CCA Abuse Goes Unpunished at New Jersey INS Detention Center by Mark Dow Maybe it was cynical courtroom theatre, or maybe the attorney for the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) believed it when he ridiculed the very idea that prison guards would retaliate against prisoners for conducting a hunger strike …
New Jersey: Prisoner Attacked, Rendered Quadriplegic, Settles For $9,700,000 by A former prisoner in the Burlington County (New Jersey) Jail, rendered quadriplegic when his neck was broken in an attack by another prisoner, settled with the county and state individually for a combined total of $9,700,000. Timothy Ryan, 32, was …
Arrest Without Probable Cause Suit Settled Against New Jersey Police Department by Arrest Without Probable Cause Suit Settled Against New Jersey Police Department Oki Dzivenu, an African-American male, entered into a settlement with the Borough of Paramus (New Jersey), its police department and employees thereof on his behalf in the …
Over 600 Prisoners Brutalized by New Jersey Prison Guards by Gary Hunter On April 25, 2003, acting Attorney General Peter C. Harvey announced he would reopen a criminal investigation in which New Jersey prison guards reportedly brutalized over 600 prisoners. When guard Fred Baker was stabbed to death in 1997, …
Informal Grievance Procedure Must Be Exhausted Before Filing Suit by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed a district court's denial of summary judgment for prison officials after ruling that prisoners were required to exhaust their administrative remedies before bringing a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action even …
Sadistic New Jersey Prison Doctor's License Revoked Amid Allegations of Neglect, Malpractice by Lonnie Burton On November 13, 2002, the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners revoked the license of Dr. John J. Napoleon following the most recent allegations that he was grossly negligent in the treatment of nine patients …
America's Prisons Turn a Blind Eye to HCV Epidemic by Mark Wilson The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an insidious and relentless disease which is highly unpredictable and eventually fatal. It is a chronic disease which is the leading cause of cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer which causes an …
Veterans' Disability Check Unlawfully Seized to Pay State Restitution Fine by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The Third Circuit US Court of Appeals held that a New Jersey statute providing for seizure of a prisoner's federal veterans' disability benefits check to pay a state restitution fine was void …
Appointment of Counsel in New Jersey Medical Suit by The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated and remanded a New Jersey U.S. District Court's award of summary judgment against, and denial of appointment of counsel to, a pro se prisoner plaintiff. Jeffrey Montgomery, a New Jersey State prisoner …
Favorable Termination Rule Inapplicable to Conditions Claims by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that the "favorable termination rule" of Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364 (1994), and Edwards v. Balisok, 520 U.S. 641, 117 S.Ct. 1584 (1997), does not apply to claims that implicate only …
New Jersey's Five Percenters an STG and a Religion by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a New Jersey federal district court's grant of a motion for summary judgment in separate 42 U.S.C. §1983 actions filed by prisoner's Joel Fraise, Alexander Kettles, …
ADA Liability Extends to New Jersey County Jail and Vicinage by The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing a New Jersey District Court, has held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) extends to a county jail and to a New Jersey Vicinage that was not, at the time …
New Jersey Jail Guards Awarded $1.2 Million Following Retaliation for Protesting Jail Conditions by On April 10, 2002, a federal jury in New Jersey awarded four Atlantic County Jail guards $300,000 each for retaliation taken against them after they publicly protested unsafe jail conditions. In May, 1997, Edward Clopp, Noriss …
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 …
Ten Percent Surcharge on New Jersey Commissary Purchases Upheld by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a district court's dismissal of New Jersey prisoners' challenge to a 10 percent surcharge on state prison and jail commissary purchases. In January 1998, the New Jersey legislature passed the …
Ill Treatment on Our Shores by Anne-Marie Cusac ( On October 24, 2001, Muhammed Butt died of a heart attack at the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny, New Jersey. Butt, a Pakistani national, was detained on September 19 by the FBI as a suspect connected with the September 11 …
New Jersey Goes Online with Sex Offender Website by A federal district court in New Jersey has denied sex offender plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction Relief seeking to prevent implementation of New Jersey's (NJ) Internet sex offender registry, but barred the listing of the offenders' home addresses. On November 7, …
No 85% on New Jersey Murder Conviction by The Supreme Court of New Jersey has affirmed an Appellate Division's holding that the No Early Release Act (NERA), N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2, does not apply to murder. The justices evenly split on this case of statutory construction. Murder is the only crime for …
States Capitulate on Reading Legal Mail by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The disturbing trend of several states to inspect legal mail outside the presence of the prisoner [see PLN Mar. 2002 "State Prisons Abrogate Attorney Client Privilege"] has begun to crumble under court challenges. Begun under the …
State Prisons Abrogate Attorney-Client Mail Privilege by Just as the federal government has seized on the events of September 11, 2001, to push for a long list of previously desired powers and restrictions on civil liberties, state prison systems have done the same. Several states, including Massachusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, …
