Court Rejects Disciplinary Habeas on Merits, Despite Time Bar by The plaintiff's habeas challenge to a disciplinary proceeding is time-barred under AEDPA, since the proceeding was concluded in 1997 and the plaintiff missed the one-year grace period provided by the statute. The court finds no authority supporting a requirement that …
Indiana Public Strip Search Held Unconstitutional by Indiana state resident James Campbell appealed a jury's dismissal of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action for Fourth Amendment violations after being strip searched in public. The court partially affirmed, but remanded for damages against the cop who had searched him. A police …
Outside Spiritual Leaders Must be Allowed Access to Prisoners by In 2004, prisoners at the Indiana State Penitentiary were denied Moorish Science services because spiritual leaders were suspended from entering the prison. The warden said the suspension was only temporary, but wasn’t clear about what had to be done to …
Missouri Execution Nurse, Doctor Have Questionable Histories by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg A Missouri nurse employed by the state’s execution team was hired by federal officials to participate in the execution of mass killer Timothy McVeigh at Terre Haute, Indiana in 2001. However, before the nurse could leave …
Summary Dismissal of Court Access Claim Reversed by The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s sua sponte dismissal of a prisoner’s access-to-courts claim for failure to state a claim. The court also held that the prisoner was entitled to amend his complaint. Indiana prisoner Kenneth Marshal filed …
Junk Bonds to Junk Science? Drug Treatment Program Questioned by Greg Dober by Gregory Dober What was worth approximately $554 million in 2007 and is valued at about $94 million today? The correct answer is the stock market value of a firm formerly known as Alaska Freightways Inc., a shell …
Indiana APDA Required Prosecutor to Disclose Subpoenas by The Evansville Courier (Courier), an Indiana newspaper, requested copies of subpoenas issued in a criminal investigation by the prosecutor for Vanderburgh County, Indiana, pursuant to the state Access to Public Documents Act (ADPA), Ind. Code Ann. § 5-14-30-1 et seq. The prosecutor …
Indiana APRA Required City to Disclose Settlement Agreement in Civil Action by Counsel for the city of Knightstown, Indiana negotiated a settlement agreement between the city and a female police dispatcher who sued the city and its police department for sexual harassment. A newspaper, called the Knightstown Banner (Banner), requested …
IN ARPA Required City to Disclose Cellular Phone Records of Public Officials; $3,400 Awarded in Atty Fees by AGENDA: OPEN GOVERNMENT, Inc. (Agenda) publishes a newsletter in Elkhart, Indiana (City). Its publisher requested of the City the cellular phone records of certain public officials, pursuant to the state Access to …
IN ARPA Required City to Disclose Cellular Phone Records of Public Officials; $3,400 Awarded in Atty Fees by AGENDA: OPEN GOVERNMENT, Inc. (Agenda) publishes a newsletter in Elkhart, Indiana (City). Its publisher requested of the City the cellular phone records of certain public officials, pursuant to the state Access to …
My Space Becomes “No Space” for Online Sex Offenders by David Reutter My Space Becomes "No Space" for Online Sex Offenders by David M. Reutter After online social networking giant MySpace.com, under pressure, disclosed on July 24, 2007 that it had purged 29,000 sex offender profiles from its website, state …
IN DOC Ban on Typewriters Upheld by Prisoners do not have a right to possess typewriters and word processors; the right of court access is satisfied by providing basic materials, such as pens and paper, for the preparation of legal materials. The fact that prisoners were permitted to possess these …
Time Limits in PLRA Modification Motions Applied by A maximum population limit is a prisoner release order However, a request to modify a pre-PLRA order may not be based on the prisoner release provision because the statute says "no court shall enter " (836) The court enjoined the automatic stay …
Summary Dismissal of Court Access Claim Reversed by The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court?s sua sponte dismissal of a prisoner?s access-to-courts lawsuit for failure to state a claim. The appellate court also held that the prisoner was entitled to amend his complaint. Indiana prisoner Kenneth Marshal …
Intent--Not Ability--To Transmit HIV Matters in Attempted Murder Trial by On October 31, 1991, an Indiana court of appeals held that the intent of a person who was resisting police to transmit HIV determined whether he was guilty of attempted murder, not his actual ability to transmit the virus. Donald …
Outside Spiritual Leaders Must be Allowed Access to Prisoners by In 2004, prisoners at the Indiana State Penitentiary were denied Moorish Science services because spiritual leaders were suspended from entering the prison. The warden said the suspension was only temporary, but wasn?t clear about what had to be done to …
Prison Drinking Water and Wastewater Pollution Threaten Environmental Safety Nationwide by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg Aging infrastructure concerns are not limited to America's highways, bridges and dams. Today, crumbling, overcrowded prisons and jails nationwide are bursting at the seams -- literally -- leaking environmentally dangerous effluents not just …
Arizona and Indiana Prisoner Uprising at GEO-Run Prison in Indiana by by Matt Clarke On April 24, 2007, about 500 Arizona and Illinois prisoners at a privately-run facility owned by the Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC) participated in an uprising. The prison is operated by the Boca Raton, Florida-based GEO …
Innocent Indiana Man Awarded $9 Million for 20 Years Imprisonment by An Indiana federal jury awarded Larry Mayes $9 million for actions taken by police officers of Indiana's City of Hammond, which resulted in Mayes being convicted of a rape he did not commit. As a result of those actions, …
Indiana DOC Agrees to Remove Mentally Ill Prisoners from Control Units by The Indiana Department of Corrections (IDC) settled a class action lawsuit brought by mentally ill prisoners whose Eighth Amendment rights had been trampled since 1993 by IDC policy that placed them in long-term disciplinary housing instead of treating …
