Attorney John J. Wilson, a Department of Justice lawyer for almost 31 years, and the author of federal regulations for the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, has condemned the practices of Rhode Island Family Court magistrates, who have locked up dozens of juveniles for non-criminal offenses. According to Wilson, incarcerating non-criminal juveniles for even one night violates the basic premise of the federal act.

Wilson said the act provides money to states like Rhode Island if they follow federal guidelines for youths in the justice system. “We don’t punish adults for doing things that are not criminal, so why in heaven’s name would we punish children for doing things that aren’t criminal,” he asked. “[It’s] an abuse of judicial authority.... And it’s a practice that should be stopped.” At risk is the state’s eligibility to receive federal juvenile justice funding, and the state has compounded its errors by failing to report such detentions to federal officials who monitor state compliance with federal regulations.

For a number of years, according to national juvenile justice experts like Wilson, as well as attorneys, parents and students, magistrates for the Rhode Island Family Court’s truancy program have imprisoned students who misbehave ...

The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the false imprisonment conviction of three detainees because the evidence presented at their trial was insufficient to support their convictions.

On November 5, 2006, Reheim Jaahad Shearin, Tyrone Caruthers, Jason Tyrone Dellemar and Johntavis Jermaine Kellom were all being housed at the Wilcox County Jail, in Abbeville, Georgia. Richard Knight, a guard at the jail was on duty by himself the night these detainees escaped. Knight testified that Kellom, and two other detainees that he could not identify, attacked him and took his keys, escaping while he was incapacitated.
After doing a roll call of the detainees immediately after the incident, it was found the four had escaped: Kellom and the three appellants. All of the escapees were recovered in less than 24 hours and they were jointly charged with the offenses of kidnapping with bodily injury (OCGA § 16-5-40), riot in a penal institution (OCGA § 1610-56), robbery (OCGA § 16-8-40), and escape (OCGA § 16-10-52). Kellom pled guilty as charged and was sentenced prior to the trial of the appellants. After the jury was selected and sworn, but before the opening statements of counsel, the appellants plead guilty to the charge of ...

On October 5, 2009, New York prisoner Valerie Gaiter was awarded $650 in a New York Claims Court as compensation for 65 days she was wrongfully confined following a disciplinary conviction. At her disciplinary hearing, the hearing officer refused to allow her to call witnesses prepared to testify on her ...

The District of Columbia paid $19,500 to settle the lawsuit of minor Carolyn Clark for false arrest and imprisonment.

On April 9, 2001, W. Bruce Evans Middle School took several female children, ages 13 to 15, on a tour of the D.C. Jail. Upon arrival at the jail, the students, ...

The District of Columbia paid $150,000 to settle the lawsuit of Marcus Bradley, a minor, for injuries sustained from false arrest.

While attending school at W. Bruce Evans Middle School on May 17, 2001, Bradley, along with eleven other students went on a tour of the D.C. Jail. These students ...

The District of Columbia (D.C.) paid $150,000 to settle the lawsuit of Steven A. Douglass, a minor, for false arrest and imprisonment while his school class was on a “field trip” to the D.C. Jail.

On April 9, 2001 Douglass, along with about 10 other children from W. Bruce Evans ...

The State of Washington paid a former prisoner $46,500.00 to settle a tort claim, alleging 246 days of wrongful imprisonment.

Rand Kelson pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to 84 months in a Washington prison. The sentence should have begun on November 1, 2001, with a maximum release date ...

A long-running lawsuit against the City of Long Beach, California for Thomas Goldstein’s wrongful murder conviction was settled in June 2010 for $7.95 million.

After serving 24 years in prison following his 1980 conviction, Goldstein was finally released based on new evidence that the police had coached the lone eyewitness ...

The City of New York will pay $9.9 million to a man who was wrongfully accused, arrested, convicted and imprisoned as the result of actions by disgraced former New York City police detective Louis J. Eppolito, who is now serving a life sentence plus 100 years for mob-related activities.

In ...

On June 21, 2010, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that emergency conditions at a Louisiana prison following Hurricane Katrina helped excuse the failure of a warden to release a prisoner for three months after the deadline for filing an indictment against him had passed.

About two weeks after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in late August 2005, James Allen Terry, Jr. was arrested for looting and possession of a controlled dangerous substance while in possession of a weapon in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. He was taken to the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center (EHCC). An Orleans Parish judge arraigned him and set a $200,000 bond three days later.

Ordinarily, an indictment must be filed within 60 days after arrest for a felony offense. Due to the chaotic situation in southern Louisiana, however, the state’s Supreme Court extended the filing deadline to January 6, 2006. The deadline passed without Terry being indicted. He wrote letters to EHCC Warden Cornel H. Hubert asking why he had not been released, what the addresses were for various Louisiana politicians, and why the law library hadn’t responded to his request for habeas corpus forms and inmate counsel.

Hubert had an assistant warden investigate Terry’s inmate ...