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Class Action Suits Challenge Rip-Off Prison and Jail Phone Rates

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

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Class Action Suits Challenge Rip-Off Prison and Jail Phone Rates by Suit Filed in Illinois On May 5, 1999, a class action suit was filed by Illinois consumers who receive collect calls from Illinois state and county jail prisoners alleging that they are forced to pay exorbitant phone rates as …

Kentucky Utilities Commission Reduces Prison and Jail Phone Rates

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

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Kentucky Utilities Commission Reduces Prison and Jail Phone Rates by On January 10, 1999, the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) issued an order, requiring: prison and Jail phone service providers to reduce the rates they charge for prison and Jail collect calls to the tariff charged for non prison and …

Liggins v. US, KY, Settlement, Slip and Fall, 1999

Brief • March 15, 1999

Filed under: Accidents

Liggins v. US, KY, Settlement, Slip and Fall, 1999

Sixth Circuit Discusses Habeas IFP

Article • March 15, 1998 • from PLN March, 1998

Filed under: PLRA, Filing Fees (PLRA), Habeas Corpus

Sixth Circuit Discusses Habeas IFP by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit has outlined the procedures habeas corpus petitioners seeking In Forma Pauperis (IFP) status must follow. Every circuit to consider this issue has held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act's (PLRA) filing fee provisions do not apply …

PI Granted in Haircut Claim

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

Filed under: Grooming Rules, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Religious Grooming, Protective Custody

PI Granted in Haircut Claim by A federal district court in Kentucky granted a motion for a Preliminary Injunction (PI) to a Hasidic Jew whose claimed his religious beliefs were violated when prison officials forced him to cut his hair. Several Kentucky state prisoners in Protective Custody (PC) filed suit …

Liggins v. US, KY, Complaint, Slip and Fall, 1996

Brief • October 1, 1996

Liggins v. US, KY, Complaint, Slip and Fall, 1996

BOP Phone Suit Settled

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

Filed under: Settlements, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

BOP Phone Suit Settled by Paul Wright In the March and November, 1994 and March, 1995, issues of PLN we reported developments in Washington v. Reno, a class action suit filed by federal prisoners which challenged numerous aspects of a new phone system imposed by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). …

Departing Visitor Cannot Be Searched -- Strip Search Okay

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

Filed under: Strip Searches, Visitor Searches, Body Cavity Searches, Vehicle Searches, Crime/Demographics, Informants, Qualified Immunity

Departing Visitor Cannot Be Searched -- Strip Search Okay by In the February, 1995, issue of PLN we reported Spear v. Sowders, 33 F.3d 576 (6th Cir. 1994) in which the court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that both the strip search and the car search of a …

Private Prison Executive Sentenced in Fraud Scheme

Article • July 15, 1996 • from PLN July, 1996

Filed under: Private Prisons, U.S. Corrections Corp, Contractor Misconduct, Jail Misconduct, Criminal Prosecution

Private Prison Executive Sentenced in Fraud Scheme by In 1993 Clifford Todd, 68, was chairman of Kentucky based U.S. Corrections Corporation, a private prison firm. In March of this year he was sentenced by a federal judge to a 15-month prison term. Todd pleaded guilty to mail fraud last year …

Rosado v. US, KY, Complaint, Sexual Assault, 1995

Brief • November 8, 1995

Filed under: Sexual Assault

Rosado v. US, KY, Complaint, Sexual Assault, 1995

West Wegner v. US, KY, Complaint, Sexual Assault BOP, 1995

Brief • October 30, 1995

Filed under: Sexual Assault

West Wegner v. US, KY, Complaint, Sexual Assault BOP, 1995

Washington v. Reno, KY, Settlement Agreement, Telephone Services in Prison, 1995

Brief • August 1, 1995

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

Washington v. Reno, KY, Settlement Agreement, Telephone Services in Prison, 1995 Washington v. Reno United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Lexington Division November 9, 1999, Decided ; November 9, 1999, Filed CIVIL ACTION NO. 93-290 Reporter: 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22485 CONCHITA WASHINGTON, ET AL., PLAINTIFFS …

6th Cir. Rules on BOP Phone Suit PI

Article • March 15, 1995 • from PLN March, 1995

Filed under: Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Class Certification, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Telephone Monitoring

6th Cir. Rules on BOP Phone Suit PI by The March and November, 1994, issues of PLN both contained extensive articles about Washington v. Reno, the nationwide class action suit that challenges numerous aspects of the Inmate Telephone System (ITS) in the process of being installed at federal Bureau of …

No Immunity for Visitor Strip Search

Article • February 15, 1995 • from PLN February, 1995

Filed under: Strip Searches, Visitor Searches, Body Cavity Searches, Vehicle Searches, Crime/Demographics, Informants, Qualified Immunity

No Immunity for Visitor Strip Search by Tina Spear regularly visited her boyfriend, Daniel Wade, at the Northpoint Training center, a Kentucky state prison. Upon arriving for a visit on Christmas day in 1990 prison officials told her she would not be allowed to visit Wade unless she submitted to …

BOP Phone Litigation Update

Article • November 15, 1994 • from PLN November, 1994

Filed under: Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Class Certification, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

BOP Phone Litigation Update by In the March, 1994, issue of PLN we reported on Washington et al. v. Reno, et al., a lawsuit filed by women prisoners at FCI Lexington challenging the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) newly implemented Inmate Telephone System (ITS). [Editor's Note: For a full account …

No Right to HIV Testing

Article • October 15, 1994 • from PLN October, 1994

Filed under: Medical, HIV/AIDS

No Right to HIV Testing by In 1989 a Kentucky state prisoner, John Doe, requested testing for the HIV virus which causes AIDS. His request was denied because he did not meet the criteria for HIV testing established by Kentucky Corrections Cabinet Policy 13.5. That policy states: "Testing for the …

Washington v. Reno, Sixth Circuit, Order, Telephone Access in Prison, 1994

Brief • September 26, 1994

Filed under: Discrimination, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

Washington v. Reno, Sixth Circuit, Order, Telephone Access in Prison, 1994 35 F.3d 1093 (1994) Conchita WASHINGTON; Sunday Torres; Gloria Batton Robinson; Antoinette M. Frink; Nita Young; Patricia M. Darks; Norma Fay Cook; Angela Sanchez-Martinez; Martha Marie Preston; Titilola I. Odusanya; Alberta Anderson; Loven L. Lewis; Lori Saunders; and Reshawn …

Court Enjoins BOP Phone System

Article • March 15, 1994 • from PLN March, 1994

Filed under: Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Administrative Procedures Act (Federal), Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Telephone Monitoring, Federal Legislation

Court Enjoins BOP Phone System by On October 13, 1993, Judge Henry Wilhoit of the U.S. District Court in Kentucky entered a preliminary injunction barring the federal Bureau of Prisons from implementing its Inmate Telephone System (ITS). The case is Washington v. Reno, case number 93-217 and 93-290. Readers should …

Damages Awarded to Paraplegic Prisoner

Article • December 15, 1993 • from PLN December, 1993

Filed under: CMS, Disabled Prisoners, Medical, Systemic Medical Neglect, Escapes, Clothing, Water, Damages, Supervisory Liability, Contractor Liability

Damages Awarded to Paraplegic Prisoner by Robert Hicks was a pretrial detainee in the Jefferson County jail in Kentucky. He attempted to escape by climbing out of a window, his rope broke and he was severely injured in the resulting fall. After a stay in the local hospital he was …

Right to Die Rulings Grow

Article • October 15, 1993 • from PLN October, 1993

Filed under: Discrimination, Disabled Prisoners, Hunger Strikes

Right to Die Rulings Grow by A quadriplegic prisoner and a woman imprisoned in a persistent vegetative state occasioned recent "right to die" rulings in two states. The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a quadriplegic prisoner who is not terminally ill but who must be assisted by others to …