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 ...

by Matt Clarke

Texas Governor Rick Perry caused considerable controversy on Sept. 30, 2009 when he replaced three members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, just two days before the commission’s hearing on a report that an innocent man may have been executed during Perry’s tenure. As a result the hearing was postponed.

According to Cameron Todd Willingham, a 23-year-old unemployed mechanic living in Corsicana, Texas, he woke up on the morning of December 23, 1991 to find his house on fire. He received minor burns but made it out alive. His three infant daughters did not. Local investigators concluded the fire was caused by arson, and the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office agreed. Willingham was the only suspect; he was charged with murder, convicted, sentenced to death and executed on February 17, 2004. He proclaimed his innocence with his last words.

It was later revealed that shortly before Willingham was executed, Governor Perry had received a fax from Willingham’s attorney containing an arson expert’s report. The report, by Austin, Texas fire science expert Gerald Hurst, who holds a doctorate in chemistry from Cambridge University, stated that the investigators “made errors” and used discredited techniques to determine whether the fire ...

In an official-capacity action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy D. Baca, the plaintiffs alleged they remained in the custody of the Sheriff’s Department, in violation of their constitutional rights, for periods of time ranging from 26 to 29 hours after a court had ordered their release. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit upheld the district court’s second grant of summary judgment to Sheriff Baca on the ground that the evidence proffered by the parties, when viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, did not support a finding of deliberate indifference.

In a previous opinion, Berry v. Baca, 379 F.3d 764 (9th Cir. 2004) [PLN, March 2005, p.32], the Ninth Circuit had reversed the district court’s prior grant of summary judgment to Baca. In so ruling, the Court of Appeals explained that the district court had failed to apply the analytical framework appropriate for determining whether or not “action pursuant to official policy of some nature caused a constitutional tort,” citing Monell v. Dep’t. of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978). In particular, the Ninth Circuit said the district court had failed to address the issue of deliberate indifference.

Following remand, both sides ...