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Full-Text Articles in Law
Covid-19, Doctors, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part I: The Realities Of A Subject Matter Expert, Fred Rottnek
Covid-19, Doctors, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part I: The Realities Of A Subject Matter Expert, Fred Rottnek
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
COVID-19 is still novel. As scientists continue racing to characterize the virus and its mutations, promote behavioral change, and optimize treatment and vaccination strategies, public policy makers shift their attention from one high priority population to the next. These spotlights have converged on one truism of the pandemic: COVID-19 infection, and all its sequelae, have magnified long-established social and structural inequities in U.S. institutions—including practices in jails, prisons, and detention facilities. While these facilities were recognized as early incubators of the virus, the response of the facility administrators and local leaders were at best uneven and at worst nonexistent. When …
Covid-19, Courts, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part Ii: The Realities Of Litigation, Chad Flanders
Covid-19, Courts, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part Ii: The Realities Of Litigation, Chad Flanders
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
Lawsuits challenging prisons and jails for not doing enough to stop the spread of COVID-19 among inmates have faced mixed results in the courts: wins at the district court level are almost always followed by losses (in the form of stays of any orders to improve conditions) at the appeals court level or at the Supreme Court. This short Article tries to explain why this is happening and makes three comparisons between how district courts and appeals courts have analyzed these lawsuits. First, district courts and appeals courts tend to emphasize different facts in their decisions. District courts focus more …