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Articles by Jimmy Franks

Kinship Care More Beneficial Than State Foster Care for Children of Incarcerated Parents

Published in May 2009, Kinship care when parents are incarcerated: What we know, what we can do, is an in-depth examination of current statistical and practical information regarding the plight of children with one or more incarcerated parents, the caregivers charged with their welfare and the government agencies and officials ...

Certificate of Merit in Medical Malpractice Suits Unconstitutional in Washington State

In 2007, Kimme Putman, a Washington state resident, filed suit against the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center and a number of its employees. Putnam’s lawsuit alleged negligence by medical personnel when they failed to properly diagnose her ovarian cancer in 2001 and 2002, while it was still in the early stages. ...

New Orleans Jail Conditions Found Unconstitutional

In June, August and November 2008, the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) in New Orleans, Louisiana was the target of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation conducted by the agency’s Civil Rights Division.

Under the auspices of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997, federal investigators ...

In Support of Ending Prosecutorial Misconduct

The Justice Project recently published its policy review concerning prosecutorial accountability in our nation’s criminal justice system. Entitled, Improving Prosecutorial Accountability, the report was prepared by the president of The Justice Project, John F. Terzano, Esq., along with Executive Director Joyce A. McGee, Esq. and Policy Coordinator Alanna Holt.

The ...

Ineligible Texas Prisoners Receive Federal Stimulus Checks

Between May and June of last year, hundreds of federal economic stimulus checks began to arrive at various Texas prisons, addressed to prisoners who were thought to be eligible to receive them. Those payments were part of 1,700 stimulus checks erroneously sent to prisoners nationwide.

On February 13, 2009, Congress ...

Remedial Sanctions Denied in Wisconsin Class-Action Jail Suit

In July 2009, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin entered an opinion reversing an appellate court’s decision that instructed a lower court to order remedial damages in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Milwaukee County jail prisoners.

The suit was originally filed pro se in March 1996 by Milton J. ...

Education for Persons in Detention—A Human Right

The positive correlation between increased education and lowered recidivism rates is a long-established fact. Even so, governments worldwide are not always willing or even able to insure that the men, women and children housed in various detention facilities are given access to sufficient educational and vocational opportunities. Many factors can ...

CRIPA Investigation Finds “Woefully Inadequate” Conditions in Erie County, NY Jails; Lawsuits Filed

An investigation conducted by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice uncovered significant civil rights violations at two New York detention facilities – the Erie County Holding Center (ECHC) and the Erie County Correctional Facility (ECCF), which house both pre-trial detainees and sentenced prisoners.

The investigation was ...

Santa Cruz County, Arizona Pays $3 Million in Strip Search Suit

On November 25, 2008, following two days of negotiation mediated by retired Pima County, Arizona Superior Court Judge, Honorable Lawrence Fleishman, the parties involved in a Class Action complaint regarding unconstitutional strip searches reached a satisfactory settlement, which now is subject to approval by an Arizona district court.

The complaint ...

Positive Correlation between Mental Illness and Prison Victimization

In September 2008, the Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research (the Center) published its Policy Brief regarding a recent survey conducted to determine the quality of life for prisoners in New Jersey’s Department of Corrections (DOC). The survey was funded by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of ...