On Monday, a U.S. District Court began hearing arguments in a lawsuit over the allegedly inadequate mental health care provided to inmates of the Alabama Department of Corrections. The case is part of a larger suit, Braggs, et al. …
Mentally ill inmates held in Alabama’s prisons may soon be receiving better care thanks to a federal court. Late last week, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson awarded class action status to a lawsuit on behalf of prisoners allegedly receiving inadequate medical care from the Alabama Department of Corrections. That …
An inmate who gave birth inside a cell at the Tennessee Prison for Women has filed suit, alleging nurses and a doctor “alternately ignored and only occasionally checked on” the pregnant woman during four hours of labor. (Photo: Getty Images ) The family of a man who died after falling ill in a West Tennessee prison has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Centurion, the private …
A federal judge has granted class action status to a lawsuit filed against the state of Utah on behalf of several mentally ill prison inmates. The Disability Law Center is suing the state on behalf of three inmates in Utah jails, alleging that they’re being held unconstitutionally while they wait to get treatment at the Utah State Hospital. Aaron Kinikini is the center’s legal director.
New York City has agreed to pay $5.75 million to the family of Bradley Ballard, a mentally ill inmate on Rikers Island who was found dead in solitary confinement after being denied water and medication for six days. The payout represents the largest the city has ever made to settle a lawsuit over the death of an inmate in custody, according to the New York Times. But in addition to the …
The Florida Department of Corrections and former prison health-care provider Corizon have agreed to pay about $2.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that the state agency and the company denied hernia operations to inmates to save money. Under the settlement, Corizon agreed to pay $1.7 million to current and former inmates. The Department of Corrections agreed to pay $150,000 …
The largest bank in the United States settled a class-action lawsuit this week that stemmed from outcry over excessive fees the institution charged former prison inmates over the last four years. JPMorgan Chase won a government contract in 2008 to furnish inmates freed from all U.S. federal prisons with debit cards connected to money they were sent or earned while …
Parties in a class-action lawsuit alleging discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender (GBT) inmates at West Valley Detention Center appear open to resolving the case independently or through formal mediation, yet first must wrap up a weighty discovery effort. The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, along with a Los Angeles-based law firm, filed the …
A judge in a class-action lawsuit that protests the quality of health care in Arizona’s prisons has ordered the state to improve medical and mental health services for inmates after attorneys who won a settlement in the case complained that officials were dragging their feet in making required changes. The order Friday from U.S. Magistrate Judge David Duncan requires the state to come up with a …
A Kansas sheriff’s jail policy allowing inmates to receive and send only postcards through the mail violates the free speech and due process rights of prisoners and their families, civil rights advocates said in a lawsuit filed Thursday. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Social Justice Law Collective are seeking a court order to end the practice. Their lawsuit, which seeks …