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Overcrowding Forces Alabama Prisoners Into Private Prison Web

Article • July 15, 2004 • from PLN July, 2004

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Staff-Prisoner Assault, Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Louisiana Correctional Services, Staff-Prisoner Harassment, Staff-Staff Harassment, Contractor Misconduct, Gender Discrimination -- Women, Totality of Conditions, Overcrowding, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Employee Litigation

Overcrowding Forces Alabama Prisoners Into Private Prison Web by Gary Hunter Court orders have forced Alabama to reduce the number of prisoners in its county jails and send half of its prison population to two other states. Until recently the Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC) had crammed 28,000 prisoners into …

Gates v. Barbour, MS, Order, HIV Work Release Placement, 2004

Brief • June 7, 2004

Filed under: Work, HIV/AIDS

Gates v. Barbour, MS, Order, HIV Work Release Placement, 2004 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI GREENVILLE DIVISION NAZARETH GATES, ET AL., PLAINTIFFS VS. 4:71CV6-JAD HALEY BARBOUR, ET AL., DEFENDANTS CONSOLIDATED WITH DAVID D. MOORE, AT AL., PLAINTIFFS VS. 4:90CV125-JAD KIRK FORDICE, ET AL., …

Mississippi Death Row Conditions Unconstitutional; Sweeping Reforms Ordered

Article • April 15, 2004 • from PLN April, 2004

Filed under: Victims, Ventilation, Exercise, Exposure to Cold, Plumbing, Sewage, Sanitation, Lighting, Laundry, Vermin, Exposure to Heat, Death Row, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Guards/Staff, American Correctional Association

Mississippi Death Row Conditions Unconstitutional; Sweeping Reforms Ordered by Bob Williams Mississippi Death Row Conditions Unconstitutional; Sweeping Reforms Ordered by Bob Williams Hailed as the broadest ruling ever is-sued by a federal judge in a death row conditions of confinement case, and a precedent setting breakthrough in prisoners' rights, conditions …

Evidentiary Hearing Required to Determine Communion Service Frequency

Article • January 15, 2004 • from PLN January, 2004

Filed under: Religious Freedom, Religious Diet, Denial of Religious Services, Religious Practices, Clergy

Evidentiary Hearing Required to Determine Communion Service Frequency by The Supreme Court of Mississippi has ordered an evidentiary hearing to determine the frequency prisoners at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman are allowed to receive Communion. Prisoner Donnie Russell, acting pro se, filed a petition in State Circuit Court alleging …

Widespread Prisoner Labor Abuse Requires Reform

Article • December 15, 2003

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Jail Misconduct, Government Misconduct, Work, Prison Industries, Prison Labor

Widespread Prisoner Labor Abuse Requires Reform by Gary Hunter Lonoke Mayor Thomas Privett and police Chief Jay Campbell were caught abusing the state's prisoner work program. Arkansas Department of Corrections requested, in early August 2005, that the program be suspended after learning that state prisoners had been used to repair …

Mississippi Pays $6 Million for Empty Prison Bunks

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

Filed under: Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Financing, State Legislation

Mississippi Pays $6 Million for Empty Prison Bunks by Mississippi Pays $6 Million For Empty Prison Bunks by Matthew T. Clarke In a highly politicized move, the Mississippi Legislature passed a budget paying Wackenhut Corporation (WC) and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) millions of dollars for unneeded private prison bunks, …

Ill Treatment on Our Shores

Article • August 15, 2002 • from PLN August, 2002

Filed under: Discrimination, Political Prisoners, Racial Discrimination, Religious Discrimination, Cardiovascular, Failure to Protect (General), Exposure to Cold, Jail Specific, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Immigration, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Ill Treatment on Our Shores by Anne-Marie Cusac ( On October 24, 2001, Muhammed Butt died of a heart attack at the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny, New Jersey. Butt, a Pakistani national, was detained on September 19 by the FBI as a suspect connected with the September 11 …

Order for Attorney Not to Contact Class Members Void

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

Filed under: Medical, HIV/AIDS, Systemic Medical Neglect, Attorney Fee Awards, Attorney Client, Attorney Misconduct, Settlements, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Class Certification, Rehabilitation Act

Order for Attorney Not to Contact Class Members Void by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has invalidated an order by a district court for ACLU National Prison Project (NPP) lawyers not to contact class members in a suit brought by Mississippi state prisoners. The Fifth Circuit also ordered substitution …

Mississippi Taxpayers Fund Welfare Payments to Private Prisons

Article • November 15, 2001 • from PLN November, 2001

Filed under: Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Financing, State Legislation

Mississippi Taxpayers Fund Welfare Payments to Private Prisons by Ronald Young Mississippi Taxpayers Fund Welfare Payments To Private Prisons by Ronald A. Young Mississippi taxpayers will pay about $6 million a year to private and regional prisons for "ghost inmates" under a bill the legislature approved on March 26, 2001. …

'Invisible' Prisoner Gets $36,200 for Wrongful Imprisonment

Article • September 15, 2001 • from PLN September, 2001

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment

'Invisible' Prisoner Gets $36,200 for Wrongful Imprisonment by A Mississippi man who was improperly jailed for nearly 10 months because of a "bureaucratic snafu" was awarded just $36,200 by a federal jury in Jackson, Mississippi in October 2000. Joseph Jones, a Jackson mechanic, was stopped by a state patrol officer …

"The Judge Gave Me Ten Years--He Didn't Sentence Me to Death"

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

Filed under: Medical, HIV/AIDS, Medication, Systemic Medical Neglect, Medical Expenses

"The Judge Gave Me Ten Years--He Didn't Sentence Me to Death" by Anne-Marie Cusac "The Judge Gave Me Ten Years--He Didn't Sentence Me to Death" Prisoners with HIV deprived of proper care By Anne-Marie Cusac In prisons and jails across the country, prisoners with HIV or AIDS are denied proper …

Fifth Circuit Says Rotting to Death in Prison Okay

Article • December 15, 1999 • from PLN December, 1999

Filed under: Medical Misconduct, Disabled Prisoners, Skin, Civil Procedure, State Law Claims, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Fifth Circuit Says Rotting to Death in Prison Okay by Ronald Young How often have you heard it said of prisoners, "Let them rot in prison?" Probably more times than you care to remember. In the case of Mississippi prisoner Eugene Stewart, such a hellish and cruel death as literally …

Sleep Deprivation Not Frivolous Claim

Article • December 15, 1999 • from PLN December, 1999

Filed under: Eighth Amendment, Physical Injury Rule, Mental Health

Sleep Deprivation Not Frivolous Claim by Ronald Young by Ronald Young The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that a prisoner's claim based on custodial classification was frivolous, and the prisoner's Eighth Amendment claim was frivolous insofar as it sought damages for emotional suffering. The court also held …

Warden Used "Force" in Sexual Assault

Article • August 15, 1999 • from PLN August, 1999

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, U.S. Sentencing Guidelines

Warden Used "Force" in Sexual Assault by Warden Used "Force" in Sexual Assault Walter Lucas was Acting Warden of the River County Jail in River City, Mississippi, when he asked a male prisoner to act as lookout so that he could take care of some "business" with a female prisoner …

Failing to Provide Disabled Prisoner Showers for Two Months Cruel and Unusual

Article • June 15, 1999 • from PLN June, 1999

Filed under: Disabled Prisoners, Medical, Showers, Toilets

Failing to Provide Disabled Prisoner Showers for Two Months Cruel and Unusual by The Fifth Circuit court of appeals has held that failing to accommodate a disabled prisoner whose disability and close confinement accommodations prevented him from showering states a claim under the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the …

5th Circuit Upholds Mississippi Disenfranchisement Law

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

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Organizing, Voting

5th Circuit Upholds Mississippi Disenfranchisement Law by The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of a Mississippi state prisoner's claim that he is improperly being denied the right to vote. The Mississippi Constitution denies the right to vote to any person "convicted of murder, …

Fifth Circuit Expands Qualified Immunity Defense

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

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Bedding, Qualified Immunity, Municipal Liability, Suicides

Fifth Circuit Expands Qualified Immunity Defense by In a lengthy opinion which may have dire consequences for prisoners seeking to resist qualified immunity defenses, the Fifth Circuit held that city jail guards had a duty, which was clearly established in 1989, to protect prisoners from suicide. However, the court also …

Delay in Treatment for Jail Prisoner Actionable

Article • May 15, 1998 • from PLN May, 1998

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Medical, Injury -- Misc., Vision, Failure to Protect (General)

Delay in Treatment for Jail Prisoner Actionable by Afederal district court in Mississippi held that disputed issues of fact involving claims by a jail prisoner that he was beaten by his cellmates required a trial to resolve. Emmett Davis was sentenced to 54 days in the Greenville, Mississippi, jail because …

Mississippi Good Time Violates Ex Post Facto

Article • October 15, 1997 • from PLN October, 1997

Filed under: Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Good Time

Mississippi Good Time Violates Ex Post Facto by The supreme court of Mississippi held that retroactive application of a statute requiring felons to serve 85% of their sentence before release violated the ex post facto provisions of the Mississippi and United States constitutions. In 1995 the Mississippi legislature enacted Senate …

Recent US Supreme Court Rulings of Interest: Court Access

Article • October 15, 1997 • from PLN October, 1997

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Filing Fees, Transcripts, Family Law, Mothers in Prison

Recent US Supreme Court Rulings of Interest: Court Access by The court struck down a Mississippi law that conditioned appeals in parental rights cases to prepayment of record preparation fees, with no provisions for indigents. The case involved a mother who lost parental rights, forever, to her two minor children …