by John E. Dannenberg
The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) settled a publisher?s civil rights complaint challenging the arbitrary ban of Stateville Speaks, a nascent newspaper containing writings by IDOC prisoners. The IDOC amended its mail regulations regarding ?unacceptable publication? reviews (20 Ill. Adm. Code § 525.230) to provide advance ...
by John E. Dannenberg
In June 1999, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) won a suit against Chicago?s Cook County to abate unconstitutionally sordid, unsafe and abusive conditions at its Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC), conditions that had been tied to staff improprieties and inaction. But as of June 2006, ...
California Sexual Predators' Suit Alleging Unconstitutional Civil Confinement Conditions Survives Dismissal
by John E. Dannenberg
A class of 600 civilly committed sexually violent predators (SVP) sued the California Department of Mental Health (DMH) under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, complaining of a litany of unconstitutional conditions of confinement. When the state ...
by John E. Dannenberg
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has held that ?before conducting a warrantless search pursuant to a properly imposed parole condition, law enforcement officers must have probable cause to believe that the parolee resides at the house to be searched.? The court distinguished this from ...
by John E. Dannenberg
On October 26, 2006, in an unpublished order, the U.S. District Court (D. Colo.) held that 28 C.F.R. § 540.71(a)(2), which restricts Bureau of Prisons (BOP) prisoners from receiving soft cover publications unless they come directly from the publisher, a book club or a bookstore, satisfies ...
by John E. Dannenberg
Three Orthodox Jewish state prisoners won both preliminary and permanent injunctive relief requiring the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC) to provide them a Kosher diet at no personal cost.
Prisoners Dennis Fulbright, Jon Cottriel and Jerry Harmon brought individual 42 U.S.C. § 1983 actions in 2003 ...
by John E. Dannenberg
Marin County, California settled with the surviving family of a man who died after being hog-tied upon his arrest by Marin County Sheriff deputies.
Cary Grime was a pedestrian at 2 a.m. in the city of Novato on August 17, 2003. He was observed by Sheriff?s ...
by John E. Dannenberg
San Diego, California-based nonprofit addict-counseling firm Mental Health Systems, Inc. (MHS) may have been making a profit on its annual revenues of $65 million, after all. In May 2006, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency asked MHS to reimburse the county $83,278 -- ...
by John E. Dannenberg
A California prisoner who severely fractured his right thumb when falling from an upper bunk stated sufficient facts to assert an Eighth Amendment claim for deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs, as well as a violation of California Government Code (GC) § 845.6 [state law ...
by John E. Dannenberg
In an important ruling for all California in forma pauperis (IFP) prisoner state civil complaint plaintiffs, the California Court of Appeal interpreted the application of the mandatory prisoner civil filing fee statutes, Government Code (GC) § 68511.3 and Penal Code (PC) § 2601.
Phillip Sanders had ...
