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Attorneys May be Sued as State Actors When Colluding with Judge

Article • December 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorneys, Attorney Client, Attorney, Parties, Judicial Immunity

Attorneys May be Sued as State Actors When Colluding with Judge by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke On June 17, 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that private attorneys could be sued as state actors in a civil rights action in federal district …

$4.9 Million Settlement in Louisiana Jail Prisoner-On-Prisoner Beating

Article • December 15, 2007

Filed under: Mental Health

$4.9 Million Settlement in Louisiana Jail Prisoner-On-Prisoner Beating by The City of Shreveport, Louisiana settled with the family of a prisoner that was severely beaten by another prisoner in the City's jail. The $4.9 million settlement is for damages incurred by Carl Edwin Janski in March 2002. Janski had several …

$4.9 Million Settlement in Louisiana Jail Prisoner-On-Prisoner Beating

Article • December 15, 2007

Filed under: Failure to Protect (General), Staffing, Mental Health

$4.9 Million Settlement in Louisiana Jail Prisoner-On-Prisoner Beating by The City of Shreveport, Louisiana settled with the family of a prisoner that was severely beaten by another prisoner in the City's jail. The $4.9 million settlement is for damages incurred by Carl Edwin Janski in March 2002. Janski had several …

Louisiana Prisoner Paid $1,822 in Emotional Damages for Moving Dead Body

Article • December 15, 2007

Filed under: Prison Labor, Work Conditions/Safety, Mental Health, Suicides

Louisiana Prisoner Paid $1,822 in Emotional Damages for Moving Dead Body by A Louisiana prisoner was paid $1,822 to settle emotional distress claims related to being forced to move the body of a prisoner who hung himself to death. Mr. Cotton was a prisoner at the Shreveport City Jail when …

$14 Million Verdict Against Louisiana DA’s Office for Wrongful Death Sentence

Article • October 15, 2007 • from PLN October, 2007

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Sentencing, Wrongful Conviction, Death Penalty

$14 Million Verdict Against Louisiana DA’s Office for Wrongful Death Sentence by $14 Million Verdict Against Louisiana DA's Office for Wrongful Death Sentence The New Orleans Parish, Louisiana, District Attorney's Office should pay $14 million to a man who was wrongly convicted of murder and sent to the state's death …

Louisiana: The other Jena story

Article • September 15, 2007

Filed under: DOC/BOP misconduct, Mail, Mail Regulations

Louisiana: The other Jena story by First youth, then hurricane evacuees were tortured by Jena prison guards Wednesday, 19 September 2007 Jena, Louisiana - Jena, the little town of 3,000 located about four hours north of New Orleans, where thousands of people are headed from all over the U.S. to …

New Orleans Prisoners Work on Judge’s House

Article • August 15, 2007 • from PLN August, 2007

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Judicial Misconduct, Work, Prison Labor

New Orleans Prisoners Work on Judge’s House by New Orleans Prisoners Work on Judge's House To facilitate learning construction skills, prisoners at the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) participate in a government-funded private vocational program. That program, the Opportunities Industrialization Center of Greater New Orleans, Inc. (OIC), a non-profit, is not …

Louisiana Prisoner Denied Religious Materials Under “Approved Vendor” Policy Settles Suit for $21, 786.13 in Damages and Fees

Article • June 15, 2007 • from PLN June, 2007

Filed under: Federal Statutory Law, RLUIPA, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Religious Property

Louisiana Prisoner Denied Religious Materials Under “Approved Vendor” Policy Settles Suit for $21, 786.13 in Damages and Fees by Louisiana Prisoner Denied Religious Materials Under "Approved Vendor" Policy Settles Suit for $21, 786.13 in Damages and Fees The State of Louisiana has settled with a prisoner who was denied religious …

Fifth Circuit Reverses Injunction Against Pesticide Use, Dismisses Damage Claim

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Work Conditions/Safety, Conditions of Confinement, Toxic Fumes/Chemicals

Fifth Circuit Reverses Injunction Against Pesticide Use, Dismisses Damage Claim by Fifth Circuit Reverses Injunction Against Pesticide Use, Dismisses Damage Claim The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prisoner's work assignment, which required him to come into contact with a pesticide, did not constitute cruel and unusual …

Physical, Mental Suffering Resulting from Extra Duty States Claim

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Prison Labor, Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Legality of Rules, Eighth Amendment

Physical, Mental Suffering Resulting from Extra Duty States Claim by In this apparently novel issue in which Louisiana prisoners alleged that extra duty imposed as a punishment for violating prison rules constituted cruel and unusual punishment, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the prisoners stated a claim …

Police Investigative Records Ordered Disclosed in Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Medical Records, Civil Procedure, Disclosure of Records

Police Investigative Records Ordered Disclosed in Suit by The plaintiff is entitled to discovery of police internal investigative records and the defendant's personnel file, subject to a protective order and redacting medical information, social security numbers, home addresses, and home telephone numbers. The court holds that the question is one …

Louisiana Jail Policy Banning Abortions Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Medical, Abortion

Louisiana Jail Policy Banning Abortions Upheld by A policy requiring a prison inmate to obtain a court order and pay all attendant costs of a non- therapeutic abortion did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. (The Sheriff said that this policy applied to all "elective surgery.") Under the Turner standard, the …

Court Can Appoint Amicus in Pro Se Death Penalty Case

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Appointment of Counsel, Public Defenders, Attorney, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Court Can Appoint Amicus in Pro Se Death Penalty Case by At 800: "A federal district court possesses the inherent authority to appoint an amicus curiae to assist the court in its proceedings." (Citations omitted) Here, the court appoints independent counsel for a capital defendant who represented himself and said …

Plaintiff Entitled to Choose Venue for Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Venue

Plaintiff Entitled to Choose Venue for Suit by The plaintiff sued some defendants in the Middle District of Louisiana and more defendants in the Western District of Louisiana. The magistrate judge transferred the claims against the Western District defendants to that district. Wrong. Venue is assessed for the entire case; …

Administrative Exhaustion Tolls Statute of Limitations

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Liberty Interests, Sanctions (Disciplinary Hearings), Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Limitations

Administrative Exhaustion Tolls Statute of Limitations by The "prescriptive period" (statute of limitations) is tolled pending administrative exhaustion because the prisoner is barred from bringing the action until exhaustion is finished. Once exhaustion is complete, the prisoner is legally capable of going forward and the statute begins again to run. …

Qualified Immunity Defense Waived in Jail Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Overcrowding, Exercise, Jail Specific, Qualified Immunity

Qualified Immunity Defense Waived in Jail Suit by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that Louisiana jail conditions were unconstitutional due to overcrowding, a lack of programs and no outdoor exercise for the prisoners. After a trial finding the defendants liable, the district court, sua sponte, raised …

Sleeping in Raw Sewage States Claim

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Sewage, Sanitation, Bedding

Sleeping in Raw Sewage States Claim by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held, for the second time in this same case, that a Louisiana state prisoner had stated a claim under the Eighth amendment when he was forced to sleep in raw sewage. The appeals court reversed …

Louisiana Seg Conditions Unconstitutional

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Exercise

Louisiana Seg Conditions Unconstitutional by Louisiana state prisoners filed suit claiming that segregation conditions without outdoor exercise and 23½ hours of daily cell confinement were unconstitutional. Plaintiffs also sought injunctions to participate in religious, vocational, educational, and blood plasma donation programs, The district court dismissed the suit under FRCP 12(b)(6). …

Censorship of Muslim Literature Struck Down, Detainees Have Right to Confidential Contact with Counsel

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Client, Mail, Publications/Books, Religious Property

Censorship of Muslim Literature Struck Down, Detainees Have Right to Confidential Contact with Counsel by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit affirmed a district court's injunction-prohibiting the Fast Paton Rouge sheriff in Louisiana from censoring the Koran and Muhammad Speaks to jail prisoners. The court reversed dismissal of …

Louisiana Sheriff Denied Qualified Immunity in Detainee's Suicide

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Immunity/Liability, Qualified Immunity, Suicides

Louisiana Sheriff Denied Qualified Immunity in Detainee's Suicide by The Fifth Circuit issued a mixed ruling after Louisiana Sheriff's officers appealed the denial of qualified immunity on a jail suicide matter. In August 1996, Sheila Jacobs was arrested for attempted murder. Sheriff Bill Daniel was told that she had tried …