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Articles in Verdict1

Los Angeles County to Pay Almost $4 Million for Sexual Abuse by Jail Deputy

by Douglas Ankney

In November 2018, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle claims against the county, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LACSD), Sheriff James McDonnell and Deputy Giancarlo Scotti. The Board’s decision ended a lawsuit brought by two former female prisoners ...

$625,000 Settlement for Virginia Jail Prisoner’s Death from Untreated Ulcer

A $625,000 settlement was reached in the death of a pretrial detainee due to an untreated, ruptured ulcer at Virginia’s Hampton Roads Regional Jail (HRRJ).

The August 6, 2016 death of Henry Clay Stewart, Jr., 60, came almost a year after the high-profile death of another HRRJ prisoner, Jamycheal Mitchell. ...

$525,000 Settlement for Loss of Federal Prisoner’s Eye

In August 2018, a former prisoner at USP Lewisburg accepted a $525,000 settlement to resolve a civil rights action alleging guards violated Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy by using excessive force against him, resulting in the loss of an eye.

James Hunt was held in the Special Management Unit (SMU) ...

Beating of Michigan Jail Prisoner Results in $36.6 Million Verdict,$12.9 Million Settlement

by Chad Marks

In 2010, William Jennings was booked into Michigan’s Genesee County Jail on a DUI charge. According to surveillance video footage, within hours he was brutally beaten by sheriff’s deputies – slammed to the floor, his head smashed against a metal bench, and punched and kicked. 

After ...

Kentucky Prison Guards Settle Sexual Harassment Suit for $1.5 Million

by David M. Reutter

A $1.5 million settlement was reached in a lawsuit alleging a male sergeant at Kentucky’s Little Sandy Correctional Complex (LSCC) sexually harassed four female guards. The settlement ended an appeal that followed a $1.6 million jury award.

“We think this shows the seriousness of the verdict,” ...

Colorado: $190,000 Settlement for Prisoners Ordered Released but Kept in Jail for Inability to Pay $55 Fee

by Matt Clarke 

El Paso County, Colorado has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by a woman who remained in jail for 27 days because she was unable to pay a $55 fee, even after a judge ordered her release on a personal recognizance bond.

According to court ...

$4.75 Million Settlement for Pennsylvania Teenager’s Withdrawal Death in Jail

by David M. Reutter

The death of a teenager is a sad event. But when it was entirely preventable, it becomes tragic.

The death of Victoria Jeanette Herr, 18, just four days after being booked into Pennsylvania’s Lebanon County Correctional Facility (LCCF), is yet another example of poor healthcare and ...

Michigan Prisoner Obtains $2,000 Settlement in Group Strip Search Suit

by Scott Grammer

On February 10, 2017, Mario Cavin, incarcerated at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility, filed a handwritten civil rights complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. He alleged that he had been strip searched in the prison’s chapel in front of “fifteen to ...

Tennessee County Settles Jail Prisoner’s Excessive Use of Force Claim for $160,000

by Douglas Ankney

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee has agreed to pay Timothy Warren $110,000 in damages for injuries he suffered at the county jail, plus an additional $50,000 in attorney’s fees.

On New Year’s Eve 2013, Warren was arrested and booked into the Davidson County ...

California Jail Settles Class-Action Lawsuit Over Conditions of Confinement

by Derek Gilna

A federal civil rights suit filed by the Prison Law Office against Santa Clara County, California after a mentally ill prisoner was beaten to death by guards at the county’s jail has settled for policy changes plus $1.6 million in attorneys’ fees and annual payments of $200,000 ...