With homelessness on the rise, the Supreme Court will weigh bans on sleeping outdoors
The Supreme Court will consider Monday whether banning homeless people from sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
Eighth Amendment
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Indy woman tries to aid incarcerated son filing pro se lawsuits against prison guards
A pair of complaints filed in 2021 by Pendleton Correctional Facility inmate Danny Johnson is showing the lawsuits can add to the frustration and sadness felt by the families who have relatives behind bars.
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Inmate placed in disciplinary segregation for 2 years loses summary judgment appeal
An inmate alleging his constitutional rights were violated in a prison disciplinary process that put him in segregation for two years has failed to find relief at the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
COA affirms dismissal of inmate’s complaint against prison officials after cell water was shut off
A defendant whose cell water was shut off for more than a week failed to prove that the two prison employees he sued knew that the water did not need to be shut off, a split Court of Appeals of Indiana has ruled.
Federal judge says Alabama can conduct nation’s 1st execution with nitrogen gas; appeal planned
Alabama will be allowed to put an inmate to death with nitrogen gas later this month, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, clearing the way for what would be the nation’s first execution using a new method the inmate’s lawyers criticize as cruel and experimental.
Transgender woman’s sexual assault lawsuit against correctional officers dismissed as time barred
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging correctional officers failed to protect a transgender woman from sexual assault in prison and that a correctional officer sexually assaulted her.
IN Supreme Court grants transfer to case involving default judgment, plus 2 others
The Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer to three cases for the week ending June 30, including one involving a a pool company that, according to the Court of Appeals of Indiana’s judgment, didn’t properly file a motion to set aside default judgment.
Why are firing squads for US executions being debated?
The image of gunmen in a row firing in unison into the chest of a condemned prisoner may conjure up a bygone, less enlightened era. But the idea of using firing squads is making a comeback.
7th Circuit vacates summary judgment for prison defendants after inmate alleges sexual assault
An inmate who claims he was sexually assaulted after being forced to undergo a blood draw will get another chance to pursue his case after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated summary judgment for the defendants.
ACLU of Indiana alleges unconstitutional conditions on Terre Haute death row in federal complaint
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, alleging death row inmates are being held in isolated conditions that violate their civil rights.
Inmate can proceed with claim that prison officer exposed him to COVID, court rules
An Indiana Department of Correction inmate can proceed with his claim that a prison officer violated his rights by housing COVID-positive inmates near him, a federal judge has ruled, rejecting the officer’s exhaustion-of-remedies argument on summary judgment.
7th Circuit: Prisoner failed to exhaust administrative remedies before filing 8th Amendment suit
An Indiana inmate who alleged a doctor and nurse were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs has failed to convince the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that his appeal is not precluded by his failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
7th Circuit overturns summary judgment, gives inmate another chance to litigate grievance
An inmate who was not given the necessary paperwork to file a grievance will get to litigate his Eighth Amendment complaint in federal court after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals issued the reminder that administrative remedies provided to prisoners must be “available in fact and not merely in form.”
Wrongful death lawsuit filed against Jackson County Jail
The family of a Louisville woman who died this past summer at a Seymour hospital after she was allegedly denied treatment at the Jackson County Jail for severe illness has filed a lawsuit against agency members in federal court.
More inmates sue Miami Correctional Facility over allegedly cruel conditions
Three more inmates have filed suit against a maximum-security prison in Indiana, alleging they were kept isolated and had to endure brutal and dangerous conditions in the facility’s restrictive housing unit.
Inmates claim Indiana prison kept them in cruel conditions
The lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana claim the conditions at the maximum-security Miami Correctional Facility near Peru amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
Majority justices uphold return of seized Land Rover that went to SCOTUS
After seven-plus years of litigation, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Marion man seeking the return of his seized white Land Rover. The majority justices concluded Thursday that Tyson Timbs met his high burden of showing that the harshness of his vehicle’s forfeiture was grossly disproportionate to the gravity of his underlying drug dealing offense and culpability for the vehicle’s misuse.
Missouri killer seeking firing squad loses high court appeal
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from a Missouri death row inmate who is seeking execution by firing squad.
Indianapolis loses appeal of order to permit Hustler Hollywood store
The city of Indianapolis has lost its appeal in years-long litigation against Hustler Hollywood, which has been trying for more than four years to open a store in the Circle City. The Indiana Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a lower court ruling ordering the city to issue permits to the adult entertainment company.
Indiana woman who gave birth alone in cell secures $200k settlement
An Indiana woman who gave birth alone in a Kentucky jail will receive a $200,000 settlement after arguing that correction staffers were deliberately indifferent to her medical needs, according to a news report.
Executioners sanitized accounts of deaths in federal cases
Executioners who put 13 inmates to death in the last months of the Trump administration likened the process of dying by lethal injection to falling asleep and called gurneys “beds” and final breaths “snores.” The sworn accounts by executioners, which government filings cited as evidence the lethal injections were going smoothly, raise questions about whether officials misled courts to ensure the executions scheduled from July to mid-January were done before death penalty opponent Joe Biden became president.