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 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 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. …
$16 Million Agreement to Revamp NJ Prison Mental Health Care by A federal district court in New Jersey has approved a $16 million settlement in a class-action suit against state prison officials for constitutionally deficient prison mental health care. Patricia P. Pearlmutter, assistant professor of clinical law at the Center …
Male NJ Guard's Sexual Harassment Suit Settled for $425,000 by On December 6, 1999, the New Jersey Department of Corrections agreed to pay $425,000 to Mid State Correctional Facility employee Thomas Ferri, 55, to settle his sexual harassment suit against the prison. Ferri, an internal affairs investigator at the prison, …
New Jersey Parole Board Chief Resigns by The chairman of the New Jersey state Parole Board submitted his resignation July 28, 2000, as authorities neared the end of a two-year investigation into his alleged links with organized crime. A law enforcement source close to the investigation told The Record, the …
Individual Analysis Required for Diabetic Class Action Damage Award by Ronald Young By Ronald Young The court of appeals for the Third circuit held that the lower court erred in holding that all members of the plaintiff class past, present, and future of insulin-dependent diabetic prisoners alleged violation of their …
New Jersey Sex Offender Treatment Statute Creates Liberty Interest by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court's FRCP 12(c) dismissal of a prisoner's action stemming from a failure to provide sex offender treatment. The court held that the unique statutory scheme at issue created a liberty interest …
New Jersey Sex Offender Porn Ban Upheld by In the May, 1999, issue of PLN we reported Waterman v. Verniero, 12 F. Supp. 364 (D NJ 1998) where a federal district court preliminarily enjoined a New Jersey law banning sexually oriented material from a sex offender treatment prison. The same …
New Jersey Jail Settles Chemical Burn Suit for $900,000 by On April 20, 1999, Atlantic County, New Jersey, paid $900,000 to settle a lawsuit involving extensive chemical burns suffered by a prisoner forced to do calisthenics in a pit filled with caustic chemicals. David Zamot was a non violent offender …
New Jersey Guard Wins $3.75 Million Harassment Suit by On May 27, 1999, a Burlington county jury in New Jersey ruled in favor of prison guard Robert Lockley Jr. and awarded him $3.75 million in damages. Lockley, 39, a guard at the Mid State Correctional Facility in Ft. Dix, New …
No Privacy Rights for Sex Offender Registrants by The Third Circuit ruled that sex offenders required to register under "Megan's Law" have no protected right to privacy that would render unconstitutional the public dissemination of such information. This is not the first time the 3rd Circuit has upheld Megan's Law. …
FBI Investigates CCA-Run INS Center in New Jersey by A Corrections Corporation of America operated immigrant detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey is under investigation due to alleged misconduct by company employees. Federal officials confirmed on April 13, 1999 that the U.S. Dept. of Justice had requested the probe, which …
PLRA Doesn't Affect Court Contempt Powers by A federal district court in New Jersey held that 18 U.S.C. § 3626, which allows for the immediate termination of prison and jail consent decrees, does not affect the contempt powers of courts. The underlying case involves a motion by jail detainee plaintiffs …
Parole Officials Liable for False Information in Parole Violation Arrest Warrant by A federal district court in New Jersey has held that parole officials are liable for causing the arrest of a parolee based upon false information. Robert Friedland, a New Jersey state prisoner, was paroled in August, 1995. Subsequently …
New Jersey Guard's Killer Gets Life by Steven Beverly was convicted for the 1997 killing of a Bayside State Prison (New Jersey) guard. But two days later, November 11, 1998, the jury of seven men and five women said they were deadlocked on whether he should be executed. Under state …
New Jersey Porn Ban Struck Down by In two separate rulings a federal court in New Jersey held that a New Jersey statute prohibiting imprisoned sex offenders from receiving or possessing sexually oriented materials was unconstitutional. The two rulings consist of a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction enjoining the …
Administrative Exhaustion Doesn't Include Judicial Remedies by The court of appeals for the Third circuit held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act's (PLRA) administrative exhaustion requirement does not include judicial exhaustion as well. Hassan Jenkins, a New Jersey state prisoner, filed suit in federal court claiming his due process rights …
