This site contains over 2,000 news articles, legal briefs and publications related to for-profit companies that provide correctional services. Most of the content under the "Articles" tab below is from our Prison Legal News site. PLN, a monthly print publication, has been reporting on criminal justice-related issues, including prison privatization, since 1990. If you are seeking pleadings or court rulings in lawsuits and other legal proceedings involving private prison companies, search under the "Legal Briefs" tab. For reports, audits and other publications related to the private prison industry, search using the "Publications" tab.
For any type of search, click on the magnifying glass icon to enter one or more keywords, and you can refine your search criteria using "More search options." Note that searches for "CCA" and "Corrections Corporation of America" will return different results.
Delaware Medical Contractor's Policies Deliberately Indifferent
by
A Delaware Superior Court has denied a motion to dismiss a complaint
alleging FirstCorrectionalMedical (FCM
...
Contract Doctor Negligently Liable As Agent Of State DOC by State prisoner Joe Medley filed a medical negligence claim with the North Carolina Industrial Commission alleging that a doctor hired by the Department of Correction s(DOC), caused the amputation of his leg due to infection. The Commission granted summary judgment …
$2,220,000 Settlement To Missouri Prisoners Formerly Housed In Texas by Over seven hundred Missouri state prisoners, who were formerly housed as part of a bed-sharing program in Texas prison facilities from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 1997, filed a Federal class action civil rights complaint regarding conditions of confinement …
by a private
transportcompany (Transcor) employee under contract with New Hampshire was
unreasonable and violated her right to privacy under the First and
Fourteenth Amendments. Elliott was arrested
...
to enjoin Missouri from attaching a § 1983
judgment for incarceration costs.
Missouri prisoner Edward Moore successfully sued Correctional Medical
Services (CMS) for deliberate indifference to his serious
...
WI Transfer to CCA Prison Upheld by The plaintiff challenged his transfer to an out-of-state prison. At 974: ". . . [A] prisoner has no liberty interest in avoiding transfer to another prison, be it out-of-state, more restrictive, or owned and run by a private corporation." The transfer does not …
Reporter Sues CMS for Defamation
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An investigative reporter published an article critical of the defendants; they responded; the plaintiff
sued them for defamation and interference in his
...
PrivateContractors Bound by State Consent Decree
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A consent decree between Medicaid patients and the state is binding as a matter of due process upon HMO's who were agents of the state
...
PHS Avoids Liability in Maine Prison Suicide by The decedent committed suicide in prison. The court refuses to draw an adverse inference against the medical defendants from missing records because almost all of them were from a period later than when they had any dealings with the decedent, and the …
Wackenhut is a State Actor for Section 1983 Liability by Wackenhut is a State Actor for Section 1983 Liability The Wackenhut Corporation and its employees are "state actors" under § 1983 with respect to their operation of a jail under contract with the state. The plaintiff's allegation that a nurse …
Georgia Appeals Court Upholds $600,000 Judgment Against CMS
by
On July 5, 2001, the Court of Appeals of Georgia Upheld a trial court's
$600,000 award to Stephanie Stitt, a former state
...
Court Denies Jail Staff Motion to Dismiss in Death Suit by The plaintiff sued over the decedent's death in jail. A nurse, a doctor, and a private medical provider moved for a more definitive (sic) statement, asserting that language in the complaint such as "inter alia" and "is not limited …
for this work is cut
from $500 an hour (the expert's rate for being deposed) to $200. See: Boos
v. PrisonHealthServices, 212 F.R.D. 578 (D.Kan. 2002).
...
for prisoners
to demand it. Although a CMS spokesman insisted that CMS doctors are
privatecontractors and that "it is the individual physician's
responsibility to make sure care is given to patients
...
Public Right To Judicial Proceedings Outweighs Private Parties' Confidentiality Agreements by Public Right To Judicial Proceedings Outweighs Private Parties' Confidentiality Agreements East Coast Media Companies appealed a sealing order by New Jersey Superior Court's Law Division for private parties' contractual agreements and court documents relating to an alternative dispute resolution. …
Prison and CMS Liable for Prisoner's Asthma Death
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The court of appeals for the Eleventh circuit held that Georgia prison officials were liable for a prisoner's death from asthma
...
."' The former were employees of Correctional Medical Services (CMS). The complaint alleged that the defendants were deliberately indifferent to the prisoner's safety, in violation of the Eighth Amendment
...
. After the defendants filed motions for summary judgment, the court found that genuine issues of material fact existed solely for plaintiff Freddie Mills.
Mills' claim grew from CMS's failure to provide
...
Fired Guard Eligible for Unemployment Benefits by A Louisiana appeals court upheld unemployment benefits for a fired Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) guard. While working at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, the guard witnessed another guard speaking offensively to a black prisoner. The observing guard wrote a letter addressing …
