Clarifying “the boundaries of proper exhaustion” within the context of California’s prison system, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prisoner “has no obligation to appeal from a grant of relief, or a partial grant that satisfies him, in order to exhaust administrative remedies.”
In July 2004, Quillie ...
by Mike Brodheim
Using tactics reminiscent of those once employed by tobacco companies, Taser International has for years engaged in a high-stakes campaign designed to deceive the public into believing that the stun guns it manufactures, known formally as Electronic Control Devices, are non-lethal and safe.
At least that’s the ...
In May 2011, California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) disapproved a proposed regulation submitted by the Board of Parole Hearings intended to formalize procedures requiring Board psychologists to evaluate the risk for future violence of life-sentenced prisoners being considered for parole.
In January 2009, the Board circulated a document which ...
by Mike Brodheim
Following remand from the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in Pierce v. County of Orange, 525 F.3d 1190 (9th Cir. 2008) [PLN, Feb. 2009, p.34], U.S. District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins held on January 7, 2011 that mobility- and dexterity-impaired pretrial detainees in Orange County jails faced discrimination ...
Michael Brodheim
In a rare prosecution of a corrections officer, a Florida federal jury convicted 33-year-old Erin Sharma of conspiring with fellow guard Michael Kennedy to deprive prisoner Richard Delano, 40, of his civil rights by setting in motion events which led to Delano's death in March 2005. When the ...
By Michael Brodheim
A divided Ohio Court of Appeals has held that changes to the state's Sex Offender Registration and Notification (SORN) Act, increasing its registration and notification requirements, violate the constitutional separation of powers doctrine to the extent that they attempt to modify existing final sentencing judgments.
In January ...
by Mike Brodheim
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a district court abused its discretion in granting preliminary injunctive relief to a group of California life-term prisoners who challenged, on Ex Post Facto grounds, a 2008 voter-approved initiative (Prop 9) which drastically reduced the availability and frequency ...
By Michael Brodheim
The California Court of Appeal has held that when, on remand after the granting of a petition for writ of habeas corpus, the Governor reconsiders whether or not a life prisoner is suitable for parole, he is not restricted to consideration only of evidence that was before ...
By Michael Brodheim
The California Court of Appeal has held that appellate disentitlement, a reviewing court’s inherent power to dismiss an appeal by a party who has refused to comply with a court’s orders, does not extend to the circumstances of a defendant who has been deported by the United ...
By Michael Brodheim
The California Court of Appeal has held that a prisoner, detained in prison solely because new charges (arising from in-prison misconduct) were brought against him, is entitled to presentence custody credits for all the time he remained in custody past his originally scheduled parole release date.
Three ...
