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New Jersey's Five Percenters an STG and a Religion

Article • June 15, 2003 • from PLN June, 2003

Filed under: Gang Policies, Religious Freedom, Religious Practices

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

Article • May 15, 2003 • from PLN May, 2003

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Summary Judgment

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

Article • April 15, 2003 • from PLN April, 2003

Filed under: Gender Discrimination -- Women, Racial Discrimination, Retaliation, Retaliation for Media Contact, Retaliation against Staff, Overcrowding, Employee Litigation, Guard Unions

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

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 …

Ten Percent Surcharge on New Jersey Commissary Purchases Upheld

Article • February 15, 2003 • from PLN February, 2003

Filed under: Money/Property, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Tax Law

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

Article • August 15, 2002 • from PLN August, 2002

Filed under: Discrimination, Political Prisoners, Racial Discrimination, Religious Discrimination, Cardiovascular, Failure to Protect (General), Exposure to Cold, Jail Specific, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Immigration, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

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

Article • August 15, 2002 • from PLN August, 2002

Filed under: Sex Offender Registration, Crime/Demographics, Databases, Ex Post Facto

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

Article • August 15, 2002 • from PLN August, 2002

Filed under: Sentencing, Good Time, Parole

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

Article • August 15, 2002 • from PLN August, 2002

Filed under: Attorney Client, Mail, Legal Mail

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

Article • March 15, 2002 • from PLN March, 2002

Filed under: Attorney Client, Mail, Legal Mail

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, …

New Jersey Prisoners Exempt from Exhaustion Requirement

Article • January 15, 2002 • from PLN January, 2002

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

New Jersey Prisoners Exempt from Exhaustion Requirement by New Jersey Prisoners Exempt From Exhaustion Requirement A federal district court has held that New Jersey prisoners are not required to exhaust institution implemented grievance procedures before filing a civil rights suit. New Jersey prisoners Victor Concepcion and Anthony Ways filed suit …

Chinese Company Convicted of Using Forced Prison Labor

Article • October 15, 2001 • from PLN October, 2001

Filed under: Prison Industries, Prison Labor, Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Prisoners-International

Chinese Company Convicted of Using Forced Prison Labor by On February 28, 2001, Peter Chen, a Taiwanese entrepreneur, pled guilty in a New Jersey federal district court to charges of selling goods in the U.S. which were produced by forced prison labor. Chen will pay a $50,000 fine. Chen owned …

New Jersey Prisoners' Disciplinary Convictions Reversed on Due Process Violations

Article • July 15, 2001 • from PLN July, 2001

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Informants (Disciplinary Hearings), Notice of Charges, Evidentiary Ruling (Disciplinary Hearings)

New Jersey Prisoners' Disciplinary Convictions Reversed on Due Process Violations by The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court reversed two separate prison disciplinary matters after finding that two state prisoners were denied due process protections limiting the use of confidential informants and confidential information. Andrew Daley, a prisoner …

New Jersey Detainees Entitled to Medical Care

Article • July 15, 2001 • from PLN July, 2001

Filed under: CMS, Systemic Medical Neglect, Urinary, Dental Care, Blood, Diabetes, Conditions of Confinement, Staffing, Jail Specific, Qualified Immunity

New Jersey Detainees Entitled to Medical Care by A federal district court in New Jersey held that material issues of fact precluded summary judgment on a former prisoner's claim that he was denied adequate medical care. The court also rejected defendants' claim of qualified immunity. Dana Andrews, a former prisoner …

Ten Percent Prison Commissary Surcharge in New Jersey Upheld

Article • June 15, 2001 • from PLN June, 2001

Filed under: Food, Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Seizure of Prisoner Funds

Ten Percent Prison Commissary Surcharge in New Jersey Upheld by The Superior Court of Appeals of New Jersey has held that the 10% surcharge on purchases from prison commissaries in New Jersey is constitutional. Paul Auge, a New Jersey state prisoner, filed suit in state court challenging the imposition by …

New Jersey Guard Unions Charged with Telemarketing Fraud

Article • April 15, 2001 • from PLN April, 2001

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Guard Unions

New Jersey Guard Unions Charged with Telemarketing Fraud by New Jersey Guard Unions Charged With Telemarketing Fraud The New Jersey Attorney General's Office charged four "correctionsofficer" unions and a forprofit fundraising company with diverting nearly $2 million from police charities over a threeyear period. In a 12count complaint filed in …

Deadly Nostalgia: The Politics of Boot Camps

Article • March 15, 2001 • from PLN March, 2001

Filed under: Private Prisons, Racial Discrimination, Boot Camps, Strip Cells, Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Restraints, Damages, Settlements, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Deadly Nostalgia: The Politics of Boot Camps by Christian Parenti The short, stout eighth grader Gina Score, was never much of an athlete. But that didn't matter to the staff at South Dakota's Plankinton boot camp for girls, where militarystyle discipline and calisthenics were the modus operandi and, as staff …

NJ Prisoners Entitled to Cross Examine Witnesses

Article • March 15, 2001 • from PLN March, 2001

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Witnesses (Disciplinary Hearings), Confrontation

NJ Prisoners Entitled to Cross Examine Witnesses by Holding that a prisoner was entitled to cross examine and to confront the complaining witness at a prison disciplinary hearing, a New Jersey appellate court reversed the sanctions imposed on a prisoner accused of tampering with a locking device on a gate. …

Mentally Ill Prisoners in the New Jersey Prison System

Article • February 15, 2001 • from PLN February, 2001

Filed under: CMS, Medication, Medical Records, Disclosure of Records, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Suicides

Mentally Ill Prisoners in the New Jersey Prison System by Julia Lutsky Two hundred prisoners filed a class action suit against the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) in 1996. A court order issued as a result of that suit mandated an investigation to "assess the mental health services in …

Louisiana Abandons Private Juvenile Prisons

Article • February 15, 2001 • from PLN February, 2001

Filed under: Injury -- Misc., Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Filing Fees (PLRA), Complaints

Louisiana Abandons Private Juvenile Prisons by John E Dannenberg The state of Louisiana agreed to a settlement in federal court September 7, 2000 designed to radically alter the way it operates its juvenile prisons. The agreement was intended to settle several lawsuits against the state, including one by the U.S. …