Years Later, $95,000 Attorney Fees Paid in Essex County Jail Conditions Suit by After 12 years of disputing the amount to be paid to Massachusetts Correctional Legal Servicer (MCLS) for attorney fees relating to a class action suit, officials in Essex County agreed on July 8, 2004, to pay $95,069.89 …
Damages in Disciplinary Hearing Case Upheld by The court of appeals for the First circuit upheld a lower court's award of damages to a Massachusetts prisoner denied due process in a disciplinary hearing. The lower court awarded plaintiff $390 in damages, 370 F. Supp. 1071 (D MA 1974). Prisoner was …
Injunction Entered on Jail Isolation Cell by A federal district court in Massachusetts enjoined use of a jail isolation cell due to its inhumane conditions. During a cell search drugs were found in plaintiff's cell. Plaintiff was infracted and placed in hospital isolation for 30 days. The isolation cell had …
Jail Officials Not Deliberately Indifferent in Prisoner's Beating by Affirming summary judgment for county jail officials by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals held that jail officials were not deliberately indifferent to a prisoner's health and safety, even though the …
MA DOC Violated Prisoner's Right to Freedom of Expression by The Superior Court of Massachusetts held that a prisoner's due process rights and rights to freedom of expression and to petition the government were violated. A prisoner wrote a letter to the Secretary of Public Safety asking her to intervene …
Constructive Dismissal Defeats Summary Judgment in MA Whistle Blower Suit by A Massachusetts Federal District Court denied summary judgment to Suffolk County in a guard's 42 U.S.C.§ 1933 action alleging he was forced to quit because he broke a "code of silence" when he reported a fellow guard's misconduct. The …
Prisoners Have Right to Send Letters to News Media by The First Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a prisoner has a right to send letters to the news media. This action was filed by two prisoners at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Walpole, challenging the prison's total ban …
US Supreme Court Held Plaintiffs Have A Right To Amend Complaints by The US Supreme Court held that it is entirely contrary to the spirit of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) for decisions on the merits of a case to be avoided on the basis of technicalities. The …
Confinement Held Unjustified by The Supreme Court of Massachusetts held that a prisoner at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute (M.C.I.) at Walpole was confined in the Departmental Segregation Unit (D.S.U.) without being afforded the procedural safeguards required by the regulations of the department and the federal and state constitutions. The prisoner …
Massachusetts: Confinement In Disciplinary Unit Constitutional by The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that conditions of confinement in a disciplinary housing unit did not violate prisoners' Constitutional or statutory rights. Plaintiffs, prisoners housed in or previously housed in the department disciplinary unit (DDU) of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at …
No Preliminary Inunction for Firing of Prisoner Law Clerks by The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Massachusetts federal district court's order denying prisoners at MCI-Cedar Junction a preliminary injunction seeking to reinstate them to their law clerk positions at the prison. The prisoners argued they were terminated in …
SAMs Valid, Requiring Defense Attorneys' Affirmation Invalid by A U.S. District Court held that Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) were valid as to the detention of a pretrial detainee, but defense attorneys need not give affirmation as to their acknowledgment of the SAMs. 28 C.F.R. §501.3(a) (Prevention of acts of violence …
Costs of Deposition Copy Not Waivable by A New York federal district court has held that an indigent plaintiff can not be allowed to take a deposition of witnesses without pre-paying the costs thereof, and that the defendants can not be compelled to advance the costs of the deposition. To …
US Supreme Court Defines Standard For Consent Decree Modification by The US Supreme Court held that the Swift "grievous wrong" standard does not apply to requests to modify consent decrees that come from institutional reform litigation. The flexible standard adopted by the Supreme Court in this case states that a …
Massachusetts Prisoners' Chemical Toilet Claim Proceed to Trial for Damages by A Massachusetts federal district court has granted in part and denied in part prison officials' motion for summary judgment in a class action by prisoners formerly incarcerated at the Southeast Correctional Center (SCC). PLN previously reported proceedings in this …
Massachusetts: City Potentially Liable For Officer's Negligence by In this case involving a university police officer who was injured by an escaped prisoner, the Superior Court of Massachusetts denied summary judgment to the City of Worcester. The Court held that a jury could find the City's officer was grossly negligent …
Failure to Protect Federal Informant's Wife Not Actionable by A Massachusetts's federal district Court held the U.S Government cannot be held liable for a decision of whether to protect or how to protect an individual. This action was brought by the wife of a federal informant who was serving the …
Administrative Exhaustion for Kidney Transplant Habeas by Petitioner filed a habeas petition to get a furlough so he could get a kidney transplant. The court dismisses for non-exhaustion without commenting on the fact that this is a habeas proceeding, whether it is a proper habeas proceeding, whether the PLRA should …
MA DOC Refuses to Process Civil Rights Grievances by The practice of what is grievable is shown to diverge from the written policy. At 77-78: From the proceedings that transpired below on remand, it appears that the Massachusetts Department of Corrections had no grievance procedure available for complaints of the …
Target Shooting Not Protected Free Speech by Plaintiffs challenged a statute that, inter alia, forbade Class A gun clubs--those that made large capacity weapons available to those who don't have licenses to possess them--to "permit shooting at targets that depict human figures, human effigies, human silhouettes or any human images …
