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Prison Legal News: November, 2020

Issue PDF
Volume 31, Number 11

In this issue:

  1. Milestone: Thirty Years of Prison Legal News and the Human Rights Defense Center (p 1)
  2. Fifth Circuit Reinstates Lawsuit Over Texas Jail Prisoner’s Death (p 14)
  3. From the Editor (p 14)
  4. Denied Medical Care During Pandemic, New Jersey Prisoner Treats Infected Wound With Bleach (p 16)
  5. Ninth Circuit: No Summary Judgment for Prison Officials Who Allegedly Allowed Attack on Nevada Prisoner (p 17)
  6. Lives at Stake as Pennsylvania County De-privatizes Prison (p 18)
  7. Coronavirus: A Second Wave of Infection (p 20)
  8. Eleventh Circuit Vacates COVID-19 Injunction Against Miami Jail (p 22)
  9. Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio Loses Another Arizona Republican Primary (p 22)
  10. Nebraska Declares Overcrowding Emergency in State Prisons (p 23)
  11. Fourth Circuit: Opening of Detainee’s Legal Mail Outside His Presence Violates Right to Free Speech (p 24)
  12. Federal Judge Rules Prisoners Eligible for $1,200 Stimulus Checks; Application Deadline Extended to Nov. 21 for Online Filing (p 24)
  13. California Prison Guards Keep Jobs After Aiding Attacks on Sex Offenders (p 26)
  14. Texas: Prison Air Conditioning Needs Revisiting (p 26)
  15. Efforts to Keep COVID-19 Out of Montana Prisons Fuels Outbreaks in County Jails (p 28)
  16. Denial of Recruitment of Counsel for Wisconsin Prisoner Affirmed by Seventh Circuit (p 30)
  17. DOJ Finds Frequent Use of Excessive Force in Alabama Prisons (p 30)
  18. Two-Thirds of Nevada Prisoners Confined in Arizona Private Prison Test Positive for COVID-19 (p 32)
  19. Third Circuit: District Court Erred in Ruling Against Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Civil Rights Complaint (p 32)
  20. Washington Prisoner’s State Public Records Act Lawsuit Results in His Freedom and $111,194 Award (p 34)
  21. New Jersey Guard Acquitted in Sex Scandal (p 34)
  22. North Carolina Temporarily Closes Three Prisons for Lack of Guards; Final One Reopens During COVID-19 Pandemic (p 35)
  23. $225,000 Windfall in Lehigh County, Pa. But Officials Don’t Cut Jail Phone Costs (p 36)
  24. Second Circuit Reverses Summary Dismissal of Connecticut Prisoner’s Failure-to-Protect Lawsuit (p 36)
  25. Private Prison Industry Ramped Up Campaign Contributions, Favoring Republicans (p 38)
  26. Pennsylvania Prisoner Loses Part of Leg, Wins Appeal in Precedential Grievance Process Case (p 38)
  27. Florida Spent $1.7 Million, and Counting, to Impede Felon Voting Rights (p 40)
  28. Investment Firm Buys Corizon (p 40)
  29. $1.25 Million Settlement Against Tennessee County Over Sheriff’s Violations of Labor Law (p 41)
  30. Violence at New York City’s Rikers Island Jail Increasing Even as Population Falls (p 42)
  31. Ankle Monitor Shortage at Chicago Jail Put Prisoner Releases During COVID in Limbo (p 42)
  32. Failed Michigan Jail Site to Host Innovation Center (p 43)
  33. Report: Screening Failures Cited in COVID-19 Outbreak in California Prisons (p 44)
  34. Second Circuit: Denial of Exercise Over Four Months Defeats Summary Judgment (p 44)
  35. Rikers Island Death Case Against City of New York Settles for $5.5 Million (p 45)
  36. Families of 4 Alabama Prisoners Who Committed Suicide File Federal Lawsuit Against Prison Officials (p 46)
  37. ICE Detainees Pepper-Sprayed Over Hunger Strike (p 46)
  38. Connecticut: Summary Judgment Denied in Deliberate Indifference Case Where Facial Lesion Turned Out To Be Skin Cancer (p 48)
  39. Eleventh Circuit: Florida’s Treatment Plan for Hepatitis C-Positive Prisoners Constitutional (p 48)
  40. Sixth Circuit Reverses and Allows Ohio Prisoner’s Civil Rights Lawsuit to Proceed (p 49)
  41. Mental Health Crisis in California’s Lock-Ups Worsens With COVID-19 (p 50)
  42. Fourth Circuit Orders Sealing of North Carolina Court’s Order to “Protect Defendant from Harm” (p 50)
  43. Native Americans Protest Theft of Alcatraz Island (p 52)
  44. Temporary Halt of Federal Prison Labor at National Parks, but New Policy Proposed To Resume It (p 52)
  45. $70,000 Settlement in Private Firm’s Failure to Treat Arizona Prisoner’s Broken Wrist (p 53)
  46. Guard Violates Eighth Amendment by Brandishing Knife and Threatening Prisoner’s Life (p 54)
  47. Seventh Circuit Dismisses Summary Judgment for Defendants in Illinois Prisoner’s Lawsuit Over Beating, Choking (p 54)
  48. HRDC Files Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Colorado Sheriff for Censorship of Prisoner Publications (p 55)
  49. Captain Accused of Abusing Mentally Ill Prisoners Cleared in Internal Investigation (p 56)
  50. New York City BOP Prisoner Dies After Being Pepper-Sprayed (p 56)
  51. Former Pennsylvania Prison All Solitary with Silence Mandatory (p 57)
  52. Alabama Executes Non-Shooter in Police Killings (p 58)
  53. Former Angola Warden Burl Cain Appointed Head of Mississippi Prison System (p 60)
  54. News in Brief (p 62)
  55. Massachusetts Jail Phone Cost Reductions Under Attack (p 62)

Milestone: Thirty Years of Prison Legal News and the Human Rights Defense Center

Fifth Circuit Reinstates Lawsuit Over Texas Jail Prisoner’s Death

From the Editor

Denied Medical Care During Pandemic, New Jersey Prisoner Treats Infected Wound With Bleach

Ninth Circuit: No Summary Judgment for Prison Officials Who Allegedly Allowed Attack on Nevada Prisoner

Before the court was the appeal of Nevada prisoner Robert ...

Lives at Stake as Pennsylvania County De-privatizes Prison

Coronavirus: A Second Wave of Infection

Eleventh Circuit Vacates COVID-19 Injunction Against Miami Jail

That was ...

Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio Loses Another Arizona Republican Primary

The controversial Joe Arpaio earlier lost his office in the 2016 election cycle. He then tried ...

Nebraska Declares Overcrowding Emergency in State Prisons

In an effort to help reduce population, parole board chairwoman Roslyn Cotton said that the ...

Fourth Circuit: Opening of Detainee’s Legal Mail Outside His Presence Violates Right to Free Speech

Federal Judge Rules Prisoners Eligible for $1,200 Stimulus Checks; Application Deadline Extended to Nov. 21 for Online Filing

The same court has also laid out detailed guidelines for ...

California Prison Guards Keep Jobs After Aiding Attacks on Sex Offenders

Texas: Prison Air Conditioning Needs Revisiting

There ...

Efforts to Keep COVID-19 Out of Montana Prisons Fuels Outbreaks in County Jails

Martz, 44, said he suffered ...

Denial of Recruitment of Counsel for Wisconsin Prisoner Affirmed by Seventh Circuit

This was the second appeal brought by Wisconsin prisoner Randy McCaa. His civil rights action alleged that the defendants were deliberately indifferent to his threats to commit ...

DOJ Finds Frequent Use of Excessive Force in Alabama Prisons

The DOJ’s July 23, ...

Two-Thirds of Nevada Prisoners Confined in Arizona Private Prison Test Positive for COVID-19

That’s what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nevada said in a July 2020 statement criticizing the “outrageous and disturbing” infection of 69.7 percent of ...

Third Circuit: District Court Erred in Ruling Against Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Civil Rights Complaint

Prisoner Casey Dooley, pro se, filed a civil rights action in state court that ...

Washington Prisoner’s State Public Records Act Lawsuit Results in His Freedom and $111,194 Award

New Jersey Guard Acquitted in Sex Scandal

The March 13, 2020, verdict by ...

North Carolina Temporarily Closes Three Prisons for Lack of Guards; Final One Reopens During COVID-19 Pandemic

DPS and DACJJ administrators decided ...

$225,000 Windfall in Lehigh County, Pa. But Officials Don’t Cut Jail Phone Costs

Pinsley’s March 5, 2020, letter noted that research shows ...

Second Circuit Reverses Summary Dismissal of Connecticut Prisoner’s Failure-to-Protect Lawsuit

Lloyd George Morgan, Jr., ...

Private Prison Industry Ramped Up Campaign Contributions, Favoring Republicans

With a sitting ...

Pennsylvania Prisoner Loses Part of Leg, Wins Appeal in Precedential Grievance Process Case

Florida Spent $1.7 Million, and Counting, to Impede Felon Voting Rights

In November 2018, ...

Investment Firm Buys Corizon

Flacks Group specializes in “operational-turn-around of under-utilized ...

$1.25 Million Settlement Against Tennessee County Over Sheriff’s Violations of Labor Law

Natasha Grayson, an employee of ...

Violence at New York City’s Rikers Island Jail Increasing Even as Population Falls

Ankle Monitor Shortage at Chicago Jail Put Prisoner Releases During COVID in Limbo

Failed Michigan Jail Site to Host Innovation Center

Report: Screening Failures Cited in COVID-19 Outbreak in California Prisons

“Nine is an extraordinary number ...

Second Circuit: Denial of Exercise Over Four Months Defeats Summary Judgment

Rikers Island Death Case Against City of New York Settles for $5.5 Million

Eva Luckey, a prisoner at Rikers ...

Families of 4 Alabama Prisoners Who Committed Suicide File Federal Lawsuit Against Prison Officials

ICE Detainees Pepper-Sprayed Over Hunger Strike

“Suddenly ...

Connecticut: Summary Judgment Denied in Deliberate Indifference Case Where Facial Lesion Turned Out To Be Skin Cancer

Two days after Bardo submitted that request, on December 18, 2012, Dr. Michael Clements examined ...

Eleventh Circuit: Florida’s Treatment Plan for Hepatitis C-Positive Prisoners Constitutional

The court’s August 31, 2020, ...

Sixth Circuit Reverses and Allows Ohio Prisoner’s Civil Rights Lawsuit to Proceed

Mental Health Crisis in California’s Lock-Ups Worsens With COVID-19

Fourth Circuit Orders Sealing of North Carolina Court’s Order to “Protect Defendant from Harm”

Native Americans Protest Theft of Alcatraz Island

The federal government has been in continuous violation of one of its treaties with Native Americans ...

Temporary Halt of Federal Prison Labor at National Parks, but New Policy Proposed To Resume It

According to the report: At one unnamed national park—the prisoners, whose criminal ...

$70,000 Settlement in Private Firm’s Failure to Treat Arizona Prisoner’s Broken Wrist

Eric Kevin Pesqueira incurred a wrist injury on October 17, 2013. He alleged it “was not promptly treated with medical devices or ...

Guard Violates Eighth Amendment by Brandishing Knife and Threatening Prisoner’s Life

Seventh Circuit Dismisses Summary Judgment for Defendants in Illinois Prisoner’s Lawsuit Over Beating, Choking

HRDC Files Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Colorado Sheriff for Censorship of Prisoner Publications

HRDC alleged in its complaint that ...

Captain Accused of Abusing Mentally Ill Prisoners Cleared in Internal Investigation

New York City BOP Prisoner Dies After Being Pepper-Sprayed

Floyd was serving a 12- to 15-year sentence for a Long Island home invasion committed in 2007. ...

Former Pennsylvania Prison All Solitary with Silence Mandatory

Alabama Executes Non-Shooter in Police Killings

Former Angola Warden Burl Cain Appointed Head of Mississippi Prison System

News in Brief

Alabama: The Birmingham News reported that an Alabama prison guard had been arrested for drug trafficking after a search of his vehicle when he arrived for work at the St. Clair County prison turned up 138 grams of methamphetamine and 16 grams of heroin. Ivan Caldwell, 26, was then booked ...

Massachusetts Jail Phone Cost Reductions Under Attack