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Un-Happy Meal Provider Pulls Out of Kansas Prisons

Article • August 15, 1997 • from PLN August, 1997

Filed under: Private Prisons, Food/Commissary (Private Prisons), Prison Rebellion, Food

Un-Happy Meal Provider Pulls Out of Kansas Prisons by In the March '97 Reader Mail section we printed a letter from a Kansas prisoner asking for information about a North Carolina corporation, Canteen Correctional Services, which had a contract to serve (un-happy) meals to (very un-happy) Kansas prisoners. An alert …

Kansas Ad Seg Hearing Required

Article • August 15, 1997 • from PLN August, 1997

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Liberty Interests, Counsel, Limitations, Ad-Seg Hearings

Kansas Ad Seg Hearing Required by The supreme court of Kansas held that a prisoner was entitled to a hearing to determine if three years in administrative segregation (ad seg) has become a prohibited punishment. Rodney Murphy, a Kansas state prisoner, was placed in ad seg in 1993 for investigation …

Canteen Corp. Info Wanted

Article • March 15, 1997 • from PLN March, 1997

Filed under: Private Prisons, Food/Commissary (Private Prisons), Food

Canteen Corp. Info Wanted by Anthony Palacioz The Canteen Corporation of North Carolina has a five-year contract with Kansas to provide food services state-wide. After mere months in operation, Canteen Corp. has caused trouble by starving Kansas prisoners and serving shit for food. [See: "Un-Happy Meals in Kansas," PLN Vol.7 …

Kansas Prisoners Lose Welfare Fund Suit

Article • February 15, 1997 • from PLN February, 1997

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Victims, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates

Kansas Prisoners Lose Welfare Fund Suit by A federal district court in Kansas held that state prisoners were not entitled to injunctive relief regarding how money from the Inmate Benefit Fund (IBF) was spent by the DOC. Kansas state prisoners filed a class action suit challenging how the Kansas DOC …

Right to Witnesses and Court Access Well Established

Article • October 15, 1996 • from PLN October, 1996

Filed under: Retaliation for Litigating, Disciplinary Hearings, Retaliatory Discipline, Witnesses (Disciplinary Hearings), Legal Materials

Right to Witnesses and Court Access Well Established by A federal district court in Kansas held prisoners had a well established rights in 1984 to call witnesses at disciplinary hearings and to be free from retaliation for exercising their right of access to the courts. Jerry Smith, a Kansas state …

Un-Happy Meals in Kansas

Article • September 15, 1996 • from PLN September, 1996

Filed under: Private Prisons, Food/Commissary (Private Prisons), Food

Un-Happy Meals in Kansas by G.C. On May 19, 1996, the Kansas DOC turned over the kitchens of all the prisons to Canteen Correctional Services (CCS), a private for-profit contractor. It is worth noting that despite the contract to feed the prisoners, prisoner labor is still required, and the prisoner …

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Kansas Civil Commitment Case

Article • August 15, 1996 • from PLN August, 1996

Filed under: Discrimination, Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Civil Commitment

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Kansas Civil Commitment Case by In 1990, the year PLN began publishing, the Washington State legislature passed the country's first civil commitment law. Dubbed the 'Sexual Predator Law," it empowered the state to institute civil proceedings against prisoners nearing the end of their terms of …

Military Prison Locked Down

Article • June 15, 1996 • from PLN June, 1996

Filed under: Prison Rebellion, Lockdowns, Guards/Staff, Assaults on Staff, Military Prisons

Military Prison Locked Down by On March 2, 1996, Pfc. Thomas Enochs, a prison guard, told a prisoner at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas not to wear a T-shirt on his head. The unidentified prisoner then assaulted Enochs, who set off a body alarm to summon other …

Sending State Responsible for Legal Materials

Article • December 15, 1995 • from PLN December, 1995

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Court Access, Law Library Access/Adequacy

Sending State Responsible for Legal Materials by The ninth circuit has agreed with other circuits, holding that when a state prisoner is transferred to another state, the sender is responsible for ensuring the prisoners' access to the courts. James Boyd is a Kansas state prisoner who was transferred to the …

Kansas Ad-Seg Plan Clarified

Article • January 15, 1995 • from PLN January, 1995

Filed under: Consent Decrees, Protective Custody

Kansas Ad-Seg Plan Clarified by In 1980 prisoners and prison officials in the Kansas state prison system entered into a consent decree designed to improve the living conditions of prisoners confined to administrative segregation (ad seg). In 1988 the case was reactivated when the prisoners sought the court's intervention claiming …

Habeas Doesn't Bar Section 1983

Article • June 15, 1994 • from PLN June, 1994

Filed under: Res Judicata, Habeas Corpus, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Ad-Seg Hearings

Habeas Doesn't Bar Section 1983 by Ronald Rhodes is a Kansas state prisoner. He was placed in segregation by prison officials claiming he was planning an outbreak of racially motivated violence in the prison mess hall. He was never given written notice of the grounds for placing him in segregation. …

No Right to TV Interviews

Article • February 15, 1994 • from PLN February, 1994

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Standing, Access to Media

No Right to TV Interviews by Walter Johnson is a Kansas state prisoner. The television news program Hard Copy sought to conduct a face-to-face interview with Johnson. Johnson had communicated with the program by phone and mail. After initially being denied access to the prison, Hard Copy reiterated its request …

Statement of Claim Must Rely Solely on Complaint

Article • November 15, 1993 • from PLN November, 1993

Filed under: Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Complaints, Appeals

Statement of Claim Must Rely Solely on Complaint by Scott Swoboda was a jail detainee in Doniphan County, Kansas. He filed suit under § 1983 over numerous conditions of confinement at the county jail. The district court dismissed the suit pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.12(b)(6), concluding that the lawsuit failed to state …

The Hot House; Life Inside Leavenworth Prison - A Book Review

Article • July 15, 1993 • from PLN July, 1993

Filed under: Commentary/Reviews, Reviews

The Hot House; Life Inside Leavenworth Prison - A Book Review by Ed Mead By Ed Mead I have just finished a pretty good book. A comrade gave it to me late yesterday afternoon. I went back to my cell and started reading it, and then kept on reading until …

State Judges Can Be Sued for Injunctive Relief in Federal Court

Article • November 15, 1992 • from PLN November, 1992

Filed under: Judicial Misconduct, Injunctions, Appeals, Mandamus, Habeas Corpus, Immunity/Liability, Judicial Immunity

State Judges Can Be Sued for Injunctive Relief in Federal Court by State Judges Can be Sued for Injunctive Relief in Federal Court Carrol Olson is a Kansas state probationer convicted of issuing a worthless check. Olson sought to appeal his conviction in the Kansas Court of Appeals. The state …

Uprising at Military Prison

Article • October 15, 1992 • from PLN October, 1992

Filed under: Prison Rebellion, Military, Military Prisons

Uprising at Military Prison by Carolyn Dock By Carolyn Dock Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas- On May 11, 1992, the military prisoners at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) at Ft. Leavenworth [Editors Note: the USDB is a separate prison from the federal prison also located in Leavenworth.] revolted in protest against the …

Federal Cons Needn't Exhaust Administrative Remedies

Article • July 15, 1992 • from PLN July, 1992

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Administrative Exhaustion

Federal Cons Needn't Exhaust Administrative Remedies by A prisoner in a federal correctional institution filed a civil rights lawsuit seeking damages only for alleged deliberate indifference to his medical needs resulting from a back operation and a history of psychiatric problems. The suit was brought pursuant to Bivens v. Six …

Summary Judgment on Retaliation

Article • July 15, 1990 • from PLN July, 1990

Filed under: Retaliation for Litigating, Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Disciplinary Hearings, Retaliatory Discipline, Summary Judgment

Summary Judgment on Retaliation by Summary Judgment On Retaliation The prisoner's appearance in court was a protected activity, and prison disciplinary action, taken immediately upon his return from court, provided circumstantial evidenced that prison officials retaliated against him for the exercise of his right of access to the courts. The …

Prison Legal News v. Simmons, Complaint, Kansas DOC Censorship 2002

Filing

Prison Legal News v. Simmons, Complaint, Kansas DOC Censorship 2002 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS PRISON LEGAL NEWS, INC., Plaintiff, vs. CHARLES SIMMONS, individually and in his official capacity as Secretary of Corrections for the State of Kansas, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) …

Prison Legal News v. Simmons, ACLU Amicus Brief to 10th Circuit, Kansas DOC Censorship 2003

Filing

Prison Legal News v. Simmons, ACLU Amicus Brief to 10th Circuit, Kansas DOC Censorship 2003 Case Nos. 03-3229, 03-3230, and 03-3227 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT PRISON LEGAL NEWS, INC., Plaintiff/Appellant, vs. CHARLES SIMMONS, Defendant!Appellee. * KRIS ZIMMERMAN, Plaintiff/Appellant, vs. CHARLES SIMMONS et. aI, …