It took only six weeks for the Juvenile Justice Department (JJD) to close two Kentucky Youth Academy (KYA) facilities. On Sept. 14th, 2001 the Kentucky Division of Protection and Advocacy (DPA) filed suit in federal court charging the Central KYA in Willisburg with abuse and neglect. Seven days later, on ...
PLN 's cumulative index is now available. The index has almost 500 different subject categories for all articles reported by PLN . No more time spent looking vainly for cases or articles under various topics. PLN 's new indexing system is designed for the serious researcher and litigator. Aside from ...
A recent Supreme Court case highlights a problem some prisoners face in finding the exact identities of defendants in civil rights cases. This column discusses this problem and some possible solutions.
In most cases, you must sue individuals and not governmental or corporate entities : In Correctional Services Corp. v. ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 8
PLN Sues Kansas DOC over Censorship Policies
On April 4, 2002, PLN sued the Kansas DOC challenging various prison-system-wide polices that prevent Kansas prisoners from being able to subscribe to PLN or to receive the books that PLN distributes. For at least the past year the Kansas DOC has required ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 8
On April 2, 2002 Prison Legal News filed suit in federal court in Portland, Oregon, challenging the Oregon prison system's ongoing attempts to prevent Oregon prisoners from subscribing to PLN and receiving their subscriptions or book orders if they did subscribe. PLN had previously sued the Oregon DOC in 1998 ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 9
On November 1, 2001, a group of Oregon prisoners filed suit in federal court against the State of Oregon, the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC), and several individual ODOC medical personnel related to the systematic denial and delay of adequate diagnosis and treatment of infection with the hepatitis C virus ...
by David M. Reutter
A federal district court in New York has issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) barring enforcement of a condition of probation prohibiting a female probationer from having contact with her child's father, DaShawn Johnson. Probationer Julie Tremper pled guilty to criminal possession of a weapon, resulting ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 10
Moore Medical Corporation, a leading supplier of medical, surgical, and pharmaceutical products, recently signed multi-year agreements with three major corrections industry organizations on September 5, 2001. Moore will provide internet, telesales, and catalog procurement services to the 65 facilities managed by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), to the readers of ...
In November 2000, DeKalb County (GA) Sheriff Sidney Dorsey was locked in a close re-election bid with political rival Derwin Brown. Brown defeated Dorsey in that contest, but Sheriff Dorsey, apparently unwilling to accept the will of the voters, allegedly decided to take matters into his own hands. Brown was ...
The badly bloated body of Kathy Kearns was removed from her Virginia Beach jail cell in the early morning hours of April 26, 2001. Testimony from witnesses and evidence from jail and city records show that Kearns desperately tried to get medical attention for six hours just before she died. ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 14
In the year 2000, America's prison population slowed its growth dramatically, showing the lowest growth rate seen in 28 years. The state prison population experienced its first measured decline in nearly three decades. These data highlighted an August 2001 report published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).
At the ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 14
On October 29, 2001, a federal jury in Chicago awarded $15 million plus about $2 million in attorney fees to James Newsome, 45, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 15 years behind bars. It was the largest wrongful imprisonment verdict in Illinois history.
In 1979, Newsome was arrested ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 15
A federal district court in Texas held that genuine issues of material fact precluded summary judgment on a female prisoner's claims under 42 U.S.C Section 1983 arising from her being raped by a jail chaplain and retaliated against for speaking out about the chaplain's conduct. The court also held that ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 16
A Texas state prisoner won $130,000 in damages after it was shown that he was denied medical care and not protected from violent prisoners while held at Williamson County Jail near Austin.
Martin DiCarlo, 39, filed suit in U.S. District Court under 42 USC §1983 where he alleged that in ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 16
A Washington Court of Appeals has held that a defendant in a criminal prosecution may sue his former trial attorney for legal malpractice after his conviction was reversed for ineffective assistance, despite the fact that he entered an Alford plea on remand.
In 1993, Robert Falkner was convicted of second-degree ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 17
In November, 2001, a King County (Seattle) Superior Court jury awarded $603,500 in damages to Ralph Bunch, a former guard at the King County Juvenile Detention Center. In May, 1999, Bunch, who is black, filed suit against the county claiming he was subjected to racial discrimination and later, he was ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 17
by Matthew T. Clarke
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) has held that a prisoner erroneously released on parole was entitled to credit on both of his consecutive sentences for his time spent on the street. Earnest Millard, a Texas state prisoner, was serving time on two consecutive sentences. ...
On November 26, 2001, more than 1,800 prisoners at the Taft Correctional Institution (TCI) refused to report to work in protest of shortcomings in the prison's food and medical care.
TCI, a privately run low-security federal prison operated by Wackenhut, remained on lock down since the first day of the ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 18
by Matthew T. Clarke
A federal court in New York has held that the strip search policy of the City of Schenectady, New York, (the city) violates the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches.
Elizabeth Gonzalez and Michael Fyvie, citizens who were allegedly strip searched in the city's jail, filed ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 19
Eric Lynn agreed to accept a $20,000 out-of-court settlement after complaining that Missoula County policemen violated his civil rights by conducting an improper strip search at the County Detention Center.
Lynn, a University of Montana senior, was among a group that protested an excessive police presence during a July 2000 ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 19
The Prisoner's Assistance Directory is a 69-page booklet published by the ACLU's National Prison Project. The Directory gives a 50 state breakdown on legal organizations that represent prisoners in court, prison related publications, activist groups, advocacy and anti death penalty groups and organizations which provide assistance to parolees and ex ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 20
by Matthew T. Clarke
A federal district court in North Carolina has ruled that a prisoner who lost his fingertip when a deputy slammed a cell door window cover on his finger has stated a proper claim under state and federal law against the sheriff, in his official and personal ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 20
A Massachusetts federal district court has held that under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), indigent prisoners who have filed multiple lawsuits can only be assessed 20% of their total monthly receipts. In other words, the filing fees can only be collected sequentially rather than simultaneously.
Prisoner Anthony Lafauci filed ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 21
The court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has held that a district court's dismissal of a prisoner's 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit for frivolousness is reviewed by the abuse of discretion standard. It also held that the prisoner's litigation history may be considered. Jamal Ali Bilal filed suit against ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 21
The federal mailbox rule deems pro se prisoners' pleadings as "filed" at the time they are deposited for mailing in the prison mail system, instead of when they are received by the court clerk. As a matter of first impression, the Washington Court of Appeals has finally adopted this rule ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 22
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Custer County (Colorado) sheriff launched an investigation in early December, 2001, into allegations that Larry Schwarz, a former Colorado Congressman and parole board member, dealt child pornography out of his home.
Schwarz was a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 22
by Matthew T. Clarke
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the district court's sanctions against the prisoners' lawyers in a suit against Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC) after the lawyers revealed the terms of a secret settlement agreement.
Five young girls who were allegedly sexually, mentally, and physically ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 23
The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that the Thirteenth amendment does not forbid the forcible enslavement of prisoners and a statutory gap in Texas law was inconsequential when a prisoner claimed statutory authority was required for prison slavery.
Ahmad Ali, a Texas state prisoner, was sentenced to ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 23
The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit vacated an award of $471,946 in attorney fees in a Texas parole suit finding that a recent supreme court ruling precluded attorney fee awards under the catalyst theory.
Texas prisoners filed a class action suit challenging various parole board practices. The prisoners ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 24
by Matthew T. Clarke
The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has ruled that it has no jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal of a partial denial of a motion for summary judgment when the district court did not actually rule on defendants' qualified immunity defense.
Ben Krein, an ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 24
The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has held that it lacks jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal filed by a prison doctor.
Maurice Moore, an Iowa state prisoner, filed suit, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against a prison doctor Moore alleged was deliberately indifferent to his serious medical ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 25
by Matthew T. Clarke
A court of appeals in Texas has ruled that Texas prisoners have no absolute right to personally appear at legitimation hearings, though they do have the right to appear by affidavit, telephone, or other effective means.
The Texas Attorney General filed a petition to establish the ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 26
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a Northern District of Illinois Federal District Court decision to deny qualified immunity to prison officials at Stateville Correctional Center (SCC) in Illinois. The underlying case, Delaney v DeTella , 123 F.Supp.2d 429 (N.D. Ill. 2000). See PLN , September 2001.
Glen ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 26
The Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court has analyzed an amended statute relating to the introduction of contraband. The court held that the amendment mandates a new statutory construction requiring contraband to be actually brought into areas dedicated to prisoner confinement.
Pedro Carillo went to visit a cousin confined at Illinois' ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 27
For want of jurisdiction, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed the interlocutory appeal of a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) medical director from a district court's denial to the director of summary judgment based on qualified immunity and a grant to the plaintiff of expanded discovery in the case. ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 27
The Montana Supreme Court held that prisoners in that state have a due process and statutory right to personally appear before all Parole Board members who will decide the merits of the prisoner's parole application.
Montana prisoner Rodney West petitioned the Court for a Writ of Habeas Corpus alleging that ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 28
Tenth Circuit Says "Snitch" Label States Eighth Amendment Claim
Finding that a guard deliberately labeled a prisoner as a snitch, the Tenth Circuit held the prisoner's Eighth Amendment rights were violated, the prisoner's fear of assault stated an Eighth Amendment claim, and the guard was not entitled to qualified immunity. ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 28
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has partly granted, and mostly denied, the defendants' motions for summary judgment on a District of Columbia (D.C.) prisoner's claims that he was racially discriminated against by the defendants' arbitrary handling of his religiously based request for a vegetarian diet ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 29
The supreme court of Alaska held that a state statute requiring prisoners to pay the filing fees in civil cases is constitutional, but that a superior court erred when it dismissed the plaintiff's case before the time limit it had imposed for the payment of the filing fee had expired. ...
Penguin Putnam, NY, 2000, pb. 457 pages
Review by Phyllis Beck
A big thumbs up for Dr. Melissa Palmer's Guide to Hepatitis Liver Disease . The book's information is up-to-date, it is fully indexed, it includes a 25-page bibliography, and it covers a wide range of hepatitis and liver disease ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 29
The Colorado Court of Appeals held that provisions of the Colorado Government Immunity Act (CGIA) which precluded a prisoner's claim does not violate equal protection. The court also held that the trial court erred in denying the prisoner's motion to amend his complaint to allege willful and wanton conduct.
Colorado ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 30
Reversing a lower court ruling, the Tenth Circuit found that a prisoner whose finger fell off after it was re-attached by a prison doctor stated an Eighth Amendment claim for deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs.
In June 1999, Horace Oxendine, a prisoner at the Federal Correctional Institute at ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 30
Chief Judge Clemon of the Federal District Court, Northern District of Alabama, has preliminarily enjoined the Morgan County Jail, its sheriff, administrator, and commissioners, and the commissioner and transfer director of the Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC) because of conditions described by Judge Clemons as "uncivilized and hazardous."
Johnny Maynor ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 31
by John E. Dannenberg
The Second Circuit US Court of Appeals held that a prisoner filing multiple appeals in the same 42 U.S.C. §1983 civil rights action must pay the full filing fee for each separate appeal.
Elvin Lebron, a prisoner at the City of New York Clinton Correctional Facility, ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 31
The Ninth Circuit Court. of Appeals has reversed a California District Court's dismissal of a federal prisoner's suit because the prisoner failed to comply with local court rules in filing an amended complaint. Federal prisoner Alejandro Ordonez filed suit against various government parties under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2002, page 32
Alaska: On April 11, 2002, Cynthia Cooper, the head prosecutor in the state attorney general's office, resigned after being judicially admonished for pursuing felony charges against a public defender who crashed his car into a light pole. Anchorage prosecutors had agreed to a misdemeanor plea bargain with Wally Tetlow, the ...
