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From the Editor

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

Filed under: Commentary/Reviews, Editorials

From the Editor by Paul Wright With this issue of PLN we are back on our normal publishing schedule. Readers should be receiving their copy of PLN around the first of the issue month. A reminder to our prisoner readers, if prison officials censor your PLN subscription please let us …

Class Action Medical Neglect Suit Filed Against CDC

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

Filed under: Medical, Medication, Systemic Medical Neglect, Pain, Injury -- Misc., Interpreters, State Legislation

Class Action Medical Neglect Suit Filed Against CDC by Alleging that the California Department of Corrections (CDC) violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment by providing seriously inadequate medical care to state prisoners, the Prison Law Office and the law firms Pillsbury Winthrop and McCutchen Doyle Brown …

Wyoming Prison Officials Settle Poisoning and Medical Suits for over $200,000

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

Filed under: Wexford Health Services, Prison Labor, Workplace Injury, Work Conditions/Safety, Cardiovascular, Wrongful Death, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Accidents

Wyoming Prison Officials Settle Poisoning and Medical Suits for over $200,000 by Wyoming Prison Officials Settle Poisoning And Medical Suits for over $200,000 In August 2000, Wyoming officials agreed to settle two consolidated cases for $200,000 in damages, costs, and attorney fees. The cases were filed in a Wyoming federal …

Pelican Bay Guard's Conviction Upheld

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

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Gang Policies, Informants (Disciplinary Hearings), Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Failure to Protect (General)

Pelican Bay Guard's Conviction Upheld by Willie Wisely by W. Wisely Jose Garcia was a guard at California's Pelican Bay prison. With his supervisor, Mike Powers, Garcia plotted with prisoner shotcallers to have convicted child molesters, sex offenders, and informants stabbed or beaten. The conspiracy ran from January 1994 to …

Nineteen Killed in Brazilian Prison Rebellion

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

Filed under: Gang Policies, Prison Rebellion, Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Prisoners-International

Nineteen Killed in Brazilian Prison Rebellion by On Feb. 19, 2001, Brazilian authorities said they had regained control of 29 prisons in Sao Paulo state where some 25,000 prisoners had taken some 7,000 hostages in an apparently coordinated rebellion during the Sunday visiting day on Feb. 18. Some of the …

Virginia DOC Cuts Ties with CMS

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

Filed under: CMS, Contractor Misconduct, Medical, Systemic Medical Neglect

Virginia DOC Cuts Ties with CMS by Robert Durkee Virginia DOC Cuts Ties With CMS by Robert Durkee After numerous allegations of inadequate medical care, pending prisoner lawsuits and nearly $1 million in state imposed fines, Virginia Department of Corrections decided to sever at least two of its contractual ties …

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 …

CCA Medical Cost-Saving Contract Unconstitutional

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

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Contractor Misconduct, Medical Misconduct, Medical, Systemic Medical Neglect, Cardiovascular, Blood, Medical Expenses, Contractor Liability, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

CCA Medical Cost-Saving Contract Unconstitutional by A Tennessee federal district judge as found an incentives contract between the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and a private doctor unconstitutional and must be stopped. The contract provided for financial incentives for the physician to reduce costs, which motivated him to reduce medical …

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 …

Kentucky Judge Orders Hepatitis C Treatment

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

Filed under: Medical, Medical Expenses, Hepatitis, Class Certification, Veterans

Kentucky Judge Orders Hepatitis C Treatment by A federal court in Kentucky has ordered the Kentucky Department of Corrections (KDOC) to provide hepatitis C treatment to a prisoner suffering from both hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver. In response, the KDOC has implemented a treatment plan whereby up to …

Florida Religious Name Change Upheld

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

Filed under: Injunctions, Religious Freedom, Religious Names

Florida Religious Name Change Upheld by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court order requiring the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to allow Muslim prisoners to use their religious name to obtain prison services. While incarcerated, Florida death row prisoner Kenneth D. Quince converted to Islam …

Non-Physical Damage Claims Barred Until Released

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

Filed under: Prison/Common Area Searches, PLRA, Physical Injury Rule, Damages

Non-Physical Damage Claims Barred Until Released by The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has held that a lawsuit which seeks damages for emotional and mental claims filed by a prisoner while confined are barred, but the same claim can be pursued if filed after release. Eleven Georgia prisoners …

New York AG Turns on Client

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

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Attorney Client, Attorneys General, Civil Procedure, Sanctions, Expert Witnesses

New York AG Turns on Client by A Court of Claims judge denounced a highranking lawyer in the Attorney General's office after she threatened and attempted to intimidate a claimant's expert witness_who happened to be the former New York State Commissioner of Correctional Services. Former Commissioner Thomas A. Coughlin III …

Retaliatory Infraction Creates Heck Exception

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

Filed under: Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Retaliatory Discipline

Retaliatory Infraction Creates Heck Exception by The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held a prisoner may bring a 42 U.S.C. §1983 action upon a claim of retaliatory disciplinary action even when the underlying disciplinary action has not been overturned. Illinois prisoner Anthony Dewalt sued various officials at Dixon …

Retaliation Claim Merits Factual Resolution

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

Filed under: Gang Policies, Retaliation for Litigating, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Ad-Seg Hearings

Retaliation Claim Merits Factual Resolution by An Arizona federal district court has held that a prisoner's claims that he was subjected to urinalysis, placed in administrative segregation, classified as a gang member and denied access to the law library as retaliation for filing civil actions against prison officials warranted proceedings …

Georgia Parole Law May Violate Ex Post Facto

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

Filed under: Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Parole

Georgia Parole Law May Violate Ex Post Facto by The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held that a Georgia law changing the frequency between parole hearings may violate the ex post facto clause. Georgia prisoner Paul Harris claimed the retroactive application of Ga. Comp. R & Reg. r. …

Constant Illumination States Eighth Amendment Claim

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

Filed under: Lighting, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Constant Illumination States Eighth Amendment Claim by Pennsylvania state prisoner Lamont Harris filed a pro se petition for review, alleging that being forced to live in constant illumination 24 hours per day while in punitive segregation was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Harris claimed that …

Private Jail Settlement Not a Consent Decree under PLRA

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

Filed under: Overcrowding, PLRA, Consent Decrees (PLRA), Settlements

Private Jail Settlement Not a Consent Decree under PLRA by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The United States District Court, Eastern District of CA, held that a "private settlement" agreement to cap the El Dorado (California) County jail population was not a "consent decree" as defined in the …

Oklahoma Good Time Rule Violates Ex Post Facto

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

Filed under: Sanctions (Disciplinary Hearings), Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Good Time, Habeas Corpus

Oklahoma Good Time Rule Violates Ex Post Facto by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an amended Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC) regulation that rescinded earned good time credits violates the Ex Post Facto Clause. Prisoner Steve A. Smith filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging …

Book Review: The Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How America Profits From Crime

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

Filed under: Private Prisons, Reviews, Crime

Book Review: The Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How America Profits From Crime by Rick Card by Joel Dyer, Westview Press, 2000 (318 pages) Reviewed by Rick Card An estimated 69 million people, or 44 percent of all households now own stock or invest in one of thousands of mutual funds. According …