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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 …

The Restraint Chair: Safe and Humane?

Article • September 15, 2000 • from PLN September, 2000

Filed under: DOC/BOP misconduct, Jail Misconduct, Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Damages, Settlements, Mental Health

The Restraint Chair: Safe and Humane? by Anne-Marie Cusac Jail and prison employees call it the "strap-o-lounger," the "barcalounger," the "we care chair," and the "be sweet chair." Prisoners and their lawyers have other names for the device: "torture chair," "slave chair," and "devil's chair." They are not referring to …

Exhaustion Not Required for Claims of Assault

Article • June 15, 2000 • from PLN June, 2000

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Discrimination, Gender Discrimination -- Women, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Damages, Violence Against Women Act, Supervisory Liability

Exhaustion Not Required for Claims of Assault by A federal district court held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act's (PLRA) exhaustion requirement does not apply to assault claims. It also held that a cause of action under the Violence Against Women Act, (VAWA), is analogous to a cause of action …

The Keeper of the Keys

Article • March 15, 2000 • from PLN March, 2000

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Reviews, Crime/Demographics, Crime

The Keeper of the Keys by Rick Card by Lee Dickenson, Lost Coast Press, 1999, 161 pages Review by Rick Card In a sequel to The Sounding Tree, published last year [PLN, May 1999], Lee Dickenson now offers a bundle of unrelated tales about his experience as a Connecticut prison …

Suicides at Connecticut Prison Raise Concerns about Mental Health Care

Article • November 15, 1999 • from PLN November, 1999

Filed under: Gender Discrimination -- Women, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides

Suicides at Connecticut Prison Raise Concerns about Mental Health Care by Suicides at Connecticut Prison Raise Concerns About Mental Health Care In unrelated incidents, two women prisoners at the York Corr. Institution in East Lyme, Connecticut committed suicide within a ten-day period in March, 1999. Linda Hogan was found hanging …

Beaten Connecticut Jail Detainee Awarded $2.07 Million

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

Filed under: Escapes, Victims, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Damages, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Guards/Staff, Assaults on Staff

Beaten Connecticut Jail Detainee Awarded $2.07 Million by A federal jury in February, 1999 awarded Kevin King $2 million in punitive damages and $75,000 in compensatory damages for a beating he suffered at the hands of Hartford (Conn.) Correctional Center jail guards. The verdict touched off a firestorm of controversy …

Pagan v. US, CT, Settlement, Stipulation for Compromise, 1999

Brief • June 8, 1999

Pagan v. US, CT, Settlement, Stipulation for Compromise, 1999 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT ELIZABETH PAGAN, Plaintiff, CIVIL NO. 3:97CVI798(RNC) v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant. STIPULATION FOR COMPROMISE SETTLEMENT AND RELEASE OF FEDERAL TORT CLAIMS ACT CLAIMS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 2677 It is hereby stipulated …

The Sounding Tree: Voices Along the Razor Wire, by Lee Dickenson (Book Review)

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

Filed under: Reviews, Guards/Staff, Employee Litigation

The Sounding Tree: Voices Along the Razor Wire, by Lee Dickenson (Book Review) by Daniel Burton-Rose Reviewed by Daniel Burton-Rose Lee Dickenson writes in the voice of an embittered veteran. For more than a decade and a half he manned a war zone, where the monotonous routine was sharply punctuated …

Pagan v. US, CT, Defendant Hasan Release, 1999

Brief • April 19, 1999

Pagan v. US, CT, Defendant Hasan Release, 1999 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT . DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT ELIZABETH PAGAN, Plaintiff, CIVIL NO. 3:97CV1798(RNC) v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant. RELEASE I, SHAGUFTA HASAN, M.D., one of the defendants originally named in this action, hereby release any and all claims, demands, rights, …

Pagan v. US, CT, Defendant Pysher Release, 1999

Brief • April 3, 1999

Pagan v. US, CT, Defendant Pysher Release, 1999 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT . DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT ELIZABETH PAGAN, Plaintiff, CIVIL NO. 3:97CV1798(RNC) v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant. RELEASE I, STEVEN PYSHER, one of the defendants originally named in this action, hereby release any and all claims, demands, rights, and …

Rule 12(b) Dismissal Requires Inability to Prove Claim

Article • December 15, 1998 • from PLN December, 1998

Filed under: Medical, Dental Care, Summary Judgment

Rule 12(b) Dismissal Requires Inability to Prove Claim by The Second Circuit has held that a civil rights claim may only be dismissed under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim if it is beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts …

CT Prisoners Pinched for Cost of Imprisonment

Article • October 15, 1998 • from PLN October, 1998

Filed under: Dental Care, Medical Expenses, Drug Testing, Hygiene Supplies, Prisoner Privileges, Education, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Visiting, Extended Family Visiting

CT Prisoners Pinched for Cost of Imprisonment by A1995 "get tough" state law mandated that the Connecticut Department of Correction write a regulation for assessing prisoners for the cost of their incarceration In 1997, that mandate was codified into sections 18-85a-1 to 18-85a-4 of the "Regulations of State Agencies: cost …

Connecticut Prisoner Rights

Article • September 15, 1998 • from PLN September, 1998

Filed under: Reviews, Court Access

Connecticut Prisoner Rights by Paul Wright Connecticut Prisoner Rights is a brand new 232 page book produced by the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union and the Jerome Frank Legal Services Organization of Yale Law School. A group effort by Peter Stern and numerous other law students and attorneys, the end result …

Cheaper to Exile Prisoners?

Article • August 15, 1998 • from PLN August, 1998

Filed under: Classification, Out of State Transfers, Overcrowding

Cheaper to Exile Prisoners? by Dan Pens The state of Connecticut closed its Northeast Correctional Institution (NCI) in July 1997 in a budget-cutting move. Just seven months later, state legislators called for the governor to reopen NCI because of overcrowding in the state's other prisons. But the administration of Gov. …

Mental Unhealth and Prisons

Article • May 15, 1997 • from PLN May, 1997

Filed under: Mental Health

Mental Unhealth and Prisons by E.D. Thanks for publishing information about mental health issues and prisoners. We expect to see a major increase in forensic [mentally ill] prisoners as we roll into the future and close down more state hospitals while simultaneously underfunding community resources for the mentally disabled. As …

Connecticut Supreme Court Upholds Phone and Mail Restrictions

Article • April 15, 1997 • from PLN April, 1997

Filed under: Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring, Mail Regulations

Connecticut Supreme Court Upholds Phone and Mail Restrictions by In the February, 1995, issue of PLN we reported that Connecticut state prisoners had filed a class action suit in state court challenging prison regulations that required the recording of prisoner phone calls and that prisoners, outgoing mail could be read …

Bartkus v. Manson, CT, Settlement Agreement, Prison Overcrowding and AIDS Case, 1996

Brief • February 22, 1996

Filed under: HIV/AIDS, Overcrowding

Bartkus v. Manson, CT, Settlement Agreement, Prison Overcrowding and AIDS Case, 1996 J3CM rr-.Ol I Bartkus v. Commissioner of Correction illllllll UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT IN RE PRISON OVERCROWDTNG AND AIDS CASES Consolidated Case No. H-80-b06 RICHARD BARTKUS v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION : CIVIL NO. H-80-506 (RNC) …

Prisoner Raped by Custodians

Article • February 15, 1995 • from PLN February, 1995

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Private Prisons, Transport Companies, Guard Misconduct, Gender Discrimination -- Women

Prisoner Raped by Custodians by A federal woman prisoner being transported from the Danbury prison in Connecticut to one in Texas was sexually assaulted by the owner of Fugitive One Transport, Arnold Faulhaber, and a company guard, Joseph Jackson. Both suspects were arrested on October 8, 1994, and charged by …