The Japanese may arguably have the most effective justice system in the Western World. A glance at the accompanying graphs will readily verify this statement.
So what are the Japanese doing right? If one were to believe proponents of popular trends in the U.S., you'd think the Japanese must build ...
The United States Supreme Court: Petition For Writ of Certioriari
by Wm. Daniel Ravenscroft, Atty. At Law
Overview:
The United States Supreme Court is the highest court in this country. It is also the final forum for appeal in the American Judiciary.
Its jurisdiction is defined by Article III of ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 3
The Justice Department Asset Forfeiture Fund has collected more than $1.5 billion in the last six years, including $460 million in cash and property in 1990, a 28 percent increase over 1989, according to U.S. Attorney General Thornburgh.
Since the forfeiture fund began in 1985, almost $500 million has gone ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 3
Here's one for you. How many remember Walla Walla's Lifers With Hope group? Well, there's a rumor floating around they might try to get back in business. I'm sure there are some of you that remember that this organization put 600 inmates, all lifers, outside the walls to work. They ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 3
Mass. Corrections Policy "disaster" Says Task Force
Emphasizing that state spending on prisons has skyrocketed while taxpayer confidence in the level of public safety has plummeted, a joint Task Force of the Boston Bar Association and the Crime and Justice Foundation has warned that without radical change a criminal justice ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 3
The manager and bookkeeper at a Texas prison textile mill were indicted April 25 in Huntsville on charges of theft, official misconduct and engaging in organized crime. Authorities said the indictments stemmed from a two-yearlong scheme involving bid rigging and kickbacks on installation and service of prison textile equipment and ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 4
A Michigan prisoner sent another Michigan prisoner an educational brochure on how to study to be a paralegal. Michigan DOC officials rejected the brochure claiming prison rules prohibited "contractual agreements."
The district court ruled the brochure was entitled to First Amendment protection and found no security reason to justify withholding ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 4
Albert Taylor is an Oklahoma state prisoner who filed a §1983 suit claiming his right to due process was violated when a prison disciplinary committee found him guilty of participating in a riot based on a statement from a confidential informant. The district court dismissed the complaint, later converted to ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 4
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Tennessee prison regulations give Tennessee prisoners a due process liberty interest in prison visitation. The Court ruled that removing the visitation right in retaliation for the visitor refusing to submit to an illegal strip search, as a condition to visit the ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 4
Prisoners Entitled To Exculpatory Evidence In Disciplinary Hearings
Four prisoners at the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, IL., were accused of murdering another prisoner. They were infracted and found "guilty" of the murder at a prison disciplinary hearing. Prior to the hearing they had requested the reports and interviews with staff ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 4
Legal Mail May Not Be Read
A Florida prisoner filed suit under § 1983 after a letter from his attorney, addressed to him and marked "legal mail," was opened and read in his presence by a prison guard. The guard confiscated the letter and an attached newspaper clipping. The letter ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 4
Alvin Cooper was a pre-trial detainee in Texas and filed a § 1983 suit claiming that jail guards were refusing to feed him. The officials did not deny the allegation but claimed Cooper wasn't fed because he refused to appear fully dressed at all meals. The district court dismissed the ...
By Paul Wright
Welcome to another issue of PLN . As I write this, I just saw on the news that Thurgood Marshall, the first and only black person to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, is resigning due to age and health reasons. Mr. Marshall was always a friend ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 5
A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that 28 U.S.C. § 636 (b) (1) (B) authorizes the nonconsensual referral to Magistrates for hearing and recommended findings of all prisoner petitions challenging conditions of confinement This ruling allows federal judges to refer to magistrates all prisoners' petitions for habeas relief or relief for ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 5
A federal prisoner brought a Bivens action against the prison warden and case manager for denying him access to the prison grievance system. The district court granted summary judgment to prison officials and the court of appeals affirmed.
The court of appeals for the 8th Circuit ruled that prison regulations ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 6
PWA-RAG is a quarterly newsletter edited and published by prisoner James Magner. The title is an abbreviation for "Prisoners With AIDS-Rights Advocacy Group." Its primary purpose is to advocate for the rights of prisoners with AIDS, AIDS related Complex (ARC) and that are HIV positive. They offer educational materials on ...
Justice For Jimmy Haynes?? ?
By John Perotti
On February 9, 1984, Jimmy Haynes, a black prisoner, was beaten and then murdered by 12 white guards at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) al Lucasville, Ohio. The cause of death was a crushed windpipe after one guard held a PR-24 ...
PLN Banned In France
By Paul Wright
PLN reader Jean Marc Rouillain, a political prisoner in France, has written and informed us that the April, 1991, issue of PLN (which just happened to have his article about the worsening prison conditions in France and the hungerstrike he and other prisoners ...
By Ed Mead
Akins and another prisoner filed a civil rights complaint in federal court (pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983) alleging that the Georgia parole board's application of recently adopted rules to their cases violated their constitutional rights, specifically their substantive due process rights under the fourteenth amendment and ...
Ruth Cashmere
Recently studies have shown that the United States has the world's highest incarceration rate. The United States has 426 prisoners per 100,000 population.
Over the past 10 years, the state of California has experienced the greatest increase in state prison population surpassing others throughout the country. The California ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 9
Be A Rat Or Else!
This all started back in November 1986, a couple of weeks after the decision in Toussaint v. McCarthy 801 F.2d 1080 (9 Cir. 1986) [prisoners can be placed on administrative segregation status for little or no reason]. Myself and a couple hundred other people were ...
