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Articles by Matthew Clarke

Sundry Claims Board Only Remedy For Maryland Prisoners Injured On Paid Jobs

by Matt Clarke

A Maryland court of appeals has ruled that Maryland state prisoners injured on paid jobs may only seek compensation through the Sundry Claims Board (SCB).

Melvin James Dixon, a former Maryland state prisoner, was on a work detail paying $0.90 a day at the Pre-Release Unit of ...

Maine Supreme Judicial Court Reinstates Challenge to Maine SORNA

By Matt Clarke

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has reversed the dismissal of a challenge to the Maine Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), 34-A M.R.S. §§ 11201-11256.
John Doe is the pseudonym of a person convicted after 1982 and before 1986 of a sex offense against a family ...

California Federal Court Refuses to Dissolve Most of Orantes Injunction

By Matt Clarke

On July 23, 2007, a federal district court in California issued an opinion declining to dissolve the injunction issued in Orantes-Hernandez v. Meese, 685 F.Supp. 1488 (C.D.CA 1988), 919 F.2d 549 (9th Cir. 1990), which established immigration processing standards for Salvadoran nationals.

The class-action civil rights lawsuit ...

Idaho Court Of Appeals: Indigent Prisoners Not Required To Post Bond

By Matt Clarke

The Idaho Court of Appeals has ruled that an indigent prisoner’s legal action cannot be dismissed for failure to post the bond required by I.C. § 6-610 of persons filing suit against a “law enforcement officer.”

Steven Lee Hyde, an Idaho state prisoner and adherent of the ...

Nevada Supreme Court: Parole Board Hearings Exempt From Open Meetings Law

by Matt Clarke

On September 20, 2007, the Supreme Court of Nevada held that parole release meetings were exempt from the requirements of the Nevada Open Meetings Law (OML), N.R.S. Chapter 241.

John Witherow, a Nevada state prisoner, filed a complaint in state court against the Nevada Board of Pardons ...

Texas Prisoner’s Property Destruction Damages Properly Pleaded

By Matt Clarke

A Texas court of appeals has held that a state prisoner properly pleaded damages within the minimum jurisdictional limits of the district court.

Jeffery D. Westbrook, a Texas state prisoner incarcerated at the Allred Unit, filed suit pro se in state district court alleging prison officials on ...

Texas Prisoner's Premises Defect Suit Against Dallas County Reinstated

by Matthew T. Clarke

A Texas court of appeals has reinstated the pro se, in forma pauperis negligence and premises defect tort suit brought by a Texas prisoner against Dallas County and the Sheriff of Dallas County after finding that the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing the suit. ...

Deaths of Three North Carolina Prisoners Raise Suspicions

by Matt Clarke and David M. Reutter

The deaths of two prisoners at the Maury Correctional Institution (MCI), a 1,000-bed close-security prison for men located in Greene County, North Carolina, have raised suspicions due to questionable circumstances surrounding those incidents. The eventual death of another prisoner who suffered injuries at ...

State Audit Finds Maryland Prison Employees Misused Funds in Prisoner Accounts

by Matt Clarke

State lawmakers have registered outrage after a state audit, released in October 2010, revealed that employees of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC) at five finance offices in the Baltimore area used a prisoners’ trust account for paycheck advances. Irregularities were also discovered in ...

Fifth Circuit: Habeas Petition Challenging Recent Parole Denial Not Considered Successive

by Matt Clarke

On April 1, 2009, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order holding that a federal habeas corpus petition challenging procedures used to deny parole at a parole hearing which occurred after a previous habeas petition had been filed was not a successive petition.

Richard Delaney ...