by Dan Manville
Federal prisoners are no longer able to sue pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for property that was negligently lost or destroyed by federal prison staff. In Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 128 S.Ct. 831 (2008), the United States Supreme Court held that federal ...
Partial Payment of Filing Fees
by Daniel E. Manville
Introduction1
When filing a pro se lawsuit you may seek a waiver of the payment of the entire filing fee. However, with the enactment of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), courts are now authorized to deny such waiver if you ...
by Daniel Manville
The last column in the September, 2004, issue of PLN discussed "Proceeding In Forma Pauperis."2 That article explains that a prisoner is usually required to pay a partial filing fee before the complaint will be filed by the federal court clerk. The federal court will establish a ...
Before starting on my1 first, of many, pro se articles, I want to thank John Midgley on behalf of the hundreds, if not thousands, of prisoners that he has helped through these eight years. He has taken difficult legal concepts for even attorneys to understand and has, with his gift ...
by Dan Manville
The Sixth Circuit has held that mail from a court is entitled to First Amendment protection, which means that prison officials had to open legal mail in the presence of the prisoner to check for contraband. Sallier v. Brooks, 343 F.3d 868 (6th Cir. 2003). The court ...
Federal Legal Standards For Prison Medical Care
by Dan Manville
The State is required to provide adequate medical care to those it confines.1 In this time of shrinking budgets, many prison systems have turned to contracting with private health care providers to meet their legal obligations. Some states have turned ...
In the past couple of years, there have been a number of changes to federal statutes that provide protections to those confined with disabilities. This article discusses those changes. Additional rights that the disabled may have under federal and state constitutional provisions, such as the Eighth Amendment right to be ...
