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Colorado Prisoners Awarded $45,466 In Attorney Fees And Costs

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Totality of Conditions, Attorney Fee Awards, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Denial of Religious Services

Colorado Prisoners Awarded $45,466 In Attorney Fees And Costs by The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado held that prisoners who had settled their civil rights lawsuit over conditions of confinement were entitled to attorney fees. Plaintiffs, prisoners confined in the Rifle Correctional Center, brought civil rights action …

Aliens May Sue Private Detention Companies Under ATCA

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Esmor/CSC, Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Prison Rebellion, Systemic Medical Neglect, Strip Searches, Totality of Conditions, Food, Overcrowding, Water, Sanitation, Hygiene Supplies, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Class Certification, Limitations, Discovery, Fair Labor Standards Act, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, RLUIPA, Alien Tort Claims Act, Immigration, Contractor Liability, Sovereign Immunity, Religious Diet, Denial of Religious Services

Aliens May Sue Private Detention Companies Under ATCA by A federal court in New Jersey became the first court to hold that corporations which operate privatized immigration detention facilities may be sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) contracted with Esmor Correctional Services, …

Broader than Necessary Jury Instruction Requires Reversal in Prisoner's First Amendment Violation

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Jury Instructions, Witnesses, Denial of Religious Services

Broader than Necessary Jury Instruction Requires Reversal in Prisoner's First Amendment Violation by Broader than Necessary Jury Instruction Requires Reversal in Prisoner's First Amendment Violation Claim The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that it was a reversible error to give a jury instruction requiring that any prison restriction be …

Parole Condition Barring Contact With Religious Sect Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Parole Conditions, RICO, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Practices

Parole Condition Barring Contact With Religious Sect Upheld by The plaintiff, Yahweh ben Yahweh, was directed to have no direct or indirect contact with members of the Nation of Yahweh ("Black Hebrews") without approval by his parole officer upon his mandatory release on his RICO conviction for involvement in activities …

9/11 Immigration Detainee Challenges Denial of Counsel, Religious Diet

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sexual Harassment, Staff-Prisoner Harassment, Strip Searches, Arrestee Searches, Body Cavity Searches, Appointment of Counsel, Public Defenders, Attorney, Required Religious Programming, Religious Diet, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Practices

9/11 Immigration Detainee Challenges Denial of Counsel, Religious Diet by The plaintiff was arrested on September 12, 2001, on the belief that he was connected with the 9/11 hijackers, and transferred to a federal prison, where he was subjected to a visual body cavity search viewed by multiple male and …

Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. v. Gonzales, Complaint, Taxpayer Money for Religious Institutions, 2006

Brief • November 1, 2006

Filed under: Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services, Taxation Offenses

Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. v. Gonzales, Complaint, Taxpayer Money for Religious Institutions, 2006 FFRF v. Gonzales Page 1 of 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION, INC.; ANNE NICOL GAYLOR; ANNIE LAURIE GAYLOR; and DAN BARKER, Plaintiffs, v. (Case No. 06 C 0244 …

Nebraska Native American Prisoners' Religious Program Reinstated

Article • February 15, 2006 • from PLN February, 2006

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Settlements, Religious Freedom, Religious Diet, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Practices

Nebraska Native American Prisoners' Religious Program Reinstated by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg Native American prisoners and Nebraska's then Director of Corrections, Harold Clarke, reached a settlement agreement on March 15, 2005 in U.S. District Court (D. Neb.) to reinstate the Native American prisoners' club (Native American Spiritual and …

Seventh Circuit Reverses § 1915(e)(2) Dismissal of Meritorious Complaint

Article • January 15, 2006 • from PLN January, 2006

Filed under: Filing Fees (PLRA), RLUIPA, Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services

Seventh Circuit Reverses § 1915(e)(2) Dismissal of Meritorious Complaint by by Bob Williams The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has reversed a Wisconsin Federal District Court's dismissal of a prisoner complaint the district court found to have probable merit but dismissed under 28 U.S.C. § 191S(e)(2) screening because …

Ban on Separatist Religious Publication

Article • December 15, 2005 • from PLN December, 2005

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, RLUIPA, Mail, Publications/Books, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Property

Ban on Separatist Religious Publication by Ban on Separatist Religious Publication Reversed by Eighth Circuit The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment to prison officials related to the refusal to deliver a religious publication they deemed to be racially inflammatory Missouri Department of …

Procedural Default In Exhausting State Administrative Remedies Held Not A Bar To Bringing § 1983 Act

Article • November 15, 2005 • from PLN November, 2005

Filed under: PLRA, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Denial of Religious Services, Clergy

Procedural Default In Exhausting State Administrative Remedies Held Not A Bar To Bringing § 1983 Act by Procedural Default In Exhausting State Administrative Remedies Held Not A Bar To Bringing § 1983 Action; Supreme Court Grants Review by John E. Dannenberg The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, deepening a …

California Muslims' Prayer Attendance And Religious Beard Injunction Made Permanent; $289,011 Awarded in Fees

Article • June 15, 2005 • from PLN June, 2005

Filed under: Disciplinary Litigation, PLRA, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Injunctions (PLRA), Standing, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Class Certification, Good Time, Habeas Corpus, RLUIPA, Religious Grooming, Denial of Religious Services

California Muslims' Prayer Attendance And Religious Beard Injunction Made Permanent; $289,011 Awarded in Fees by California Muslims' Prayer Attendance And Religious Beard Injunction Made Permanent; $289,011 Awarded in Fees by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. District Court (E.D. Cal.) granted summary judgment and entered a permanent injunction (PI) against the …

Do New York Shiite Prisoners Have a Right to Separate Services?

Article • June 15, 2004 • from PLN June, 2004

Filed under: Summary Judgment, Complaints, RLUIPA, Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services

Do New York Shiite Prisoners Have a Right to Separate Services? by by Matthew T. Clarke The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a district court improperly dismissed a suit by Shiite Muslim New York state prisoners seeking separate religious services from the Sunni Muslims. Thomas Pugh, Edward …

Evidentiary Hearing Required to Determine Communion Service Frequency

Article • January 15, 2004 • from PLN January, 2004

Filed under: Religious Freedom, Religious Diet, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Practices, Clergy

Evidentiary Hearing Required to Determine Communion Service Frequency by The Supreme Court of Mississippi has ordered an evidentiary hearing to determine the frequency prisoners at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman are allowed to receive Communion. Prisoner Donnie Russell, acting pro se, filed a petition in State Circuit Court alleging …

New York Muslim Prison Chaplains Purged

Article • September 15, 2003 • from PLN September, 2003

Filed under: Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services, Clergy

New York Muslim Prison Chaplains Purged by by Matthew T. Clarke Imam Warith Deen Umar helped found the advocacy group National Association of Muslim Chaplains (NAMC) in 1976. Since then, the 58-year old cleric and NAMC have come to exercise near monopolistic influence over the selection of Muslim prison chaplains …

Ninth Circuit Affirms Constitutionality of RLUIPA

Article • September 15, 2003 • from PLN September, 2003

Filed under: RLUIPA, Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services, Sabbaths

Ninth Circuit Affirms Constitutionality of RLUIPA by by John E. Dannenberg In a case of first impression, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court ruling that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) (42 U.S.C. § 2000 cc et seq.) passes constitutional …

Tennessee Prisoner Awarded $242,500 in CCA Medical Neglect Suit

Article • September 15, 2003 • from PLN September, 2003

Filed under: Gang Policies, Evidentiary Ruling, Expert Witnesses, RLUIPA, Qualified Immunity, Publications/Books, Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Property

Tennessee Prisoner Awarded $242,500 in CCA Medical Neglect Suit by On December 3, 2002, a U.S. district court issued a $400,000 judgment against Corrections Corporation of America for violating the rights of Wesley Taylor, a prisoner at the South Central Correctional facility in Tennessee. After hearing Taylor's §1983 federal civil …

Consultants Do Not Insulate Officials from Kosher Diet Liability

Article • July 15, 2003 • from PLN July, 2003

Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Injunctions (PLRA), Damages, Religious Freedom, Religious Diet, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Practices

Consultants Do Not Insulate Officials from Kosher Diet Liability by Consultants Do Not Insulate Officials from Kosher Diet Liability; Prisoner Loses $30,000 for Failing to Exhaust In an appeal by prison officials of a $30,000 punitive damage award for excluding a prisoner from participating in Jewish services and holidays, the …

Ohio Federal District Court Finds RLUIPA Constitutional

Article • June 15, 2003 • from PLN June, 2003

Filed under: RLUIPA, Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Practices, Religious Property, Clergy

Ohio Federal District Court Finds RLUIPA Constitutional by In a case of first impression in the Sixth U.S. Circuit, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has refused to dismiss Ohio prisoners' religious rights claims based on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 42 …

PLRA Allows California Religious Preliminary Injunction

Article • September 15, 2002 • from PLN September, 2002

Filed under: Prison Labor, Legality of Rules, Injunctions (PLRA), Standing, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Appeals, Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services, Sabbaths

PLRA Allows California Religious Preliminary Injunction by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld the grant of a preliminary injunction to California Muslim prisoners .See: Mayweathers v. Terhune, 136 F. Supp. 2d 1152 (E.D. Cal. 2001). Prison officials appealed the injunction …

Motion Accepted as Appeal Notice; Damage Award Set Off Against Costs

Article • August 15, 2002 • from PLN August, 2002

Filed under: Damages, Settlements, Costs, Appeals, Religious Freedom, Religious Diet, Denial of Religious Services

Motion Accepted as Appeal Notice; Damage Award Set Off Against Costs by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a pro se motion must be accepted as a notice of appeal if it states the intent to appeal, and that a jury's damage award could be set off …