Riot at CCA Prison Hospitalizes 15 Guards by Gary Hunter A minor riot on July 15 2000, left fifteen guards and one prisoner injured at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Oklahoma. Six guards were sent to area hospitals where they were treated for minor cuts and bruises. One …
Hepatitis C, A 'Silent Epidemic' Strikes U.S. Prisons by Silja JA Talvi It's been called the nation's most insidious virus. A "silent epidemic" that has swept the nation, hepatitis C is now the most common, chronic, bloodborne infection in the U.S. Because the virus often causes no noticeable symptoms for …
Escape Costs Oklahoma Private Prison $304,375 by Gordon Flud's April 12, 2000, escape from a Hinton, Oklahoma rent-a-jail didn't end well for him--or for his prison. Flud, 44, jumped fences, avoided razor wire and climbed down the Great Plains Correctional Facility administration building's rainspout in his bid for freedom. But …
OK Private Prison Fined $168,750 by On March 5,2000, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) fined the Great Plains Correctional Facility (GPCF) in Hinton, Oklahoma, $168,750 for failing to provide adequate medical care to the 812 Oklahoma prisoners housed in the prison. GPCF is owned by the Hinton Economic Development …
Mailbox Rule Applies to Section 2254/2255 Motions by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prisoner's pleadings were filed at the time he mailed them, even though he used the prison's regular mail system instead of its legal mail system. While incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in …
Claim For Prospective Relief Moot Upon Release by Ronald Young The court of appeals for the Tenth circuit held that when a prisoner's claim for perspective injunctive relief regarding conditions of confinement becomes moot, the prisoner's parole or supervised release status does not, absent some exceptional showing, bring that claim …
Riots Rock CCA Prison in Oklahoma by In Nov. 1998 Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) opened the Diamondback Corr. Facility in Watonga, OK and filled it with prisoners from Indiana and Hawaii. According to a prisoner housed at the facility there was a great deal of tension between the two …
Sheriff Liable for Inadequate Staffing and Refusing Medical Treatment to Assaulted Prisoner by The Tenth Circuit court of appeals held that a sheriff may be liable for insufficient jail staffing and refusing medical treatment to a prisoner who was beaten by other prisoners. Genaro Lopez was a prisoner in the …
Wisconsin Prisoners Stage Food Protest by On January 18 and 19, 1999, Wisconsin prisoners housed at a private prison in Sayre, Oklahoma, refused to show up at the prison's chow hall for meals. John Wisener, chief of security at the North Fork Correctional Center, said that only 75-80 of the …
BOP Exceeds Statutory Authority in Denying Sentence Reductions by Afederal district court in the District of Columbia held that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) had exceeded its statutory authority by defining "violent" offenses to preclude a sentence reduction for convictions the courts have consistently defined as "non-violent." In 1994 congress …
Tenth Cir. Upholds IFP Provisions by The court of appeals for the tenth circuit held that the PLRA's IFP provisions, requiring full payment of all filing fees, were constitutional. All circuit courts to consider the issue have held likewise. The court also upheld the censorship of the magazine Muhammad Speaks …
Trial Required in Oklahoma Beating Case by The court of appeals for the tenth circuit held that a prisoner's claim for declaratory and injunctive relief are mooted once he is released from incarceration and that questions of fact regarding the application of force by guards precludes summary judgment in their …
Oklahoma Pulls Out of TX Rent-A-Jail by The state of Oklahoma announced in July that it would pull 500-plus prisoners out of the Limestone County Detention Center, in part because of a conflict over the use of pepper spray on "unruly inmates." Limestone County, Texas, contracts with a private firm, …
Suit Seeks to Expose BOP 'Suicide' Cover-up by A former U.S. Congressman and his organization are offering a $10,000 reward in the death of Kenneth Michael Trentadue. Congressman George Hansen says the U.S. Citizens Human Rights Commission is offering the money for the identification, indictment and conviction of the people …
US Supreme Court: Oklahoma Pre-Parole Program Requires Hearing Before Removal by by Paul Wright On March 18, 1997, justice Clarence Thomas released a ruling for a unanimous U.S. supreme court holding that an Oklahoma "pre-parole" program designed to relieve prison overcrowding was sufficiently similar to parole to require a due …
Beating and Strip Cell Require Trial by The court of appeals for the tenth circuit held that beating a naked, handcuffed, non-resisting prisoner violates the eighth amendment; that placing a prisoner in a strip cell without blankets or heating violates the eighth amendment as well. The court also discussed when …
BOP Brutality Info Wanted by Kenneth Trentedue died at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City some time between 9:00 p.m. on August 20 and 3:00 in the morning of August 21, 1995. According to U.S. Department of Justice officials, Kenneth committed suicide. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner, however, refuses …
TVs for Justice by Dan Pens According to a Tulsa newspaper, Oklahoma prisoner Bruce Hawkins filed a suit in which he claimed he was assaulted and abused by prison guards and then denied medical treatment. Federal district court judge Ralph Thompson held there was no merit to the case and …
U.S. Supreme Court to Review Cases by Washington Disc. Case On April 29, 1996, the US Supreme Court announced it would hear an appeal by Washington state prison officials involving a prisoner's challenge to the loss of good time during a prison disciplinary hearing. Jerry Balisok filed suit under 42 …
Oklahoma Pre-Parole Status Creates Liberty Interest by The court of appeals for the tenth circuit has held that Oklahoma's pre-parole conditional supervision program creates a due process liberty interest which mandates a hearing before prisoner's can be removed from it. This case is significant because it was decided in the …
