by Matt Clarke
On January 21, 2011, a U.S. District Court held that state prisoners in Arkansas have no First Amendment right to less expensive phone rates, a decision that was subsequently affirmed by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Arkansas state prisoners Winston Holloway and Joseph Breault filed a ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 9, 2011, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that executives with the Phoenix New Times, an alternative weekly publication, could sue a special prosecutor who arranged for their late-night arrests after the New Times criticized Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew P. ...
by Matt Clarke
Tougher immigration enforcement efforts coupled with fast-track procedures in immigration cases have combined to dramatically increase the number of Hispanics entering the federal prison system. Statistics released in June 2011 indicate that Hispanics, who make up only 16% of the U.S. population, accounted for almost half of ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 7, 2011, a Pennsylvania federal judge issued an order reducing a prisoner’s jury award for destruction of legal materials to $75,005. The award had previously been reduced from $185,000 to $115,000.
Andre Jacobs, a Pennsylvania state prisoner, filed a pro se civil rights lawsuit in ...
by Matt Clarke
Eldon Vail, the Secretary for the Washington Department of Corrections, submitted a letter of resignation on July 1, 2011 when it was publicly revealed that he had been having an affair with a subordinate.
Shortly before Vail resigned, several Seattle-area television stations received copies of a video ...
by Matt Clarke and Alex Friedmann
In 2006, Prison Legal News published a cover story, Guards Rape of Prisoners Rampant, No Solution in Sight, that presented a compilation of news reports concerning the rape and sexual abuse of prisoners by prison and jail staff, police officers and other law enforcement ...
by Matt Clarke
Delaware County, Indiana prosecutor Mark R. McKinney was suspended from practicing law for 120 days beginning on July 28, 2011. He was disciplined for engaging in professional misconduct by handling criminal prosecutions and civil forfeiture cases involving the same defendants while working as a deputy prosecutor from ...
by Matt Clarke
Texas has a generous compensation package for prisoners who are exonerated, which includes $80,000 per year of wrongful incarceration, an annuity with annual payments in the same amount, free college tuition and free medical care. [See: PLN, July 2009, p.12].
However, some state officials are stingy with ...
by Matt Clarke
On March 9, 2011, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation banning the death penalty for state crimes in Illinois. He also commuted the sentences of the state’s 15 death row prisoners to life without the possibility of parole. All but one of those prisoners have since been ...
by Matt Clarke
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that Oklahoma City can not be held liable for the actions of disgraced forensic chemist Joyce A. Gilchrist, who was employed in the city’s police crime lab for over two decades, and that a man who served 17 years ...
