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 …
Weight Lifting Info Available on the Internet by Past issues of PLN have reported on the efforts to halt or curtail weight lifting in prison. Strength Tech, Inc., a supplier to the prison weight lifting industry, has created and dedicated an Internet web site to the issue of prison weight …
Death Row Prisoners Keep Right to Contact Visits with Counsel by The court of appeals for the tenth circuit has held that condemned and maximum security prisoners held in an Oklahoma control unit are entitled to contact visits with their attorneys. The court also held that all violations of prisoners' …
Detainees Entitled to Exercise and Law Library by Pretrial detainees, like convicted prisoners, retain a right of access to the courts and to outdoor exercise. Jim Housley was a pretrial detainee in the Custer County jail in Oklahoma. He filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claiming that his constitutional …
DA Liable for Preventing Court Appearance by Tobin Lemmons is an Oklahoma state prisoner. While in jail he filed a workers compensation complaint against his former employers with the aid of an attorney and law firm he hired for this purpose. On two occasions in 1991 the state judge before …
OK Prisoners Have Disciplinary Hearing Remedy by In the May, 1994, issue of PLN we reported Waldon v. Evans, 861 P.2d 311 (Okl. Cr. 1993) which held that Oklahoma state courts could hear prisoners challenges claiming due process violations in prison disciplinary hearings. In a new ruling, the Oklahoma Court …
OK Early Release Law Legal by In response to prison overcrowding, the Oklahoma state legislature has passed the Oklahoma Prison Overcrowding Emergency Powers Act, Oklahoma Statute 57, § 570-576. The act permits the prison system to release prisoners with less than medium custody convicted of lesser crimes in order to …
Transferee Entitled to Sending State Case Law by James Clayton is an Oklahoma state prisoner subjected to an involuntary out of state transfer to New Mexico. Clayton had several pro se legal matters pending in Oklahoma state courts at the time of his transfer. The New Mexico prison system did …
Amnesty Criticizes OK Control Unit by On June 14, 1994, Amnesty International (AI) released a report harshly criticizing the control unit at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary (OSP) at McAlester. An AI investigation team toured the prison's H. Unit in March, 1994, and found that some 350 prisoners are held 23 …
Prisoner Litigants Have Right to Out of State Citations by Rick Petrick is an Oklahoma state prisoner. The sentence he is serving in Oklahoma was enhanced as a result of prior convictions from Minnesota and North Dakota. While confined at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary (OSP) he sought to bring collateral …
OK State Courts Can Hear Prison Suits by Dennis Waldon is an Oklahoma state prisoner. He was infracted and punished in a prison disciplinary hearing resulting in the loss of one hundred days of good time credits. Waldon filed a writ of habeas corpus and/or mandamus in the Alfalfa County …
Death Row Prisoners Entitled to Limited Contact Attorney Visits by This case involves a class action suit filed by Oklahoma death row prisoners and prisoners in the control unit of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. The case provides a revealing look at the mentality driving the construction of control units. The …
Retaliatory Denial of Parole Actionable Under Section 1983 by Isa Shabazz is an Oklahoma state prisoner. He filed suit under § 1983 alleging that the Oklahoma parole board has a policy, practice and custom of denying parole to prisoners who choose to exercise their civil rights by suing prison officials. …
Temp Workers Come to Prison by The warden at the John Lilly Correctional Center in Boley, Oklahoma, has initiated a program of using temporary workers (he calls them "Temp Cops") to save money. The temp cops are off-duty policemen used to supplement the guard staff. The American labor movement has …
Damages Awarded in Beating Case by Rickke Greene is an Oklahoma state prisoner. While in a segregation unit Greene was scalded by another prisoner and received second degree burns. After not being treated at the prison infirmary he was returned to his cell, knocked to the floor, kicked and beaten …
Preliminary Injunction Issued Against Grooming Code by Three Oklahoma state prisoners filed suit challenging the Oklahoma DOC's policy of banning any facial hair or hair longer than 3 inches in length. The prisoners claimed their religious beliefs forbid the cutting of their hair. In two cases requests for preliminary injunctions …
