A Guantanamo Index by Joanne Mariner By JOANNE MARINER Wednesday, Nov. 07, 2007 Year in which Cuba signed a perpetual lease giving the United States "complete jurisdiction and control" over the Guantanamo Bay naval station: 1903 Number of days that the longest-held detainees have, to date, been held without charge …
Psych Evaluations Questioned Following D.C. Jail Suicides by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke The methods used for psychological evaluation and housing of prisoners at the Washington, D.C. Jail are being questioned after two prisoners committed suicide within a three-month period. Alicia Edwards, 32, had a history of mental illness …
U.S. Parole Commission Rules are “Laws” for Ex Post Facto by U.S. Parole Commission Rules are "Laws" for Ex Post Facto The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC) Circuit held that a lower court incorrectly concluded that new parole regulations were not "laws" for ex …
An Old Story: District of Columbia Continues Overdetaining and Strip Searching Prisoners by A federal district court for the District of Columbia has, once again, certified a class action in a complaint that District of Columbia is over-detaining persons ordered released and strip searching them without individualized suspicion. The Court …
BOP Settles “Terrorism” Classification Privacy Act Suit for $3,000 by BOP Settles "Terrorism" Classification Privacy Act Suit for $3,000 Plaintiff William Francis fought for more than 12 years to have what he claimed was erroneous information linking him to "terrorism" removed from his prison file. His persistence ultimately paid off. …
MTC Stiffs Guards and Other Employees $169,105 by Prison guards are among the 393 employees of Management and Training Corporation (MTC), a company that shorted $169,105 in wages for work performed. MTC employs more than 2,000 workers at 24 Job Corps Centers and six prisons around the nation. The company …
Brown v. District of Columbia, DC, Amicus Brief - ACLU, CCA Liability, 2007 ORAL ARGUMENT NOT YET SCHEDULED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT NO. 05-5320 HERBERT BROWN, Appellant, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Appellees. ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR …
$248,000 Jury Award for Inhumane D.C. Jail Conditions by Five prisoners in the D.C. Jail were awarded a total of $248,000 in damages On February 1, 2006, following a two day jury trial in federal district court over inhumane and unconstitutional conditions at the jail. Shannon J. Battle, Bernard Brown, …
Prison Disciplinary Board Members Not Entitled to Absolute Immunity by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that prison disciplinary board members were entitled only to qualified immunity, not absolute immunity, in a civil rights suit; that the amount of compensatory damage award did not warrant interference …
Retroactive Application of Rule Taking Street Time Valid by The District of Columbia Court of Appeals held that neither the ex post facto clause nor the due process clause of the Constitution was violated by retroactive application of a prior D.C. Court of Appeals ruling holding that "street time" should …
Presentence Investigation Reports Accessible Under Freedom Information Act by The U.S. Supreme Court held that prisoners could receive copies of their presentence investigation reports under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In two separate incidents prisoners filed suit after their requests for copies of their presentence investigation reports were denied …
D.C. Prisoner's $125,000 Award for Medication Denial, Back Injury Upheld by In this case involving a prisoner who was denied pain medication and was subsequently injured in a fall, the District of Columbia. Court of Appeals held that standard of care was established, proximate cause was proven, and the $125,000 …
Notice of Summary Judgment Requirements Mandatory for Pro Se Prisoners by A federal district court must provide pro se prisoners with fair notice of summary judgment requirements prior to dismissal. District of Columbia jail prisoner Wayne Hudson filed a petition for declaratory judgment and motion for appointment of counsel. Hudson …
Nondisclosure Of Government Records Not Justified By FOIA by The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that certain records withheld by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was not properly exempted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Kieth Maydak, …
DC Detainees Strip Searched After Receiving Release Orders State Claim by The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (D.C.) held that plaintiffs, prisoners suing the D.C. Jail for performing strip searches on them when returning to the jail after receiving their release orders, had stated a valid …
Non-Stenographic Depositions May Not Require Independent Operator by The District of Columbia Court of Appeals on mandamus review ordered a district court to allow the plaintiff party to take depositions by other than stenographic means. The plaintiff moved the district court, under Rule 30(b)(4), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to …
RFRA Does Not Require Religious School to Recognize Union by The National Labor Relations Board ordered a religious college to recognize a union, which it objected to on grounds that it was a religiously operated institution not subject to the National Labor Relations Act and that it had religious objections …
DC Court Lacks Jurisdiction Over Virginia DOC Officials by At 5-6: "Removing any doubt, we now hold, as has every circuit to have considered the matter, that the PLRA's exhaustion requirement simply 'governs the timing of the action' and does not contain the type of "'sweeping and direct'" language that …
Defendant Drugged for Capital Trial by The court authorizes the involuntary medication of the man who shot up the Capitol Building and killed two police officers. The proposed treatment is medically appropriate because the respondent is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic and antipsychotic medication is the only available treatment. The potential …
D.C. Limitations Tolled for First Incarcertation by The statute of limitations may be tolled when the complainant is imprisoned at the time the right of action accrues, but if the complainant is subsequently released, the statute of limitations begins running immediately and is not again tolled if the plaintiff is …
