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Suspicionless Car Searches of Prison Visitors Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Searches, Strip Searches, Visitor Searches, Vehicle Searches

Suspicionless Car Searches of Prison Visitors Upheld by The court of appeals for the Tenth circuit upheld a roadblock by Oklahoma state police and prison officials that led to the suspicionless car searches and dog sniffs of all prison visitors seeking access to prison. Court upheld the strip search of …

Mandatory AIDS Testing Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: HIV/AIDS, Searches, DNA Testing/Samples

Mandatory AIDS Testing Upheld by The court of appeals for the Tenth circuit upheld an Oklahoma prison policy of subjecting prisoners to mandatory AIDS testing and punishing prisoners who refuse to submit to the tests. See: Dunn v. White, 880 F.2d 1188 (10th Cir. 1989).

Driver's License Examiner Denied Qualified Immunity in Prisoner's Sexual Assault

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Guard Misconduct, Work, Prison Labor, Workplace Injury, Work Conditions/Safety, Qualified Immunity

Driver's License Examiner Denied Qualified Immunity in Prisoner's Sexual Assault by The United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma denied a former driver's license examiner summary judgment on grounds of qualified immunity in a case in which the examiner is charged with sexually assaulting a female work …

Dismissal of Jail Overcrowding Suit Affirmed on Appeal

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Medical, Skeletal Injury, Overcrowding

Dismissal of Jail Overcrowding Suit Affirmed on Appeal by Affirming the U.S. District Court of Oklahoma's decision, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prisoner's complaint that jail overcrowding caused his injuries was properly dismissed. Lavoy L. Stevenson was a prisoner at the Oklahoma County Detention Center (OCDC). …

Additional Drug Tests Not Required to Satisfy Due Process

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Searches, Drug Testing

Additional Drug Tests Not Required to Satisfy Due Process by The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, held that due process does not require that prison officials perform additional drug testing when a prisoner tests positive for illegal drugs …

COA Denied; No Due Process Violation in Repeal of Credits

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Liberty Interests, Overcrowding, Ex Post Facto, Habeas Corpus

COA Denied; No Due Process Violation in Repeal of Credits by The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a state prisoner a certificate of appealability (COA) on a federal district court's denial of habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. §2241, holding that the prisoner's due process rights were not …

Dispute Over Timely Filing Of § 2255 Motion Requires Evidentiary Hearing

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Court Access, Court Appearances, Limitations, Legal Mail

Dispute Over Timely Filing Of § 2255 Motion Requires Evidentiary Hearing by Dispute Over Timely Filing Of § 2255 Motion Requires Evidentiary Hearing The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an evidentiary hearing should have been conducted to determine if a prisoner's § 2255 motion had been timely …

Work Privilege Discussed

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Client, Civil Procedure, Disclosure of Records, Discovery

Work Privilege Discussed by At 332: Factual information cannot be given "privileged" status merely because an attorney communicated the facts to the client or because the client communicated the facts to the attorney. For example, providing preexisting documents to an attorney does not thereby render the documents protected by the …

Oklahoma Orthodox Jewish Prisoners Win Kosher Diet

Article • April 15, 2007 • from PLN April, 2007

Filed under: Injunctions (PLRA), Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Religious Freedom, Religious Diet

Oklahoma Orthodox Jewish Prisoners Win Kosher Diet by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg Three Orthodox Jewish state prisoners won both preliminary and permanent injunctive relief requiring the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC) to provide them a Kosher diet at no personal cost. Prisoners Dennis Fulbright, Jon Cottriel and Jerry …

Prisoners In 13 States Allowed Work-Access To Social Security Numbers

Article • April 15, 2007 • from PLN April, 2007

Filed under: Prison Industries, Prison Labor, News, Federal Legislation

Prisoners In 13 States Allowed Work-Access To Social Security Numbers by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported that prisoners in thirteen states had access to Social Security numbers (SSNs) during the course of their prison employment. Following a nationwide survey, the …

Oklahoma Regulation Confiscating Money Order From Other Prisoner’s Family Upheld

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

Filed under: Legality of Rules, Money/Property, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Prisoner Property

Oklahoma Regulation Confiscating Money Order From Other Prisoner’s Family Upheld by Oklahoma Regulation Confiscating Money Order From Other Prisoner's Family Upheld The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an Oklahoma State Penitentiary (OSP) regulation that allows money sent to prisoners by a person on another prisoner's visitation list to …

City Of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Settles Wrongful Imprisonment Claim For $12,250,000

Article • December 15, 2006 • from PLN December, 2006

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Conviction

City Of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Settles Wrongful Imprisonment Claim For $12,250,000 by Michael Rigby The City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, will pay $12.25 million to settle with a man who spent 14 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, according to a settlement agreement filed in the U.S. District …

Oklahoma Requires Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies For Ex-Prisoner Suits

Article • September 15, 2006 • from PLN September, 2006

Filed under: Private Prisons, Administrative Exhaustion, State Legislation

Oklahoma Requires Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies For Ex-Prisoner Suits by The Oklahoma Legislature has enacted a law that prohibits former prisoners from bringing a civil action unless the prisoner has exhausted all administrative remedies. To PLNs knowledge, this is the first law of its kind. The legislation, which was signed …

$100,000 Settlement For Black Oklahoma Prisoner Beaten By White Prisoners

Article • August 15, 2006 • from PLN August, 2006

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Staffing, Municipal Liability

$100,000 Settlement For Black Oklahoma Prisoner Beaten By White Prisoners by Creek County, Oklahoma, has paid $100,000 to a black man who was severely beaten by a group of white prisoners in the county jail. Rameses Gibbs, a black man, was arrested on November 22, 2001, on a misdemeanor charge …

PLRA Does Not Apply to Released Prisoner

Article • June 15, 2006 • from PLN June, 2006

Filed under: PLRA, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Guard Brutality/Beatings, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Restraints, State Law Claims, Complaints

PLRA Does Not Apply to Released Prisoner by In remanding for further proceedings, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the administrative exhaustion requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) does not apply to persons not imprisoned when the suit is filed. Before the Tenth Circuit was the …

$1.1 Million FTCA Emotional Distress Award In BOP Suicide Death Upheld, Even Though Murder By Guar

Article • April 15, 2006 • from PLN April, 2006

Filed under: DOC/BOP misconduct, Excessive Force, Damages, Federal Statutory Law, Federal Tort Claims Act, Freedom of Information Act, Suicides

$1.1 Million FTCA Emotional Distress Award In BOP Suicide Death Upheld, Even Though Murder By Guar by $1.1 Million FTCA Emotional Distress Award In BOP Suicide Death Upheld, Even Though Murder By Guards Suspected by John E. Dannenberg The Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a $1.1 million award …

Oklahoma Prisons Suffer Crisis of Violence and Mismanagement

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

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Misconduct/Corruption, Guard Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct, Prison Rebellion, Criminal Prosecution, Prison/Jail Murders, Escapes, Failure to Protect (General), Staffing

Oklahoma Prisons Suffer Crisis of Violence and Mismanagement by by Matthew T. Clarke 2005 has turned out to be a violent year in Oklahoma prisons. Between January and July, 2005, the prisons in Oklahoma suffered multiple riots, multiple murders of prisoners, and extensive probes of drug running. The stage for …

Escaped Murderer Found Eleven Years Later

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

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Escapes

Escaped Murderer Found Eleven Years Later by Escaped Murderer Found Eleven Years Later Living With Warden's Wife by John E. Dannenberg Tipped off by a viewer of America's Most Wanted, Shelby County, Texas police on April 4, 2005 took into custody Randolph Dial, 60, a murderer who escaped from the …

CCA Finally Loses Contract at Mismanaged Tulsa Jail

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

Filed under: Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Financing, Guard Misconduct, Jail Specific, Suicides, State Legislation

CCA Finally Loses Contract at Mismanaged Tulsa Jail by by Matthew T. Clarke For years the Sheriff of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Stanley Glanz, has been telling anyone who would listen that he, not CCA, should be running the county jail. Now, after five years of CCA mismanagement, he may finally …

Another CCA Prison in Oklahoma, Another Riot

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

Filed under: Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Contractor Misconduct, Gang Policies, Prison Rebellion, Prison/Jail Murders, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death)

Another CCA Prison in Oklahoma, Another Riot by by Matthew T. Clarke On March 22, 2005, a riot at a private prison run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) near Cushing, Oklahoma resulted in the death of one prisoner and injuries to fifteen others, one of them critically. No guards …