s gubernatorial campaign and $95,000 to the California Republican Party. CCA contributed a lesser amount ($5,000) to Democrat Jerry Brown’s campaign for governor, while it donated $47,500 to the California Democratic Party, according to the Institute for Money in State ...

The Appeals Court of Massachusetts has reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of a Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) contract medical provider, subcontractor and contract staff alleged to have provided inadequate dental care.

John Sullivan, a prisoner at the DOC’s MCI-Norfolk facility, sued Correctional Medical Services, Inc. (CMS), various CMS personnel and Quality Plan Administrators, Inc. (QPA), a CMS subcontractor responsible for providing dental care to state prisoners. Sullivan alleged that the defendants had violated his Eighth Amendment right to adequate dental care by refusing to clean his teeth. Additionally, Sullivan raised a breach of contract claim arguing that he was the intended beneficiary of CMS’s subcontract with QPA (known as a third-party beneficiary claim).

The Superior Court granted summary judgment to the defendants. According to the court, Sullivan could show no Eighth Amendment violation due to his “repeated[] fail[ure] to accept personal responsibility for his dental hygiene,” and because he had failed to obtain an expert witness. Further, the court rebuffed Sullivan’s repeated requests for discovery and the convening of a medical malpractice tribunal. Sullivan appealed, raising three arguments.

First, Sullivan argued that the lower court had erred in granting summary judgment to the defendants on his ...

by Matt Clarke

On June 16, 2008, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Wyoming state prisoner housed at a privately-operated prison in Texas could sue private prison officials for retaliation and taking money from his trust account.

Roger D. Pfeil, a Wyoming prisoner incarcerated at the Bill Clayton Detention Center (BCDC) in Littlefield, Texas, had sent a letter to the Wyoming Department of Corrections complaining about prison conditions and asking to be returned to Wyoming. BCDC, a city-owned prison, was run by Correctional Services Corporation at the time (it was later managed by GEO Group).

Pfeil claimed that BCDC Lt. Reuben Torres charged him with a disciplinary violation for “reporting false or misleading information” for writing the letter. Pfeil had also testified at another prisoner’s disciplinary hearing. He alleged that the disciplinary actions were taken against him only because of his complaints to government officials about prison conditions and for testifying for the other prisoner. Pfeil was found guilty of the disciplinary infractions; he received 120 days in segregation, was no longer able to accrue future good-time credits, and was fined $50.

Pfeil filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights suit in federal district court against ...

The family of a man who died in 2001 from an asthma attack has settled a 42 U.S.C. §1983 suit for $943,000.

Robert L. Waters, Jr. collapsed in the well of D.C. Superior Court Judge Tim Murphy’s courtroom on April 20, 2001, while waiting to make an appearance on charges ...

U.S. Magistrate Judge John A. Gorman has denied a request for attorney’s fees and sanctions against a plaintiff who brought an unsuccessful civil rights action.

Defendant Advanced Correctional Healthcare Inc. had argued that it was entitled to attorney’s fees because the plaintiff’s suit was “frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation.”

But simply because a plaintiff “may ultimately lose his case is not in itself sufficient justification for assessment of fees,” Judge Gorman wrote. This is especially true in civil rights cases where “a careful balance must be drawn between the need to encourage private litigants to bring suit to vindicate civil rights and the need to deter actions brought primarily to harass a defendant without hope of success.”

In the case at hand, the court held that the suit did not “wholly lack either legal or factual basis at the time it was filed.” Accordingly, the defendants’ requests for fees were denied.

See: Brandon v. Advanced Correctional Healthcare Inc. No. 06-1316 (C.D. Ill. 2010).

By Brandon Sample

The family of a prisoner who was killed while being transported by a private prison transport company has agreed to settle its wrongful death suit.

The parents of Shawn Talbot sued U.S. Extradition services after their son died while being transported by the company. The driver of the van transporting Talbot from Utah to another state fell asleep while driving and crashed the van. Talbot died from his injuries in the crash.

Talbot’s parents claimed the company was negligent in transporting their son. The amount of the settlement is unknown.

See: Talbot vs. U.S. Extradition Services, No. 2: 10-CV-00578-DAk (D. Utah 2010).

A Louisiana U.S. District Court awarded $3,250 to a prisoner in a civil rights action that involved excessive use of force by a guard. The lawsuit was filed by Winn Correctional Center prisoner Derrick Levon Carter due to events that occurred on April 14, 2006. This case is unusual in ...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) internal grievance policy rule that prisoners name all defendants did not invalidate a prisoner’s grievance for purposes of exhaustion of administrative remedies when prison officials denied the grievance on the merits.

Mark Anthony Reed-Bly, a DOC prisoner, seriously dislocated his shoulder during a prison basketball game. He was treated at an emergency room and told that he would be seen by an orthopedic specialist within five days. 79 days later, he saw the specialist who told him that he would continue to have shoulder pain and accompanying headaches, some of which lasted up to three days, until he received surgery to repair the shoulder.

An X-ray showed that the shoulder separation was worsening and four times Reed-Bly requested follow-up care. Nonetheless, he did not receive the surgery until another three months had passed.

Reed-Bly filed a grievance. Prison officials responded, stating that the delay was caused by DOC officials awaiting approval for the surgery from Correctional Medical Services (CMS). The grievance was denied on the merits at all three levels.

Reed-Bly filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights action in federal district court alleging the ...