Peruvian National’s Extradition Ordered for Killing Innocent Children, Civilians by The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) appealed a 2005 U.S. District Court ruling that prevented the extradition of Peruvian national Wilmer Ordinola. The DOJ argued that his heinous crimes against innocent children and civilians did not fall under the political …
Attorney Fees Recoverable in Privacy Act Cases With No Actual Damages by On January 24, 2006, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a plaintiff who prevailed in an action seeking damages under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 522a(b), but did not prove any actual damages, could nonetheless …
Muslim Virginia Prisoner Entitled to 2,200 Calories During Ramadan by A federal district court has issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) to provide a Muslim prisoner with “food items containing 2,200 calories” daily during Ramadan, a month-long period of religious fasting. This action was brought …
PLRA Applies to Immigration Detainee’s Conditions Suit by The plaintiff is an INS detainee. The court says that his failure to exhaust administrative remedies pursuant to the PLRA is sufficient reason to dismiss, contrary to other courts that have held immigration detainees not to be prisoners under the PLRA. The …
Limited Discovery Allowed in Prisoner Assault Claim to Show Supervisory Liability by At 575-76: ... [T]here is a complex intersection between qualified immunity and supervisory liability. If a plaintiff can establish the requisite indifference in the face of a policy or widespread and pervasive abuses caused by a policy, the …
Voluntary Dismissals Subject to PLRA by The plaintiff sought voluntary dismissal The court says such a motion doesn't absolve him of the consequences of his actions under the PLRA, and notes his prior pattern of seeking voluntary dismissal (7 of 20 cases), characterizing it as "strategic" and done after court …
Exclusion of Prisoners from Virginia FOIA Upheld by The plaintiff sued the county court clerk for refusing to make a recording of a 911 call available for copying and inspection, and challenged the exclusion of prisoners from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The Burford abstention doctrine does not require …
$250,000 Awarded To Virginia Guard After Stabbing By Prisoner Upheld by Virginia State pro se prisoner Lament Douglas appealed a prison guard's counterclaim grant and the dismissal of the denial of medical care allegations in a federal action resulting from a 1999 mutually injurious altercation. The judgment was affirmed. Douglas …
Virginia Police Department Record of Criminal Case Disposition Not Subject to Public Record Request by The Attorney General of Virginia has opined that a city police department that maintains a record of all persons tried in municipal court of the city for whether the party was convicted or acquitted, and …
Health Department May Withhold Prisoner’s Medical Records from Virginia Sheriff by Virginia’s Attorney General has opined that under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, §2.1-342 (b) (3) medical records held by the local health department may be withheld from the sheriff who is seeking “confidential health information” on a prisoner. …
Virginia Policy Prohibiting Staff From Marrying Prisoners Upheld by The plaintiff prison guard married a convicted felon, the father of her child, and resigned under pressure in light of the prison system's anti-fraternization policy. (The man was convicted and incarcerated after he fathered the child but before they got married.) …
Carr v. Hazelwood, VA, Complaint, sexual abuse female prisoner complaint, 2007 Case 7:07-cv-00001-jlk-mfu Document 49 Filed 05/14/2008 Page 1 of 4 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Roanoke Division ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No. 7:07-CV-00001 ) ) ) ) ) SHERIL …
Virginia DOC Contract with Prison Health Services, 2008 ATTA.t;DMENT V Illustration Off-site Serri~es Medi~l (;are Pool Risk/Reward Sharing (;oJDpntations Calculation of Annual Pool aased on Actual Average Daily Population (ADP) X Total annual Off-Site Services Pool. annual cost per inmate = $ l;ontra~ted Fa~ility A) Greater than 17% Excess Cost: …
Virginia Jail Pay-to-Stay Fee Constitutional by Bob Williams The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has upheld Virginia's county jail $1.00 per day pay-to-stay fee under the Due Process and Taking Clauses, even though the issue on appeal was the dismissal of the underlying action pursuant to …
Fourth Circuit Finds Virginia Prisoner’s Religious Exercise Claim Meritorious by Michael Rigby Fourth Circuit Finds Virginia Prisoner's Religious Exercise Claim Meritorious by Michael Rigby The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a district court?s grant of summary judgment to prison officials who had denied a Virginia prisoner …
$750,000 Settlement Reached In Virginia Police Abuse Case by A Virginia Commonwealth resident (Walker) was seriously injured by police during the use of excessive force. Police thought he was a rape suspect and shot him and then beat him with a nightstick. Walker brought suit which was settled prior to …
Wrongful Death At Wallens Ridge State Prison Settled For $1,540,000 by In 2002, the state of Connecticut paid $1.1 million and in 2003 the state of Virginia paid $350,000 to the family of Connecticut state prisoner Larry Frazier who died a torturous death in a supermax prison. To ease Connecticut …
State Secrets Privilege Protects U.S. in. Erroneous Rendition Suit by Matthew Clarke By Matthew T. Clarke 0n May 12, 2006, a federal district court in Virginia ruled that a German citizen who allegedly was mistaken for a terrorist, kidnapped, flown to a foreign country, isolated and tortured by CIA personnel …
Prisoner-Exclusion Clause in Virginia's Freedom-Of-Information-Act is Not Unconstitutional by by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. District Court (W.D. Va.) held that the statutory exclusion of prisoners from utilizing the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA) (Va. Code Ann. 2.2-3703(C)) was neither unconstitutional on its face nor as applied to the …
Brutality Claims Must Be Exhausted by Excessive force claims are prison conditions claims for purposes of exhaustion; the statutory language is ambiguous but the statutory intent supports this conclusion, especially since force claims often come packaged with other kinds of claims that would have to be exhausted The court rejects …
