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U.S. Releases Highest Ranking Soldier Convicted For Abu Ghraib Prisoner Abuse

Article • June 15, 2008 • from PLN June, 2008

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Military, Military Prisons

U.S. Releases Highest Ranking Soldier Convicted For Abu Ghraib Prisoner Abuse by On October 1, 2007, former U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick, 40, was released from the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after having served three years of his eight year prison sentence for abusing prisoners at …

Kansas Prisoner not Consumer under State Consumer Protection Act

Article • June 15, 2008

Filed under: Food, State Law Claims, Religious Freedom, Religious Diet

Kansas Prisoner not Consumer under State Consumer Protection Act by Nathaniel Ellibee, a Kansas state prisoner, sued the vender which provides meals for the state Department of Corrections (DOC) in state court under the state Consumer Protection Act (Act) because the vender wasn't providing kosher meals. The trial court dismissed …

Monitoring and Limiting Phone Calls by Kansas Prisoners Upheld

Article • May 15, 2008

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

Monitoring and Limiting Phone Calls by Kansas Prisoners Upheld by Prisoners can make telephone calls only collect and to persons previously placed on a list limited to 10; calls can be recorded and monitored; calls are automatically terminated when the outside party tries to transfer the call or make it …

Sender’s Right to Privacy in Mail Ends at Delivery

Article • May 15, 2008

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Mail, Mail Regulations

Sender’s Right to Privacy in Mail Ends at Delivery by Sender's Right to Privacy in Mail Ends at Delivery Letters are generally protected by an expectation of privacy, but the sender's expectation ordinarily terminates upon delivery. At 1228: "Because Defendant sent the letters to an inmate at a correctional facility, …

Court Upholds Kansas Sex Offender Treatment Protocol

Article • May 15, 2008

Filed under: Self Incrimination, Civil Procedure, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Sex Offender Treatment

Court Upholds Kansas Sex Offender Treatment Protocol by The plaintiff, who pleaded nolo contendere to sexual exploitation of a child, was assigned to a Sexual Abuse Treatment Program, which requires that he sign an "Admission of Responsibility" form, listing all past behavior, charged or uncharged, that might have been a …

Multiple Sclerosis Not Covered by ADA

Article • May 15, 2008

Filed under: Americans with Disabilities Act, Guards/Staff, Employee Litigation, Disabled Employees

Multiple Sclerosis Not Covered by ADA by The multiple sclerosis of the plaintiff, a former corrections investigator, was not a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, since it precluded him only from performing his own job and not a broad class of jobs, and the defendants were therefore not …

Wrongful Death Suit Reinstated for Plaintiff Substitution; Dismissed Again

Article • January 15, 2008

Filed under: Medication, Cardiovascular, Parties, Administrative Exhaustion, Limitations, Expert Witnesses, Federal Statutory Law, Federal Tort Claims Act, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Wrongful Death Suit Reinstated for Plaintiff Substitution; Dismissed Again by by Bob Williams The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has reversed the dismissal of a wrongful death suit and allowed the deceased prisoner's wife to be substituted as plaintiff. On remand, the United States District Court …

Tenth Circuit Applies Harmless Error in Prison Discipline

Article • January 15, 2008

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Standard of Review

Tenth Circuit Applies Harmless Error in Prison Discipline by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that precluding a prisoner from presenting witness testimony at a prison disciplinary proceeding was harmless error. Kansas prisoner Patrick Grossman was charged with inciting a riot in relation to a December 21, 2002 incident …

Total Exhaustion Rule Should Apply Separately to Each Plaintiff

Article • December 15, 2007

Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Complaints, Parties, Money/Property, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Sexually Explicit Materials

Total Exhaustion Rule Should Apply Separately to Each Plaintiff by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that when multiple prisoners join in a civil rights complaint, but only one of those prisoners has exhausted administrative remedies on all of the claims asserted, it is error to dismiss the …

Kansas Medical Neglect Death Case Settled for $35,000

Article • December 15, 2007

Filed under: Drug/Alcohol Withdrawal, Wrongful Death, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Kansas Medical Neglect Death Case Settled for $35,000 by A Kansas prisoner's estate was paid $35,000 to settle a case related to his death. While confined in the Sedgwick County Correctional Facility, Mr. Stockwell suffered from acute chronic alcohol withdrawal. He was denied medical care, placed in wrist shackles and …

Bivens Claims Against Private Prison Employees May Fail When Other Remedies Available

Article • September 15, 2007 • from PLN September, 2007

Filed under: Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Failure to Protect (General), Law Library Access/Adequacy, Complaints, Parties, Ad-Seg Hearings

Bivens Claims Against Private Prison Employees May Fail When Other Remedies Available by In an evenly divided en banc rehearing, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit was unable to decide whether a Bivens action is available against employees of a privately?operated prison. In 2001, Cornelius E. …

Prison's Spending Cap Policy May State First Amendment Claim

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Money/Property, Prisoner Property

Prison's Spending Cap Policy May State First Amendment Claim by The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed in part pre- service dismissal of a prisoner's civil rights complaint in which he claimed that a prison policy capping the amount of money prisoners can spend monthly from their accounts violates …

Escape Statute Encompasses Man's Departure From Courtroom Over Judge's Orders

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Escapes

Escape Statute Encompasses Man's Departure From Courtroom Over Judge's Orders by Escape Statute Encompasses Man's Departure From Courtroom Over Judge's Orders The Court of Appeals of Kansas held that a man who left the courtroom after a judge informed him he was in custody was in violation of the state's …

Municipal Judge Not Policy Maker in Arrestee's Toilet Denial Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Toilets, Judicial Immunity, Police, False Arrest, Arrest Warrants

Municipal Judge Not Policy Maker in Arrestee's Toilet Denial Suit by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a municipal judge does not act as a policy maker to impute liability against a city. The pro se plaintiff in this case filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging …

US Parole Commission Amendment Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Parole

US Parole Commission Amendment Upheld by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that application of a 1987 amendment to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (SRA) does not violate the due process rights of federal prisoners. The court also held that the amendment is not an unlawful Bill of …

Paraplegic Granted Injunction Requiring Proper Medical Treatment

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disabled Prisoners, Medical, Systemic Medical Neglect

Paraplegic Granted Injunction Requiring Proper Medical Treatment by A Kansas federal district court granted a prisoner at the Kansas State Penitentiary a preliminary injunction requiring prison officials to provide him with proper medical treatment. The prisoner was confined at the Wyandotte County Jail, when a guard appeared and without warning …

Racial Segregation in Kansas Jail Unconstitutional

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Discrimination, Racial Discrimination

Racial Segregation in Kansas Jail Unconstitutional by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that racial segregation of prisoners at Kansas' Wyandotte County Jail was unconstitutional. The District Court found "assignment to one of the two tanks [an East tank and a West tank] is made upon a racial basis, …

Kansas COA Upholds Denial of Hygiene Supplies

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Hygiene Supplies, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Restitution

Kansas COA Upholds Denial of Hygiene Supplies by The Kansas Court of Appeals held that a state prisoner's inability to purchase basic hygiene items and over-the-counter medication did not violate the constitutional proscription against cruel and unusual punishment. Kansas state prisoner David P. Stolte challenged via habeas corpus a prison …

Retroactive Withholding of Good Time Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Retroactivity, Sentencing, Good Time, Habeas Corpus

Retroactive Withholding of Good Time Upheld by The Kansas Court of Appeals upheld the retroactive withholding of a prisoner's good time credits for disciplinary sanctions imposed prior to the award of the credits at issue. In 1998 and 1999, Derrik W. Davis received two disciplinary convictions but did not have …

Kansas SVP Verdict Dismissed for Untimely Trial

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Prompt Hearings, Mental Health, Civil Commitment

Kansas SVP Verdict Dismissed for Untimely Trial by The Kansas Supreme Court held that failure to try a person alleged to be a sexually violent predator ("SVP") within the statutorily prescribed time period divests the trial court of jurisdiction over the SVP petition, requiring dismissal with prejudice. In April 2000, …