Eighth Circuit Affirms No First Amendment Right to Lower Prison Phone Rates by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On January 21, 2011, a U.S. District Court held that state prisoners in Arkansas have no First Amendment right to less expensive phone rates, a decision that was subsequently affirmed by the …
Arkansas Supreme Court Addresses Forma Pauperis Motion for Copy of Transcript by In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court of Arkansas denied a petitioner’s pro se motion for use of transcript of the appeal of his 1992 conviction for rape and subsequent life sentence. The court treated petitioner’s motion …
Eighth Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Arkansas Jail Prisoner’s Excessive Force Claim by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's dismissal of an Arkansas prisoner's excessive force claims. On May 22, 2007, prisoners in B-Pod of the Ouachita County Detention Center created a disturbance when they were mistakenly …
Arkansas Supreme Court Orders Sentencing Court to Run Two Sentences Concurrently by By Derek Gilna The Arkansas Supreme Court had granted the appeal of prisoner Joe Louis Kelley, Jr., who had filed a petition for declaratory judgment and a writ of mandamus to compel the sentencing court to correct an …
Simpson-el v. USA, AR, Complaint, Basketball Injury Restitution, 2012 Case 2:12-cv-00004-SWW Document 1 Filed 01/03/12 Page 1 of 7 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS HELENA DIVISION KAPPELLE SIMPSON-EL vs. PLAINTIFF No. 2:1z -cv-001 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA . JAN 03 2012 svvW DEFENDANT COMPLAINT COMESTHE …
No Qualified Immunity for Guard Who Transported Prisoner in Dog Cage by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of qualified immunity to an Arkansas jail guard who transported a prisoner in a K-9 cage covered with feces, urine and dog hair. In …
Ten Years of Sham Segregation Reviews Result in $4,846 Damage Award for Arkansas Prisoner by An Arkansas state prisoner has been awarded $4,864 in damages for spending almost ten years in administrative segregation (ad seg). David Williams is no angel. While serving time for murder, he was convicted of killing …
Eighth Circuit Upholds Denial of Qualified Immunity on Medical Claims Against CMS by On July 20, 2010, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part a district court’s denial of summary judgment to prison officials on the medical claims of two Arkansas state prisoners. Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADOC) …
Eighth Circuit Upholds BOP’s Denial of Nunc Pro Tunc Designation by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) refusal to grant a nunc pro tunc designation. In 1991, Michael Fegans pled guilty to a federal bank robbery charge while unrelated charges were pending in Arkansas …
$4,000 Settlement for Arkansas Prisoner Pepper Sprayed by Guards by The Arkansas Department of Correction (ADOC) has paid $4,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a prisoner who was pepper sprayed three times by guards. While confined at the Varner Supermax Unit in 2005, Eric Winston was repeatedly pepper sprayed. …
Eighth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity for Guards Accused of Deliberate Indifference; $5.2 Million Verdict, $450,000 Settlement on Remand by Brandon Sample On August 20, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of qualified immunity to six Garland County Adult Detention …
Prison Pays: Geo Corp Profits from Half-Way House Murder and Mayhem in Texas by Craig Malisow Despite a history of abuse and bad conditions, private-prison corporation GEO Group keeps getting contracts in Texas by Craig Malisow Anthony Ferrell left the Ben A. Reid halfway house in northeast Houston on October …
Purposeful Exposure to Ultraviolet Light Warrants Denial of Qualified Immunity by On March 25, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit affirmed in part a summary judgment denial is a 42U.S.C. §1983 suit that alleges Arkansas prison guards maliciously and out of retaliation exposed a prisoner to …
8th Circuit Upholds 60 Month Sentence for Marijuana, Tobacco found on Federal Prisoner. by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed a 60 month sentence for a federal prisoner caught smuggling tobacco and marijuana through visiting. Tony Ray Ferguson was indicted under 8U.S.C. §1791 (a)(z) for …
Study Finds Discriminatory Jury Selection in Southern States by Derek Gilna A study by the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit legal organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, has found widespread discrimination in jury selection in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. The discriminatory practices …
Arkansas Federal Jury Awards $261,000 to Male Prisoner Raped by Male Guard by On July 16, 2009, a federal jury awarded $261,000 to a former Arkansas prisoner who was sodomized and forced to perform oral sex on a guard. While incarcerated at the Varner Supermax Unit, Jason D. Palton was …
Eighth Circuit Upholds $2,501 Retaliation Judgment Against Arkansas Prison Guard by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed a $2,501 award to an Arkansas state prisoner who was subjected to retaliation by an Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) guard. On June 23, 2007, ADC prisoner Walter …
Private Manufacturers Use Cheap Arkansas Prison Labor by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Two private manufacturing companies have opened shops in Arkansas prisons. Actronix, Inc. employs 65 female prisoners at the McPherson Unit to produce wiring harnesses for medical imaging devices such as MRI machines and CT scanners, while Glove …
Arkansas Prisoner Awarded $1 a Day Plus Costs for Unconstitutional Lockdown by On June 19, 2006, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas awarded $182 to a Benton County prisoner who spent 6 months in disciplinary segregation without a hearing or periodic reviews. Plaintiff Phetpinthong Senesackda claimed …
Arkansas Supreme Court Upholds Changes to Death Penalty Procedures by Frank Williams, Jr., an Arkansas Death Row prisoner, filed a complaint for declaratory judgment in state circuit court, alleging that the Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) administrative directive (AD) 08-28 setting forth execution procedures was adopted in violation of the …
