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Guard Tower Scam
In the January PLN, Paul Wright described the ordeal of the guards' union in Washington state successfully fighting the DOC's effort to reduce staffing of the guard towers in Washington's prisons. While it's clear that the public-employee unions representing turnkeys fight tooth-and-nail to keep positions from being cut, regardless of …
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More from this issue:
- US Supreme Court: Oklahoma Pre-Parole Program Requires Hearing Before Removal
- California PIA Employees Lose Minimum Wage Suit
- Consent Decrees Create Enforceable Right
- Notes from the Unrepenitentiary: " Schooling the generations in the politics of prison", by Laura Whitehorn
- Matter of Fact
- Sixth Circuit Defines Legal Mail
- PLRA Codifies Injunction Standards in Conditions Case
- PLRA Applied to Released Prisoners
- Indiana Muslim Consent Decree Vacated under PLRA
- PLRA Allows Sua Sponte Dismissal
- PLRA Fee Requirements Not Applicable to Pending Suits
- PLRA Confuses Courts; Applies Only to Prisoners
- Ninth Circuit Affirms BOP Sentence Reductions
- Drug Policy as Social Control, by Noam Chomsky
- Virginia Warden Stabbed, by Dan Pens
- Should Prisoners Have the Right to Strike? Some Union Leaders Say "Yes!", by Phil Wilayto
- Texas Prisoners Get Second-Rate Doctors
- New Jersey Prison Guard Recruiting for KKK
- Update on Washington Money Seizure Suit, by Paul Wright
- Democracy, Racism and Disenfranchisement
- Reviews
- Illinois DOC Phone System Upheld
- Moors Settle with Indiana DOC
- Seventh Circuit Questions ADA Applicability to Prisons
- Disciplinary Finding Must Be Supported by Reliable Evidence
- Qualified Immunity for Infraction Suit
- No Care for STD Violates Eighth Amendment
- $1.65 Million Jury Verdict in Cell Assignment Case Affirmed
- Racial Rioting Erupts in L.A. Jail
- Mental Unhealth and Prisons, by E.D.
- Guard Tower Scam, by A.L.
- Do the Math, by E.D.
- News in Brief
- RFRA Allows Redaction of Religious Publication
- TRO Granted in DC Smoking Suit
- Washington EFV Ban Upheld
- $75,000 Jury Verdict in Prisoner Attack Affirmed
More from A.L.:
- Guard Tower Scam, May 15, 1997
More from these topics:
- Atlanta Jail Boasts Improvements Since Consent Decree, Reports from Monitor and ACLU Are More Critical, May 1, 2026. Staffing, Sanitation, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Consent Decrees, Bail/Pretrial Release.
- Prisoners in Norfolk, Virginia Left on Extended Lockdown, May 1, 2026. Staffing, Lockdowns, Telephone Access, Extended Family Visiting, Failure to Protect (Staff).
- Nearly 50 People Have Died in ICE Custody Since Trump’s Return to White House, May 1, 2026. LaSalle Management Company, Systemic Medical Neglect, Staffing, Suicides, Immigration Detention.
- Oklahoma DOC Paid Prison Guards $35.5 Million in Overtime in 2025, May 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Cost of Prison Systems, Totality of Conditions, Staffing, Staff Training.
- Prisons in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula “in a Death Spiral” Due to Under-Staffing, May 1, 2026. Staffing, Lockdowns, Rural Prisons, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Assaults on Staff.
- Texas Moves to Restrict Cashless Bond and Reverse Federal Court-Ordered Misdemeanor Bail Reform, May 1, 2026. Conditions of Confinement, Money/Property, Bail/Pretrial Release, Civil Rights Actions or Offenses/Bivens Actions, Plea Agreements/Guilty Pleas.
- Class Certification Granted to Suit Challenging Suspension of HALT Act in New York Prisons, April 1, 2026. Injunctions, Class Certification, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Guard Unions, Administrative Detention/Segregation.
- Houston Jail Renews $38 Million Contract to Outsource Detainees to Private Lockups, April 1, 2026. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Failure to Treat, Overcrowding, Staffing, Medical Neglect/Malpractice.
- Death of Washington Jail Standards Bill Risks Repeat of $2.5 Million Settlement That Closed One County’s Jail, April 1, 2026. Staffing, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Suicides, Staff Training, State Legislation.
- Hawai’i Settles Prison Mental Healthcare Class-Action With $100,000 in Attorney’s Fees and Expert Inspection That Produces Damning Report, April 1, 2026. Staffing, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides, Confinement in Segregated Housing, Inadequate Health Care Facilities.

