Legal
Legal issues in the correctional system encompass various topics, including inmate rights, staff conduct, and compliance with state and federal laws. This directory offers articles and resources on the legal aspects of correctional facility operations, helping staff stay informed about the regulations and policies that govern their work. Understanding legal responsibilities is essential for minimizing liability and ensuring facilities operate within the law. For more information, explore our section on Corrections Policies.
A state watchdog found serious investigative lapses in 12 of 13 California prison staff use-of-force cases it reviewed
Christopher Walrath was one of six COs charged with murder in Robert Brooks’ death, who was killed at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9
The Fountain Correctional Facility inmate says he was intentionally housed in a “bug and spider-infested area” and seeks $2 million in damages
Yusef Maisonet, an imam to Muslim death row inmates Dominique Ray and Nathaniel Wood, alleged that Alabama violated his rights by barring him from attending the inmates’ executions
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department is barred from holding a person in the jail system’s inmate reception center for more than 24 hours
Alex Toro pleaded not guilty to a four-count indictment alleging he’s been moonlighting as a drug dealer
Lee Boyd Malvo and his accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others over a three-week span in October 2002
“Someone slashes someone in jail, what do I do with him? I remove him from population and put him someplace by himself until he corrects his action.”
A federal lawsuit alleged that county officers and supervisors shackled the woman’s wrists, ankles and waist during prenatal visits, and during labor and childbirth
“New York City is better than solitary confinement,” Speaker Adams said
While nitrogen hypoxia has been authorized by Alabama and two other states for executions, it has never been used by a state
California Correctional Center in Susanville has remained open because the town sued, saying they face economic devastation if they lose more than 1,000 prison jobs
Werner Gramajo, a senior corrections officer at Northern State Prison in Newark, smuggled cash and goods into the prison for Thomas De Vingo, a 64-year-old inmate
The nation’s only medical prison for women, FMC Carswell, had the highest rate of sexual assault allegations at any federal women’s prison from 2014 to 2018
Lawyers for four men on the state’s death row testified that the prisoners would feel terrible pain whether their bodies were “cooking” by electricity or heart stopped by a marksman’s bullet
Lawsuit concerns how state handled rollout of letting the men and women awaiting execution know about ending their lives via nitrogen hypoxia
73 defendants are currently in jail awaiting court-mandated mental health treatment before they can stand trial, due to hospital space constraints
State argued the lawsuit by Alan Eugene Miller, who was convicted of killing three men in a workplace shooting in 1999, does not state a claim a judge could use to block the execution
“Violence is through the roof. The percentage of violence since the HALT Act is going to exceed last year’s record numbers of assaults on staff, and inmate on inmate assaults,” said union head
The judge erred on instructions involving Anthony Harris’ prior criminal history, photos police used in their investigation, and who identified Harris as alleged gunman
The proposal would restrict the use of confinement to no more than 15 consecutive days and a total of 45 days in a six-month span
The man alleges he was seen by multiple medical and mental health providers who failed to notice his decomposing leg
The man was in court to respond to numerous charges, including second-degree assault
Ninety-one California inmates died while they were awaiting compassionate release between January 2015 and April 2021, according to the nonprofit advocacy group FAMM
Deputies took two hours to respond to the homeless woman’s call for help, then stopped at Starbucks on the way to the hospital; the woman lost the pregnancy
Suit alleges Associate Warden Antonio Pires, 48, used his position to “manipulate and coerce” her into a brief sexual relationship and then gave her unfavorable assignments when she ended it
Ray Garcia, 55, former warden at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif., already faces federal charges alleging he sexually abused inmates and forced them to pose nude for him
A separate jury convicted former CO Alex Banta, 30, of similar charges in April
Court records and data from the state shows New Jersey is likely undercounting its population of wrongly convicted inmates
She, and her lawyers with the ACLU, claim prison has failed to dispense Zayre-Brown’s prescribed hormones and has denied her request for surgical vaginoplasty
“Today’s verdicts prove that violence and threats have no place in our politics and those who seek to divide us will be held accountable. They will not succeed,” said Whitmer
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against James Coddington’s appeal, stating his claims “allege only a theoretical possibility that something might go wrong”
During a courtroom break, “an individual in the gallery of a courtroom managed to get into the jury box and briefly attack an inmate.”
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