What I propose is, that as we embark on this massive prison construction program, we try a new approach -- convert our "warehouses" into factories with fences around them. To do that we must change our thinking and change the reactionary statutes that stand in the way. I believe the ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 3
[The following "Marketing Focus" fax from the Oregon Department of Corrections found its way to PLN , the full text of which is reproduced here.]
Prime land, buildings, and labor available to nursery industry.
Nursery products-related individuals and business interested in expanding operations through public-private partnerships are sought by the ...
A. Lichtenstein
The United States, in the throes of a vicious social war against the poor, is poised on the brink of dismantling New Deal legislative prohibitions such as the Ashurst-Sumners Act which made the interstate transport of prison-made goods a felony offense. [In 63 years, not one person has ...
Profits First! Convict Labor in America
Alex Lichtenstein, Twice the Work of Free Labor: The Political Economy of Convict Labor in the New South (London and New York: Verso, 1996).
Matthew J. Mancini, One Dies Get Another: Convict Leasing in the American South (Columbia S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, ...
Welcome to the eighth anniversary issue of PLN . This issue marks eight continuous years of monthly publishing, and in August we'll publish our 100th issue. This is an enormous accomplishment when one considers that the bulk of prison and alternative publications measure their existence in single digits as far ...
In Worse than Slavery, David Oshinsky writes about a world of forced toil with which we are more familiar: the great agricultural slave labor camp of Parchman Farm in the Mississippi Delta. Actually, Oshinsky's canvas is much wider than Parchman itself. Indeed, he seeks to provide the reader with a ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 6
Construction crews were hard at work in February, l998, pounding nails, framing walls and stirring Spackle to remodel a building adjacent to the Whatcom County (WA) Courthouse. Pictured on the front page of the Bellingham Herald , they looked like any typical hard-working bunch of all-American construction workers -- except ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 6
Travel Wholesalers International, a travel agency based in Fairfax, Virginia, recruits workers in out-of-the-way places. The company employs 12 maximum-security prisoners at the Leath Correctional Institution, a women's prison in Greenwood, South Carolina. The prisoner-workers talk to clients over the phone, registering plane reservations and other travel plans in the ...
Notes From The Unrepenitentiary
By Laura Whitehorn
The Jericho '98 rally in Washington, D.C. on March 27th was, I hope, a step in the direction of freeing all u.s.-held political prisoners and Prisoners of War. Vigorous action of all kinds both domestic and international will be needed to win the ...
The October 16th, 1997, issue of the Cleveland black community newspaper The Call and Post printed a letter announcing a statewide work strike by Ohio prisoners on November 1st. The letter was signed by Prisoners United For Equal Justice.
The purpose of the protest was to demand an end to ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 9
The Texas Prison Labor Union (TPLU) was established in 1995 by Texas prisoners and outside supporters. The state had just completed a $1.5 billion prison expansion program, and it now incarcerates close to 150,000 prisoners in a vast network of more than 100 prisons. One-hundred percent of Texas prisoners are ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 9
[Editor's Note: The following information reaches PLN by mail from an Ohio reader whose name and initials we are withholding at our discretion.]
The situation with CURE-Ohio is getting worse! CURE has formed a "coalition" of outside support groups, and is dictating policy to them. To join this "coalition" CURE-Ohio ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 10
The court of appeals for the third and ninth circuits joined the fifth, seventh and tenth circuits in holding that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) applies to cases dismissed before the PLRA's April 26, 1996, enactment. Section 1915(g) prohibits prisoners from proceeding with in forma pauperis (IFP) status if on three ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 10
The court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit held that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) precludes prisoners from appealing without full prepayment of the filing fees if the district court certifies that the appeal is not taken in good faith. The issue was one of first impression in that ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 10
A federal district court in Nebraska held that the IFP fee requirements of the PLRA, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2) require payment of the full filing fee even if the prisoner plaintiff later decides to voluntarily dismiss the action. See: Conley v. Henderson , 980 F. Supp. 322 (D NE 1997).
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 10
The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) requires administrative exhaustion of all claims filed after the April 26, 1996, enactment of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Section 1997e(a) states that "no action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 10
A federal district court in Texas dismissed a lawsuit as being legally frivolous for not alleging sufficient physical injury under 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e). Thinh Minh Luong is a Hawaii state prisoner transferred to the Dickens County Corrections Center, a private prison operated by the Bobby Ross Group in Texas. ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 10
The court of appeals for the tenth circuit held that the PLRA's IFP provisions, requiring full payment of all filing fees, were constitutional. All circuit courts to consider the issue have held likewise. The court also upheld the censorship of the magazine Muhammad Speaks on grounds that it advocates racial ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 11
The court of appeals for the fifth circuit held that a Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ) directive forbidding prison officials from restoring good time credits previously lost did not violate the ex post facto clause. Since 1977 Texas law has allowed the director of the Texas Department of Criminal ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 11
The supreme court of Alaska held that prison classification hearings are adjudicatory determinations subject to judicial review and that Alaska prisoners have a state constitutional right to rehabilitation. Richard Brandon is an Alaska state prisoner transferred to a privately run prison in Florence, Arizona, as part of an effort to ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 12
In the December 1995, June 1996 and September 1997 issues of PLN we reported the saga of Womens Prisoners of the District of Columbia DOC v. District of Columbia , which is cited in 877 F.Supp. 634, 899 F.Supp. 659, and 93 F.3d 910, respectively. After the district court granted ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 12
The court of appeals for the tenth circuit held that county jail officials have a constitutional duty to protect the health and wellbeing of prisoners in their custody. The appropriate standard of liability under these circumstances is deliberate indifference, not objective reasonableness. Under the proper standard the court found that ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 13
The court of appeals for the fifth circuit held that the Louisiana DOC rule prohibiting "defiance" was facially invalid to the extent that it proscribes prisoners from threatening prison employees "with legal redress during a confrontation situation." The court also held that habeas corpus was the proper remedy for prisoners ...
In May, 1996, the Fabry Glove & Mitten Company opened a production facility in Wisconsin's Green Bay Correctional Institution. The company hired 70 prisoners as laborers, later adding 30 more. The prisoners, who operate cutting and sewing machines, earn $5.25 per hour. The Department of Corrections keeps 65% of the ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 14
The Genco Corporation of Tennessee is among 10 private firms that have contracts with the Defense Department to manufacture gloves for the U.S. military. Suppliers of military gloves are not a happy lot these days, though. Complaining loudly of unfair competition, the 10 glovemakers have banded together to form the ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 15
Last May, when a bill was introduced in the Tennessee legislature to privatize the state's entire corrections system, the private prison industry achieved a major coup by winning the support of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a 1.3 million-member union that agreed to represent former state ...
Afederal district court in New Jersey has upheld the claims of a statewide class of mentally ill prisoners against defendants' motions to dismiss and for summary judgment. The defendants are: officials of the New Jersey Department of Corrections; Correctional Medical Services, Inc. ("CMS"), a private corporation providing prison health care; ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 17
In two separate rulings federal district courts in New York held that prisoners litigating disciplinary due process cases must be given an opportunity to develop a factual record to support their claims before the court rules on a motion to dismiss or for summary judgment.
Carlos Cespedes, a New York ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 18
As more and more prison systems use automated phone systems that automatically record and monitor conversations there are increased questions about the legality of such systems. This ruling arose from an indirect challenge to the Massachusetts Inmate Telephone System (MITS). The MITS requires prisoners to obtain a personal identification number ...
A Florida appellate court reversed a trial court order setting aside a jury verdict against the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) and granting the DOC a new trial. The court directed the lower tribunal to reinstate the jury award of $60,000 in favor of the prisoner.
Twice during the 1970's, ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 19
The court of appeals for the eighth circuit affirmed a jury verdict that found a prison guard liable for failing to protect two prisoners from attack by another prisoner. Arkansas state prisoners Lonell Newman and Hoseia Chestnut were both attacked by a prisoner named Johnson who, armed with a knife, ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 19
The court of appeals for the seventh circuit held that a prisoner who is falsely accused of misconduct and punished for no apparent reason has no legal recourse in federal court if the only punishment imposed involves 15 days of segregation. In the June, 1996, issue of PLN we reported ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 20
The court of appeals for the fifth circuit held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal on the denial of qualified immunity to prison officials where the lower court denied qualified immunity due to disputed facts. Two Louisiana state prisoners sued Kirt Guerin, a drill instructor, who locked ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 20
In a one paragraph memorandum opinion the Supreme Court of Florida held that the retroactive cancellation of provisional credits, previously awarded pursuant to statute, violates the ex post facto restrictions of the state and federal constitutions.
As a result of a population cap imposed on the Florida DOC by a ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 21
Florida Prisoners Have Right To Present Evidence At Disciplinary Hearings
A Florida state appellate court held that a denial by prison authorities of an opportunity for a prisoner to present exculpatory evidence at a prison disciplinary hearing states a claim for a denial of due process. The court rejected the ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 21
The court of appeals for the eighth circuit held that a district court erred when it dismissed a prisoner's suit over delays in dental care. The appeals court also held that untimely service of the suit by the marshalls service was not a basis for dismissal and that genuine issues ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 22
In the June, 1996, issue of PLN we reported Bazetta v. McGinnis , 902 F. Supp. 765 (ED MI 1996) which denied a preliminary injunction to Michigan prisoners, and their visitors, challenging prison visiting restrictions. In 1995 the Michigan DOC amended the Michigan Administrative Code (MAC) related to visiting so ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 22
Afederal district court in Mississippi held that disputed issues of fact involving claims by a jail prisoner that he was beaten by his cellmates required a trial to resolve. Emmett Davis was sentenced to 54 days in the Greenville, Mississippi, jail because he was too poor to pay a $554 ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 23
The court of appeals for the third circuit held that a district court abused its discretion in refusing to appoint counsel to an indigent pro se prisoner litigant. Paul Parham, a Pennsylvania state prisoner, filed suit after receiving inadequate medical treatment for tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Marshall Johnson, the ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 23
The court of appeals for the second circuit held that the reasonable suspicion standard for strip searches of prison visitors is clearly established. However, the court decided that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity based upon the facts.
This case began in March 1989, when an assistant district attorney ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 24
CA : On January 8, 1998, Lancaster state prison guard Elizabeth Begaren was shot and killed by four men while driving on a freeway. The assailants chased Bergaren's vehicle and forced it to stop on an on ramp in Anaheim where she was shot in front of her husband and ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 25
An Arizona state court of appeals held that Arizona prisoners have a right to attend paternity hearings in person or telephonically. Lenny Valentine, an Arizona state prisoner, had a paternity judgment entered against him. A hearing to establish a child support schedule was held. While the trial court denied Valentine's ...
Loaded on
May 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1998, page 25
Prison Disciplinary Proceedings Cognizable Under § 1983 In Florida
AFlorida state appellate court held that a denial of staff assistance, documentary evidence, and witness testimony in a prison disciplinary hearing states a due process claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the prison officials were not entitled to qualified immunity. ...
