If a business near your home was dumping raw sewage into rivers and improperly storing toxic materials that contaminated your drinking water supply, would you want to know about it? Would you be grateful if an employee reported this to the proper authorities? How would you feel if the employee ...
The U.S. supreme court, in a five to four ruling, held that employees of privately owned and operated prisons are not entitled to qualified immunity from suit. In the January, 1997, issue of PLN we reported McKnight v. Rees, 88 F.3d 417 (6th Cir. 1996) where the court of appeals ...
Lest anyone think that the only time we show our appreciation for PLN supporters is when they die, we are very pleased to announce that PLN columnist John Midgley was awarded the 1997 William O. Douglas Award by the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (WACDL) on June 13, 1997. ...
PLN is part of the prison press in the literal sense of the word. In addition to PLN there are many other newsletters and journals out there that carry news and information that complements what we do. In many cases their area of interest or focus is a lot narrower ...
The Bad News: In April of this year longtime PLN supporter Jerry Dreva died in his sleep from a heart attack. An artist and revolutionary, Jerry could always be counted on to help. Last year he made possible our 28 page issue commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 1986 uprising ...
In the June, August and December, 1996, issues of PLN we reported the history and developments in Wright v. Riveland, the Washington class action lawsuit challenging the legality of RCW 72.09.480, a state statute that allows the DOC to seize 35% of all funds sent to state prisoners. For more ...
On February 19, 1997, a unanimous United States Supreme Court held that the revocation of previously granted good time credits violates the ex post facto provision of the United States constitution. The Court held that subjective intent on the part of legislatures was immaterial for ex post facto purposes. In ...
Longtime PLN readers may recall that in early 1994 Ed Mead, PLN's former co-editor, and I filed suit against the Washington State Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB, aka the parole board). The suit challenged the "no association" parole condition they had placed on Ed that prohibited from having contact with ...
With the repeal of welfare, some political opportunists and right-wing pundits are turning their sights on questions of law and order in general and prison "reform" in particular. They are starting to push Congress to impose the same solution on prisoners as on welfare recipients: put them to work. In ...
With little notice and no fanfare on September 30, 1996, president Clinton signed into law the mammoth Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Bill, PL 104-208, which is the federal government's budget. Section 614 of the law states: "None of the funds made available in this Act to the federal Bureau of Prisons ...
