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Secret Court Docket Practice Exposed

Article • December 15, 2003 • from PLN December, 2003

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Informants, Judiciary, Disclosure of Records, Family, Family Law

Secret Court Docket Practice Exposed by by David M. Reutter and Paul Wright One of the founding principles of the United States judiciary system is the right of access by the public and press. In their infinite wisdom, the authors of the Bill of Rights placed that principle within the …

Connecticut Prisons Exempt from Patient Bill of Bights

Article • December 15, 2003

Filed under: Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)

Connecticut Prisons Exempt from Patient Bill of Bights by The Connecticut Supreme Court has held that state prisons are not subject to the patients' bill of rights, Connecticut General Statutes §§ 17a-540 through 17a-550. Bryant Wiseman, 28, died at the Garner Correctional Institution on November 17, 1999, apparently while being …

Prison Writers Punished for Success in Connecticut and Texas

Article • December 15, 2003

Filed under: Retaliation for Media Contact, Money/Property, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Royalties, Publications/Books, Access to Media

Prison Writers Punished for Success in Connecticut and Texas by Gary Hunter Censorship has slithered like an unseen serpent into the crevices of the First Amendment and built its noxious nest in our nation's prisons. Prisons across the country, both state and federal, have singled out prison writers for persecution …

$500,000 Settlement in Connecticut Suicide

Article • October 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2003

Filed under: Wrongful Death, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Suicides

$500,000 Settlement in Connecticut Suicide by On April 14, 2003, the family of a prisoner who committed suicide in 1996 while in a Connecticut prison settled with the state for $500,000. William Dumais, 19, was imprisoned in the Corrigan Correctional Institution in Uncasville from December 1995 to February 1996 on …

Sexual Harassment Scandal Rocks Connecticut DOC

Article • August 15, 2003 • from PLN August, 2003

Filed under: Sexual Assault, Staff-Prisoner Assault, Staff-Staff Assault, Staff-Staff Harassment, Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Employee Litigation

Sexual Harassment Scandal Rocks Connecticut DOC by by Matthew T. Clarke The Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC) has been rocked by allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and illegal sex between guards and prisoners. The scandal began on August 8, 2002, when 15 female guards filed two separate federal class-action …

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Sex Offender Registration Laws

Article • July 15, 2003 • from PLN July, 2003

Filed under: Discrimination, Sex Offender Registration, Ex Post Facto

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Sex Offender Registration Laws by In two decisions handed down on March 5, 2003, the United States Supreme Court reversed the Ninth and Second U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, both of which had struck down state sex offender registration laws, popularly known as "Megan's Law(s)." In …

Woman Gang Raped in Back of Jail Van

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN March, 2003

Filed under: Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, Criminal Prosecution, Conditions of Confinement, Transportation

Woman Gang Raped in Back of Jail Van by In August 1999, four Connecticut men sexually assaulted an unnamed female prisoner while being transported together in a New Haven County Sheriff's Department van. The men, who were also prisoners, allegedly broke down a metal gate separating them from the woman, …

Connecticut Pays $1,850,000 in Deaths of Two Prisoners Transferred to Virginia

Article • February 15, 2003 • from PLN February, 2003

Filed under: Classification, Out of State Transfers, Diabetes, Excessive Force, Stun Guns/Tasers, Restraints, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides

Connecticut Pays $1,850,000 in Deaths of Two Prisoners Transferred to Virginia by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The Connecticut Department of Corrections (CDC) settled two claims in March 2002 totaling $1,850,000 for the wrongful deaths of a mentally ill prisoner and a severely diabetic prisoner who were transferred …

Prison Officials Liable for Gang Member's Murder

Article • February 15, 2003 • from PLN February, 2003

Filed under: Gang Policies, Crime/Demographics, Prison/Jail Murders, Failure to Protect (General), Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death)

Prison Officials Liable for Gang Member's Murder by A federal court in Connecticut de-nied prison officials qualified immunity in an action arising from the murder of a gang member by his cellmate while housed in a Close Custody unit. Juan Rodriguez, a prisoner of the Connecticut Department of Corrections, (CDOC) …

District Court Sets Prisoner's "Deliberate Indifference" Hepatitis C Claims for Trial

Article • November 15, 2002 • from PLN November, 2002

Filed under: Medical, Diabetes, Hepatitis, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Complaints, Eleventh Amendment Immunity

District Court Sets Prisoner's "Deliberate Indifference" Hepatitis C Claims for Trial by A Connecticut Federal District Court has ordered that a state prisoner's Eighth Amendment claims arising from Connecticut Department of Corrections (CDOC) officials' deliberate indifference of his severe medical conditions be severed and that some of the claims proceed …

Connecticut District Court Orders Post-Judgment Monitoring Fees

Article • October 15, 2002 • from PLN October, 2002

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, PLRA, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Consent Decrees

Connecticut District Court Orders Post-Judgment Monitoring Fees by The United States District Court, District of Connecticut, has awarded the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union Foundation (CCLUF) attorneys' fees in the amount of $67,445.88, and costs in the amount of $1,044. The award arises from on-going, postjudgment monitoring by the CCLUF after …

Connecticut Retroactive Application of 85% Rule Violates Ex-Post Facto

Article • September 15, 2002 • from PLN September, 2002

Filed under: Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Parole

Connecticut Retroactive Application of 85% Rule Violates Ex-Post Facto by The Connecticut Supreme Court has decided that retroactive application of a State law raising the time for parole eligibility from 50% to 85% of time served violates the ex post facto clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court further found …

U.S. Supreme Court: Administrative Exhaustion Required for All Prisoner Section 1983 Suits

Article • June 15, 2002 • from PLN June, 2002

Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings

U.S. Supreme Court: Administrative Exhaustion Required for All Prisoner Section 1983 Suits by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The US Supreme Court ruled that under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), exhaustion of administrative remedies is required in all prisoner civil rights suits pertaining to prison life, regardless …

Vague Confidential Information and Gang Allegations Held Insufficient to Justify Close Custody Ruling

Article • February 15, 2002 • from PLN February, 2002

Filed under: Gang Policies, Disciplinary Hearings, Liberty Interests, Informants (Disciplinary Hearings), Ad-Seg Hearings

Vague Confidential Information and Gang Allegations Held Insufficient to Justify Close Custody Ruling by John E Dannenberg Connecticut prison authorities' non-specific allegations regarding "past gang affiliation" and "vague [confidential] information" were found to be insufficient to provide due process to inform the basis for an adverse administrative housing hearing, the …

Connecticut and Florida Change Felon Disenfranchisement Laws

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Organizing, Voting, Probation, State Legislation

Connecticut and Florida Change Felon Disenfranchisement Laws by Connecticut and Florida take different approaches as they address the disenfranchisement of convicted felons. In Connecticut, state lawmakers, after intense debate and much legislative maneuvering, passed a bill that gives back the right to vote to convicted felons on probation. In a …

Excessive Force Claims Not Subject to Exhaustion; Supreme Court Grants Review

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Excessive Force Claims Not Subject to Exhaustion; Supreme Court Grants Review by The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the exhaustion requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) does not apply to assault and excessive force claims. Connecticut state prisoner Ronald Nussle brought a …

Halloran v. Armstrong, CT, Complaint for Damages, Wrongful Death, 2001

Brief • April 11, 2001

Filed under: Wrongful Death

Halloran v. Armstrong, CT, Complaint for Damages, Wrongful Death, 2001 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT R. BARTLEY HALLORAN, ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF TIMOTHY PERRY, ) ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) ) vs. ) ) JOHN J. ARMSTRONG; ) CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF ) CORRECTION; UNIVERSITY OF ) …

Second Circuit Holds That Gang Member Designation Regulation is Not Ex Post Facto

Article • March 15, 2001 • from PLN March, 2001

Filed under: Gang Policies, Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Good Time

Second Circuit Holds That Gang Member Designation Regulation is Not Ex Post Facto by The Second circuit court of appeals held that a Connecticut DOC administrative directive making prisoners classified as safety threats ineligible to earn good time credits was not ex post facto and that a Connecticut statute did …

IFP Litigant Entitled to Amend Complaint

Article • January 15, 2001 • from PLN January, 2001

Filed under: Complaints, Filing Fees, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Ad-Seg Hearings

IFP Litigant Entitled to Amend Complaint by The court of appeals for the Second circuit held that a district court erred when it dismissed an indigent pro se prisoner's complaint without affording him an opportunity to amend the complaint and cure the defect. Benjamin Cruz, a Connecticut state prisoner, filed …

CMS Fined Nearly $1 Million in Virginia

Article • December 15, 2000 • from PLN December, 2000

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, CMS, Medical Misconduct, Medical, Systemic Medical Neglect, Dental Care, Medical Records, Contractor Liability

CMS Fined Nearly $1 Million in Virginia by Dan Pens Correctional Medical Services (CMS) contracts with the Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) to provide medical care to some of its 30,000 prisoners. In a 13-month period starting in January 1999 the VDOC levied nearly $1 million in fines against CMS …