Wackenhut further angered state officials by saying they must pay for the empty bed space at the Santa Rosa facility caused by transferring prisoners to the Virginia supermax. According to the state's contract, Wackenhut claimed, the state must pay as though the prison is 90 percent full even if it ...
On April 29, 2002, the tormented life of 45-year-old Oregon prisoner William Owens came to a tragic end in the Disciplinary Segregation Unit (DSU) of the Snake River Correctional Institution (SRCI). His death exposed numerous problems with the treatment afforded mentally ill prisoners in Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) facilities, ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 8
A Connecticut federal district court held that the State of Connecticut Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (Connecticut P&A), a state agency designated by Connecticut's Governor to provide protection and advocacy services to individuals with disabilities, including persons suffering from mental illness, is entitled to access to ...
CMS Must Pay $1.75 Million In Illinois Jail Suicide
by John E. Dannenberg
Correctional Medical Services (CMS), a private contractor providing all medical and mental health services at the Lake County, Ill. Jail, was ordered by a federal appeals court to pay a federal district court jury award of $250,000 ...
Exculpatory Evidence Must be Disclosed at Prison Disciplinary Hearing
by David M. Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a prisoner is entitled to receive exculpatory evidence in a prison disciplinary hearing when a liberty interest is implicated. This habeas corpus proceeding was brought by Clyde Piggie, ...
From The Editor
by Paul Wright
As we close the year I would like to remind readers of our matching grant fundraiser where donations will be matched, dollar for dollar from non prisoners, and two dollars for every dollar donated from prisoners. The maximum amount being donated is $25,000.00. As ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 13
Wisconsin County Settles Negligent Death Claim For $1.2 Million
On July 24, 2003, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a claim arising from a man's death in the county jail.
The deceased, former president of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, Paul Schilling, was apparently ...
by Daniel Manville
The last column in the September, 2004, issue of PLN discussed "Proceeding In Forma Pauperis."2 That article explains that a prisoner is usually required to pay a partial filing fee before the complaint will be filed by the federal court clerk. The federal court will establish a ...
by John E. Dannenberg
On February 17, 2004, the Superior Court of San Diego County entered a two-year injunction against the State of California and its state prison Joint Venture prison-labor contractors, requiring compliance with the California Labor Code as to employer record-keeping and payroll data, as well as to ...
On May 3, 2004, a federal jury in Manhattan awarded $7.65 million to a New York prisoner who was nearly killed when another prisoner attacked him with a razor.
The plaintiff had alleged in his civil rights lawsuit that prison officials ignored requests to segregate him despite warnings that he ...
by John E. Dannenberg
The California Court of Appeals ordered the Board of Prison Terms (BPT) to vacate its decision denying parole and give a murderer a new parole hearing wherein it shall consider the prisoner's psychological evaluations as favoring parole and shall properly consider all evidence favoring parole suitability, ...
by Ken Kopczynski, 111 pp. 2004, Authorhouse, softbound
Reviewed by David M. Reutter
As the prison industrial complex has expanded, the privatization of prisons has increased. The pages of PLN have chronicled the mental and physical abuse, as well as medical neglect, suffered by those warehoused in privatized prisons. Private ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 20
New York City: Thousands Unnecessarily Imprisoned At Enormous Cost
New York City is spending a fortune to unnecessarily imprison thousands of its citizens for relatively minor offenses. According to the city's Independent Budget Office, in fiscal year 2003 the total yearly cost of imprisonment per prisoner was approximately $92,000. Multiply ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 20
Judge Barkett Dissents from Expansion of "In Custody" Meaning for PLRA purposes
Judge Barkett has dissented from the denial of en banc review of an Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision that held the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) applies to lawsuits that claim injuries suffered during custodial episodes, even ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 21
The Washington State Supreme Court has rejected the federal mail-box rule, under which pro se prisoners' pleadings are deemed filed when they are given to prison officials for mailing to the court. This ruling was based on differences between state and federal court rules.
In Washington, collateral attacks on criminal ...
by Roger Smith & Paul Wright
In a rare reversal of its own prior ruling, the Washington state supreme court has ruled that the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) must stop "letting out" convict labor to private businesses. The court found that practice to violate art. II, sec. 29 of ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 23
Guards Fornicate, Sell Drugs In Pennsylvania Jails
The Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania is a den of perversion and sexual predation. To date, eleven guards have been ordered to stand trial on charges they sexually assaulted female prisoners at the jail.
The first 4 guards were arrested on January 16, ...
by David M. Reutter
The Keys to Success report issued by the Vermont State Auditor on May 26, 2004, concludes the Vermont Department of Corrections' (VDOC) "failure to monitor its contracts with private companies and individuals has resulted in significant financial impacts, services that were paid for and not received, ...
Abuse, Torture and Rape Reported at Unlisted U.S.-run Prisons in Iraq
by Lisa Ashkenaz Croke
American legal investigators have discovered evidence of abuse, torture and rape throughout the US-run prison system in Iraq. A Michigan legal team meeting with former detainees in Baghdad during an August, 2004, fact-finding mission gathered ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 28
by Matthew T. Clarke
A federal court in Iowa has held that the residential restrictions placed upon sex offenders by Iowa Code § 692A.2A are unconstitutional.
John Does I-III, Iowa sex offenders, filed a class-action suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in Iowa federal district court challenging the restrictions of ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 29
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that even an untimely grievance satisfied the exhaustion requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) so long as the prisoner goes through every step of the grievance process. In doing so, the court upheld a $70,000 damage verdict against an Ohio prison ...
by John E. Dannenberg
The California Court of Appeals held that one of the five causes charged by the Board of Prison Terms (parole board) to rescind a life prisoner's unexecuted grant of parole was properly determined by the Board, and thus upheld the rescission. In a subsequent federal habeas ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 31
The Illinois Court of Appeals for the Third District reinstated a prisoner's lawsuit against Ameritech over the company's alleged fraudulent intentional early disconnecting of prisoner phone calls.
Johnnie Flournoy, an Illinois state prisoner, filed suit in state court alleging fraud and negligence against Ameritech, the provider of prison phone services ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 32
Nevada Prisoner Killed In Rec Yard Riot
On July 13, 2004, racial tension at the High Desert State Prison in southern Nevada erupted into a deadly riot. The fighting, reportedly between Blacks and Hispanics on the rock-strewn recreation yard, left one prisoner dead and 18 others injured.
The battle began ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 32
In a 6-5 decision marked by a plurality opinion and a strongly-worded dissent, the en banc Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin, and held that provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) limiting recovery of attorney fees in civil rights ...
"Therapeutic Seclusion" of Civilly Committed Sex Offenders Contrary to Professional Judgment
by David M. Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that civilly committed sex offenders are entitled, as a matter of due process, to the exercise of professional judgment as to the needs of residents, and fact ...
by John E. Dannenberg
The Third U.S. Court of Appeals held that legitimate cost and convenience factors supported the New Jersey Department of Corrections' (NJDOC) decision to provide the 280 observant Muslims with only vegetarian Halal (Islamic ritually correct) meals instead of their requested meals made with Halal meat. The ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 34
BOP Fires Prison Guard Accused Of Rape, Attempted Murder
A federal prison guard charged with the kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder of an 18-year-old woman has been fired from the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon.
Robert James Stamper Jr.'s long overdue termination came on July 16, 2004one day after ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 35
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that parole officers' warrantless entry into a homeowner's residence was per se unreasonable and violated the homeowner's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. The court further held, however, that the officers were entitled, under the "special needs" doctrine and state ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 36
Hermaphroditic Wyoming Prisoner Awarded $1,000 For 14 Months In Solitary
In a bench trial, the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming has awarded $1,000 to a hermaphroditic Wyoming state prisoner who was made to serve her entire 14-month sentence in solitary confinement.
Miki Ann DiMarco, 40, is endowed ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 36
The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, held that prison officials violated a state prisoner's civil rights by revoking his temporary release program participation without a hearing and were not entitled to qualified immunity on that violation.
Simon Anderson, a ...
by David M. Reutter
A class action suit filed in Florida's Leon County Circuit Court challenges a new law enacted by the Florida Legislature in its 2004 session. That Legislature amended § 944.516, Florida statutes, to add subpart (1)(h), effective July 1, 2004. The new law allows the Florida Department ...
by John E. Dannenberg
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the transfer of a California state prisoner to a Security Housing Unit (SHU) punitive segregation facility after his underlying alleged rules violation had been reversed by the granting of an administrative appeal, was a sufficient factual predicate ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 39
The International Red Cross (IRC) said on July 13, 2004, that it suspects the United States is hiding foreign detainees in prisons throughout the world.
According to Antonella Notari, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, terror suspects that the FBI says it has captured have never turned ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 39
The Ohio Second District Court of Appeals has held that an arrestee cannot be charged with knowingly conveying drugs onto the grounds of a detention facility. Stephen Sowry was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. A pat-down search revealed no weapons or contraband, and Sowry was transported ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 40
News in Brief:
Arizona: In April, 2004, Department of Corrections employee Paul Lamprill was fired after using his state supplied DOC computer to send more than 8,000 e mails to campaign on behalf of former Arizona DOC director Terry Stewart who was running for president of the American Correctional Association, ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 42
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prison ban on clippings and photocopies of clippings from newspapers and magazines violates the First Amendment right of prisoners to receive and exchange information. The court also held, however, that the district court's injunction violated the Prison Litigation reform Act (PLRA) ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 42
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prisoner's complaint need only state the prisoner's legal claim together with some indication of the time and place: detailed facts need not be supplied.
Brian K. Thomson, an Illinois state prisoner, filed suit pro se under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 43
The Second Circuit Court of Appeal has affirmed a district court's order setting aside a jury's verdict of $108,000 in a prisoner's lawsuit alleging deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. New York prisoner Juan Hernandez sustained multiple gunshot wounds prior to his arrest by New York City Police. For ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 2004
published in Prison Legal News
December, 2004, page 44
An Oklahoma couple got a real shock upon returning home from a family funeral. They received a call from their son, Kevin Wyckoff, whom they believed they had just buried.
"Hey Dad," Kevin, 23, said in his call from the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center on December 22, 2003. "Huh. ...
