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Mississippi Cancer Death Suit Dismissed

Article • May 15, 2007

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

Mississippi Cancer Death Suit Dismissed by The decedent died of cancer in prison. There was a two-month delay between the recurrence of his cancer symptoms and the institution of treatment; his symptoms reappeared while he was in a county jail, where he received a recommendation for the immediate commencement of …

Fed. Parolee's Waiver of Right to Counsel at Revocation Hearing Must be Knowing and Voluntary under the Circumstances

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Appointment of Counsel, Sentencing, Parole

Fed. Parolee's Waiver of Right to Counsel at Revocation Hearing Must be Knowing and Voluntary under the Circumstances by Fed. Parolee's Waiver of Right to Counsel at Revocation Hearing Must be Knowing and Voluntary under the Circumstances Tony Hodges, a federal parolee, was summoned to a federal district court for …

Cleaning up Mississippi’s Supermax: Conditions Suit Settled

Article • February 15, 2007 • from PLN February, 2007

Filed under: CMS, Medical, Contagious Disease -- Misc., Exercise, Sewage, Sanitation, Reading Materials, Vermin, Restraints, Telephone Rates, Ad-Seg Hearings, ACA

Cleaning up Mississippi’s Supermax: Conditions Suit Settled by David Reutter Cleaning up Mississippi's Supermax: Conditions Suit Settled by David M. Reutter A class action lawsuit filed on behalf of prisoners at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman charged that the totality of conditions are so "hellish" that it makes "Unit …

Mississippi DOC Guts TB Program

Article • February 15, 2007 • from PLN February, 2007

Filed under: Medical, Tuberculosis, Contagious Disease -- Misc.

Mississippi DOC Guts TB Program by For many years the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) has led the nation in controlling tuberculosis (TB) in its prison system. This was accomplished by giving chest x-rays to all incoming prisoners to determine whether they had the disease. Unfortunately this practice has been …

Mississippi Beating Suit Nets $348,960 — Upheld on Appeal

Article • January 15, 2007 • from PLN January, 2007

Filed under: Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Damages

Mississippi Beating Suit Nets $348,960 — Upheld on Appeal by Mississippi Beating Suit Nets $348,960 -- Upheld on Appeal The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a Mississippi district court's award of damages after a bench trial. The civil rights action was brought by Mississippi prisoner Stephen Michael Combs …

Company Uses Prison Slave Labor for $100 Million Military Contract

Article • February 15, 2006 • from PLN February, 2006

Filed under: Work, Prison Industries, Prison Labor

Company Uses Prison Slave Labor for $100 Million Military Contract by The prison and military industrial complexes have collided, with a private military contractor poised to make millions off the sweaty backs of prisoners. Pennsylvania-based Woolrich Inc. plans to use the labor of federal prisoners to fulfill two multi-million-dollar contracts …

Mississippi Juvenile Legal Access Class Action Settled

Article • November 15, 2005 • from PLN November, 2005

Filed under: Attorney Client, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Court Access, Attorney Visits

Mississippi Juvenile Legal Access Class Action Settled by On January 12, 2005, Mississippi settled a class action suit challenging a policy at the Colombia Training School (CTS) which severely limited residents' access to legal counsel. CTS is a co-ed juvenile detention facility in Mississippi. The residents range in age from …

Fifth Circuit Upholds $5,000 Excessive Force Verdict Against Wackenhut Guard

Article • August 15, 2005 • from PLN August, 2005

Filed under: Private Prisons, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Guard Brutality/Beatings, New Trial Motions

Fifth Circuit Upholds $5,000 Excessive Force Verdict Against Wackenhut Guard by In an unpublished opinion, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict finding that a prison guard used excessive force against a prisoner and awarding $5,000 in damages. Mississippi prisoner Thomas Unger sued Wackenhut (now Geo Corporation), …

Presley v. Epps, MS, Complaint, Supermax Conditions Class Action, 2005

Brief • June 22, 2005

Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Totality of Conditions

Presley v. Epps, MS, Complaint, Supermax Conditions Class Action, 2005

Federal Court Orders Mississippi to Desegregate HIV+ Prisoners

Article • February 15, 2005 • from PLN February, 2005

Filed under: Medical, HIV/AIDS, Contagious Disease -- Misc.

Federal Court Orders Mississippi to Desegregate HIV+ Prisoners by Federal Court Orders Mississippi to Desegregate HIV+ Prisoners by Matthew T. Clarke On June 7, 2004, a federal district court in Greenville, Mississippi, ordered the Mississippi Department of Corrections (DOC) to cease excluding HIV+ prisoners from being housed in a Community …

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 …