By Brandon Sample
The Sixth Amendment’s right to confront witnesses does not apply to parole revocation proceedings, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit decided November 24th, 2010.
The U.S. Parole Commission revoked Bruce A. Curtis’ parole after he was convicted of assault in state court. Curtis was ...
By Brandon Sample
U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Bruce Guyton recommended the denial of a motion to suppress evidence recovered from a defendant’s rectum during a forced body cavity search.
Felix Booker was taken to the emergency room by Oak Ridge, Tennessee officers after he was suspected of stuffing drugs into ...
By Brandon Sample
The Court of Appeals for the State of Washington vacated an order extending a trial court’s jurisdiction to ensure collection of restitution order.
The court’s decision comes in response to a personal restraint petition filed by James Schlosser. Schlosser was convicted in 1998 of second-degree theft, and ...
The “public concern” test does not apply to prisoner claims of retaliation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held on March 31, 2010. Nonetheless, to be entitled to First Amendment protection, a prisoner’s speech must not be inconsistent with his or her status as a prisoner, the ...
A South African ad campaign intended to prevent drinking and driving has garnered the ire of human rights groups.
The ads – the idea of Brandhouse Beverages – show a group of men talking about the qualities they look for in a partner.
“I’m looking for a special person,” says ...
On March 26, 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Holwell granted a habeas corpus petition filed by a federal prisoner challenging the refusal of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to award good conduct time (GCT) for time spent in state custody on a related state sentence. That ruling, ...
by Brandon Sample and Derek Gilna
In a lawsuit brought under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Prison Legal News was awarded attorneys fees by a U.S. District Court in Colorado after the federal government agreed to release some of the records requested by PLN. On appeal, the Tenth Circuit ...
By Brandon Sample
New York state prisoners do not have to name prison officials in their grievances in order to exhaust administrative remedies, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided February 2, 2009.
The court's decision comes in response to an appeal by Cesar Espinal, a New ...
On November 3, 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to join a lawsuit filed by Ohio Legal Rights Service (OLRS) against the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, alleging “excessive, cruel, and inhumane” use of stun guns at the Franklin County Jail.
According to the suit, from January ...
By Brandon Sample
On March 31, 2010, Chief U.S. District Judge C.N. Clevert, Jr. struck down Wis. Stat. § 302.386(5m) as unconstitutional. The law, Clevert held, denied transgendered prisoners the right to individualized treatment for Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
In 2005, Wisconsin ...
