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California Awards Wrongly Incarcerated Man $428,000

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Wrongful Conviction, News, State Legislation

California Awards Wrongly Incarcerated Man $428,000 by The State of California awarded $428,000 on September 24, 2003 for the 12 years of false incarceration served by an East Palo Alto, California man whose murder conviction had been abated when Santa Clara County prosecutors became convinced they had put the wrong …

News in Brief

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: News, News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: In May, 2004, Gail Munnerlyn sued the Alabama Department of Corrections for its practice of allowing uninsured prisoners to drive DOC vehicles. Munnerlyn was injured when her car was struck by a DOC work release van driven by an uninsured prisoner. Her attorney, Kenny Mendelsohn, …

Jury Awards $20,000 to Nurse Stuck by Needle from HIV Positive Prisoner

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Work, Workplace Injury, HIV/AIDS, Damages, Employee Litigation

Jury Awards $20,000 to Nurse Stuck by Needle from HIV Positive Prisoner by On November 26, 2003, a Massachusetts jury awarded a nurse at a medical center, which treated prisoners from a nearby Worcester County prison, $20,000 for emotional distress that resulted from being stuck by a needle from an …

From the Editor

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Editorials, Media, PLN Litigation

From the Editor by Paul Wright From The Editor by Paul Wright The month of September will be the last month that Hans Sherrer, PLN's circulation manager will be with us. After several years working for PLN Hans is moving on to other activities. As PLN's circulation manager, Hans oversaw …

Report Downplays Wrongful Convictions in U.S.

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Reviews, Searches, DNA Testing/Samples, Criminal Prosecution, Wrongful Conviction, Death Penalty

Report Downplays Wrongful Convictions in U.S. by Hans Sherrer A report by University of Michigan staffers and law students _ Exonerations in the United States: 1989 through 2003 _ was released to the public on April 23, 2004. The report analyzed data from 328 cases during that 15 year period …

Acrimonious Michigan Prisoners' Rights Suit Settled After 15 Years

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Clothing, Judiciary, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Writing Implements, Photocopies, Administrative Exhaustion, Prisoner Property, Telephones, Telephone Access, Attorney Calls, Legal Mail, Attorney Visits

Acrimonious Michigan Prisoners' Rights Suit Settled After 15 Years by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg A class-action lawsuit launched by Michigan state prisoners in 1988 which ultimately cost taxpayers $7.5 million in litigation costs was settled on November 4, 2003, resulting in prisoners gaining appropriate classification and psychiatric …

PLRA Applies to Juveniles; Claim Administratively Exhausted

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Burning

PLRA Applies to Juveniles; Claim Administratively Exhausted by A New York federal district court has held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) applies to juvenile prisoners, and the juvenile's actions to air his grievance informally satisfied the PLRA's administrative remedy exhaustion requirement. Corey Lewis, a delinquent resident of the …

Tulia Travesty Settled for $6 Million

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Criminal Prosecution, Crime Labs, Damages, Class Notice, Sentencing, Wrongful Conviction, Pardons/Clemency, False Arrest

Tulia Travesty Settled for $6 Million by Hans Sherrer Tulia Travesty Settled For $6 Million by Hans Sherrer On August 22, 2003, Texas Governor Rick Perry pardoned 35 people whose convictions stemmed from a Swisher County drug investigation that began in 1998. The prosecution of those people began with the …

Mismanaged, Money-Losing Folsom City Prison Closed

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, DOC/BOP misconduct, Prison Industries

Mismanaged, Money-Losing Folsom City Prison Closed by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg Faced with losing $1.4 million in the following year, the City of Folsom, California, closed its 14 year-old, 380 bed minimum security prison and laid off most of the 70 city workers on June 30, 2003. …

$300,000 Awarded for Delayed Treatment of New York Prisoner's Hearing Loss

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Medical, Hearing, Damages

$300,000 Awarded for Delayed Treatment of New York Prisoner's Hearing Loss by On October 31, 2003 a New York Court of Claims awarded Fishkill Correctional Facility prisoner Darryl Dickerson $300,000 for a partial hearing loss suffered because he was not provided timely medical treatment. Dickerson claimed he heard a popping …

New Jersey Over Detains Prisoner Two Years Due to Illegal Sentence Calculation

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment

New Jersey Over Detains Prisoner Two Years Due to Illegal Sentence Calculation by The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division has held that the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) cannot depart from the terms a sentencing judge imposes. In September 1994, prisoner Larry Hill was released on parole …

Democratic Organization Gives Some Felons Second Chance

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Prison Labor, Organizing, Voting

Democratic Organization Gives Some Felons Second Chance by America Coming Together (ACT)--a democratic group working to ensure that George W. Bush is not reelected--is employing felons to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in Missouri, Florida, Ohio, and possibly 14 other states crucial to the November 2004 elections. ACT contends that …

Stun Belt Violates Due Process; Habeas Granted

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Stun Guns/Tasers, Court Access, Court Appearances, Habeas Corpus

Stun Belt Violates Due Process; Habeas Granted by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the use of a stun belt to restrain a California criminal defendant during his trial violated due process of law and was grounds for reversal upon a …

VP's Drug Dealer Retaliation Claim Ordered to Trial

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Retaliation for Media Contact, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Access to Media

VP's Drug Dealer Retaliation Claim Ordered to Trial by In a case that has continued on and on like the Energizer Bunny, the District of Columbia has denied the Bureau of Prisons defendants' latest motion for summary judgment and ordered a trial. This case was filed in 1990 by Brett …

Report Blasts South Carolina Plan to Privatize Prison Health Care

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Private Prisons, CMS, Contractor Misconduct, Medical Expenses, Hepatitis

Report Blasts South Carolina Plan to Privatize Prison Health Care by Michael Rigby South Carolina's disastrous 15-year experiment with prison health care privatization should be a warning to those hardheaded state leaders who plan to do it again, according to a report sponsored by Grassroots Leadership and South Carolina Fair …

Guards Let California Prisoner Slowly Starve to Death

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Discrimination, Disabled Prisoners, Food

Guards Let California Prisoner Slowly Starve to Death by Guards Let California Prisoner Slowly Starve To Death Seventy-two year old Khem Singh, who spoke no English and was crippled and wheelchair-bound, died of starvation in his Corcoran State Prison Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (SATF) cell on February 16, 2004, after …

The Citebook

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Reviews, Court Access

The Citebook by Michael Rigby by Tony Darwin, Starlite, Inc., 2004, 20th ed., 308 pp., $35.95, soft cover Review by Michael Rigby For anyone not trained in the law, navigating the U.S. judicial system can be a daunting prospect. But with knowledge comes confidence, and that's exactly what Tony Darwin …

Parents of Deceased Wisconsin Boot Camp Prisoner Settle for $462,000

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Respiratory, Boot Camps, Wrongful Death, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Parents of Deceased Wisconsin Boot Camp Prisoner Settle for $462,000 by The parents of a Wisconsin state prisoner who died due to exercise stress after his medical complaints were ignored settled their wrongful death suit for $462,000. The Homeslys were parents of a male 20-year-old Wisconsin state prisoner who died …

Florida DOC Ordered to Assist Felons Restore Their Voting Rights

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Organizing, Voting

Florida DOC Ordered to Assist Felons Restore Their Voting Rights by David Reutter Florida DOC Ordered to Assist Felons Restore their Voting Rights by David M. Reutter A Florida circuit court has ordered the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to assist ex-felons who did not receive help in the application …

California Internet Injunction Upheld

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Injunctions (PLRA), Mail Regulations, Media, PLN Litigation, Internet

California Internet Injunction Upheld by The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the statewide permanent injunction issued by the U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal.) enjoining the California Department of Corrections' (CDC) policy prohibiting prisoners from receiving Internet-generated mail. Prison Legal News also filed a friend of the court brief on …