by John E. Dannenberg
An exhaustive analysis of prison phone contracts nationwide has revealed that with only limited exceptions, telephone service providers offer lucrative kickbacks (politely termed “commissions”) to state contracting agencies – amounting on average to 42% of gross revenues from prisoners’ phone calls – in order to obtain ...
by John E. Dannenberg
On January 24, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court (USSC), ruling on a relatively minor procedural issue regarding the timing of a defense motion for summary judgment, upheld a $625,000 jury verdict awarded to a female prisoner who was sexually abused by an Ohio state prison guard. ...
by John E. Dannenberg
In a unanimous per curiam opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court (USSC) summarily reversed rulings by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in two California parole cases in which the Ninth Circuit had overruled state court denials of habeas corpus relief from challenged parole denials by life-sentenced ...
The California Court of Appeal, Third District, ruled in April 2008 that when a prisoner receives multiple convictions arising from a single act, some of which qualify as “non-violent” while others qualify as “violent” or “serious,” the harsher 15% limitation on earned work credits attaching to violent or serious offenses ...
by John E. Dannenberg
In a unanimous ruling on July 29, 2010, the California Supreme Court resolved a narrow question regarding lifer parole litigation; namely, what is the proper scope of the remedy ordered by a California court which concludes that a decision by the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) ...
by John E. Dannenberg
On June 14, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court (USSC) agreed to review orders entered by a three-judge federal district court panel in California that would relieve overcrowding in that state’s prison system by requiring a reduction in its 172,000 prisoner population by 46,000 over the next ...
by John E. Dannenberg
In a major loss for California lifers, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, in an en banc ruling, held that a second-degree murderer who had served 27 years on a 15-life sentence did not have a right to parole that devolved from either federal law ...
Ninth Circuit: 42 U.S.C. § 233(a) Does Not Immunize Public Health Service Employees from Bivens Constitutional Tort Claims
by John E. Dannenberg
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has held that 42 U.S.C. § 233(a), which at first blush seems to exempt officers and employees of the U.S. Public ...
by John E. Dannenberg
In two rulings in the same case, the California Court of Appeal distinguished the speedy trial rights versus the waiver-of-appearance rights of state prisoners who are facing detainers for probation violations.
Although California prisoners may waive their right to appear so as to speed up the ...
by John E. Dannenberg
Jail prisoners in California, Florida, Michigan and Texas have unknowingly had their phone calls to defense attorneys secretly recorded and handed over to prosecutors. The recordings surfaced before trial, when prosecutors were required to divulge all the evidence they possessed to the prisoners’ lawyers.
Highly indignant ...
