by G . Flint Taylor

The brutal and sadistic torture by U.S. military prison guards, military intelligence officers, and CIA interrogators which is being revealed daily in the mainstream media has brought protestations from President Bush, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and others who, despite apparently approving many of these techniques, ...

By David M. Reutter

After George W. Bush won Florida by 537 votes in the 2000 election, an uproar arose when it was learned that election supervisors, using a list compiled by an Atlanta firm, had mistakenly identified voters as felons and purged them from voter rolls. Some supervisors mistakenly ...

by Nancy Talner and Julya Hampton

Are you registered to vote for the upcoming Presidential election? Even if you have a prior felony conviction, you may be eligible to register to vote in Washington. This article explains how ex-felons can get their voting rights restored.

Under the Washington Constitution, Art. ...

The Seventh Circuit has sanctioned two prisoners for filing frivolous habeas corpus actions under 28 U.S.C. § 2256 complaining about prison conditions.

Jerry Montgomery and Larriante Sumbry are Indiana state prisoners with "long histories of filing frivolous lawsuits" which resulted in the Seventh circuit fining Montgomery $500 and blocking his ...

Georgia DOC To Provide Court Access With Computers, Legal Software

The Georgia Department of Corrections (DOC) is changing the way it affords prisoners access to courts. Out are the six lawyers who provided prisoners with free legal assistance. In are computers, legal software, and paralegals.

According to Bill Amideo, chief ...

By Paul Wright

“Americans on the frontlines - our first responders, military forces, sheriffs, policemen, firefighters, and civil defense volunteers - must have the very best equipment, training and support possible. Our safety and freedom are the envy of the world and John Kerry and John Edwards will ensure this ...

by David M. Reutter

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that prison officials' refusal to allow prisoners to receive Nation of Islam literature was unconstitutional, but prison officials were entitled to qualified immunity from money damages for their illegal actions. Pennsylvania prisoners Richard X. Sutton, Robert X. Wise, and ...

At a time when the California Department of Corrections (CDC) is already under intense Legislative criticism for overspending its annual budget by $544.8 million (see: PLN, Aug. 2004, p. 41), an April, 2004 report by the California State Auditor revealed that CDC repeatedly violated its own policies regarding contracting for ...

SCRUBBING ABU GHRAIB AWAY

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

If persistent news tips are correct, the U.S. Army's report on the barbarities at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison will lodge blame for the events there at the rank of colonel and below, and no real bigwigs or command staff officers will be tied ...

From The Editor

by Paul Wright

The month of September will be the last month that Hans Sherrer, PLN's circulation manager will be with us. After several years working for PLN Hans is moving on to other activities. As PLN's circulation manager, Hans oversaw our database and ensured changes were ...

A report by University of Michigan staffers and law students _ Exonerations in the United States: 1989 through 2003 _ was released to the public on April 23, 2004. The report analyzed data from 328 cases during that 15 year period in which the defendant was officially declared, "not guilty ...

by John E. Dannenberg

A class-action lawsuit launched by Michigan state prisoners in 1988 which ultimately cost taxpayers $7.5 million in litigation costs was settled on November 4, 2003, resulting in prisoners gaining appropriate classification and psychiatric services, plus restrictions on administrative segregation that exacerbates serious psychological illness. In addition ...

A New York federal district court has held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) applies to juvenile prisoners, and the juvenile's actions to air his grievance informally satisfied the PLRA's administrative remedy exhaustion requirement. Corey Lewis, a delinquent resident of the Tyron Residential Facility in Johnston, New York, and ...

Tulia Travesty Settled For $6 Million

by Hans Sherrer

On August 22, 2003, Texas Governor Rick Perry pardoned 35 people whose convictions stemmed from a Swisher County drug investigation that began in 1998.

The prosecution of those people began with the arrest of 43 people in the Tulia, Texas area ...

by John E. Dannenberg

Faced with losing $1.4 million in the following year, the City of Folsom, California, closed its 14 year-old, 380 bed minimum security prison and laid off most of the 70 city workers on June 30, 2003.

Known as the Folsom Community Correctional Facility (FCCF) [one of ...

On October 31, 2003 a New York Court of Claims awarded Fishkill Correctional Facility prisoner Darryl Dickerson $300,000 for a partial hearing loss suffered because he was not provided timely medical treatment.

Dickerson claimed he heard a popping noise while he was exercising on the prison yard on August 22, ...

The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division has held that the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) cannot depart from the terms a sentencing judge imposes. In September 1994, prisoner Larry Hill was released on parole for a 1990 conviction. On January 31, 1997 and July 25, 1997, he ...

America Coming Together (ACT)--a democratic group working to ensure that George W. Bush is not reelected--is employing felons to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in Missouri, Florida, Ohio, and possibly 14 other states crucial to the November 2004 elections.

ACT contends that convicted criminals deserve a second chance in society ...

by John E. Dannenberg

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the use of a stun belt to restrain a California criminal defendant during his trial violated due process of law and was grounds for reversal upon a factual finding that he was prejudiced by it.

Frederico Gonzalez was ...

In a case that has continued on and on like the Energizer Bunny, the District of Columbia has denied the Bureau of Prisons defendants' latest motion for summary judgment and ordered a trial. This case was filed in 1990 by Brett Kimberlin, a prisoner at the Federal Correctional Institution at ...

South Carolina's disastrous 15-year experiment with prison health care privatization should be a warning to those hardheaded state leaders who plan to do it again, according to a report sponsored by Grassroots Leadership and South Carolina Fair Share. Authored by Dr. Marguerite Rosenthal, sociology professor at Salem State University in ...

Guards Let California Prisoner Slowly Starve To Death


Seventy-two year old Khem Singh, who spoke no English and was crippled and wheelchair-bound, died of starvation in his Corcoran State Prison Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (SATF) cell on February 16, 2004, after guards allegedly let him waste away without food or ...

The parents of a Wisconsin state prisoner who died due to exercise stress after his medical complaints were ignored settled their wrongful death suit for $462,000.

The Homeslys were parents of a male 20-year-old Wisconsin state prisoner who died of exercise stress. The son opted to attend the "Atlas" boot ...

by Tony Darwin, Starlite, Inc., 2004, 20th ed., 308 pp., $35.95, soft cover

Review by Michael Rigby

For anyone not trained in the law, navigating the U.S. judicial system can be a daunting prospect. But with knowledge comes confidence, and that's exactly what Tony Darwin provides with The Citebookthe nation's ...

Florida DOC Ordered to Assist Felons Restore their Voting Rights


by David M. Reutter

A Florida circuit court has ordered the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to assist ex-felons who did not receive help in the application process for restoration of their civil rights as required by state law. Florida ...

On June 3, 2003, a court of claims in Rochester, New York, awarded prisoner Samuel K. Tambe $180,000 for injuries he sustained when he tripped over an elevated sidewalk slab at the Groveland Correctional Facility in Sonyea, New York.

After the fall, Tambe suffered intense pain and discomfort in his ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the statewide permanent injunction issued by the U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal.) enjoining the California Department of Corrections' (CDC) policy prohibiting prisoners from receiving Internet-generated mail. Prison Legal News also filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the plaintif in ...

by David M. Ruetter

A New York federal district court has granted a preliminary injunction to a prisoner who objected on religious grounds, to taking a Purified Protein Derivative Test(PPD) to detect tuberculosis (TB). In a previous unpublished opinion, the court held the religious rights of Selam Selah, a prisoner ...

A New Mexico federal district court has entered a preliminary injunction that enjoins jail officials from prohibiting class counsel from having access to the jail, its prisoners and staff, its records, and from imposing time limits on telephone calls to lawyers by prisoners. This is a class action suit that ...

Reviewed by John E. Dannenberg

Prisons Almanac is a refreshingly eclectic collection of 140 of "the most promising and uplifting prison-related news stories of the previous year" produced in classic almanac format by the Prisons Foundation. The Almanac also provides a current statistical picture of American prisons and prisoners as ...

by C. C. Simmons

Deep in the bowels of the 4,000-man H. H. Coffield State Prison in east Texas, a young prisoner is locked in a telephone-booth-size holding cage. He screams obscenities at everyone. In the next corridor, a squad of guards attired in helmets, gas masks, and padded vests ...

U.S. Supreme Court: Guantanamo Detainees and "Enemy Combatants" Have Access To Habeas Corpus


by John E. Dannenberg

In three interrelated decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "enemy combatant" detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba or in the continental U.S. may not be held indefinitely without due process of law, ...

The State of California awarded $428,000 on September 24, 2003 for the 12 years of false incarceration served by an East Palo Alto, California man whose murder conviction had been abated when Santa Clara County prosecutors became convinced they had put the wrong man behind bars.

Quedellis "Rick" Walker was ...

Alabama: In May, 2004, Gail Munnerlyn sued the Alabama Department of Corrections for its practice of allowing uninsured prisoners to drive DOC vehicles. Munnerlyn was injured when her car was struck by a DOC work release van driven by an uninsured prisoner. Her attorney, Kenny Mendelsohn, said "I believe that ...

On November 26, 2003, a Massachusetts jury awarded a nurse at a medical center, which treated prisoners from a nearby Worcester County prison, $20,000 for emotional distress that resulted from being stuck by a needle from an HIV positive prisoner. The nurse sued, under a negligent supervision theory, the guard ...