Carlos Kelly was six years old when, in December of 1991, his mother, Caridad, was arrested by federal agents in Florida for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
"I remember it was, like, me and my stepbrothers and sisters, we was all gathered in the playroom," says Carlos, now 16. "I told ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 5
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a rule of the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) prohibiting prisoners from receiving bulk rate, third and fourth-class mail, is unconstitutional, as applied to pre-paid, for-profit, subscription publications. The Court also held that a rule authorizing the rejection of mail that does ...
This month's cover story examines the effects of mass imprisonment on the children of prisoners. All too often it is forgotten that prisoners have family members and the impact of penal policies on these families is largely ignored. Just as "family values" has served as a cover for a war ...
On the morning of Sept. 29, 2001, after his very first night in prison, Gary Avila was found dead in his cell, apparently strangled by his cellmate. Inside the cell Paul Posada paced nervously and muttered to himself. "Yeah, I did it," he allegedly confessed to a prison lieutenant. "He ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 7
In early October, 2001, the State of California agreed to pay $525,000 to the parents of a Corcoran State Prison prisoner who was killed by another prisoner in the exercise yard.
James Kevin Mahoney, Jr., who was serving a life term without parole for murder, was beaten and strangled to ...
This column is intended to provide habeas hints for prisoners who are considering or handling habeas corpus petitions as their own attorneys in propia persona. The focus of the column is habeas corpus practice under the AEDPA, the 1996 habeas corpus law which now governs habeas corpus practice throughout the ...
(Cedar Hill Publications, 92 pages, paper, $15.00)
Reviewed by Michael McIrvin
The Prisons, Maggie Jaffe's most recent poetry collection is hard to read, as the bleakest truths often are. The book is also hard to put down for the same reason, because this is the unexpurgated truth of the American ...
In November of 2001, women prisoners in the Najayo public prison in San Cristóbal on the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, carried out a protest during which they set fire to and burned all the books, doors and shelving in the prison library and furniture, television sets, mattresses, sheets ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 11
The United States Supreme Court held in a unanimous decision the warrantless search of a probationer supported by reasonable suspicion and authorized by a condition of probation, was reasonable within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.
Mark Knights was sentenced to probation for a drug offense, after signing the probation ...
The Death Penalty in the U.S.A. - Past, Present, and Future
Book Reviews by Roger Hummel
Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House by Scott Christianson. New York University Press, New York. 184 pages (illustrated), $24.95, cloth.
Beginning late in the nineteenth
century, New York State boasted electric chairs at ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 13
In October 2001, Hennepin County, Minnesota, agreed to pay $540,000 to settle a brutality suit against the county jail. It is believed to be the largest brutality settlement in county history. On September 4, 2000, Derek Martin, 43, was arrested on suspicion of violating a restraining order by Brooklyn Center ...
In October 2001, Hennepin County, Minnesota, agreed to pay $540,000 to settle a brutality suit against the county jail. It is believed to be the largest brutality settlement in county history. On September 4, 2000, Derek Martin, 43, was arrested on suspicion of violating a restraining order by Brooklyn Center ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 15
Franklin County (Ohio) prisoner Alva Campbell was escorted to court in April 1997 while in his wheelchair, unable to walk. He was not handcuffed or otherwise restrained and was being guarded only by then-Franklin County Deputy Sheriff M. Teresa Harrison. After all, there was no need for restraints or additional ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 16
A federal court in Oklahoma issued an unpublished opinion granting a preliminary injunction ordering prison officials to provide prescribed medications for a prisoner's liver disease.
Another federal court in Ohio issued an unpublished opinion granting a preliminary injunction ordering prison officials to provide a prisoner with an evaluation for a ...
by John E. Dannenberg
The US Supreme Court ruled that under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), exhaustion of administrative remedies is required in all prisoner civil rights suits pertaining to prison life, regardless of whether they involve only general prison circumstances or whether they allege excessive force or some ...
In a case of first impression, an Ohio Federal District Court denied summary judgment to the Hamilton County [Ohio] Sheriff and the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners in a former jail prisoner's challenge to Hamilton County's assessment of "book-in fees" to pre-trial detainees. In its opinion, the court found that ...
U.S. Supreme Court: Qualified Immunity Determination Must Precede Trial On Merits
by John E. Dannenberg
The US Supreme Court held in a suit against a military police (MP) officer for use of excessive force in an arrest, that before analyzing whether such force was per se excessive, a threshold question ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 20
A New York federal district court has held that minor injury incurred from excessive force by a prison guard is actionable, and awarded damages after a bench trial. The court found it was undisputed that while prisoner Larenzo Romaine was housed at New York's Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility, he had ...
One reason PLN doesn't expand its coverage into criminal law is because other publications already do a good job covering it and we see little point in duplicating those efforts. Punch and Jurists is, bar none, the best criminal defense newsletter and website in America today. Now in its ninth ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 21
On November 20, 2001, a Los Angeles county jury returned a $1 million verdict to 39 year-old Jay Reynolds, a former jail detainee who was raped by his cellmates after a judge ordered his release from jail. Reynolds was arrested in March 1999, when a traffic stop by police showed ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 22
The court of appeals for the Fifth Circuit has held that the failure of a disciplinary hearing officer to find a confidential informant's tip was reliable violates a prisoner's right to due process. While housed at Texas' Eastham Unit, prisoner Morris Broussard was charged and convicted of possession of contraband ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 22
by Matthew T. Clarke
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a $300,000 jury award in a prisoner's excessive-use-of-force suit and ordered a new trial for liability and damages.
Raymond T. Pryer, a Pennsylvania state prisoner, filed a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against several prison ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 23
The governor of New Mexico signed a bill in February 2001, prohibiting prisons from profiting on prisoners' phone calls, which was exceeding 10 times the regular competitive rates with a 15 minute call costing up to $20. The Public Communications Services, a Los Angeles-based carrier kicked back 48.25% of their ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 23
On August 22, 1999 Arkansas prisoner Terry Botts received a beating at the Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys by three guards while his hands were handcuffed behind his back. The guards determined the severity of the injuries he sustained would not require hospitalization, but Botts did suffer swelling and bruising ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 24
The Washington Court of Appeals recently held that due process requires prior notification of prohibited conduct before prison officials may infract and punish prisoners for engaging in such behavior. Because the court found that the prisoner in the case before it did not receive adequate notice that his conduct was ...
ADA/RA Suit For Sign Language Interpreters Proceeds for Prospective Injunctive Relief
by John E. Dannenberg
The Eighth Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled that a deaf-mute Missouri State prisoner's ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and RA (Rehabilitation Act) based suit for sign language interpreters may proceed in US district court ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 26
A Wisconsin federal district court has held that officials are not entitled to qualified immunity when they require atheist parolees to participate in religious based substance abuse programs. John Bausch, a former prisoner and parolee, filed an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the former and present secretaries of ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 26
by Matthew T. Clarke
The Tenth Circuit held that the PLRA forbids recovery of compensatory damages for violations of the right to exercise a religious preference absent proof of physical injury.
Jimmy Searles, a Kansas state prisoner, filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming prison officials violated his First ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 27
A Texas state court of appeals has held that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) does not enjoy sovereign immunity from being sued in a medical malpractice/wrongful death case.
Charles Edwin Miller, III, was a Texas state prisoner at the Huntsville Unit of the TDCJ. On August 24, 1994, ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 27
On November 19, 2001, the city of Santa Ana, California, agreed to pay $95,000 to an unidentified former jail detainee who was beaten and raped by his cellmate, to settle a lawsuit stemming from the attack. The 32-year-old unnamed accountant plaintiff was being held in the Santa Ana jail on ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 28
The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that a prisoner's "Motion to Reinstate Cause" after dismissal of a 42 U.S.C. §1983 action alleged facts to raise an inference he had exhausted his "available" remedies. While an Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) prisoner, James Miller was stabbed by another ...
Jail Policy To Not Segregate Gangs Does Not Violate Constitution
by John E. Dannenberg
The Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled that the Cook County (Chicago), Illinois jail did not violate the Constitution by failing to implement a policy segregating prisoners by gang affiliation. However, it distinguished the tier ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 29
by Matthew T. Clarke
A state appeals court in Texas has conditionally granted a prisoner's petition for a writ of mandamus to order the judge of a Texas state district court to hear and rule upon the prisoner's request for discovery in a suit against prison officials.
Danny B. Bonds, ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 29
The court of appeals for the Eleventh circuit held that a district court erred when it dismissed a former pre trial detainee's Bivens suit for lack of jurisdiction and for failing to state a claim. The court chastised the plaintiff's attorney for filing a lengthy, rambling complaint.
Salvador Magluta spent ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2002, page 30
Bolivia: On March 27, 2002, prosecutor Alex Alipaz, was stabbed four times by two prisoners while walking through a prison corridor in the San Pedro prison. Alipaz was seriously injured in the attack but survived. Alipaz said he had no idea why he was attacked, and the prisoners weren't commenting. ...
by W. Wisely
A report released November 27, 2001, by the Bureau of State Audits showed the California Department of Corrections (CDC) spent $87 million more than their annual budget allotted, according to the Sacramento Bee. That money was used to cover excessive overtime and sick leave for prison guards, ...
