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Articles by Ronald Young

Individual Analysis Required for Diabetic Class Action Damage Award

By Ronald Young

The court of appeals for the Third circuit held that the lower court erred in holding that all members of the plaintiff class past, present, and future of insulin-dependent diabetic prisoners alleged violation of their Eighth Amendment rights.

In 1990, Darryl rouse, an insulin-dependent diabetic then incarcerated ...

Field 'Sleep Out' Without Adequate Toilet Facilities States An Eighth Amendment Violation

By Ronald Young

The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that, for qualified immunity purposes, a prisoner who was forced to spend the night outdoors in a work field without adequate bathroom facilities and shelter demonstrated a violation of his clearly established Eighth Amendment rights. The court also ...

Retaliation Claim Remanded for Hearing on Qualified Immunity

Retaliation Claim Remanded For Hearing On Qualified Immunity

By Ronald Young

The court of appeals for the Second circuit held that a district court's denial of summary judgement to prison guards on grounds of qualified immunity required remand to reconsider whether action against prisoner would have taken place in the ...

Contradictory Disciplinary Hearing Evidence Not Precluded From Use of Excessive Force Suit

By Ronald Young

The U.S. district court for the East- ern District of California held that a prisoner was not precluded from introducing evidence contradicting factual findings of disciplinary proceeding instituted against prisoner as a result of incident.

Vincent Marquez, a California state prisoner, brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ...

Claim For Prospective Relief Moot Upon Release

The court of appeals for the Tenth circuit held that when a prisoner's claim for perspective injunctive relief regarding conditions of confinement becomes moot, the prisoner's parole or supervised release status does not, absent some exceptional showing, bring that claim under the narrow "capable of repetition, yet evading review" exception ...

Heck Does Not Bar Evidence in Shooting Case

The U.S. district court for the East ern District of California held that a prisoner was not precluded from introducing evidence contradicting factual findings of disciplinary proceeding instituted against prisoner as a result of incident.

Vincent Marquez, a California state prisoner, brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil action against ...

Guard Proclaiming Open Season On Prisoner Actionable

The court of appeals for the Second circuit held that a prisoner, who alleged a guard told the other prisoners that it was "open season" on the prisoner, stated a claim under § 1983 for violation of the prisoner's Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, ...

Pretrial Cold Cell Violates Fourteenth Amendment

A federal district court in Illinois held that a pretrial detainee's alleged exposure to low temperature in a detention cell, while naked and with no alternative means of protecting himself from the cold, supported a claim of inadequate shelter against county jail deputies and thus stated a claim of deliberate ...

Denial Of Food and Medicine Supports Eighth Amendment Claim

The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that a prisoner's medical condition was sufficiently serious to support an Eighth Amendment claim, and material fact issues existed as to whether officials acted with deliberate indifference toward the prisoner's serious medical condition.

Orrin S. Reed, a prisoner at the Westville ...

Fifth Circuit Says Rotting to Death in Prison Okay

How often have you heard it said of prisoners, "Let them rot in prison?" Probably more times than you care to remember. In the case of Mississippi prisoner Eugene Stewart, such a hellish and cruel death as literally having the skin rot off of his bones was visited upon him ...