LEGAL-TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Learn More
Learn more about our comprehensive Legal and Technical Assistance services, designed to support correctional facilities in legal compliance and operational challenges. Discover how our expert guidance can help your facility navigate complex legal landscapes and improve technical operations for a safer, more efficient correctional environment.
Explore our Services
Explore our Services to gain insight into our unique, legal-based programs designed to elevate the skills and knowledge of corrections professionals.
Contact Us
Contact Us for personalized guidance and support to enhance your corrections training journey and learn more about our specialized programs.
Unrivaled Legal-Technical Assistance for Corrections
Agencies must deal with inmate-filed litigation on a regular basis. Litigation defense is time-consuming, costly, stressful, and requires a high level of skilled expertise, any of which can be frustrating for administrators with limited resources. Recognizing the need for legal technical assistance in the corrections field, NIJO offers a variety of services to assist agencies and their legal counsel to successfully mitigate and defend their agencies in prisoner-filed lawsuits. These include:
- Civil Liability & Risk Management – (PREA, Writing Legal-Based Policy and Procedure, etc.)
- Correctional Law (Prisoner Rights, PLRA, etc.)
- Inmate Communications (Access to Courts and Counsel, Inmate Mail, etc.)
- Personnel Management (Code of Conduct, Ethics, De-Escalation Skills, etc.)
- Inmate Security, Safety and Welfare (Duty to Protect, Required Life Necessities, etc.)
- Inmate Health Care – (Managing Mentally Ill, Suicide Risk Screening, etc.)
- Inmate Management – (Classification, Grievances, Inmate Discipline, etc.)
NIJO works exclusively with some of the most renowned correctional litigation experts in the United States. The list includes prominent individuals known for their success in the courtroom representing correctional administrations.
Blake Hamilton, esq.
Blake Hamilton, NCCE, has significant trial experience in both Federal and State Courts. He has also worked on briefs and/or argued before the Utah Court of Appeals, the Utah Supreme Court, the 9th & 10th Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hamilton’s primary practice areas are civil rights litigation and governmental entity defense. He currently serves as general counsel for the Utah Peace Officers Association and the National Institute of Jail Operations, as well as conflict counsel for the Utah Fraternal Order of Police. He has represented governmental entities and their employees through the Utah Local Government Trust, Utah Counties Insurance Pool, Utah Risk Management Mutual Association, Utah Highway Patrol Association, and Professional Law Enforcement Association.
Mr. Hamilton is a member of Durham Jones & Pinegar’s Board of Directors and is the chair of the firm’s Governmental Entity Defense group. He also co-chaired the Wills for Heroes committee, which provides wills and other estate planning services for emergency first responders and their families for the past six years and is listed in the 2015 Utah Business Magazine as one of Utah’s “Legal Elite.” To find out more or to contact Mr. Hamilton about legal representation, technical assistance, or litigation consultation, please contact NIJO.
Sean Stewart
Sean Stewart was hired with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in September 1992. He was promoted to Sergeant in December 1997 and ultimately Captain in June 2006. Sean has commanded Security Services Section, the Emergency Response Team, Administrative Segregation Housing Units, General Population Units, Judicial Security, Intake and Identification Unit and the Transportation Unit. Sean retired from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department on January 1, 2021. He is qualified as a national corrections expert and has provided “Expert Witness” assistance to jails and prisons across the country who found themselves facing litigation.
Rachel Love
Rachel Love focuses her practice on defense of America’s corrections departments, jail systems, and law enforcement agencies and their officers in civil rights litigation, including defense of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Bivens and tort actions, class actions, and complex multi-party litigation matters filed in jurisdictions across the United States. Rachel is respected for specialized defense of excessive force, inmate assault/homicide, sexual assault, inmate suicide, inmate disturbance response, STG/gang management, maximum custody management, classification, conditions of confinement, deliberate indifference to medical needs, retaliation, religious rights, First Amendment challenges, publications, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death claims filed by inmates and inmate advocacy groups.
Joshua Arnold
Joshua Arnold has wealth of knowledge and extensive experience in corrections, having worked in the field for over 23 years. In 2020, he retired as a Captain at the Pima County Sheriff’s Department (AZ). While working with NIJO, Joshua has been the lead inspector for several facility inspections seeking NIJO Accreditation. He has trained on topics of code of conduct, ethics, leadership, use of force, searches, duty to protect and classification at local and regional NIJO seminars and at JAILCON Corrections Training Conferences. Joshua is also a popular instructor in NIJO’s online training platform, DACOTA. Mr. Arnold is a National Certified Corrections Executive and a graduate of the National Jail Leadership Command Academy and Northwest University’s Police Staff and Command Academy.
Keith Hoskins
Keith Hoskins, NCCE, retired as Director of the Boone County Detention Facility (MO) in December 2020, after 35 years working in the field of corrections. He has served on several jail committees and boards and has become a trusted trainer in the Central United States. In 2020 Hoskins was selected as Jail Administrator of the year for Missouri. He has authored articles that have been published in national magazines and state law enforcement magazines. Hoskins was a Missouri State Certified Peace Officer for 34 years. He is certified as a generalist instructor. He has been certified in the past as an instructor in Less-Lethal/Non-Lethal, NRA Police Firearms (Handgun, Shotgun), Rifle (Strategos), Corrections Emergency Response Team (CERT), and Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) Aerosol. Hoskins has been certified as a Glock Advanced Armorer, Smith & Wesson Armorer, Remington 870 Armorer, Colt AR-15 Armorer and a PepperBall Instructor and advanced armorer. In addition to the law enforcement field, Hoskins retired in 2021 after 40 years’ experience with local fire departments. Hoskins was certified as Firefighter I, Emergency Medical Technician-B (EMT), Missouri Fire Investigator, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Post Blast Investigator. He served several years on the local bomb squad while serving with the fire department.
OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
LEGAL CONSULTATION
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Enhancing Operational Efficiency is key in corrections. Our legal-technical assistance aims to streamline facility operations, ensuring they are efficient, compliant, and up-to-date with the latest legal and technical standards.
Our Legal Consultation service provides specialized legal support for correctional facilities. This includes guidance on compliance, risk management, and best practices, ensuring facilities operate within legal parameters and effectively address legal challenges.
Technical Support is crucial for the smooth operation of correctional facilities. Our team offers expertise in resolving technical issues and implementing effective systems, ensuring facilities adhere to legal standards and operational best practices.
