In a landmark case, inmate Caine Pelzer's 15-year solitary confinement ends with a settlement, spotlighting the urgent need for reform in solitary practices.
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Civil Rights Law
Lawsuit is one of three filed in U.S. District Court in Erie against the same police officer. Another cases also settled. Third is pending. City says officer acted properly in making the arrests.
Westmoreland commissioners have approved a $150,000 settlement to end a federal lawsuit filed by a New Mexico man who claimed county jail guards brutally beat him two years ago.
Razor wire surrounds the perimeter of the Erie County Prison, shown in this file photo. The estate of inmate Matthew Creaton, 35, who killed himself at the prison in February 2020, is suing the prison's contracted medical providers over his death.
Main evidence in civil rights case is video of police striking drug suspect in alley outside of tavern in November 2019. Video was made public in July 2020 in court and by Erie Times-News.
Plaintiff claimed collarbones, ribs were broken when he was arrested on Jan. 1 as he was walking from hospital, only medical gown, pants. He received mental health treatment. City defended police.
ERIE – A federal judge has rejected the Erie School District’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by the mother of an emotionally disabled and autistic male student, one who the suit says was discriminated against and then unsafely ejected from school.
A 33-year-old Westmoreland County Prison inmate who claims he was violently beaten by six guards earlier this year at the Hempfield lockup is seeking $225,000 in a federal lawsuit alleging his civil rights were violated.
Three Erie men were injured after City of Erie Patrolman Joshua Allison illegally assaulted them during arrests he conducted.
Plaintiff Davaughn Tate-Johnson claims an officer punched him three times during an arrest in January.
Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources, Inc. agreed to pay the settlement to end questions about staffing at the prison. Questions about the number of physician hours Wexford provides at the prison were first raised publicly in a federal lawsuit filed by Erie lawyer John Mizner after an inmate at the prison.
In a move the inmate’s lawyer described as extremely rare, the Department of Justice filed a brief in support of the inmate, Robert Furgess, who sued the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections in January 2017 under the Americans with Disabilities Act.