Federal Prison Must Disclose Part of Investigation Manual by The federal prison at Forrest City, Arkansas (Prison) suspended for one day an employee represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). The AFGE requested the Special Investigative Supervisor Manual (Manual), which the Prison refused to disclose. An administrative law …
Eighth Circuit Upholds Arkansas Jailer’s 78-Month Sentence for Brutalizing Prisoners by Eighth Circuit Upholds Arkansas Jailer's 78-Month Sentence for Brutalizing Prisoners The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the criminal conviction of an Arkansas jailer for violation of the civil rights of two prisoners whom he beat maliciously and …
FBI Investigates Arkansas Guard Violence by In June 2006, the FBI began a civil rights investigation into a prisoner's beating administered by guards at the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker, Arkansas. The investigation, surprisingly, was requested by prison officials. The officials were investigating an incident that occurred in the prison's …
All Claims Must Be Exhausted Before Suit is Filed by Four plaintiffs filed prematurely before their grievances were decided. Some claims were exhausted by the time the district court dismissed for nonexhaustion, some were still in process. At 885: When multiple prison condition claims have been joined, as in this …
Eighth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Forced Religion Claim by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of a prisoner?s Establishment Clause Claim as frivolous. In June 2000, Arkansas prisoner James Munson was granted parole, contingent upon completion of a year long sex offender treatment program called Reduction of …
Arkansas Prisoner Denied Kosher Diet Awarded $1,500 by On August 25, 2006, the Director of the Arkansas Department of Corrections was ordered to pay state prisoner Michael Fegans $1,500 for violating his constitutional rights to a kosher diet. Fegans is a devout member of the Assemblies of Yahweh, a religious …
Eighth Circuit Upholds Arkansas Sex Offender Registration/Residency Restrictions by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a civil rights challenge to provisions of the Arkansas Sex Offender Registration Act, Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-901 et seq., and to a criminal statute …
Arkansas Ups Work-Release Fees to Pay for Guard-Drivers by On October 27, 2006, the Arkansas Board of Corrections unanimously voted to increase the daily fees charged prisoners participating in the work-release program from $15 to $17. The increase is to be used to pay for guards to drive the prisoners …
Procedure Required for Sending/Receiving Sealed Media Mail by Procedure Required For Sending/Receiving Sealed Media Mail The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas held that the Arkansas DOC must implement policies regulating incoming mail from, and outgoing mail to, media representatives similar to those governing privileged legal mail. …
Eighth Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment on Segregation Mail Ban by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an Arkansas district court judgment granting summary judgment to prison officials in a case involving the denial of mail privileges to segregated prisoners. The court noted that the district court acknowledged that the …
Executing Prisoner Who Regained Competency Does Not Violate His Rights by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that a state does not violate the Eighth or Fourteenth Amendments by executing a prisoner who regains competency through forced medication. Charles Singleton was convicted of capital murder and aggravated robbery in …
Housing Death Row Prisoner in Segregation Cell Constitutional by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that prison officials did not violate a prisoner's rights by housing him in a segregation cell rather than a death row cell. In response to being confined in a segregation cell …
Equitable Tolling Applies to AEDPA by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that equitable tolling applies to the one-year statute of limitations for filing federal habeas corpus petitions under the Anti Terrorism Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), 28 U.S.C. 2244 (2) (1). The petitioner, an Arkansas prisoner, filed a …
Sex Offenders Can Be Excluded From Work Release Program by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that an Arkansas prisoner's Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection were not violated by state officials' refusal to allow him to participate in a work/study program for …
Passing Through Metal Detector Partly Disrobed Not "Strip Search" by Passing Through Metal Detector Partly Disrobed Not "Strip Search" The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, held that a state prison guard's requirement that an eight-year-old female visitor pass …
Summary Judgment on Religious Exercise Affirmed in Part and Reversed in Part by The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part a grant of summary judgment to Arkansas prison officials in a case involving free exercise of religion. Terry Procter is …
Arkansas Jailers Not Responsible for Prisoner's Beating by Scott Crow, a state prisoner in Arkansas' Faulkner County Detention Center (jail), had his jaw broken by a prisoner in his cell during a fight. He sued several jail administrators under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in federal district court. Although the defendants …
BOP Must Disclose Part of Investigation Manual by The federal prison at Forrest City, Arkansas (prison) suspended for one day an employee represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). The AFGE requested that the prison produce a copy of its Special Investigative Supervisor Manual (manual), which the prison …
Failure to Exhaust Differs from Failure to State Claim under PLRA by The court rejects the proposition that failure to exhaust administrative remedies is a strike under the PLRA. At 965-66 (footnotes omitted): . . . [T]he PLRA does not use "failure to state a claim" and "failure to exhaust …
Religious Immunization Exemption Statute in Arkansas Voided by A religious exemption from a school immunization statute, which was limited to persons belonging to a "recognized church or religious denomination," application for which was evaluated based on factors including the address of the church, the number of members, times and places …
