Missouri Supreme Court Allows Actual Innocence Claims in Death Penalty Habeas by By Matthew T. Clarke In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Missouri (SCM) has held that a death-sentenced prisoner may raise a freestanding claim of actual innocence in a state habeas petition. Joseph Amrine, formerly …
Missouri Prisoner Awarded $16,000 In § 1983 Use-Of-Force Action by Missouri Prisoner Awarded $16,000 In § 1983 Use-Of-Force Action On April 4, 1990, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri awarded $16,000 to a prisoner who was shackled to a bed and beaten by guards at the …
Transfer Of Prisoners' Property To Sheriff Illegal by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that a Missouri sheriff could not legally receive property from a prisoner. Missouri prisoners Charles Hazen and Gerald Hazen (father and son, respectively) brought § 1983 action against state Highway Patrol officers …
Stay of Action Must be Sought to Exhaust Administrative Remedies by The Supreme Court of Missouri has held that a prisoner is allowed to file suit against the Department of Corrections, or its employees, prior to exhaustion of administrative remedies providing the suit is filed within the statute of limitations. …
Federal Prisoner's Estate Awarded $78,000 for Suicide by In July 1998, a federal court awarded $78,000 to the estate of a prisoner who committed suicide at a federal prison in Missouri. The estate claimed in the lawsuit that prison medical personnel failed to provide medication for the decedent's known depression. …
$2,220,000 Settlement To Missouri Prisoners Formerly Housed In Texas by Over seven hundred Missouri state prisoners, who were formerly housed as part of a bed-sharing program in Texas prison facilities from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 1997, filed a Federal class action civil rights complaint regarding conditions of confinement …
8th Circuit Remands Damages Seizure for Reconsideration under Hankins v. Finnel by In an unpublished opinion, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court order refusing to enjoin Missouri from attaching a § 1983 judgment for incarceration costs. Missouri prisoner Edward Moore successfully sued Correctional Medical Services (CMS) …
Dismissal with Prejudice Proper For Financial Misrepresentation by On July 3, 1990, the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that dismissal with prejudice was a proper sanction for filing a false affidavit of poverty. Plaintiff Earl Romesburg, a Missouri state prisoner, filed suit against prison officials for being deliberately …
Supreme Court: Involuntary Medication of Criminal Defendants Should be Rare by The mentally ill criminal defendant was found incompetent to stand trial; the government sought permission to medicate him involuntarily, and the district court granted it. The order authorizing involuntary medication was a collateral order over which the appeals court …
Liberty Interests for PC Prisoners Discussed by A federal district court in Missouri held that protective custody Colorado prisoners sent to Missouri to relieve overcrowding in their home state, had a due process liberty interest in being treated the same as general population prisoners in Colorado were. Prisoners alleged deprivations …
Medication Verdict Vacated over Witness, Nominal Damages by Medication Verdict Vacated Over Witness, Nominal Damages An epileptic Missouri prisoner sued under § 1983 when guards repeatedly took his epileptic medication. At trial he was awarded $1 in nominal and damages and $1 in punitive damages for the resulting epileptic fits …
Overcrowding Ills Described by A federal district court in Missouri amended its previous order at 602 F. Supp. 476 (ED MO 1984) which limited overcrowding in a Missouri jail. Court gives a good discussion on the community's responsibility for pretrial detainees and the destruction of confidence in the criminal justice …
Boxcar Cells Unconstitutional by The court of appeals for the Eighth circuit held that Missouri prisoners were given adequate due process before being placed in administrative Segregation because hearings were provided. Double celling in ad seg was permissible if sanitation was not an issue. Court held that under the "totality …
Due Process Not Required when Mail with Criminal Plans Seized by Due Process Not Required When Mail With Criminal Plans Seized A federal district court in Missouri held that prison officials do not have to give due process notice to the prisoner or intended recipient when they seize mail containing …
Due Process Required when Porn Censored by Due Process Required When Porn Censored A federal district court in Missouri upheld the prison censorship of sexually explicit materials. The court notes that due process requires that the censorship of prisoner mail be done with due process safeguards, including notice to the …
Warden Liable for Inhumane Seg Conditions/Placement by The court of appeals for the Eighth circuit held that a Missouri prisoner's lawsuit claiming he was placed in solitary confinement for no articulated reason, in a cell with no hot water, fresh air or ventilation and a vermin infested mattress, stated a …
PLRA Doesn't Apply to Mental Patients by The court of appeals for the Eighth circuit held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) does not apply to mental patients. Cyrill Koloctronis was found not guilty by reason of insanity of a criminal charge in 1960 and has been confined to …
Total Ban on Mail Violates First and Fourteenth Amendments by The 8th Circuit held that a total ban on prisoners' mail without exception and without perusing the contents violated prisoners' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Michael Murphy and several other prisoners incarcerated at the Missouri Training Center for Men (MTCM) …
Mandamus Appropriate in MO Ad Seg Case by The Supreme Court of Missouri ruled that an administrative segregation prisoner's habeas corpus petition was inappropriate because prison conditions of cruel and unusual punishment were not alleged. The state prisoner was seeking release from protective custody and into the general population. The …
Guard's Drug Test Constitutional by The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed with modification a federal district court's grant of summary judgment and dismissal to municipal defendants who fired a guard who had failed a random drug test. Eugene Booker was a guard at the Medium Security Institution (MSI) …
