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Cane Seizure Can Violate Eighth Amendment

Article • April 15, 1999 • from PLN April, 1999

Filed under: Discrimination, Disabled Prisoners, Supervisory Liability

Cane Seizure Can Violate Eighth Amendment by Afederal district court in New York held that the seizure of a prisoner's medically prescribed cane by a guard can give rise to an Eighth Amendment violation. Because the guard's subjective intentions for seizing the cane were at issue, the court denied summary …

Illegal Detention Violates Substantive Due Process

Article • April 15, 1999 • from PLN April, 1999

Filed under: Civil Procedure, State Law Claims, Wrongful Imprisonment, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability, Municipal Liability

Illegal Detention Violates Substantive Due Process by The court of appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the detention of an individual for 57 days in a county jail on a civil contempt warrant "shocks the conscience" and violates substantive due process. The court further held that this right was …

$1,500 in Disabled Prisoner Work Suit

Article • April 15, 1999 • from PLN April, 1999

Filed under: Work, Prison Industries, Inability to Work, Cardiovascular, Skeletal Injury, Damages, Supervisory Liability

$1,500 in Disabled Prisoner Work Suit by The Eighth Circuit court of appeals has upheld the award of $1,500 against prison officials who forced a prisoner to perform manual labor which violated his medical work restrictions and resulted in injury. German Williams, an Arkansas state prisoner, was assigned a medical …

Warden May Be Liable for Rape

Article • March 15, 1999 • from PLN March, 1999

Filed under: Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, HIV/AIDS, Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Eighth Amendment, Supervisory Liability

Warden May Be Liable for Rape by The court of appeals for the Eighth circuit held that a district court erred when it granted judgement as a matter of law to a defendant prison warden in a rape case. Kendall Spruce, an Arkansas state prisoner, filed suit claiming his Eighth …

Guard Socked for $37,500 in Vendetta

Article • February 15, 1999 • from PLN February, 1999

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Damages, Supervisory Liability

Guard Socked for $37,500 in Vendetta by A federal jury awarded $37,500 to a Massachusetts prisoner who said a man he shot in the head in 1991 became a prison guard, sought him out, and became his worst nightmare. Zeferino DePina, 24, claimed that prison officials did nothing while the …

Rikers Island Brutality Suit Settled

Article • February 15, 1999 • from PLN February, 1999

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Conditions of Confinement, Totality of Conditions, Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Damages, Settlements, Supervisory Liability

Rikers Island Brutality Suit Settled by Jonathan Chasan By Jonathan Chasan New York City officials have acknowledged the need for far-reaching court-ordered reforms to curb systemic brutality and its cover up in the Rikers Island Central Punitive Segregation Unit ("CPSU" or "the bing"), known in the City jails as "the …

Eighth Circuit Reinstates $80,000 Damage Award in Rape Case

Article • February 15, 1999 • from PLN February, 1999

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Sexual Harassment, Staff-Prisoner Harassment, Gender Discrimination -- Women, Abortion, Damages, State Law Claims, Evidentiary Ruling, Supervisory Liability

Eighth Circuit Reinstates $80,000 Damage Award in Rape Case by The court of appeals for the eighth circuit held that an Arkansas state prisoner was entitled to damages for both the state tort of "outrage", and for a constitutional violation. The court reinstated the full $80,000 damage award against the …

Segregated Prisoners Retain Religious Congregation Rights

Article • December 15, 1998 • from PLN December, 1998

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Civil Procedure, Summary Judgment, Discovery, Sanctions, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability, Denial of Religious Services

Segregated Prisoners Retain Religious Congregation Rights by Prisoners in disciplinary segregation (keeplock) in the Second Circuit have a clearly established right to attend religious services according to a New York federal district court. The court also required the attorney general's office to explain why it should not be sanctioned for …

Medical Restraint Requires Doctor's Supervision

Article • November 15, 1998 • from PLN November, 1998

Filed under: Restraints, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)

Medical Restraint Requires Doctor's Supervision by The Eighth Circuit has held that the law was clearly established in 1988 requiring specific approval from a doctor when a prisoner is placed in segregation and restraints for psychiatric treatment purposes. Eddie Buckley, an Iowa state prisoner, sued alleging that he was routinely …

Trial Required in Religious Diet Claim

Article • June 15, 1998 • from PLN June, 1998

Filed under: Food, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability, Religious Freedom, Religious Diet

Trial Required in Religious Diet Claim by Afederal district court in California held that disputed facts required a trial to determine if a segregated Muslim prisoner's religious rights were violated when he was denied a special diet during Ramadan. Roderick Washington, a California state prisoner, filed suit claiming he was …

Law on Strip Searches of Prison Visitors Clearly Established

Article • May 15, 1998 • from PLN May, 1998

Filed under: Strip Searches, Visitor Searches, Crime/Demographics, Informants, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability

Law on Strip Searches of Prison Visitors Clearly Established by 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 …

Failure to Protect Informant Violates 8th Amendment

Article • March 15, 1998 • from PLN March, 1998

Filed under: Appointment of Counsel, Supervisory Liability, Protective Custody, Informants (Failure to Protect)

Failure to Protect Informant Violates 8th Amendment by The court of appeals for the third circuit held that prison informants have an eighth amendment right to be protected from the consequences of their informing and that a lower court erred in failing to appoint counsel. Jerome Hamilton is a Delaware …

Supervisors Liable for Excessive Force

Article • March 15, 1998 • from PLN March, 1998

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Eighth Amendment, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Civil Procedure, Damages, Evidentiary Ruling, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability

Supervisors Liable for Excessive Force by The court of appeals for the eighth circuit affirmed an award of compensatory and punitive damages against a guard who beat a handcuffed and unresisting prisoner, the four guards who held the prisoner down during the attack, the lieutenant who supervised the beating and …

Inadequate Prison Security Violates 8th Amendment

Article • February 15, 1998 • from PLN February, 1998

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Prison/Jail Murders, Eighth Amendment, Staffing, Supervisory Liability, Premises Liability, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death)

Inadequate Prison Security Violates 8th Amendment by Afederal district court in Puerto Rico held a prison security officer could be held liable for a prisoner's murder when he knew of inadequate staff supervision and non functioning cell locks, among other things, and did nothing to improve security. Angel Orta Fernandez, …

Trial Required in Oklahoma Beating Case

Article • February 15, 1998 • from PLN February, 1998

Filed under: Injury -- Misc., Guard Brutality/Beatings, Civil Procedure, Summary Judgment, Injunctions, Discovery, Mootness, Magistrates, Recusal, Supervisory Liability

Trial Required in Oklahoma Beating Case by The court of appeals for the tenth circuit held that a prisoner's claim for declaratory and injunctive relief are mooted once he is released from incarceration and that questions of fact regarding the application of force by guards precludes summary judgment in their …

Knowledge of Risk May Establish 8th Amendment Liability

Article • December 15, 1997 • from PLN December, 1997

Filed under: Gang Policies, Eighth Amendment, Civil Procedure, Evidentiary Ruling, Witnesses, Supervisory Liability, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death)

Knowledge of Risk May Establish 8th Amendment Liability by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that a prison investigator's report indicating a prisoner was at risk of attack was sufficient to establish eighth amendment liability on the part of supervisory prison officials, if they read it. The …

Denial of Eyeglasses Violates Eighth Amendment

Article • June 15, 1997 • from PLN June, 1997

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Medical, Vision, Eyeglasses, Eighth Amendment, Injunctions, Frivolous Litigation, Supervisory Liability

Denial of Eyeglasses Violates Eighth Amendment by The court of appeals for the second circuit held that a vision impaired prisoner who is denied medically prescribed eyeglasses states a claim for violation of the eighth amendment. The court also gave some interesting comments that this case should not be confused …

$1.65 Million Jury Verdict in Cell Assignment Case Affirmed

Article • May 15, 1997 • from PLN May, 1997

Filed under: Failure to Protect (General), Eighth Amendment, Excessive Force, Burning, Damages, Evidentiary Ruling, Jury Instructions, Expert Witnesses, Witnesses, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability

$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 Codifies Injunction Standards in Conditions Case

Article • May 15, 1997 • from PLN May, 1997

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Eighth Amendment, Staffing, Shelter, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Injunctions (PLRA), Injunctions, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death)

PLRA Codifies Injunction Standards in Conditions Case by In the December, 1995, issue of PLN we reported Smith v. Arkansas DOC, 877 F. Supp. 1296 (ED AR 1995) in which the district court ordered increased staffing levels in open bay barracks prisons in Arkansas. The defendants appealed and the eighth …

Denial of Medical Diet States Claim

Article • March 15, 1997 • from PLN March, 1997

Filed under: Medical, Respiratory, Gastrointestinal, Food, Eighth Amendment, Supervisory Liability, Municipal Liability

Denial of Medical Diet States Claim by A federal district court in New York held that a prisoner who was denied a high fiber diet after undergoing a colostomy had stated a claim requiring a trial to resolve. John Mandala is a New York state prisoner who had the misfortune …