Computers and Rehabilitation by Ed Mead Taking Responsibility for the Future By Ed Mead For many years I have railed against the approach taken by the Department of Corrections (DOC) in connection with its role vis-a-vis the public's interest in being free from current levels of criminal victimization. It has …
DC Not Proper Venue for BOP Suits by James Cameron is a federal prisoner. While at the penitentiary at Terre Haute he suffered a massive heart attack. Prison doctors stated he should receive a low sodium diet. The prison at Terre Haute could not provide a special diet and the …
Initiative 595: Regulated Tolerance by The citizens of Washington state will have a chance to make real progress in the area of drug law reform if the Washington Citizen's for Drug Policy Reform (WCDPR) is successful in getting Initiative 595 on the state General Election ballot this fall. It will …
PLN Editor Wins Retaliation Suit by Paul Wright Over the years PLN readers have read the periodic reports we have published about the legal struggle against double calling at the Washington State Reformatory (WSR) in Monroe, Washington. Not all of the struggle took place in the courtroom. When the state …
WA Prisoners Lose Damages in Rectal Probe Suits by In the mid 80's the Washington DOC built two control units called Intensive Management Units (IMU's). One of the policies they implemented was a mandate that all prisoners entering or leaving the IMUs would be subjected to a rectal probe (also …
Monroe Double Celling Suit Lost by Ed Mead By Ed Mead In 1981 prisoners at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe entered into a judicially enforceable consent decree with their captors that would have permanently eliminated double celling at the prison. The original complaint, filed in 1978, challenged a number …
Road Kill For Washington Prisons by Prison food has been the subject of jokes and commentary for ages. Given its general low quality and often unidentifiable nature, meat dishes are often referred to as "road kill" or "mystery meat." If Washington state Representative Steve Fuhrman, (R) Kettle Falls, has his …
Search Victory for Women Cons by Gini Faller By Gini Faller The long-awaited decision in Jordan v. Gardner, et. al. came down on February 25, 1993. The Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc held 7-4 that cross-gender non-suspicion clothed body searches violate the 8th Amendment: In this case we are presented …
Three Strikes and You're Out, Again by Ed Mead Their baaack! And this time with both barrels. Ida (now Republican state representative from Mercer Island) Ballasiotes and her fellow victims' rights cronies have reintroduced the so-called "three strikes and you're out" initiative. In addition to Citizens' Initiative 593, this group …
DOC Phone Rip Off by Paul Wright On March 16, 1992, the Washington DOC signed a contract with AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) for the latter to provide telephone services to all the prisons in the Washington prison system. AT&T in turn has subcontracted with three Local Exchange Companies (LEC's) …
Court Cannot Supply Elements of Complaint by Joseph Pena is a prisoner at the Washington State Penitentiary. He was subjected to a digital rectal search without probable cause and filed suit under § 1983. Prison officials sought dismissal of the complaint on grounds Pena had failed to state a claim …
Maxed Out Washington Cons Have Right to Earn Good Time by This is a case that will only be of interest to prisoners in Washington state, as our system of issuing good time credits is probably the strangest in the nation. This case deals with a Washington state prisoner who …
Washington Smoking Suit Dismissed by Ronald Guilmet is a Washington state prisoner at Walla Walla. Guilmet does not smoke and a smoker was placed in his cell. Five days later Guilmet complained to the unit sergeant that cigarette smoke bothered him. About five days after this Guilmet was assigned a …
Serial Litigators by Adrian Lomax A recent Associated Press story reported that the state of Wisconsin is spending more than a million dollars a year defending lawsuits filed by prison inmates. The story identified two Waupun prisoners as "serial litigators," responsible for numerous legal actions. A state lawyer was quoted …
McNeil Island News by Robert Pierce They plan to open 1,000 new beds in January, and have added no new room to the hospital or kitchen. It already takes five months to get any dental work done, and I'm thinking of preparing a § 1983 on the whole hospital as …
Shaw v. Department of Corrections, WA, Complaint, Staff Race Discrimination, 1992 -. '-. STATE OFFiCE. Vi' .. RISK MAH,AGEMEt~ 2 3 ~ DEC 4 7 RODNEY SHAW. and PATRICK STEVENS. Plaintiffs. 8 9 10 11 14 ) ) STATE OF WASHINGTON. DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, McNeil Island Facility. ) . r>efendant, …
Walla Walla News by The prison chaplain has shut down our Indian group. Stating that we are getting too political. On August 11th, 1992, he called the squad to the chapel, and they surrounded all of the Indians, and asked us to leave the area. Our "Indian" rep from Olympia …
Overcrowding and Violence in Washington State by Ed Mead Back in 1985 I wrote an article predicting the future impact of Washington State's then recently adopted Sentencing Reform Act (SRA). The article noted that there would be an initial drop in prison populations, followed by a rapid increase until population …
Status of Reformatory Crowding Litigation by Ed Mead In 1981 prisoners at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe entered into a consent decree with the state over the issue of double celling. The original complaint, filed by Evergreen Legal Services for Reformatory prisoners back in 1978, alleged a number of …
Washington Smoking Suit Dismissed by Ronald Guilmet is a Washington state prisoner at Walla Walla. Guilmet does not smoke and a smoker was placed in his cell. Five days later Guilmet complained to the unit sergeant that cigarette smoke bothered him. About five days after this Guilmet was assigned a …
