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ADA Claims Against State Cannot Proceed in Federal Court

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Blind Prisoners, Reading Materials, Civil Procedure, Damages, State Law Claims, Venue, Americans with Disabilities Act, Eleventh Amendment Immunity

ADA Claims Against State Cannot Proceed in Federal Court by John E Dannenberg ADA Claims Against State Cannot Proceed In Federal Court In a suit against an Illinois prison brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a prisoner with impaired vision was denied monetary, declaratory, and injunctive relief in …

Failure to Sign Notice of Appeal Not Jurisdictional

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Appeals

Failure to Sign Notice of Appeal Not Jurisdictional by In a unanimous decision, the United States Supreme Court held that although the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (FRAP) require that a notice of appeal be signed, the failure to sign a timely notice did not require the Court of Appeals …

Supreme Court Eliminates "Catalyst Theory" Fee Awards

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Federal Statutory Law, Americans with Disabilities Act, Fair Housing Act

Supreme Court Eliminates "Catalyst Theory" Fee Awards by Supreme Court Eliminates "Catalyst Theory" Fee Awards In a 54 decision, the United States Supreme Court held that the "catalyst theory" is no longer a permissible basis for an award of attorneys' fees to "prevailing parties" under fee shifting statutes such as …

Florida DOC Clears Itself of Racism Charges

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, DOC/BOP misconduct, Racial Discrimination

Florida DOC Clears Itself of Racism Charges by The September 2001 issue of PLN reported on a series of lawsuits filed by black prison employees against the Florida Department of Corrections, as well as racist brutality by Florida prison guards. Florida DOC Secretary Michael Moore at the time promised to …

Family of BOP Prisoner Awarded $1.1 Million in Wrongful Death Suit

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Suicides

Family of BOP Prisoner Awarded $1.1 Million in Wrongful Death Suit by Ronald Young A federal judge in Oklahoma City ruled in May 2001 that the government was negligent in the death of federal prisoner Kenneth Michael Trentadue and ordered the family to be paid $1.1 million for emotional distress. …

Race-Based Religious Policy Unconstitutional

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Discrimination, Racial Discrimination, Religious Discrimination, Religious Property

Race-Based Religious Policy Unconstitutional by The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has held that prison officials' denial of Native American religious items to a non-Native American prisoner based solely upon his race violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Virginia prisoner Gary David Morrison, Jr., filed …

PLRA Bars Mental and Emotional Damages for Asbestos Exposure

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Asbestos, PLRA, Physical Injury Rule, Damages, Complaints

PLRA Bars Mental and Emotional Damages for Asbestos Exposure by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a prisoner may not recover damages for mental and emotional injuries due to his exposure to asbestos and other health-threatening prison conditions. Johnny Ray Herman, a Louisiana state prisoner, filed suit …

News in Brief

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: News, News in Brief

News in Brief by News in Brief: Arkansas: On August 23, 2001, Joseph Davis, 39, and Bobby Green, 51, prisoners at a state prison in Varner feigned illness and jumped a guard. The men then stole the guard's truck and kidnapped an unidentified off duty guard and his daughter. The …

Denial of Treatment for Two Hours Defeats Qualified Immunity

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Cardiovascular, Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Qualified Immunity

Denial of Treatment for Two Hours Defeats Qualified Immunity by Denial Of Treatment For Two Hours Defeats Qualified Immunity Afederal district court in Alabama has held a detainee's allegations that guards failed to take action on his complaints of chest pains for over two hours defeats qualified immunity. After being …

New Missouri Mega-Prison Mothballed

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Overcrowding

New Missouri Mega-Prison Mothballed by Ronald Young What if they built a prison and nobody came? It's every prison abolitionist's dream come true. Such a reality has unfolded, even if only temporarily, in the rural Missouri community of Bonne Terre. The economic history of Bonne Terre is a familiar one, …

Administrative Remedies Need Not Identify Wrongdoers

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: PLRA, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Discovery

Administrative Remedies Need Not Identify Wrongdoers by The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has held that prisoners do not need to identify those persons directly involved in the alleged deprivations in their administrative remedies to satisfy the exhaustion requirement of 42 U.S.C. § 1997(e)a. Prisoner Raymond Brown filed …

Connecticut and Florida Change Felon Disenfranchisement Laws

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Organizing, Voting, Probation, State Legislation

Connecticut and Florida Change Felon Disenfranchisement Laws by Connecticut and Florida take different approaches as they address the disenfranchisement of convicted felons. In Connecticut, state lawmakers, after intense debate and much legislative maneuvering, passed a bill that gives back the right to vote to convicted felons on probation. In a …

Staff Shortage in Nation's Prisons

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Staffing

Staff Shortage in Nation's Prisons by Gary Hunter Across the nation, states are plagued by a shortage of prison guards. A decade of building prisons has created an industry that employs more people than General Electric, and costs taxpayers in excess of $40 billion a year. To fill the shortage …

Excessive Force Claims Not Subject to Exhaustion; Supreme Court Grants Review

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

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

Excessive Force Claims Not Subject to Exhaustion; Supreme Court Grants Review by The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the exhaustion requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) does not apply to assault and excessive force claims. Connecticut state prisoner Ronald Nussle brought a …

Two Studies Criticize Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Classification, Escapes

Two Studies Criticize Texas Department of Criminal Justice by Gary Hunter Two independent studies, one by the Institute on Crime, Justice, and Corrections, the other by Security Response Technologies, indicate that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) needs stricter guidelines in assigning prisoners to housing areas and work details. …

Prison Guard Sentenced in Escape Plot

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Crime/Demographics, Informants, Escapes, Witnesses

Prison Guard Sentenced in Escape Plot by Willie Wisely Erik Jacobs, 31, a former guard at Ely State Prison in Nevada was sentenced to one year in jail and fined $2,000 for helping a prisoner plan an escape. Jacobs was sentenced in March, 2001, by White Pine District Judge Dan …

Texas Jury Awards $70,000 in Prison Stabbing

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Gang Policies, Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Supervisory Liability, Premises Liability

Texas Jury Awards $70,000 in Prison Stabbing by Ronald Young In May 2001, a federal court jury in Corpus Christi, Texas, held three Texas prison officials responsible for a 1997 attack during which a prisoner at the McConnell Unit was stabbed about a dozen times by another prisoner who had …

Jury Awards Imprisoned KKK Member $55,000 in Texas Jail Beating

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Overcrowding

Jury Awards Imprisoned KKK Member $55,000 in Texas Jail Beating by On July 19, 2000, a federal jury in Houston, Texas, awarded a Ku Klux Klan member damages totaling $55,000 after he was beaten by black prisoners with whom he was forced to share a cell. Larry Webster, 42, was …

Rape Rarely Prosecuted in Texas Prisons

Article • December 15, 2001 • from PLN December, 2001

Filed under: Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Failure to Protect (General)

Rape Rarely Prosecuted in Texas Prisons by Gary Hunter According to recent reports, rape in Texas' prisons is the highest in the nation. Based on research from 19952000, of the 660 cases reported barely 4 percent have been prosecuted. Why does the state that prides itself on having the highest …

Carruthers v. Pride, FL, Complaint, Work Injury, 2001

Brief • December 14, 2001

Filed under: Workplace Injury

Carruthers v. Pride, FL, Complaint, Work Injury, 2001 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT, SECOND JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR. LEON COUNT', FLORIDA CASE NO.: D CD DIVISION: Calvin Carruthers Plaintiff, • C:. • (VI tlfr27 r." VS. Prisons Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, Inc, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, and Donald Larson, …