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In Pearson v. Hodgson, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will consider whether a sheriff has authority under Massachusetts law to enter into a contract for “site commissions”—essentially, legalized kickbacks—with Securus, a correctional telecom provider. Under the agreement in question, the sheriff’s office received almost 50 percent of Securus’s revenues for calls with incarcerated people in the...

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) seized the CARES Act emergency relief funds of incarcerated people in Ohio and garnished those funds to pay government debt—despite Ohio’s Attorney General having declared that the relief money was exempt from debt collection under Ohio state law. Incarcerated Ohioans sued, seeking a declaratory judgment on the...

New Orleanians who overpaid for bail bond services sued bail bond companies for illegally overcharging tens of thousands of low-income New Orleans families, who were forced to turn to these companies to secure freedom for their loved ones. Although a Louisiana law specified that bail bond companies could only charge twelve percent of the bond...