Articles

7th Circuit rules DOC sex offender program violates Constitution

Finding the disclosures provide information that any law enforcement agent “would love to have,” the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled Indiana’s requirement that sex offender inmates give detailed accounts of their past actions violates the Constitution’s protections against self-incrimination.

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Judge sanctions lawyer, ex-DOC nurse in inmate abuse case

After declaring her trust in the statements submitted by defendants in prisoner litigation cases “shattered,” a federal judge imposed sanctions — some as as severe as default judgment — on a former prison nurse and her attorney accused of misconduct as serious as perjury.

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Judge reinstates credit time after DOC withholds potentially exculpatory evidence

An inmate who was one of more than 1,000 inmates in the Department of Correction with the last name “Taylor” has been granted habeas relief from a prison disciplinary proceeding, with a judge finding the man was denied due process when DOC officials failed to explain how he was selected as the correct “Taylor” in the proceedings.

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State court suit aims to ban Indiana death penalty

A lawsuit naming Gov. Eric Holcomb filed on behalf of a prisoner on Indiana’s death row urges a state court to issue an injunction halting capital punishment and rule that the state’s ultimate criminal penalty violates the Indiana Constitution.

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Majority justices reduce drug sentence, order removal from DOC

Finding the circumstances of an Orange County case to be “exceptional,” a majority of the Indiana Supreme Court has reduced a woman’s sentence and ordered that she be removed from the Department of Correction and instead placed in community corrections. A dissenting justice would have denied transfer of the case.

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Indiana boy, 13, expected to admit to May school shooting

A 13-year-old boy accused of shooting and wounding a classmate and a teacher at their suburban Indianapolis school was expected to admit during a Monday court hearing to carrying out last May’s attack. The teen was set to appear in juvenile court for an admission/uncontested fact-finding hearing and a disposition hearing in Hamilton Circuit Court.

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Ruling: DOC violating rights of inmates with hepatitis

The Indiana Department of Correction’s failure to provide inmates with recommended hepatitis C treatment violates their constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment, a federal judge ruled Thursday in a groundbreaking order.

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Affirming juvenile DOC placement, COA seeks effective counsel guidance

A 15-year-old who had multiple instances of violent rage and who could no longer be controlled by his parents was properly placed in the Department of Correction, an Indiana Court of Appeals panel found. But judges also used the case to ask the Indiana Supreme Court for guidance on measuring the effectiveness of counsel in similar juvenile cases.

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COA: Filing errors don’t reverse probation revocation

Errors made in petition filing made by a deputy prosecutor rather than the director of a community corrections program were not sufficient to reverse the revocation of a man’s probation, the Indiana Court of Appeals determined Wednesday.

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Lack of inmate program recommendation no issue on appeal, COA rules

A man sentenced to six years in prison for battering his father lost his argument on appeal that the trial court failed to recommend him for participation in a substance abuse treatment program. Placement in such programs are left to the discretion of the Department of Correction, the court noted.

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State secret: DOC presses lethal injection confidentiality

A law slipped into the 2017 budget bill during the General Assembly’s final hours declared that information about drugs that the state would use to execute someone was confidential. The last-minute law was written into the bill even though a judge had ruled months earlier that the very same information was a matter of public record and had ordered the Department of Correction to provide it.

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