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Articles by Matthew Clarke

Fifth Circuit: No Liberty Interest in Discretionary BOP Sentence Reduction

By Matt Clarke

The Fifth Circuit court of appeals upheld the denial of sentence reduction to a federal prisoner who had completed the Residential Drug Abuse treatment Program (RDATP).

Michael Richardson, a federal prisoner incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Seagoville, Texas, was told by FCI staff that ...

Louisiana Court Of Appeals Overturns Strip Tier Cell InjunctionOverturns

Louisiana Court Of Appeals Overturns Strip Tier Cell Injunction

By Matt Clarke

On June 20, 2007, a Louisiana state court of appeals overturned a district court’s granting of an injunction against prison officials placing the prisoner into a strip tier cell (STC) without his having committed a new disciplinary infraction. ...

Fifth Circuit Grants Louisiana Prison Doctor Qualified Immunity

by Matt Clarke

The Fifth Circuit court of appeals reversed a Louisiana district court’s denial of qualified immunity for a prison doctor.

Anthony Gobert, a former Louisiana state prisoner, was incarcerated at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center (EHCC) and on work release when his leg was accidentally crushed below the ...

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 ...

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 ...