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Federal Court Must Give Reasons for Special Conditions of Supervised Release

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Sex Offender Registration, Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Parole Conditions

Federal Court Must Give Reasons for Special Conditions of Supervised Release by David Reutter The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court’s imposition of four special conditions of supervised release, due to the court’s failure to explain its reasons for imposing them. Rashan R. Doyle was convicted …

Idaho Supreme Court Upholds Dismissal of Section 1983 Claims in Jail Suicide Case

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Attorneys, Attorney Fee Awards, Suicides

Idaho Supreme Court Upholds Dismissal of Section 1983 Claims in Jail Suicide Case by Mark Wilson The Idaho Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of § 1983 claims stemming from the death of a detainee who committed suicide at the Ada County Jail (ACJ). On September 28, 2008, …

Washington PRA Violations Result in Costs and Penalties

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Disclosure of Records

Washington PRA Violations Result in Costs and Penalties by Mark Wilson The Washington Court of Appeals, Division Two, held on July 30, 2013 that a state agency violated Washington’s Public Records Act (PRA) by failing to respond to a prisoner’s request within the statutory time limit and by redacting information …

Oklahoma Jailers Not Immune from Excessive Force Claims

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Oklahoma Jailers Not Immune from Excessive Force Claims by The Oklahoma Supreme Court has held that jail officials are not immune from liability for excessive force claims under the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act (OGTCA). On May 17, 2011, Daniel Bosh was detained at the Cherokee County Detention Center for …

Montana: Hospitalized Prisoner Entitled to Continuance in Divorce Case

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Court Appearances

Montana: Hospitalized Prisoner Entitled to Continuance in Divorce Case by The Montana Supreme Court held on March 5, 2013 that refusing to grant a hospitalized prisoner’s motion for continuance of a divorce trial was an abuse of discretion. David and Lori Eslick were married on August 15, 2005. In December …

Arkansas Suing Prisoners for Incarceration Costs

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Trust Accounts

Arkansas Suing Prisoners for Incarceration Costs by Arkansas officials are suing prisoners under the State Prison Inmate Care and Custody Reimbursement Act (Act), seeking reimbursement for the costs of their incarceration by obtaining court orders and seizing money from their prison trust accounts. For example, a state court entered an …

Texas: False Arrest and Malicious Prosecution Result in $411,865.18 Recovery

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Probation, False Arrest

Texas: False Arrest and Malicious Prosecution Result in $411,865.18 Recovery by A Texas probationer subjected to false arrest and malicious prosecution has been awarded $169,000 in damages plus attorneys’ fees and costs. Thomas Hannon, 37, unemployed and on probation, had an outstanding arrest warrant for probation revocation. Dallas police knew …

California Supreme Court: Challenge to Booking Fee Order Forfeited Due to Failure to Object in Trial Court

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Appeals, Booking Fees

California Supreme Court: Challenge to Booking Fee Order Forfeited Due to Failure to Object in Trial Court by On April 22, 2013, the Supreme Court of California, resolving a conflict among lower state courts, held that a defendant who fails to contest a jail booking fee order when it is …

Risk Assessment Cannot Solve Systemic Injustice of Prisons

Article • April 15, 2014

Filed under: Geriatric Classification, Racial Discrimination, Statistics/Trends, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Sentencing, Pardons/Clemency

Risk Assessment Cannot Solve Systemic Injustice of Prisons by Glenn E. Martin by Glenn E.Martin, Truthout After 40 years of waging a failed war on crime in poor communities, conservative and progressive policy makers finally are being compelled to release the pressure valve and find ways to reform our troubled criminal …

Prisoner Organ Transplants, Donations Create Controversy

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Transplants

Prisoner Organ Transplants, Donations Create Controversy by Prison officials in several states are mulling over two sides of the same coin with respect to organ transplants for prisoners: first, the eligibility and cost of such medical procedures, and second, whether prisoners should be allowed to donate their organs. Prisoners in …

Study: TASER Shocks May Cause Fatal Heart Attacks

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Cardiovascular, Stun Guns/Tasers, Police--Excessive Force, Excessive Force (Police)

Study: TASER Shocks May Cause Fatal Heart Attacks by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A study involving eight people who lost consciousness immediately after being shocked by a TASER X26 – the most common electronic control device (ECD) used by police, corrections agencies and the military – concluded that ECD …

Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Statistics/Trends

Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie by Peter Wagner A Prison Policy Initiative briefing by Peter Wagner and Leah Sakala Wait, does the United States have 1.4 million or more than 2 million people in prison? And do the 688,000 people released every year include those getting out of local jails? …

New York Prisoner Secures Court Order for Visitation with Child

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Fathers in Prison

New York Prisoner Secures Court Order for Visitation with Child by The New York Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that granted an incarcerated father visitation rights with his three-year-old child. The Court held the lower court had properly applied a legal standard that presumes in favor of …

Texas Court Holds CCA is a Governmental Body for Purposes of Public Records Law

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Disclosure of Records

Texas Court Holds CCA is a Governmental Body for Purposes of Public Records Law by On March 19, 2014, a state district court in Travis County, Texas held that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest for-profit prison company, is considered a “governmental body” for purposes of the state’s …

Ohio: Attorney General May Not Increase Sex Offender’s Registration Requirements

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Classification, Sex Offender Registration

Ohio: Attorney General May Not Increase Sex Offender’s Registration Requirements by In April 2013, an Ohio appellate court ruled that a sex offender, who was required by virtue of a California conviction to register his address annually for ten years, could not subsequently be indicted, after moving to Ohio and …

The Inadequacy of Prison Food Allergy Policies

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Allergy, Food

The Inadequacy of Prison Food Allergy Policies by Jamie Longazel by Jamie Longazel and Rachel Archer Michael Saffioti was arrested on a misdemeanor marijuana charge and held at the Snohomish County Jail (SCJ) in Washington State. On the morning of July 2, 2012, he arrived at the center of his …

Kitchen Supervisor Gets Prison Time for Sexually Abusing Two Prisoners

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct

Kitchen Supervisor Gets Prison Time for Sexually Abusing Two Prisoners by A civilian prison employee’s sexual abuse of two prisoners at a federal facility in Phoenix, Arizona was made public after an FBI surveillance camera captured the lascivious details of their ménage à trois. According to a rather explicit criminal …

$15.5 Million Settlement for Mentally Ill Jail Detainee Held in Solitary Confinement

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Failure to Treat, Wrongful Imprisonment, Americans with Disabilities Act, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)

$15.5 Million Settlement for Mentally Ill Jail Detainee Held in Solitary Confinement by A mentally ill detainee who was placed in solitary confinement in a New Mexico county jail for nearly two years, without adequate medical or mental health care, accepted a $15.5 million settlement for violations of his civil …

U.S. Supreme Court: District Courts Can Make Federal Sentences Consecutive or Concurrent to Future State Sentences

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Sentencing

U.S. Supreme Court: District Courts Can Make Federal Sentences Consecutive or Concurrent to Future State Sentences by On March 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a federal district court may impose a federal prison term that is consecutive to an anticipated future state court sentence. In February 2014, …

Lowering Recidivism through Family Communication

Article • April 15, 2014 • from PLN April, 2014

Filed under: Statistics/Trends, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Mail Regulations, Visiting

Lowering Recidivism through Family Communication by Alex Friedmann There are currently 2.2 million people held in prisons and jails in the United States,1 and an estimated 95% of prisoners currently in custody will one day be released. Based on 2012 data, around 637,400 people are released annually from state and …