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PLRA’s Mental and Emotional Damage Award Ban Unconstitutional in $219,000 First Amendment Claim
Loaded on Jan. 15, 2007
published in Prison Legal News
January, 2007, page 34
PLRA's Mental and Emotional Damage Award Ban Unconstitutional in $219,000 First Amendment Claim
Filed under:
Retaliation,
Retaliation for Filing Grievances,
Retaliatory Transfers,
Attorney Fees (PLRA),
Physical Injury Rule,
Damages.
Location:
Michigan.
A Michigan federal district court has held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act?s (PLRA) prohibition of mental or emotional damages without physical injury is unconstitutional as applied to First Amendment Violation Claims.
A jury awarded Michigan prisoner …
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More from this issue:
- Ex-Communication: Competition and Collusion in the U.S. Prison Telephone Industry, by Steven Jackson
- Maryland Sentence Reduction Rule Violates Ex Post Facto Clause
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Violence from Racial Tension and Overcrowding Pervades California Jails, Spreads to Prisons, by Marvin Mentor
- Lawsuit Filed Over Health Care at Wisconsin Women’s Prison, More Possible, by Michael Rigby
- Vermont DOC Agrees To Stop Punishing Self-Harming Prisoners, by Michael Rigby
- 200 Dead in Brazil Prison Uprisings, Street Violence, by Gary Hunter
- California’s “High-Risk” Sex Offender Parolees Ostracized; Parole Official Fired, by John Dannenberg
- Washington Women’s Prison Healthcare Violations Continue
- The Prison and Jail Industry—Who Will Run It, by Gary Hunter
- Washington Prisoners Must Pre-Pay for Record Inspection
- Illinois Parole Violators Enforce Revocation Due Process Rights with Consent Decree, by John Dannenberg
- California Lifer Hearing Backlog Increases Despite Court Order To Catch Up, by Marvin Mentor
- Vienna Convention Creates Individually Enforceable Rights, by Matthew Clarke
- Washington Prisoner Sues Over Bogus Disciplinary Actions; State Settles for $1,500
- Settlement Revamps Grant County, Washington Indigent Defense System; County Agrees to $1.1 Million in Attorney Fees
- $214,000 Award for Injuries Caused by Dilantin Deprivation to Michigan Jail Prisoner
- PLRA’s Mental and Emotional Damage Award Ban Unconstitutional in $219,000 First Amendment Claim
- Illegal Strip Searches Cost MTC, New Mexico County $8.5 Million, by Michael Rigby
- Michigan Prisoner Assaulted By Jailers Awarded $2,000, by Michael Rigby
- Florida DOC’s Policy Prohibiting Release of Sex Offenders Without Address Unconstitutional, by David Reutter
- Wisconsin “Boondoggled” Into Buying Broken Down New Private Prison
- New York Prison Worker Not Kidnapped/Raped Long Enough For Compensation, by Gary Hunter
- Mississippi Beating Suit Nets $348,960 — Upheld on Appeal
- Maryland Disciplinary Rules Violate APA
- 5th Circuit Reverses Texas Prisoner’s Disciplinary Conviction For “Non-Existent” Offense, by Michael Rigby
- Texas Supreme Court: Non-Suit Deprives Appeals Court of Jurisdiction
- Virginia Guard Hazed By Coworkers Awarded $25,001, by Michael Rigby
- Eleventh Circuit Affirms Damage Award in Psychiatrist’s Strangling Death
- Fourth Circuit Holds FTCA Applies to BOP Property Claims
- Missouri Prison Ordered to Provide Immediate Abortion
- Fifth Circuit Reinstates Texas Prisoners’ Challenge to Extended Lockdown, by Michael Rigby
- News in Brief:
- Oklahoma Regulation Confiscating Money Order From Other Prisoner’s Family Upheld
- Tenth Circuit Reinstates Colorado Ad Seg Conditions Claims, by Bob Williams
More from these topics:
- Michigan DOC Legal Payouts Top $7 Million in FY 2025, Less than One Percent of $2.15 Billion Operating Budget, Sept. 1, 2026. Statistics/Trends, Cost of Prison Systems, Damages, Settlements.
- Seventh Circuit Grants Qualified Immunity to Detectives Who Revealed Prisoner Was Informant, Denies Him Anonymity, Aug. 1, 2026. Failure to Protect (General), Physical Injury Rule, Qualified Immunity, Informants (Failure to Protect), 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights.
- $130,030 Jury Verdict for Connecticut Prisoner Subjected to Inhumane Conditions, July 1, 2026. Retaliation, Conditions of Confinement, Administrative Detention/Segregation, Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA).
- Pennsylvania Bungles Management at George W. Hill Prison after Taking Back Control from GEO Group, July 1, 2026. Classification, Retaliation, Conditions of Confinement, Guards/Staff, Prison Regulations.
- Oklahoma Jail Closes After $2.55 Million Payout for Retaliatory Strip Search, July 1, 2026. Retaliation, Strip Searches, Monell Liability, Wrongful Use of Force, Suspicionless Searches.
- Ombuds Report Doesn’t Rule Out Racism or Retaliation at Red Onion State Prison, June 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Failure to Treat, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement.
- Seventh Circuit Upholds Liability but Reverses Damages in Lawsuit Over Illinois Warden and Investigator Using Prisoner as Bait to Catch Staff Member Raping Her, May 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Failure to Protect (General), Damages, Evidentiary Ruling, Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
- California Spends $300 Million Each Year Incarcerating Senior Citizens in Women’s Prisons, April 1, 2026. Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Totality of Conditions, Parole, Life without Parole (LWOP), Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Ohio Supreme Court Awards Prisoner $1,000 for Denied Records Request, April 1, 2026. Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Damages, Public Records, Public Records Act.
- Leaked Video Footage Shows California Prison Guards Engaged in Retaliatory Assault, March 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Prison Rape Elimination Act.

