By Ronald Young
Texas has a history rooted in the Southern antebellum traditions of religion and slavery. One of the cornerstones of Texas governor and presidential hopeful George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" is what he calls faith-based social programs. Bush is of the belief that religious organizations are best suited ...
By Ronal Young
The summer continued to heat up in the Texas prison system even before the season officially began.
On May 5, 2000, guards at the Stiles prison near Beaumont overpowered an armed male prisoner after he briefly held two female medical workers hostage in a failed effort to ...
By Ronald Young
The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that state administrative proceedings a prisoner was required to exhaust tolled Louisiana's one-year prescriptive period for filing a civil rights claim. The court also held that the prisoner stated a claim of cruel and unusual punishment in his ...
By Ronald Young
As previously reported in PLN, New Hampshire state prisoner David J. Fischer successfully litigated the right of New Hampshire prisoners to cast absentee ballots in local, state, and federal elections. Fischer alleged that legislation prohibiting felons from voting violated his right to vote under Part I, Article ...
By Ronald Young
Eddie B. Swans Sr., the personal representative of the estate of Edward Swans, brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights action against the City of Lansing, Michigan. The Chief of Police Jerome Boles, the Lansing City Jail administrator, and several Lansing police officers were named as ...
Prison Physician Liable For Refusal of Care
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a federal prisoner's Biven's claim did not state a medical care claim against a prison guard who failed to have the prisoner checked out after the prisoner complained of pain. The court also held, however, ...
Wackenhut Wracked By Sexual Abuse Scandals
by Ron Young
After a decade as a leading operator of corporate-owned prisons, Wackenhut Corrections has become a prisoner of its own problems.
In New Mexico, a 500-page legislative report written by five consultants calls for a near-total overhaul of state prison operations, including ...
Brown Ad-Seg Due Process Claim Remanded For Hearing
By Ronald Young
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit held that a prisoner who received ten months of administrative segregation during a housing reassignment hearing did not receive the minimal process required by the Due Process Clause. The ...
By Ronald Young
The court of appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that it was plain error to instruct a jury that, to find a prison guard liable on excessive force claim where the guard allegedly raped prisoner, it had to find both that he forced the prisoner to have ...
By Ronald Young
The court of appeals for the Second circuit held that a prisoner has a protected liberty interest in her continued participation in a work release program, and entitled to a hearing which states the reason for her removal from the program, prior to her formal jurisdictional removal. ...
