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Washington Civil Commitment Injunction Upheld

Article • August 15, 2001 • from PLN August, 2001

Filed under: Injunctions, Mental Health, Sex Offender Treatment, Civil Commitment

Washington Civil Commitment Injunction Upheld by The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed the District Court's denial of a motion to dissolve an injunction requiring the Special Commitment Center (SCC) in Washington to bring its sexual deviancy treatment program within constitutional requirements. In 1994, Richard Turay, a …

Florida Religious Name Change Upheld

Article • July 15, 2001 • from PLN July, 2001

Filed under: Injunctions, Religious Freedom, Religious Names

Florida Religious Name Change Upheld by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court order requiring the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to allow Muslim prisoners to use their religious name to obtain prison services. While incarcerated, Florida death row prisoner Kenneth D. Quince converted to Islam …

Kentucky Phone Rate Ruling

Article • May 15, 2001 • from PLN May, 2001

Filed under: Injunctions, Telephone Rates, Immunity/Liability, Municipal Liability, Contractor Liability

Kentucky Phone Rate Ruling by A federal district court in Kentucky held that the filed rate doctrine barred any claims for money damages against Phone Company and county jail defendants. However, injunctive relief was still available. The court questioned the legality of an exclusive service provider contract. In the August, …

Permanent Injunction Granted for Kosher Diets

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

Filed under: Food, Injunctions, Religious Freedom, Religious Diet

Permanent Injunction Granted for Kosher Diets by The Colorado Federal District Court granted a permanent injunction against the Department of Corrections (CDOC) finding the CDOC in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment for failing to provide Colorado Prisoners with a kosher diet. As reported in the …

NY DOCS Guard Nets $300,000 for ADA Retaliation

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

Filed under: Retaliation against Staff, Respiratory, Smoking, Civil Procedure, Damages, Injunctions, Americans with Disabilities Act, Employee Litigation

NY DOCS Guard Nets $300,000 for ADA Retaliation by The U.S. court of appeals for the Second Circuit held that the absence of a finding of disability in a guard's Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claim did not preclude a finding that the guard's employer retaliated against him for bringing …

Seventh Circuit Rejects ETS Claim

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

Filed under: Respiratory, Smoking, Eighth Amendment, Civil Procedure, Damages, Injunctions, Mootness

Seventh Circuit Rejects ETS Claim by The U.S. court of appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a pretrial detainee's injuries from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) were not sufficiently serious to support a due process claim, and that he could not recover for future injuries absent some showing …

Alabama Ad Seg Publication Ban Struck Down

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

Filed under: Injunctions, Publications/Books, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Alabama Ad Seg Publication Ban Struck Down by On March 20, 2000, a Federal Magistrate recommended declaratory relief striking down a ban on subscription publications in the Alabama Department of Corrections' (DOC) Administrative Segregation (Ad Seg) unit. This recommendation follows a previous ruling where the Court held, after a bench …

9th Circuit Upholds Ban on Sex-based Publications; Requires Due Process

Article • November 15, 2000 • from PLN November, 2000

Filed under: Injunctions, Contempt (Civil Procedure), Consent Decrees, Mail, Publications/Books, Sexually Explicit Materials, Due Process, Tapes/Music (Mail), Censorship

9th Circuit Upholds Ban on Sex-based Publications; Requires Due Process by 9th Circuit Upholds Ban on Sex-based publications; Requires Due Process Against a First Amendment challenge, the Ninth Circuit has upheld a prison regulation banning sex-based publications depicting penetration. The Court also held that prisoners have a Fourteenth Amendment due …

$586,000 to Settle KY Jail Strip Search Suit

Article • November 15, 2000 • from PLN November, 2000

Filed under: Searches, Strip Searches, Arrestee Searches, Settlements, Injunctions, Municipal Liability

$586,000 to Settle KY Jail Strip Search Suit by On January 25, 2000, Jefferson County, Kentucky, announced it would pay $586,000 to 31 people strip searched after being booked into the Jefferson county jail on minor traffic offenses in 1993. Previously, PLN reported that Jefferson County had paid $11.5 million …

$115,000 Settlement in Seattle Jail Strip-Search Suit

Article • May 15, 2000 • from PLN May, 2000

Filed under: Searches, Strip Searches, Arrestee Searches, Injunctions, Municipal Liability

$115,000 Settlement in Seattle Jail Strip-Search Suit by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg King County and the City of Seattle settled a wrongful strip-search suit for $115,000 on May 21, 2003 and also agreed to change strip-search policies at King County jails. Jasmine Wells and Brian Walton, college …

Transfer Moots Wiccan's Claim

Article • May 15, 2000 • from PLN May, 2000

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Injunctions, Mootness, Declaratory Judgment, Religious Property

Transfer Moots Wiccan's Claim by The court of appeals for the Eighth circuit held that a prisoner's transfer to a different prison mooted his religious rights lawsuit. Duane Smith is an Iowa state prisoner of the Wiccan faith. He filed suit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to the effect that …

Claim For Prospective Relief Moot Upon Release

Article • May 15, 2000 • from PLN May, 2000

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Injunctions, Mootness, Parole, Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Claim For Prospective Relief Moot Upon Release by Ronald Young The court of appeals for the Tenth circuit held that when a prisoner's claim for perspective injunctive relief regarding conditions of confinement becomes moot, the prisoner's parole or supervised release status does not, absent some exceptional showing, bring that claim …

Lack of Evidence Bars Disciplinary Finding of Guilt

Article • February 15, 2000 • from PLN February, 2000

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Liberty Interests, Sanctions (Disciplinary Hearings), Evidentiary Ruling (Disciplinary Hearings), Standard of Proof, Escapes, Injunctions

Lack of Evidence Bars Disciplinary Finding of Guilt by Lack of Evidence Bars Disciplinary Finding of Guilt Regardless of Punishment Imposed The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that it violates due process to find a prisoner "guilty" of violating a prison disciplinary rule when absolutely no evidence …

Media Interview Protected Free Speech

Article • October 15, 1999 • from PLN October, 1999

Filed under: Retaliation, Retaliation for Litigating, Retaliation for Media Contact, Retaliatory Transfers, Retaliation for Organizing, Prison Labor, Damages, Injunctions, Qualified Immunity, Access to Media

Media Interview Protected Free Speech by A federal district court in Pennsylvania held that the transfer of a prisoner for his participation in a pre-authorized media interview and his subsequent correspondence with the newspaper reporter violated the prisoner's constitutional rights. Prison officials were denied qualified immunity and the prisoner was …

PLRA Physical Injury Requirement Constitutional

Article • September 15, 1999 • from PLN September, 1999

Filed under: HIV/AIDS, Medical Records, Physical Injury Rule, Court Access, Damages, Injunctions, Disclosure of Records

PLRA Physical Injury Requirement Constitutional by James Quigley The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the "Limitation on Recovery" provision (physical injury rule) of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e), does not violate a prisoner's rights to equal protection or access to …

Prisoners Have First Amendment Right to Private Conversations with Their Attorneys

Article • September 15, 1999 • from PLN September, 1999

Filed under: Attorney Client, Civil Procedure, Injunctions, Declaratory Judgment, Death Row, Attorney Visits

Prisoners Have First Amendment Right to Private Conversations with Their Attorneys by Prisoners Have First Amendment Right to Private Conversations With Their Attorneys A federal district court in Pennsylvania held that prisoners have privacy and free speech rights to private conversations with their attorneys. Pennsylvania state prisoners incarcerated on death …

DC Circuit Lifts Injunction on BOP Porn Ban

Article • September 15, 1999 • from PLN September, 1999

Filed under: Injunctions, Mail, Sexually Explicit Materials

DC Circuit Lifts Injunction on BOP Porn Ban by In the March 1997 issue of PLN we reported that Congress passed the "Ensign Amendment," prohibiting the use of Bureau of Prisons (BOP) funds to distribute sexually explicit material to prisoners. The BOP adopted regulations defining the terms of the ban …

Washington Gift Subscription Ban Injunction Affirmed

Article • July 15, 1999 • from PLN July, 1999

Filed under: Damages, Injunctions, Contempt (Civil Procedure), Qualified Immunity, Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Due Process

Washington Gift Subscription Ban Injunction Affirmed by In the February, 1998, issue of PLN we reported Crofton v. Spalding and Crofton v. Ocanaz. Both were unpublished rulings from the U.S. district court in Spokane, Washington. Two separate judges ruled that a Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) policy requiring that prisoners purchase …

New Jersey Porn Ban Struck Down

Article • May 15, 1999 • from PLN May, 1999

Filed under: Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Injunctions, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Mail, Sexually Explicit Materials

New Jersey Porn Ban Struck Down by In two separate rulings a federal court in New Jersey held that a New Jersey statute prohibiting imprisoned sex offenders from receiving or possessing sexually oriented materials was unconstitutional. The two rulings consist of a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction enjoining the …

Medical Care Unconstitutional in Puerto Rico Prisons

Article • April 15, 1999 • from PLN April, 1999

Filed under: Medical, HIV/AIDS, Systemic Medical Neglect, Staffing, Injunctions, Contempt (Civil Procedure)

Medical Care Unconstitutional in Puerto Rico Prisons by Medical Care Unconstitutional In Puerto Rico Prisons A federal court in Puerto Rico has held that the lack of medical care in the Puerto Rican prison system is unconstitutional. This is a class action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 brought by Puerto …