Miami-Dade Sex Offender Residency Ordinance Unsuccessfully Challenged
by David M. Reutter
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently challenged the constitutionality of a Miami-Dade County, Florida ordinance that, according to the organization, forces sex offenders on probation into homelessness by imposing residency restrictions so harsh there is literally no place ...
$350,000 Settlement in Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Suicide
by David Reutter
A $350,000 settlement was reportedly reached in the 2007 suicide of a prisoner at Pennsylvania’s Blair County Prison (BCP). The settlement included the prisoner’s personal physician as well as county defendants.
Following an injury to his right leg in 2002, Nathan ...
$130,000 Awarded to New York Prisoner Injured From Top Bunk Fall
by David Reutter
A New York Court of Claims has awarded $130,000 to a prisoner who was injured after negligently being assigned a top bunk against medical directions.
Prisoner, Jon Sumpter, fell about six feet on November 17, 2003, ...
Agreement Ends Discrimination of HIV-Positive Prisoners in South Carolina
by David M. Reutter
An agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) makes it the last state prison system to end discrimination against HIV-positive prisoners.
SCDC implemented policies in the late 1990s that segregated about 350 male and female prisoners in its highest security prisons without regard for their individual security classification. Male prisoners were housed at the Broad River Correctional Institution and the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution housed women.
HIV-positive prisoners were required to wear clothing and badges that identified their dorms, which were “HIV-only” dorms. In effect, SCDC’s policies disclosed to staff, other prisoners, and visitors the prisoners’ HIV status. Because certain programs are not available at those two prisons, SCDC’s policies prevented affected prisoners from participating in drug treatment, work release, pre-release preparation, and intermediate psychiatric care. They were also denied cafeteria and canteen jobs.
The October 1, 2013 agreement between DOJ and SCDC ends the “illegal segregation” of HIV-positive prisoners throughout the nation. It came close on the heels of the Alabama prisoner system’s abrogation of similar policies following a federal court’s ruling. See: PLN August, 2013, ...
Mississippi Jail Warden Arrested After Felony Conviction Unveiled
by David Reutter
The warden of Mississippi’s Wilkinson County Jail (WCJ) was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and filing or maintaining false public records.
Before being appointed WCJ’s warden, Roderick Frye, 28, worked at the Angola State Prison until December 2012 and prior to that, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. When applying for employment at Angola, Frye stated that he did not have any prior felony convictions.
Frye, however, was convicted in 1999 after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Frye, who was 13 at the time, fatally stabbed 14-year-old Kenneth Stampley on a school bus in Jefferson County while 30 other students on the bus witnessed the incident.
Frye was convicted as an adult and sentenced to 15 years in prison, with 7 years suspended. He was released in 2005.
The firearms charge is based upon Frye’s firearm qualification for law enforcement in 2009, 2011 and 2012. He was arrested on October 17, 2013 and released on a $40,000 bond.
Sources: Associated Press, www.natchezdemocrat.com
Concerns about Michigan Prisoners’ Lost Property Claims
by David Reutter
Fearing many Michigan prisoners’ claims for lost or damaged property may be fraudulent, state officials are looking for ways to end such abuse.
The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) paid $68,000 in 2012-13 to settle 630 small claims brought by prisoners to replace property, a 6% increase from the $64,000 paid in 2011-12.
Claims range from damaged boxer shorts, which resulted in an $8.59 payment, to more expensive payouts for damaged TVs or musical instruments.
Payouts relating to the 13-inch transparent plastic TV sets prisoners purchase for $150 are the most common. From November 2012 to November 2013, MDOC paid $24,010 to settle 194 claims relating to TVs. Because some claims describe only “miscellaneous items,” which may or not include TVs, the numbers are imprecise.
TVs can be damaged by guards during shakedowns, said MDOC spokesman Russ Marlan. Most TV claims relate to lost or damaged sets during the approximate 75,000 prisoner transfers that occur annually.
“It is true that some of these payouts are for truly lost or damaged property; however, it is entirely possible that some of these claims were engineered manipulations by prisoners,” said Marlan.
Lois DeMott, ...
$10 Million Lawsuit Filed against Tennessee Jail in Hanging Death
by David Reutter
The estate of a pre-trial detainee who hanged himself at the Robertson County Detention Facility (RCDF) in Springfield, Tennessee has filed a $10 million federal lawsuit alleging deliberate indifference to his serious mental health needs. The death ...
Florida’s IQ Rule for Death Penalty Exemption Unconstitutional
by David Reutter
Florida’s “rigid rule” that requires defendants to have an IQ of 70 or less before they can present mitigating evidence of an intellectual disability “creates an unacceptable risk that persons with an intellectual disability will be executed,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority in a 5-4 Supreme Court opinion issued last year, which found Florida’s strict IQ rule unconstitutional.
The Court’s decision involved the case of Freddie Lee Hall, who was convicted in the 1978 rape and murder of Karol Hurst, who was 21 and seven months pregnant, and murder of sheriff’s deputy Lonnie Coburn. The evidence at sentencing indicated Hall “has been mentally retarded his entire life” and was raised “under the most horrible family circumstances imaginable” by an abusive mother.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), Hall filed a motion claiming he was intellectually disabled – a term now used for mental retardation – and thus could not be executed. More than five years later, a hearing was held. Florida argued that state law requires defendants to have an IQ of 70 or lower before evidence of ...
California Court Finds “Horrific” Treatment of Mentally Ill Prisoners
by David Reutter
A California federal district court found “an existing constitutional violation with respect to use of force on seriously mentally ill inmates” in a long-running class-action lawsuit. After viewing six videos of what officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) described as acceptable use of force “tactics,” the court stopped the viewing and called the videos “horrific.”
The April 10, 2014 ruling came after the CDCR moved to terminate court oversight in the Coleman v. Brown class-action suit – a companion case to Plata v. Brown, which resulted in a landmark three-judge federal court order to significantly reduce the state’s prison population. [See: PLN, July 2011, p.1].
The prisoner class countered with motions to enforce prior court orders in the litigation and for affirmative relief. As PLN has previously reported, the district court found in 1995 that seriously mentally ill prisoners were being treated with punitive measures, placed in segregation without evaluation of their mental health condition and subjected to force without penological justification. [See: PLN, May 1996, p.20].
CDCR officials face a monumental task, for as of September 2013 there ...
New York Prisoner Awarded $2,225 for Denial of Dental Care
by David Reutter
A New York Court of Claims awarded $2,225 to a prisoner who sued prison officials for medically negligent dental care for failure to extract a tooth for almost three months.
While imprisoned at the Elmira Correctional Facility ...
