The Presumption of Innocence Podcast: Episode 6 - It's Never Too Soon to Think About Early Release
The immunity of government bodies and officials from lawsuits and claims has been a long-standing part of the law. Under the principle, federal, state, and local governments generally cannot be held liable for negligent or...more
Key Points: There is a constitutional right to medical care for those individuals in custody. Although there is a right to have a government actor intervene when the underlying constitutional violation involves excessive...more
Robins Kaplan Secures Historic $12.2 Million Settlement in a Section 1983 Jail Deliberate Indifference Case - Scott County Jail officials failed to report detained man’s injuries and allowed video evidence to be deleted. ...more
The prison system in the United States is run by both public institutions and private entities, which are controlled by and operated at the federal or state level. Understanding these distinctions is essential, especially...more
In the recent case, Durham v. Kelley, 82 F.4th 217 (3d Cir. 2023), an inmate at the New Jersey State Prison who had been diagnosed with lumbar stenosis brought a pro se action, alleging violations of the Americans with...more
Individuals leaving incarceration have disproportionately higher rates of physical and behavioral health diagnoses and are at higher risk for injury and death compared with people who have not been incarcerated. Race...more
In a new webinar, Manatt Health, the American Medical Association (AMA) and a panel of stakeholders will share key lessons for states seeking to innovate and expand access to evidence-based care for pregnant people with a...more
The Big Picture - On January 26, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved California’s request to amend the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) Section 1115 demonstration. A...more
The United States familiarly calls itself the “land of the free,” and holds itself out as a bastion of due process and civil rights. Yet, America’s jails are guilty of the worst forms of human rights abuses imaginable. A New...more
What happens when the Supreme Court changes the interpretation of the law under which a federal inmate was convicted, such that the person would be innocent under that new interpretation?...more
On September 28, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued approval letters for Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration applications previously submitted by Oregon and Massachusetts. Section 1115 waivers...more
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (covering Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maryland) held that gender dysphoria, a condition experienced by some transgender individuals, is a protected...more
While opportunities and circumstances to request compassionate release from prison grew in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly accelerated the use of this process to ease overcrowding during the public health crisis. ...more
A class action lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois reveals the egregious living conditions for approximately 1,000 prisoners at the Northern Reception Center in Crest Hill,...more
Although Wednesday was Mental Health Day at the State Capitol, legislators and lobbyists appeared much more checked out on Thursday. Both chambers convened, and the House debated and passed HB 841 (putting forth a referendum...more
On October 19, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or the “Bureau”) entered into its first consent order under new Director Rohit Chopra, finding that a service provider to state correctional departments...more
The defenses available to healthcare providers in federal court are more limited after a recent Fourth Circuit ruling. In Pledger v. Lynch, the plaintiff appealed the dismissal of his medical malpractice claim against the...more
Class action proceedings are routinely characterized as "procedural" in nature. However, that framing obscures the fact that class actions—and interim proceedings within class actions—have very real consequences for class...more
Mootness, as one of the big three justiciability requirements, is a jurisdictional requirement on which judges do not normally postpone adjudication. But in a recent putative class action of transgender inmates, the D.C....more
Florida AG Ashley Moody and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) reached a settlement with the operator of magazine subscription service Inmate Magazine Service, Inc. and related entities (collectively “Inmate Magazine...more
Sexual harassment of prison staff by prison inmates is a difficult issue. Courts have rightly held that harassment by inmates can be actionable when the employer fails to take reasonable steps to combat it, but prisoners are...more
Does the Eighth Amendment require Florida prison officials to treat all inmates with chronic Hepatitis-C with direct acting antiviral drugs? The Eleventh Circuit says no in Hoffer v. Secretary, Florida Department of...more
In a recent opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granting correctional officers qualified immunity on the basis that the doctrine shields an officer from suit when he or she...more
Periodically, Nexsen Pruet attorney Marc Manos, a member of the SC Bar Torts and Insurance Practice Section Council, sheds light on a few recent cases from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, focused in the areas of torts &...more
Mckesson v. Doe, No. 19-1108: The plaintiff-respondent in this case is a police officer who suffered devastating injuries after being struck by a rock-like object during a protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The protest...more