by David M. Reutter, Gary Hunter & Brandon Sample
Prison food. The very words conjure images of unidentifiable mystery meat, chili-mac, watery oatmeal and creamed chipped beef – the latter being commonly, though not very appetizingly, known as “shit on a shingle” in jailhouse parlance.
Before someone goes to prison ...
This is the first issue of PLN published from our new office location in Vermont. On March 16 a shipping truck arrived in Brattleboro with the bulk of our office on it. Thanks to volunteers Samual Schwartzkopf, Sam Phillips, Zach Phillips, Dan and Elizabeth and Sascha Bratton we were able ...
In Washington state’s Spokane County, some people are serving more jail time for failing to pay court costs than they served under their original sentence.
Michael Lafferty was sentenced to less than 90 days for a third-degree assault conviction. Court costs and restitution assessed by the Superior Court totaled $2,207; ...
by David M. Reutter
A major riot at Kentucky’s Northpoint Training Center on August 21, 2009 resulted in 16 injuries and the destruction of several buildings critical to the prison’s operation. The riot was the second serious incident at the facility in as many years, and both involved food-related issues. ...
by Matt Clarke
On July 5, 2009, prisoners at the Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge, Massachusetts staged a disturbance after 11 prisoners and 2 guards presented flu-like symptoms and the hospital discharge papers for one prisoner indicated probable H1N1 (swine flu). [See: PLN, Feb. 2010, p.1]. However, the Sheriff, jail ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 12
Oklahoma judges are pushing for larger fines imposed on criminal defendants to compensate for a shortfall in courthouse budgets.
The downturn in the economy has affected almost everyone, and the courts are no exception. Judges in Oklahoma have seen a 7 percent decrease in state funding for court operations. To ...
Prisoners at the Danville Correctional Center in Illinois have sued the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) in federal court over the predominantly soy-based diet they are served.
According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, which promotes the consumption of whole, traditional and largely unprocessed foods, Illinois prisoners are being served ...
by David M. Reutter
“Inaccurate assumptions about the impact of longer prison stays on reoffense rates generally, and about the future behavior of people who committed assaultive and sex offenses in particular, have led us to routinely continue the incarceration of thousands of parole-eligible prisoners who would not have returned ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 14
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest private prison company, has lost or terminated contracts totaling 9,754 prison beds within an 18-month period, and is expected to lose at least 1,536 more contract beds by the end of this calendar year.
CCA announced on January 21, 2010 that based ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 15
Missoula County, Montana has agreed to pay $490,000 to a mentally ill woman who was shot six times by guards with a pepperball gun.
Sunny Bartell was arrested on July 1, 2006 for disorderly conduct after police were called by St. Patrick Hospital employees. Bartell has severe mental illness and ...
New York took a major step last fall to provide care for HIV-positive prisoners—and a victory for prisoners’ rights activists—with legislation giving the state Department of Health an official oversight role in the HIV/AIDS and hepatitis care provided in prison. But it underlined a problem that concerns public health experts ...
by Matt Clarke
On September 18, 2009, a U.S. District Court in Washington state granted preliminary approval to a settlement in a class-action lawsuit that challenged booking fee procedures at the Spokane County Jail.
Shawn Huss, a former jail prisoner, filed suit against Spokane County pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § ...
by David M. Reutter
Retired New York Supreme Court Justice Ronald H. Tills, 74, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for a felony charge of transporting prostitutes across state lines (a violation of the Mann Act). He began serving his sentence on October 1, 2009.
Tills’ long ...
Morgan County, Missouri was in dire financial straits before contracting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to house immigration detainees at the county’s jail. For a while things were great – Sheriff Jim Petty replaced his worn-out police cruisers with new SUVs, upgraded the local jail and hired more ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 19
When Brett A. Fields entered Florida’s Lee County Jail to be booked on charges of criminal mischief, violating an injunction and probation violation, he was a healthy 26-year-old man. Within a month, according to a subsequent lawsuit, he was paralyzed due to grossly inadequate medical care by Prison Health Services ...
by Matt Clarke
On October 2, 2009, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, held that shackling a pregnant prisoner while she was in labor constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Shawanna Nelson was six months pregnant when she was sent to the ...
by David M. Reutter
The ACLU of Indiana has reached a private settlement agreement with the Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC) in a class-action lawsuit that challenged a policy prohibiting prisoners from receiving sexually explicit materials or publications containing “graphic nudity.”
At issue was IDOC Administrative Procedure No. 02-01-103. The ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 21
In February 2008, the state of Washington entered into a stipulated judgment to settle a lawsuit for damages filed in Pierce County Superior Court by Mark Stephen Rice. In settling the suit, which was filed in June 2007, the state of Washington paid Rice $30,000 plus costs and attorney’s fees ...
Jeffrey M. Rush, the son of U.S. Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), was sentenced in October 2008 to serve six months behind bars plus three years on probation for having sex with female prisoners at the Fox Valley Adult Transition Center in Aurora, Illinois. He had been employed as the ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 22
On January 15, 2008, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a jury could conclude the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) ban on face-to-face media interviews with death row prisoners was based not on legitimate security threats, but because policymakers did not want such prisoners to promote a “glamorization of ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 23
The City of New York paid $300,000 to settle a prisoner’s slip and fall injury. The settlement came after a jury was picked for trial.
As prisoner Troy Washington was walking back to his cell at the Rikers Island jail, he slipped and fell in a puddle of water. He ...
An Arkansas prison guard who had been previously fired and rehired by the state’s prison system was terminated a second time after he was involved in an incident that almost resulted in a prisoner’s death.
On June 22, 2009, the Associated Press reported that Sergeant Bobby Lunsford and Lieutenant John ...
by David M. Reutter
The training of a dog as a law enforcement K-9 unit requires hours of dedication and bonding between the animal and its handler. It appears that guards with the Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) believed in using a “hands on” approach when it came to the ...
Published in May 2009, Kinship care when parents are incarcerated: What we know, what we can do, is an in-depth examination of current statistical and practical information regarding the plight of children with one or more incarcerated parents, the caregivers charged with their welfare and the government agencies and officials ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 26
Recognizing that Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is rampant in Illinois’ prison system, and that MRSA poses a threat to guards and visitors as well as prisoners, Illinois legislators enacted a law, effective March 3, 2008, that requires prison officials to report MRSA outbreaks to state and local health authorities. ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 27
New York voters have approved an amendment to the New York constitution that permits state and county prisoners to work “voluntarily” for nonprofit organizations.
The amendment was largely sought in order to provide an air-tight defense to potential lawsuits surrounding the practice.
Non-profit organizations, according to the amendment, are defined ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 27
In June 2009, a District of Columbia jail sergeant and two lieutenants were placed on paid leave during an investigation into allegations that the sergeant paid a pimp to have sex with a jailed prostitute. One of the lieutenants was later fired for unrelated reasons.
Jessica Rubio, 32, is a ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Department of Justice, through the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has brought stimulus money to Indian reservations – awarding $224 million to build and renovate tribal jails. The funding comes after years of unsuccessful lobbying efforts by Native American leaders.
The Justice ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 28
In October 2009, news agencies reported that three female prisoners had claimed they were raped by employees at the Oklahoma Governor’s mansion. A three-month investigation by the Oklahoma Dept. of Corrections (ODOC) concluded the head chef and groundskeeper at the mansion had sexually assaulted the women.
The three prisoners were ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 29
The State of Washington has agreed to settle a prisoner suit alleging deliberately indifferent medical care. The suit, filed in 2006, took almost two years to resolve.
Richard Hibdon sued the Stafford Creek Corrections Center, a Washington Department of Corrections facility, after he was given inadequate care for his back ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 30
A New Mexico prisoner has prevailed in a religious freedom case that vindicated his right to practice his Native American beliefs. The lawsuit resulted in a settlement in April 2009 that specified the religious practices prison officials must allow, as well as nominal damages, costs and attorney fees.
New Mexico ...
by David M. Reutter
Saying it was “not even worth it” to collect an $8 medical co-payment from prisoners seeking medical care, Florida’s Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats has abolished the practice at his jail. In these tough economic times that have squeezed budgets, it is surprising Coats would forfeit ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 31
On April 2, 2009, Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) settled for $85,000 a lawsuit involving a prisoner who committed suicide at the Clements Unit.
Theodore Schmerber was a Texas state prisoner when he committed suicide by tearing a damaged anti-suicide ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 31
Ohio’s Warren County Sheriff’s Office has agreed to pay $1,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former jail supervisor who was fired for viewing pornography and masturbating at work.
A 2006 investigation of former Lieutenant Shaun Wells resulted in an internal computer audit that uncovered rampant improper Internet use ...
Ashley Ellis’ misdemeanor arrest turned into a death sentence. Her crime was careless and negligent operation of a motor vehicle. On Aug. 16, 2009, less than two days after she began a 30-day sentence at Vermont’s only prison for women, she died from the careless and negligent operation of a ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 36
A Grand Jury in Georgia’s DeKalb County found that the County Recorder’s Court suffered from “a leadership competency issue.” The Grand Jury’s review of the court followed a scandal that cost the county millions of dollars plus the court’s credibility and reputation.
A fraud operation by low-level court employees and ...
Just days after being accused of violating state law by secretly recording telephone conversations with reporters, Scott Gerber resigned from his position as communications director for California Attorney General Jerry Brown.
In a move fit for airing on an episode of “America’s Dumbest Public Officials,” Gerber – who, one would ...
by David M. Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a 2003 Indiana statute that requires indemnification of government employees under certain circumstances has prospective application only.
Before the Court was an appeal by the Estate of Christopher Moreland, which had filed a motion for a writ ...
by David M. Reutter
The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s summary judgment order that held incident and investigative reports created by the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) are subject to the state’s Open Records Act.
Beginning in October 2006, the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) began seeking ...
Christopher Bookhart had a fool for a client when he represented himself in an excessive force suit he filed against a guard at the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) in Portland, Oregon.
Bookhart, 45, had sued MCDC guard Steven Meyer, alleging that Meyer had punched him in the chest without ...
On October 7, 2008, a federal court in New York terminated large portions of a sweeping 1979 consent decree related to conditions at 14 New York City jails. However, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in November 2009, with instructions to afford the plaintiffs an opportunity to ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 40
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s determination that denial of a sweat lodge for Native American prisoners did not violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).
Missouri prisoner Clifford Fowler, a Native American, is serving life without parole at the maximum-security Jefferson City ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 41
The State of Washington has agreed to pay $15,000 to settle a suit over the forcible taking of urine and blood samples from a Washington probationer.
Matthew Arthur was arrested for DUI on November 30, 2005. Cowlitz County deputies took Arthur to a local hospital where Kevin Rentner, an employee ...
by Matt Clarke
A Texas Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging that he suffered retaliation for litigation activities. However, after the case was again dismissed following remand, the appellate court affirmed the dismissal based on untimely service of process.
William Espinoza Pena, a Texas state ...
by David M. Reutter
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals remanded a civil rights action that claimed a prison doctor’s care was deliberately indifferent to an ex-Illinois prisoner’s serious medical needs. The Court, however, affirmed dismissal as to non-medical prison officials who answered the prisoner’s grievances.
Before the appellate court ...
by Matt Clarke
A federal district judge has held the Governor, Attorney General and Director of Corrections of the U.S. Virgin Islands and other prison officials in contempt for not correcting inadequate prisoner mental health treatment.
Virgin Island prisoners filed a class-action suit in 1994, “challenging inhumane and dangerous conditions ...
The Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed a prisoner’s conviction for assaulting a guard at a private jail, finding that the guard was a “corrections officer” under state law. Oregon’s Supreme Court upheld the decision on review.
Jeremy Tate was confined at the Northern Oregon Correctional Facility (NORCOR), a private regional ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 45
A settlement of $862,500 has been reached in the death of a mentally ill prisoner who died at Ohio’s Summit County Jail (SCJ).
While acting in a delusional and disoriented manner, Mark D. McCallaugh, 28, was arrested on August 7, 2006, by Akron police. Once he was booked into SCJ, ...
New York prison officials lack the authority to require prisoners to serve Post-Release Supervision (PRS) that was not ordered by the sentencing court, according to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court.
In February 2000, Sean Earley pleaded guilty to burglary ...
Ninth Circuit: 42 U.S.C. § 233(a) Does Not Immunize Public Health Service Employees from Bivens Constitutional Tort Claims
by John E. Dannenberg
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has held that 42 U.S.C. § 233(a), which at first blush seems to exempt officers and employees of the U.S. Public ...
Reviewed by Gary Hunter
Three stories, 90 pages, and infinite information about how rampant prison construction is destroying America. That’s what The Real Cost of Prisons Comix brings to the table.
The impact of unchecked prison construction has been a blight on American society for the past three decades. From ...
Following mediation in July 2008, Peter Cockcroft, proceeding pro se, agreed to a $12,000 settlement of his § 1983 suit for damages alleging Eighth Amendment violations that transpired between March 2004 and January 2006, when he was a prisoner housed in the Psychiatric Services Unit (PSU) at Pelican Bay State ...
A 2005 amendment to Iowa’s good time statute making participation in a sex offender treatment program (SOTP) a prerequisite to earning good time may not be applied to sex offenders convicted before the amendment’s effective date, the Supreme Court of Iowa decided on January 23, 2009.
Denny Propp, an Iowa ...
by David M. Reutter
There are more than 10.65 million people in prisons worldwide. That figure includes 850,000 in “administrative detention” in China. Almost half of all prisoners are held in only three countries: Russia, China and the United States.
Those conclusions were published in the eighth edition of the ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2010
published in Prison Legal News
April, 2010, page 50
Arkansas: On February 22, 2010, Little Rock attorney Jack Kearney, a former director of the Arkansas Ethics Commission, was arrested and charged with furnishing $1,300 in cash to a Pulaski County jail prisoner. A Sheriff’s report stated the unnamed prisoner was discovered with the contraband cash and named Kearney as ...
by John E. Dannenberg
In two rulings in the same case, the California Court of Appeal distinguished the speedy trial rights versus the waiver-of-appearance rights of state prisoners who are facing detainers for probation violations.
Although California prisoners may waive their right to appear so as to speed up the ...
