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Dismissed Medical Claims Reversed by Federal Tenth Circuit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Medication, Cardiovascular, Failure to Treat, Civil Procedure, State Law Claims

Dismissed Medical Claims Reversed by Federal Tenth Circuit by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a Kansas Federal District Court's dismissal of a state prisoner's 42 U.S.C. §1983 complaint. Donald Halpin is a Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) prisoner transferred from the Florida Department of Corrections under the …

Tenth Circuit Reverses Dismissal on Prison Visitation Case

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Discrimination, Racial Discrimination, Visitor Searches, Drug Testing

Tenth Circuit Reverses Dismissal on Prison Visitation Case by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the decision of a Kansas Federal district court dismissing the complaint of a prisoner and his wife over loss of visiting privileges. Kevin and Marsha Gray are married. Mr. Gray is African-American …

Kansas Open Records Act Requires DOC to Disclose Parolee Info To Public

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disclosure of Records, Sentencing, Parole, State Legislation

Kansas Open Records Act Requires DOC to Disclose Parolee Info To Public by The Kansas Supreme Court held that the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) requires that state's Department of Corrections (KDOC) to provide certain parolee supervision information to requestors. In doing so, that court narrowly construed KORA's "supervision history" …

Sending State Must Provide Transferred Prisoner Legal Assistance

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Transfers, Court Access, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Legal Materials

Sending State Must Provide Transferred Prisoner Legal Assistance by The First Circuit Court of Appeals held that prisoners transferred from the State of Maine to a Leavenworth, Kansas prison are entitled to receive legal assistance from Maine. After being transferred from Maine State Prison to a federal prison in Leavenworth …

Tenth Circuit: Kansas Prisoner's Exercise, Newspaper Ban Claims Valid

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Exercise, Civil Procedure, Summary Judgment, Qualified Immunity, Municipal Liability, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations

Tenth Circuit: Kansas Prisoner's Exercise, Newspaper Ban Claims Valid by In this case filed by a Kansas prisoner, the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held in an unpublished opinion that inadequate, outside exercise time and a total ban on newspapers possibly violated the prisoner's constitutional rights. Mitchell Thomas was …

Leavenworth Prison Officials Granted Qualified Immunity on Court Access Case

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Prisoner Legal Assistance, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Immunity/Liability, Qualified Immunity

Leavenworth Prison Officials Granted Qualified Immunity on Court Access Case by Reversing the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that officials at the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth (USP-Leavenworth) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) were entitled to qualified …

Required DNA Submission Under Patriot Act Constitutional

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: DNA Testing/Samples, Crime/Demographics, Databases

Required DNA Submission Under Patriot Act Constitutional by The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas held that the relevant portions of the Patriot Act, which require persons convicted of various felonies to submit a DNA sample for inclusion in the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database, were …

Summary Judgment to Jail Officials Reversed

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: HIV/AIDS, Medication, Appointment of Counsel, Civil Procedure, Complaints

Summary Judgment to Jail Officials Reversed by The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a Kansas federal district court's grant of summary judgment to county jail officials on a complaint by a pretrial detainee alleging deliberate indifference to a serious medical need by jailers. John Sandifer, a …

Kansas Federal Court Upholds In-Cell Book Restriction, But Continues Injunction

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Injunctions, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Publications/Books, Religious Property

Kansas Federal Court Upholds In-Cell Book Restriction, But Continues Injunction by by Matthew T. Clarke A Kansas federal court has upheld the Kansas Department of Corrections policy limiting the number of books a prisoner may possess in his cell, but continued to enforce an injunction against prison officials destroying a …

Kansas Strip-Search Suit Subject to Three-Year Statute of Limitation

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Strip Searches, Arrestee Searches, Body Cavity Searches, Civil Procedure, Limitations

Kansas Strip-Search Suit Subject to Three-Year Statute of Limitation by Shawn McCormick was arrested in Lawrence Kansas where police subjected him to a strip search and a body cavity search. More than two years later, but less than three, he filed suit in state court under KSA § 22-2523, claiming …

Kansas Parolee-Supervision-Fee Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Parole, Parole Conditions

Kansas Parolee-Supervision-Fee Upheld by Jospeph Jacklovich, a Kansas state parolee, challenged a $25 per month parolee-supervision-fee, implemented after his crimes were committed, in state court. His claim was that the fee increased the punishment for his crimes retrospectively, thus violated the ban on ex post facto laws. The trial court …

Kansas Prisoner Not Allowed to Attend Disciplinary Hearing States Habeas Claim

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Presence at Hearing

Kansas Prisoner Not Allowed to Attend Disciplinary Hearing States Habeas Claim by Johnny Hoque , a Kansas state prisoner, was infracted for inciting a riot. Seven days before his hearing, he tore up the summons and refused to cooperate with the proceedings. He later indicated that he would cooperate, but …

No Liberty Interest in Security Classification

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Liberty Interests

No Liberty Interest in Security Classification by The plaintiff complained of his security classification and the process for assigning it, but classification isn't atypical and significant and there is therefore no liberty interest under Sandin. The possible subsequent consequences of his classification (e.g., that he might be treated as a …

District Court Vacates KS Jury Verdict of $500,000 in Jail Beating

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Civil Procedure, Damages, Municipal Liability, Failure to Train/Supervise

District Court Vacates KS Jury Verdict of $500,000 in Jail Beating by The plaintiff alleged that he was beaten by jail staff and sued the county and individual officers; he dropped the latter and obtained a jury verdict of $500,000 against the county. Undisputed testimony showed that the officers were …

Total Exhaustion Rule Should Apply Separately to Each Plaintiff

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Trust Accounts, Mail, Sexually Explicit Materials

Total Exhaustion Rule Should Apply Separately to Each Plaintiff by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that when multiple prisoners join in a civil rights complaint, but only one of those prisoners has exhausted administrative remedies on all of the claims asserted, it is error to dismiss the …

Muslim Halal Diet Suit Against Kansas DOC Dismissed

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Religious Freedom, Religious Diet

Muslim Halal Diet Suit Against Kansas DOC Dismissed by The Muslim plaintiffs complained that prison officials did not provide Halal meat, even though they provided Kosher meals to Jewish prisoners. The plaintiffs sued the defendants only in their official capacities, so they are immune under the Eleventh Amendment. The court …

FTCA Doesn't Apply to BOP Surgeon Contractor

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Medical, Surgery, Malpractice, Federal Tort Claims Act, Municipal Liability, Contractor Liability

FTCA Doesn't Apply to BOP Surgeon Contractor by The plaintiff federal prisoner sued his surgeon for malpractice; the court substituted the United States as defendant per the Federal Tort Claims Act; the U.S. said that the surgeon is an independent contractor, not a federal employee, so the substitution was wrong …

Pro Se Sewage Exposure Claim Dismissed

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Work Conditions/Safety, Conditions of Confinement, Sewage

Pro Se Sewage Exposure Claim Dismissed by The plaintiff alleged that inmate workers had to handle quantities of sewage because of the deficiencies of the prison sewage system, and that she got some on her because her protective clothing was the wrong size and wasn't able to wash the sewage …

FTCA Does Not Apply to Prisoner's Property Mailed Outside Prison

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Federal Tort Claims Act, Immunity/Liability, Sovereign Immunity

FTCA Does Not Apply to Prisoner's Property Mailed Outside Prison by Affirming the District Court of Kansas, the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) does not apply to a federal prisoner's personal property mailed outside of prison. Samuel Haywood Myles, a prisoner …

Prisoners In 13 States Allowed Work-Access To Social Security Numbers

Article • April 15, 2007 • from PLN April, 2007

Filed under: Prison Industries, Prison Labor, News, Federal Legislation

Prisoners In 13 States Allowed Work-Access To Social Security Numbers by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported that prisoners in thirteen states had access to Social Security numbers (SSNs) during the course of their prison employment. Following a nationwide survey, the …