Search | Prison Legal News

Destruction of Prisoner's Medical Records Violates 8th Amendment

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Medical Misconduct, Skeletal Injury, Medical Records, Failure to Treat

Destruction of Prisoner's Medical Records Violates 8th Amendment by The plaintiff alleged that prison medical staff undertreated the pain from his back injury, he filed an internal appeal, and medical and prison staff committed various corrupt acts to derail his appeal or intimidate him into dropping it. The court grants …

Class Claims' Mootness Determined by When Certification is Sought

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Class Certification, Mootness

Class Claims' Mootness Determined by When Certification is Sought by At 176: if named plaintiffs' claims become moot before they move for class certification, the case must be dismissed as moot. If they become moot while the certification motion is pending, "the Court should not dismiss the action until the …

Nebraska Sheriff Liable for Jail Suicide

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Supervisory Liability, Failure to Train/Supervise, Mental Health, Suicides

Nebraska Sheriff Liable for Jail Suicide by The plaintiff called 911 in a state of despondency; the police arrived, he said he would kill himself if he was arrested, so the police arrested him, brought him to jail, and placed him in an isolation cell and gave him a blanket, …

Defendants Bear Burden of Proving Non Exhaustion

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Retaliation, Retaliation for Use of Medical Services, Failure to Treat, Administrative Exhaustion

Defendants Bear Burden of Proving Non Exhaustion by Defendants moved to dismiss for non-exhaustion supported by a conclusory affidavit stating that the plaintiff has not exhausted "without describing which claims plaintiff failed to exhaust. Inasmuch as exhaustion is an affirmative defense, defendants must raise and prove that plaintiff did not …

Court Refuses to Stay BOP Good Time Order Pending Appeal

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Good Time

Court Refuses to Stay BOP Good Time Order Pending Appeal by The court previously ruled that the Bureau of Prisons was obliged to calculate the petitioner's good time based on his sentence and not time actually served. The respondent now seeks a stay pending appeal, arguing that the recalculation would …

Supreme Court Defines Disabled Under ADA

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disabled Prisoners, Americans with Disabilities Act, Guards/Staff, Disabled Employees

Supreme Court Defines Disabled Under ADA by Supreme Court Defines Disabled Under ADA The plaintiff worked in an auto plant and wound up with bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis, and later myotendinitis and thoracic outlet compression, resulting in restrictions on her ability to work (starting with no substantial lifting …

Court Certifies Class Challenging Denial of treatment to Mental Patients

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Class Certification, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)

Court Certifies Class Challenging Denial of treatment to Mental Patients by The plaintiffs, committed to a mental hospital as a result of findings of not guilty by reason of insanity, challenged conditions and policies that they alleged kept them from getting adequate medical and mental health care. At 307: A …

Work Release Prisoners Subject to PLRA Exhaustion Requirement

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Work Release, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Sentencing, Probation, Parole Conditions

Work Release Prisoners Subject to PLRA Exhaustion Requirement by A plaintiff is a "prisoner" for exhaustion purposes if he was in prison when the complaint was filed. At 750: "We have previously explained that prisoners encounter a uniquely low opportunity cost relative to the typical litigant." The plaintiff, whose claims …

Grievance Must Name Defendants, Complaint Must Specify Exhaustion

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Civil Procedure, Parties

Grievance Must Name Defendants, Complaint Must Specify Exhaustion by The plaintiff filed a complaint, followed by an amended complaint, and the district court brings out all the regressive armament of Sixth Circuit exhaustion law (and worse) against him. At 789: After a thorough review of Plaintiff's original complaint, it has …

Limitations Period Tolled During Exhaustion Process

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Administrative Exhaustion, Limitations

Limitations Period Tolled During Exhaustion Process by The plaintiff alleged serious injuries as a result of an assault by another prisoner. Defendants moved to dismiss on limitations grounds. Whether the limitations period is equitably tolled during exhaustion is determined by state tolling doctrines. There's no law directly on point in …

Visiting Denial to Colorado Sex Offender Who Refuses Treatment Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Mootness, Good Time, Mental Health, Sex Offender Treatment, Fathers in Prison

Visiting Denial to Colorado Sex Offender Who Refuses Treatment Upheld by The plaintiff, a convicted sex offender, challenged various measures taken against him for refusing to participate in a treatment program. The plaintiff's declaratory and injunctive claims were mooted by his release from prison. His damage claims were not moot, …

Prison Officials Cannot Refuse to Process Grievances

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Medication, Food, PLRA, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Guard Brutality/Beatings, Mootness, Habeas Corpus

Prison Officials Cannot Refuse to Process Grievances by The plaintiff's injunctive claims against prison officials are moot because he has been transferred to another prison. Use of Force (815): The plaintiff's allegation that officers used excessive and unnecessary force against him states a claim. Medical Care--Standards of Liability--Deliberate Indifference (816): …

Pennsylvania Sex Offender Parole Denial Suit States Some Claims

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Self Incrimination, Ex Post Facto, Parole, Habeas Corpus, Mental Health, Sex Offender Treatment

Pennsylvania Sex Offender Parole Denial Suit States Some Claims by The plaintiff, seeking to represent a class, complained that denying her parole and imposing other adverse consequences in prison because of her refusal to disclose her sexual history, possibly including uncharged criminal activity, in a sex offender program violated her …

79 Day Indiana Death Row Lockdown Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Prison/Common Area Searches, Prison/Jail Murders, Conditions of Confinement, Food, Sanitation, Lockdowns, Death Row, Denial of Religious Services

79 Day Indiana Death Row Lockdown Upheld by The plaintiffs alleged that a 79-day lockdown of a death row unit after a death row prisoner was murdered during recreation violated their rights. Although the case was removed from state court, the district court holds it must screen it under 28 …

Jail Staff Not Liable for Violating No Contact Order

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: OB/GYN, Failure to Protect (General), Attorney Visits, Family, Family Law, Mothers in Prison

Jail Staff Not Liable for Violating No Contact Order by The female plaintiff had a court order barring Smith, the father of her child, who was in the Marathon, Wisconsin, jail for trying to have her murdered, from having any contact with her. She was then brought to the jail …

Court Upholds Strip Search, Nudity During Urine Test

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Searches, Strip Searches, Drug Testing

Court Upholds Strip Search, Nudity During Urine Test by The plaintiff was strip searched and made to stand naked for 20 minutes in a bathroom stall until he produced a urine sample pursuant to a random drug-testing program. At 934 (citations omitted): In the context of body searches performed upon …

Psychologist Who Prepares Parole Report Gets Judicial Immunity from Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Parole, Judicial Immunity

Psychologist Who Prepares Parole Report Gets Judicial Immunity from Suit by The plaintiff alleged that he was denied parole based on a report by the defendant psychologist. The parole denial was later reversed in court. A private actor who conducts a psychological evaluation of a parole candidate on the order …

IFRP Exempt from Privacy Act

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Money/Property, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Trust Accounts, Privacy Act

IFRP Exempt from Privacy Act by The Inmate Financial Responsibility Program allows prisoners privileges such as working in UNICOR (prison industries) if they commit to a schedule for paying their court fees, restitution orders, etc. The plaintiff was put in "refuse" status essentially for spending his money down so he …

Fifth Circuit Upholds Damages in Strip Search Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Searches, Strip Searches, Arrestee Searches, Damages, False Arrest

Fifth Circuit Upholds Damages in Strip Search Suit by The three plaintiffs (along with about 100 others) were detained for about three hours and strip searched during the execution of a search warrant at a night club. The strip searches were unlawful absent individualized reasonable suspicion or probable cause (the …

Federal Parolee Can Challenge Forced Medication Release Condition

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Parole Conditions, Mental Health, Involuntary Treatment/Drugging

Federal Parolee Can Challenge Forced Medication Release Condition by The district court imposed as a condition of supervised release after a prison sentence that the defendant take whatever psychotropic medications were prescribed by his treating physicians. The defendant's challenge to the restriction was ripe on direct appeal, even without evidence …