Search | Prison Legal News

Settlement Agreement Reached in Wisconsin Supermax Suit

Article • November 15, 2002 • from PLN November, 2002

Filed under: Food, Exercise, Exposure to Cold, Reading Materials, Lighting, Exposure to Heat, Restraints, Education, Telephone Access, Ad-Seg Hearings, Mental Health

Settlement Agreement Reached in Wisconsin Supermax Suit by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) officials settled the 42 USC § 1983 class action civil rights suit brought by seriously mentally ill prisoners housed in the Boscobel, WI Supermax state prison by agreeing not to …

Wisconsin DOC in Contempt for Not Collecting PLRA Fees

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

Filed under: Classification, Out of State Transfers, Filing Fees (PLRA), Contempt (Civil Procedure)

Wisconsin DOC in Contempt for Not Collecting PLRA Fees by Wisconsin DOC in Contempt For Not Collecting PLRA Fees The US District Court (E.D. Wis.) issued an Order to Show Cause to Wisconsin DOC Secretary Jon E. Litscher as to why he should not be held in contempt for declaring …

Forced AA/NA for Parolee Defeats Qualified Immunity

Article • June 15, 2002 • from PLN June, 2002

Filed under: Parole, Qualified Immunity, Mental Health, Drug Treatment/Rehab, Required Religious Programming

Forced AA/NA for Parolee Defeats Qualified Immunity by A Wisconsin federal district court has held that officials are not entitled to qualified immunity when they require atheist parolees to participate in religious based substance abuse programs. John Bausch, a former prisoner and parolee, filed an action under 42 U.S.C. § …

Failure to Timely Pay Filing Fee Dismissal Reversed

Article • May 15, 2002 • from PLN May, 2002

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Filing Fees, Sanctions

Failure to Timely Pay Filing Fee Dismissal Reversed by The Court of Appeals for the Seventh circuit held that a district court erred when it dismissed a prisoner's suit for failure to pay the filing fee in a timely manner. Bernard Beyer, a Wisconsin prisoner held in a private prison …

Wisconsin Ban on Sexually Explicit Materials Unconstitutional

Article • May 15, 2002 • from PLN May, 2002

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Civil Procedure, Summary Judgment, Settlements, Class Notice, Sexually Explicit Materials, Tapes/Music (Mail)

Wisconsin Ban on Sexually Explicit Materials Unconstitutional by Bob Williams The Federal District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin has denied a motion for summary judgment finding the Wisconsin Department of Corrections' (WDOC) ban on sexually explicit materials violated prisoners' First Amendment freedom of speech and Fourteenth Amendment due …

Wisconsin Jail Settles Escape Lawsuit with Escapee

Article • May 15, 2002 • from PLN May, 2002

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Escapes, Settlements

Wisconsin Jail Settles Escape Lawsuit with Escapee by In September, 2001, Wausau Insurance, the insurer for the city of Shawano, Wisconsin, agreed to pay Nicholas Bishop, 22, $5,000 to settle a lawsuit Bishop had filed against the city in federal court in Madison. The lawsuit claimed that two city policemen …

"Barbaric Conditions" At Wisconsin Supermax Result in Preliminary Injunction To Transfer Mentally Ill Prisoners

Article • April 15, 2002 • from PLN April, 2002

Filed under: Medication, Food, Exercise, Lighting, Restraints, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)

"Barbaric Conditions" At Wisconsin Supermax Result in Preliminary Injunction To Transfer Mentally Ill Prisoners by John E Dannenberg "Barbaric Conditions" At Wisconsin Supermax Result in Preliminary Injunction To Transfer Mentally Ill Prisoners by John Dannenberg Noting that the Eighth Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment clause protects the mental health of …

Wisconsin Medical Care Substandard, Even for Prisoners

Article • April 15, 2002 • from PLN April, 2002

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Medication, Systemic Medical Neglect, Respiratory, Dental Care, Appendicitis, Hepatitis, Staffing, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), State Legislation

Wisconsin Medical Care Substandard, Even for Prisoners by Gary Hunter Michelle Greer had asthma, the operative word being had past tense. Her asthma no longer exists because Michelle Greer is dead. On February 29, 2000, at the Taycheedah Correctional Institution, she died of an asthma attack, suffocated by the apathy …

Jonesel v. Berge, WI, Order Injunction, Mental Health Supermax, 2001

Brief • October 10, 2001

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Mental Health

Jonesel v. Berge, WI, Order Injunction, Mental Health Supermax, 2001 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN --------------------------------------------DENNIS E. JONES `EL, MICHAEL JOHNSON, DE'ONDRE CONQUEST, LUIS NIEVES, SCOTT SEAL, ALEX FIGUEROA, ROBERT SALLIE, CHAD GOETSCH, EDWARD PISCITELLO, QUINTIN L'MINGGIO, LORENZO BALLI, DONALD BROWN, CHRISTOPHER SCARVER, …

PLRA's Attorney Fee Cap Held Unconstitutional

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

Filed under: Medical, Transplants, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Damages

PLRA's Attorney Fee Cap Held Unconstitutional by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg A federal district court in Wisconsin held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) cap on recovery of attorney fees in successful prisoner civil rights complaints violated Fifth Amendment equal protection principles and determined that $80,000 …

Failure to Notify Prisoner of Hearing Violates Procedural Rights

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

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Legality of Rules, Witnesses (Disciplinary Hearings), Notice of Hearing

Failure to Notify Prisoner of Hearing Violates Procedural Rights by The Supreme Court of Wisconsin found that when prison officials ignore their own rules requiring a prisoner to be notified of the date, time, and location of disciplinary proceedings against him, the prisoner's fundamental rights are violated and the disciplinary …

Wisconsin Prisoners to Farm Worms

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

Filed under: Work, Prison Industries

Wisconsin Prisoners to Farm Worms by The Wisconsin Department of Corrections gained approval of the state Building Commission on November 22, 2000 to construct a $765,000 building at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution to house a "vermi-composting" operation as part of the DOC prison industries program. Prisoners working in the building …

Riot at CCA Prison Hospitalizes 15 Guards

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

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Prison Rebellion, Guards/Staff, Assaults on Staff

Riot at CCA Prison Hospitalizes 15 Guards by Gary Hunter A minor riot on July 15 2000, left fifteen guards and one prisoner injured at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Oklahoma. Six guards were sent to area hospitals where they were treated for minor cuts and bruises. One …

Bag'm, Tag'm and Bury'm; Wisconsin Prisoners Dying for Health Care

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

Filed under: DOC/BOP misconduct, Medical Misconduct, Medical, Systemic Medical Neglect, Respiratory, Disclosure of Records, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)

Bag'm, Tag'm and Bury'm; Wisconsin Prisoners Dying for Health Care by Dan Pens [The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (www.jsonline.com) published an investigative series titled: "Wisconsin's Death Penalty," by Mary Zahn and Jessica McBride, October 22-24, 2000. Wisconsin doesn't have capital punishment, but the Journal Sentinel revealed the routine "execution" of state …

Wisconsin Supermax Bans Local Paper

Article • January 15, 2001 • from PLN January, 2001

Filed under: Publications/Books, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Censorship

Wisconsin Supermax Bans Local Paper by When the southwestern Wisconsin town of Boscobel celebrated the grand opening of a 509bed supermax prison in September 1999, the festive atmosphere was likened to a carnival or state fair so happy were the townspeople to bring in jobs, jobs, jobs. Venders hawked sodas, …

Family Impact of Out of State Transfers Immaterial

Article • December 15, 2000 • from PLN December, 2000

Filed under: Classification, Out of State Transfers, Mothers in Prison

Family Impact of Out of State Transfers Immaterial by The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that no due process right of minor children was violated when their imprisoned mother was transferred to a federal prison in West Virginia from a Wisconsin prison. Carin Froehlich is a Wisconsin …

Wisconsin Ban on Crosses Struck Down

Article • October 15, 2000 • from PLN October, 2000

Filed under: Discrimination, Religious Discrimination, Mootness, Religious Property

Wisconsin Ban on Crosses Struck Down by The court of appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a Wisconsin prison rule banning crosses unless it was attached to a rosary violated the First amendment rights of Protestants. This is the latest installment in a long running lawsuit over the Wisconsin …

WI DOC Ends Censorship of PLN

Article • October 15, 2000 • from PLN October, 2000

Filed under: Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, PLN Litigation

WI DOC Ends Censorship of PLN by In early August 2000, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) announced it would end its haphazard ban on PLN in Wisconsin prisons. Since January 2000, some Wisconsin prisons had refused to allow prisoners to subscribe or renew their subscriptions to PLN by paying …

Wisconsin Prisoners Rebel at Private Tennessee Prison

Article • June 15, 2000 • from PLN June, 2000

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Prison Rebellion, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers, Guards/Staff, Assaults on Staff

Wisconsin Prisoners Rebel at Private Tennessee Prison by On November 30, 1999, Wisconsin state prison officials were touring the Whiteville Correctional Facility (WCF) in Tennessee. The prison is operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and houses 1,500 Wisconsin prisoners. Just minutes after WCF warden Percy Pitzer led an entourage …

Seventh Circuit Prisoners Must Exhaust Futile Grievance Remedies

Article • April 15, 2000 • from PLN April, 2000

Filed under: Medical, Injury -- Misc., Hernias, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Defenses, Complaints

Seventh Circuit Prisoners Must Exhaust Futile Grievance Remedies by In two separate rulings, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that prisoners must exhaust administrative remedies before filing suit, regardless of the relief sought and no matter how ineffectual the prison grievance system may be. Eduardo Perez, a Wisconsin …