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Article • June 15, 2001 • from PLN June, 2001
Louisiana Prison Activist Freed by On February 8, 2001, Robert King Wilkerson, one of the prisoners known as the Angola 3, was released from the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana after spending twenty-nine years in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit. Wilkerson, 57, was convicted of …
Closing Washington's Window of Parole Liability by Paul Wright In addition to almost $50 million in settlements and verdicts assessed against the Washington DOC in recent months, the Washington DOC has paid an additional $20.6 million to settle 25 parole liability cases and pay one jury verdict since 1994. Apparently, …
Two Louisiana Death Row Prisoners Freed by Three days after Christmas, 2000, Michael Ray Graham walked off death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He was wearing a prison issue denim jacket and carried all of his worldly possessions in two manila envelopes tucked under one arm. After …
Texas Death Machine Faces Renewed Criticism by A report released October 16, 2000 by the Texas Defender Service, a nonprofit group that represents death row prisoners, concludes that "an intolerably high number of people are being sentenced to death [in Texas] and propelled through the appellate courts in a process …
No Administrative Exhaustion Required When AG Won't Give Hearing by Paul Wright By Paul Wright A federal district court in New York held that a medical indifference claim required administrative exhaustion under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) even though money damages were not available as a remedy in the …
Former Political Prisoner Settles Suit for $4.5 Million by On April 26, 2000, the city of Los Angeles, California and the federal government agreed to pay former political prisoner Geronimo Ji Jaga (formerly known as Elmer Pratt) $4.5 million to settle a wrongful imprisonment suit he had filed. Ji Jaga …
Article • May 15, 2000 • from PLN May, 2000
Louisiana Prosecutors Have "Ties" to Murder by Gary Hunter Lawrence Jacobs Jr. was on trial for first degree murder in Jefferson Parish Louisiana when an assistant district attorney approached him and whispered "We're going to hang you boy." Lawrence Jacobs Sr., who was only in the courtroom to support his …
Guarding Their Silence: Corcoran Guards Acquitted of Rape by Christian Parenti The acquittal in November, 1999, of four California prison Guards charged with arranging for a young prisoner to be raped by Corcoran State Prison's notorious "Booty Bandit" was the result of a massive legal and political show of force …
Prison Officials Waive Untimely Asserted Heck Defense by The Seventh Circuit court of appeals has held that prison officials' untimely assertion of the Heck defense waived the defense. Richard Carr, a middle-aged minimum- security Illinois prisoner was 96 days from release in 1989 when young gang members on his unit …
The Lucasville Trials by Staughton Lynd [Editors' note: The identity of persons who provided information to the author confidentially has been withheld. ] On April 21, 1993, 407 prisoners who for eleven days had occupied the L cell block at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville, Ohio, surrendered …
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 …
Article • November 15, 1998 • from PLN November, 1998
NC AG Opinions Reversed in Consecutive Sentence Servitude by Roger Grubb By Roger Grubb The North Carolina Court of Appeals handed North Carolina prisoners a long sought victory in how consecutive sentences are computed by the Department of Correction for purposes of determining parole eligibility. On August 5, 1997, the …
Anatomy of a Whitewash by Mumia Abu-Jamal "Authority is never without hate" --Euripides In a decision that was as remarkable as it was predictable, the Greene County DA, David Pollock, announced his office would take no criminal action against prison guards who were viewed on videotape, "roughing up" men in …
Cases of Interest From the U.S. Supreme Court's 1997-98 Term by Forfeitures: In a federal criminal case the supreme court held that the Excessive Fines clause of the Eighth amendment prohibits "grossly disproportionate" forfeitures of funds. The court held that forfeitures are "fines'' if they are punishment for a crime. …
Smoking, Lies and Hypocrisy by Paul Wright By Paul Wright The recent settlement proposal between the tobacco industry and the attorney general's of 41 states has been in the news a lot lately. I share a home with 158 other men, 90% of whom smoke. The walls literally weep nicotine. …
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 …
$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 …
TRO Granted in DC Smoking Suit by A federal district court in the District of Columbia granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) requiring non-smoking D.C. prisoners to be moved to non-smoking quarters and for D.C. DOC officials to enforce prison no smoking policies by disciplining guards and prisoners who violate …
Criminal Prosecutors Get Their Day In Court by In March 1996, U.S. District court judge Sandra Brown Armstrong, in Oakland, California, dismissed "with prejudice,'' the criminal charges against four Dublin, California federal prisoners because of what she termed "serious misconduct" by prosecutors. On February 5, 1996, judge Armstrong issued a …
Pro Se Tips and Tactics by John Midgley In the June issue of PLN, I discussed the defense of so-called "qualified immunity" that is available to public officers and employees sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This companion column discusses the other kind of immunity you may run into, so-called …
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