By Paul Wright
As consistently reported in PLN, most recently in the March, 1994, issue, prisoners at the Washington State Reformatory (WSR) have been involved in nearly 13 years of litigation involving prison officials' challenge to the consent decree they entered into in 1981. The decree mandated that prison officials ...
By Paul Wright
North Coast XPress is a magazine for people who care about Constitutional issues, U.S. foreign policy, the criminal "justice" system, labor news, animal rights, global and domestic economics, the environment and other topics that the mainstream media won't touch. Each issue has prisoner art, poetry, and articles ...
From the Editor
By Paul Wright
Welcome to another issue of PLN. As we reported last month, the ACLU has filed suit against the Washington state parole board over their no-contact parole condition on Ed Mead, PLN's former coeditor, which terminated his involvement with PLN. So far the case has ...
By Paul Wright
In the May, 1994, issue of PLN we ran an article, "Giving Cons and Ex-Cons The Right to Vote" which outlined a litigation strategy to obtain just such a right. Nine New York state prisoners at the Green Haven prison filed suit under a strategy similar to ...
From the Editor
By Paul Wright
Welcome to another issue of PLN. We apologize to our readers for the delays caused in recent months. Our new printer is working out quite well and as a result we are able to bring you more pages for the same amount of money. ...
By Paul Wright
Readers may recall that former PLN coeditor Ed Mead was released from prison in October, 1993, after serving nearly 18 years in prison. The day after he was released he was required to sign a standard conditions of release document for the Washington state Indeterminate Sentence Review ...
Three Strikes Racks 'Em Up
By Paul Wright
In November of 1993 voters in Washington state passed Initiative 593 which mandates life without parole for defendants convicted of one of 42 qualifying felonies for the third time. PLN covered the initiative process as it was unfolding at the time, [see ...
By Paul Wright
Welcome to another issue of PLN. We received a lot of letters from readers inquiring about the late delivery of their March, April and May issues. That was due to delays in the desktop publishing which delayed the March issue. The move to the east coast also ...
By Paul Wright
Many people have the mistaken impression that slavery was outlawed or abolished in the United States after the civil war by the passage of the 13th amendment. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The 13th amendment reads: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crimes ...
From the Editor
by Paul Wright
Welcome to another issue of PLN. This issue is kind of special. It marks the 4th anniversary of PLN, that's right, 48 consecutive issues! Our first issue appeared in May of 1990. For the first couple of issues it was kind of hit and ...