Articles

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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Indiana Court Decisions — March 1-14, 2018

7th Circuit Court of Appeals March 2 Civil Plenary — Noncitizen Transgender Name Change John Doe, formerly known as Jane Doe v. Eric Holcomb, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Indiana, et al. 17-1756 A Mexican native with asylum in the United States cannot continue with his suit against various Indiana […]

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Appellate court remands for amended Abstract of Judgment

An Indiana trial court must enter an amended Abstract of Judgment for an offender recommended for the Indiana Department of Correction’s Purposeful Incarceration program after the Indiana Court of Appeals determined the initial order did not explicitly allow for a sentence modification.

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Supreme Court upholds DOC’s lethal injection protocols

The Indiana Department of Correction can alter its lethal injection protocols without going through a rule-making process because such protocols are internal procedures without the effect of law, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a decision affirming the dismissal of a death row inmate’s challenge to Indiana’s lethal injection cocktail.

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DOC sex offender program faces Fifth Amendment test

The question of whether Indiana’s treatment program for convicted sex offenders is constitutional is not only providing a case of first impression for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals but could also give the U.S. Supreme Court the opportunity to clear the confusion over when a prison violates an inmate’s Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

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Supreme Court: Community Corrections can’t revoke good time credit

Directors of community corrections programs do not have authority to revoke inmates’ good time credit as a disciplinary measure because the Indiana Department of Correction has not yet delegated that authority to community corrections programs, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Friday. The decision reversed rulings in the trial court and Court of Appeals.

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