In 1988, a Chino prison guard was killed when a juvenile prisoner he was escorting to a Los Angeles hospital for medical treatment tried to escape. Like other prison guards killed in the line of duty, the veteran officer left behind a grieving family. But unlike the others, his death ...
With this issue of PLN we are back on our normal publishing schedule. Readers should be receiving their copy of PLN around the first of the issue month.
A reminder to our prisoner readers, if prison officials censor your PLN subscription please let us know because PLN is usually not ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 5
Alleging that the California Department of Corrections (CDC) violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment by providing seriously inadequate medical care to state prisoners, the Prison Law Office and the law firms Pillsbury Winthrop and McCutchen Doyle Brown & Enersen filed a class action lawsuit on April ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 6
Wyoming Prison Officials Settle Poisoning And Medical Suits for over $200,000
In August 2000, Wyoming officials agreed to settle two consolidated cases for $200,000 in damages, costs, and attorney fees. The cases were filed in a Wyoming federal District Court by the survivors of two prisoners who died after being ...
by W. Wisely
Jose Garcia was a guard at California's Pelican Bay prison. With his supervisor, Mike Powers, Garcia plotted with prisoner shotcallers to have convicted child molesters, sex offenders, and informants stabbed or beaten. The conspiracy ran from January 1994 to September 29, 1995, when Garcia was relieved of ...
Virginia DOC Cuts Ties With CMS
by Robert Durkee
After numerous allegations of inadequate medical care, pending prisoner lawsuits and nearly $1 million in state imposed fines, Virginia Department of Corrections decided to sever at least two of its contractual ties with Correctional Medical Services. "Starting Feb. lst [2001] the ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 8
On Feb. 19, 2001, Brazilian authorities said they had regained control of 29 prisons in Sao Paulo state where some 25,000 prisoners had taken some 7,000 hostages in an apparently coordinated rebellion during the Sunday visiting day on Feb. 18. Some of the hostages were guards, but most were family ...
by John E. Dannenberg
A federal district court in Wisconsin held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) cap on recovery of attorney fees in successful prisoner civil rights complaints violated Fifth Amendment equal protection principles and determined that $80,000 in attorney fees was proportionately related to the $40,000 total ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 10
The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court reversed two separate prison disciplinary matters after finding that two state prisoners were denied due process protections limiting the use of confidential informants and confidential information.
Andrew Daley, a prisoner at East Jersey State Prison, was charged with planning an assault ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 10
A Tennessee federal district judge as found an incentives contract between the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and a private doctor unconstitutional and must be stopped. The contract provided for financial incentives for the physician to reduce costs, which motivated him to reduce medical services.
During a 21-month period ending ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 11
A federal court in Kentucky has ordered the Kentucky Department of Corrections (KDOC) to provide hepatitis C treatment to a prisoner suffering from both hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver. In response, the KDOC has implemented a treatment plan whereby up to 1,000 prisoners may receive treatment. This is ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 12
On March 23, 2001, a federal jury in Memphis, Tennessee, awarded Tennessee state prisoner Charles Degan $235,000 in damages in a medical neglect suit against Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the world's largest private, for profit, prison company.
In 1998 Degan's nose and jaw were broken in a fight with ...
PLRA Limits Guard's Liability For Prisoner's Attorney Fees
by John E. Dannenberg
The US District Court, SD Ohio ruled that the Prison Litigation Reform Act's (PLRA) 150% cap restricting a prevailing prisoner plaintiff's attorney fees limited only how much the defendant was liable to pay, not how much the prisoner's ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 13
For more than a year, the BOP had an imposter in its midst officials discover last October. One man paid another to do his time and the BOP remained clueless until the imposter escaped.
After pleading guilty to a charge of receiving proceeds from a bank robbery, Dexter Mathis was ...
by George Winslow, Monthly Review Press (1999), 360 pages
Review by Allen N. Huxley
Crime dominates the news, arouses fear and anger among the mass media-consuming public, and oils the rhetorical machinery of opportunistic politicians. Yet for all of the moralizing, finger pointing, and "get tough" policy making, few pause ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 14
The Washington Supreme Court held that the Department of Corrections (DOC) possessed statutory authority to transfer nearly 400 prisoners to an outofstate, private prison. In March of 1999, DOC transferred 254 prisoners to the Correctional Services Corporation run Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs Colorado [PLN, June 1999].
In ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 15
The court of appeals for the Tenth circuit held that district courts who award civil rights defendants attorney fees must explain the basis for the award. G. Sam Houston is a Colorado prisoner convicted of assorted sex crimes against children. After pleading guilty to the criminal charges against him, Houston ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 15
The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) rule of requiring physical injury applies to damage claims brought under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Richard Cassidy, a blind Indiana prisoner, brought suit under 42 ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 16
Lack of "Volitional Control" Required for Civil Commitment of Kansas Sex Offenders; S.Ct. Grants Review
The Kansas Supreme Court has held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires proof of a condition affecting "volitional control" before a sex offender can be civilly committed under Kansas' Sexually Violent ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 16
Massachusetts Disenfranchises Its Prisoners
by Peter Wagner
On November 7, 2000, by a 2 to 1 margin, Massachusetts disenfranchised its prisoners with a constitutional amendment called Question 2. Question 2 marked the first time that the Massachusetts constitution had been amended to take away rights from a group of people. ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 16
A federal district court in New Jersey held that material issues of fact precluded summary judgment on a former prisoner's claim that he was denied adequate medical care. The court also rejected defendants' claim of qualified immunity.
Dana Andrews, a former prisoner of the Camden County Corrections Facility, (CCCF), sued ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 17
Arkansas Guards Indicted For Shocking Prisoners
On February 7, 2001, criminal charges were filed in a federal District Court in Arkansas against 6 former guards who beat handcuffed prisoners and shocked them with a stungun and a cattle prod.
On January 7, 1998, two reportedly unruly prisoners at the Cummins ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 17
On January 5th at approximately 10:30 pm a Texas prisoner used a fake gun to back down an armed guard and hold an entire SWAT team at bay for over an hour. Dekenya Nelson used a hairbrush, soap, a deodorant bottle, and pages from the Bible to make a convincingly ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 18
The court of appeals for the Fifth Circuit has held that the issue of whether Louisiana violated the Equal Protection Clause by treating female prisoners more favorable than male prisoners cannot be resolved at the motion to dismiss stage.
Roger D. Yates, Travis Carter, and George McGuffey are Louisiana state ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 18
Detainee Entitled To Dental Care
A New York federal district Court ruled the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) must provide detainee Melvin Lloyd Richards immediate dental care or release him.
Richards was remanded to custody after convicted by a jury on January 17, 2000. Thereafter, Richards moved for bail, which was ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 18
New York Prisoner Wins $7,200 In Negligence Suit
On January 31, 2000, the Court of Claims in Binghamton, New York awarded $7,200 in damages to Kenneth Edmonds, who was injured in an accident while he was working on a prison work crew.
On July 8, 1994 Edmonds was a prisoner ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 19
$9.5 Million Awarded In Prisoner Van Fire Death
In late February 2001, Kathryn Catalano received a $9.5 million jury award in a Tennessee U.S. District Court. She sued after her father died in an extradition van fire. Federal Extradition Agency (FEA) is a private company based in Memphis, Tennessee. For ...
On December 5, 2000, New York City officials agreed to settle Dhoruba alMujahid bin Wahad's wrongful imprisonment suit for $490,000 in damages, costs, and attorney fees.
Wahad, a former Black Panther leader, was convicted of attempted murder in 1973, after he allegedly machinegunned two New York City police officers in ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 20
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court decision granting summary judgment to prison officials in a case involving the treatment of prisoners following a prison uprising.
In 1995 the Graham Unit of the Arizona State Prison in Safford, Arizona held 638 prisoners. One hundred prisoners ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 21
$1.4 Million Awarded To Raped Alaska Women Prisoners
On January 22, 2001 an Anchorage, Alaska superior court jury awarded nearly $1.4 million to five women in a civil action arising from their being sexually assaulted by a guard at an Anchorage halfway house called the Cordova Center.
J.C. Lewis Jr. ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 21
Kansas Conditional Release is Mandatory
The Kansas state court of appeals held that the parole hoard could not rescind parole revocation and convert it to a conditional release revocation. The court also held that the retroactive application of a rule governing withholding of good time credits violated ex post facto ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 22
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court order requiring the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to allow Muslim prisoners to use their religious name to obtain prison services. While incarcerated, Florida death row prisoner Kenneth D. Quince converted to Islam and obtained a legal name change ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 23
The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has held that a lawsuit which seeks damages for emotional and mental claims filed by a prisoner while confined are barred, but the same claim can be pursued if filed after release.
Eleven Georgia prisoners filed a lawsuit claiming that their federal ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 24
The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held a prisoner may bring a 42 U.S.C. §1983 action upon a claim of retaliatory disciplinary action even when the underlying disciplinary action has not been overturned. Illinois prisoner Anthony Dewalt sued various officials at Dixon Correctional Center alleging constitutional violations.
Dewalt's ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 24
A Court of Claims judge denounced a highranking lawyer in the Attorney General's office after she threatened and attempted to intimidate a claimant's expert witness_who happened to be the former New York State Commissioner of Correctional Services.
Former Commissioner Thomas A. Coughlin III was slated to be an expert witness ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 25
An Arizona federal district court has held that a prisoner's claims that he was subjected to urinalysis, placed in administrative segregation, classified as a gang member and denied access to the law library as retaliation for filing civil actions against prison officials warranted proceedings beyond summary judgment.
Arizona prisoner Mark ...
by John E. Dannenberg
The United States District Court, Eastern District of CA, held that a "private settlement" agreement to cap the El Dorado (California) County jail population was not a "consent decree" as defined in the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), and that it was therefore immune from attack ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 26
Pennsylvania state prisoner Lamont Harris filed a pro se petition for review, alleging that being forced to live in constant illumination 24 hours per day while in punitive segregation was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Harris claimed that as a result of the constant lighting, ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 26
The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held that a Georgia law changing the frequency between parole hearings may violate the ex post facto clause. Georgia prisoner Paul Harris claimed the retroactive application of Ga. Comp. R & Reg. r. 4753.05(2)(1986)(the regulation), which changes the frequency of parolereconsideration hearings ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 27
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an amended Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC) regulation that rescinded earned good time credits violates the Ex Post Facto Clause.
Prisoner Steve A. Smith filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging the April 9, 1997 revision to OP060213, (the regulation). ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 28
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that medical personnel employed by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) are absolutely immune from suit.
Prisoner John Andrew Cuoco, a preoperative male to female transsexual, filed an action against various officials at the BOP facility in Otisville, New York. Cuoco named as defendants ...
by Joel Dyer, Westview Press, 2000 (318 pages)
Reviewed by Rick Card
An estimated 69 million people, or 44 percent of all households now own stock or invest in one of thousands of mutual funds. According to Joel Dyer, they are all "deriving at least a small portion of their ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 29
A federal district court in Oregon denied, in part, prison officials' motion for summary judgment on a claim of retaliatory removal from a prison job. The court also rejected prison officials' defense of qualified immunity.
State prisoner Darrick Hunter was removed from his prison job as a legal assistant for ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 29
A federal district court in New York granted a Rastafarian prisoner's motion for a preliminary injunction in an action challenging a prison policy compelling his placement into restrictive confinement for one year for refusal on religious grounds to submit to a tuberculosis (TB) test. The court held that the prisoner ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 30
A $250,000 jury award to a beaten Texas prisoner and a courtordered award of $95,000 in attorney's fees were upheld on appeal to the Fifth Circuit who found that the amount of damages was reasonable and the trial court did not abuse its discretion by giving a single jury, interrogatory ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 30
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court's grant of summary judgment to a private physician under contract with the county, holding that contract services provided to the county constituted state action. The court also held that qualified immunity was categorically unavailable to the physician.
Jerry Jensen filed ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2001
published in Prison Legal News
July, 2001, page 32
Alaska: On May 4, 2001, Anchorage superior court judge Elaine Andrews terminated the 20-year-old Cleary conditions case. Andrews ruled that the overcrowding and related problems that were at the root of the class action lawsuit have been resolved. Andrews said she would file an opinion addressing the constitutionality of the ...
