Mississippi Supreme Court Holds Substance, Not Label, of Prisoner Petitions Governs by Mississippi courts must construe prisoner filings based on their substance, and not how they are labeled, the Supreme Court of Mississippi decided. Dennis Dobbs, a Mississippi state prisoner, filed a “Petition for an Order to Show Cause” with …
Budget Deficits Lead to Fewer Supermax Beds by Mark Wilson Throughout the 1990s, “Supermax” prisons and control units – commonly called Security Housing Units (SHUs) or Intensive Management Units (IMUs) – sprang up across the nation. Between 1995 and 2000 the general prison population increased by 28 percent, but according …
Mississippi Stops Segregating HIV-positive Prisoners by On March 17, 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) had agreed to stop segregating prisoners with HIV. The policy change followed two decades of efforts by the ACLU, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other advocacy organizations. …
Early Release Scam Results in Arrests by Brandon Sample The FBI has arrested two men in an unusual and brazen plot to defraud prisoners and their families out of tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for reduced sentences. Monterro Paul, who previously served time in federal prison for counterfeiting …
Mississippi Earned Time Policy Violates Ex Post Facto Clause by Mississippi’s Court of Appeals has remanded for an evidentiary hearing a claim that a law prohibiting prisoners who are convicted of sale or transfer of a controlled substance from eligibility for earned-time allowance is an ex post facto law as …
Privatized Prison Medical Care in Mississippi Still Problematic by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Anyone looking for evidence that privatized prison health care is a complete failure need look no further than Mississippi. In 2001, the per capita death rate for Mississippi prisoners was around the national average. By …
Former Mississippi DOC Chief Medical Officer Charged with Embezzlement by Dr. Kentrell Liddell, 35, was arrested on May 21, 2009 and charged with 13 counts of embezzlement. She was taken into custody at her current job at the Madison County Medical Center in Canton, Mississippi, and booked into the Hinds …
Mississippi Prisoners Make Collect Call for Jesus by On April 15, 2009, the Mississippi Legislature passed legislation authorizing up to 25 percent, or $25,000 annually, of the money collected from prisoner telephone calls to fund a Jail and Prison Ministry. Since the late 1990s, the Good News Jail and Prison …
Statute of Limitations Applicable in Method of Execution Actions by On November 24, 2008, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court's grant of summary judgment to the defendants in a § 1983 action brought by Mississippi death-row prisoners Alan Walker, Paul Woodward and Gerald Holland (Plaintiffs). …
$250,000 Award in Mississippi False Imprisonment Suit by Last January, a Mississippi federal jury awarded a former prisoner $250,000 for being falsely incarcerated by the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). The facts of the case exhibit an unbelievable abuse of power by MDOC officials. After pleading guilty to burglary of …
Judge Not: Judges Benched for Personal Misconduct by by Gary Hunter & Alex Friedmann They decide hot-button topics ranging from abortion and racial discrimination to religious freedoms and contested elections. They can put you in prison or vindicate your civil rights. They can even sentence you to death. Who am …
Fifth Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment and Directed Verdict in Mississippi Jail Suicide Case by On December 2, 2008, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion affirming summary judgment in favor of the sheriff and the directed verdict for the county and other defendants in a case involving a …
Prison Legal News v. MS DOC, Dismissal Order, GTL phone, 2010 ~~1t51 A TRUE COPy t\ FILED JUN 1 0 2009 IN TH CHANCERY COURT OF HINS COUNTY, ~~~ ;.HA~YCLE FIRST JUDICIAL DIS~l..7.";~"" BY V ("~ D.C. , ":i"" PRISON LEGAL NEWS ~\ PLAINTIFF ~~ ~ "" ..I * "- …
Sexual Abuse by Prison and Jail Staff Proves Persistent, Pandemic by Gary Hunter Sexual assault, rape, indecency, deviance. These terms represent reprehensible behavior in our society. They also represent recurring themes in our nation’s prisons – not only by prisoners, but also by guards and other staff members. PLN’s August …
Mississippi Woman Awarded $75,000 for Wrongful Incarceration Due to Court Clerk Error by On October 19, 2005, a federal jury in Mississippi awarded Michelle Hobbs $75,000 after she was wrongfully detained for 4 hours based on an arrest warrant mistakenly issued by a court clerk. Hobbs's initial arrest occurred in …
Fifth Circuit Affirms Appointment of Counsel For Indigent Prisoner by On May 7, 1980, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the appointment of counsel for an indigent prisoner alleging that his constitutional rights had been violated. William Knighton, a Mississippi prisoner, sued Mississippi prison officials over …
Mississippi To Ensure Deaf Citizen's Right To Jury Participation by Harrison County (Mississippi) entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ensuring deaf and hard of hearing individuals' right to participate in circuit court programs and services. This came after Mississippi resident Charles Carver was disqualified …
Privatized Medical Care in Mississippi Prisons: Another Wexford Failure by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A report submitted to Mississippi’s legislature found serious deficiencies in the delivery of medical care to prisoners in the Mississippi Dept. of Corrections (MDOC). The December 11, 2007 report was issued by the Joint …
Millions Paid in Mississippi Jail Deaths; Ten Guards Sentenced for Abuses; Corruption Continues by Bob Williams “The house always wins,” Warden Don Cabana proclaimed to the Sun Herald, a Mississippi newspaper, in July 2007. However, Harrison County, home of the Harrison County Adult Detention Center (ADC), has agreed to pay …
Mississippi Jail Prisoner Wins $3,000,000 in Failure to Protect Suit by The Hinds County Board of Supervisors (Board) agreed to settle a three-million-dollar federal lawsuit filed by a former prisoner in the Hinds County Jail after he was left paralyzed by a beating at the hands of other prisoners in …
