Failure to Treat Broken Hand States Claim by A federal district court in Illinois held that prison doctors' failure to treat a broken hand for nine days stated an eighth amendment claim and an Illinois state law requiring that an affidavit be filed in medical malpractice cases did not apply …
Habeas and 1983 Remedy for Disciplinary Hearings Discussed by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit discussed the application of habeas corpus and section 1983 challenges to prison disciplinary hearings. This is an extremely convoluted and confusing ruling, which the court acknowledged at the outset by noting that the …
Puerto Rican POW 'Graduated' from ADX Florence to USP Marion by Daniel Burton-Rose On November 8, 1996, Puerto Rican prisoner of war Oscar Lopez Rivera was transferred from ADX Florence to USP Marion after completing the 36-month "step program" at ADX in just 23 months. He received no disciplinary infractions …
Pro Se Litigant Entitled to Defendant's Identity by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit held that a pro se litigant is entitled to court appointed counsel in order to discover the identity of defendants and the statute of limitations was subject to equitable tolling while discovery took place. …
FTCA Suit Not Barred by Prior Bivens Claim by In a case of first impression the court of appeals for the seventh circuit held that a plaintiff who files and loses a Bivens suit against federal officials is not automatically barred from filing a tort suit against the United States …
Illinois Jail Conditions Suit States Claim by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit held a district court erred in dismissing a pretrial detainee's conditions of confinement suit for failure to state a claim under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The court also held it was error to dismiss defendants not properly …
Jury Verdict in Prisoner Attack Affirmed by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit affirmed a jury verdict of $10,000 in favor of a prisoner whose cell was opened by a guard in order for him to be attacked by other prisoners. Edward Paulick, an Illinois state prisoner, was …
Seventh Circuit Questions ADA Applicability to Prisons by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit issued its first ruling on the applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to prisoners. In doing so it held that claims of incompetent medical treatment are not cognizable under the ADA. It …
$75,000 Jury Verdict in Prisoner Attack Affirmed by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit affirmed a jury verdict awarding a prisoner $75,000 in compensatory damages and $55,262.42 in attorney fees after the prisoner was threatened then beaten by other prisoners. Gregory Pope, an Illinois state prisoner, was threatened …
Illinois DOC Phone System Upheld by A federal district court in Illinois held that the phone system used in the Illinois DOC does not violate the first amendment. Four Illinois state prisoners at the Western Illinois Correctional Center (WICC) filed suit against several prison officials and AT&T claiming the prison …
$1.65 Million Jury Verdict in Cell Assignment Case Affirmed by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit affirmed a jury verdict against prison official defendants finding that they were deliberately indifferent to a prisoner's safety by leaving him in a cell with a mentally ill prisoner who later tried …
PLRA Allows Sua Sponte Dismissal by A federal district court in Illinois held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) allows courts to assess filing fees and then dismiss prisoner petitions prior to service on the defendants if they fail to state a claim. Deangelo Jones is an Illinois state …
Seventh Circuit Analyzes RFRA by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit gave its first ruling on the application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to prison cases in that circuit and in doing so defined what constitutes a "substantial burden" on religious practcies. The court consolidated two …
Third Annual NCSCUP Conference by Daniel Burton-Rose The National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons (NCSCUP) held its third annual conference on the weekend of November 8-10 (1996) at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago. More than fifty members of NCSCUP attended. The purpose of the conference was to …
Case Closed After 24 Years by by Ronald Del Raine, Leavenworth, KS [Editor's Note: This is the oldest running prison case that PLN is aware of. Talk about frivolous litigation?! How much money did the government spend dragging this through the courts for more than two decades?] In November 1972, …
Detainee Excessive Force Jury Instructions Reversed by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit held that a district court erred when it instructed a jury on jail guards' good faith immunity defense. Anyone bringing an excessive use of force involving pretrial detainees to trial will find this case helpful. …
Beating Damages Affirmed; PLRA Not Retroactive on Vacated Attorney Fees by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit affirmed a jury verdict awarding damages to two prisoners who were beaten by prison guards and then denied medical care for their injuries for nearly two days. The court held that …
Inadequate Public Defender Funding Unconstitutional by A federal district court in Illinois held that a lack of adequate funding for public defenders assigned to represent indigent defendants in state court appeals violates the federal constitution when it causes delays in excess of two years. Over the past ten years the …
Seventh Circuit Applies PLRA to Federal Prisoners by In five consolidated appeals the court of appeals for the seventh circuit applied the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) to actions brought by federal prisoners. The court held that this ruling, together with Martin v. United States, 96 F.3d 853 (7th Cir. …
Seventh Circuit Defines and Applies PLRA and AEDPA by In five consolidated appeals the seventh circuit held that for purposes of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) neither habeas corpus petitions nor petitions for mandamus in criminal proceedings constitute "prisoner litigation" and thus do not require payment of filing fees …
