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New Exhaustion Not Required for Enforcement of IDEA Remedy

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion, Federal Statutory Law, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

New Exhaustion Not Required for Enforcement of IDEA Remedy by An IDEA plaintiff who exhausted administrative remedies but remained aggrieved because the resulting IEP was not carried out was not required to exhaust again to enforce the initial decision. The fact that an IEP is supposed to be updated once …

Failure to Procure Medical Treatment Suit Proceeds Against Puerto Rican Guard

Article • June 15, 2006 • from PLN June, 2006

Filed under: HIV/AIDS, Pain, Injury -- Misc., Supervisory Liability, Wrongful Death, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Failure to Procure Medical Treatment Suit Proceeds Against Puerto Rican Guard by The First Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed in part and reversed in part a Puerto Rico District Courts grant of summary judgement to prison officials in a civil rights action alleging failure to render or procure adequate …

First Circuit Upholds Order Privatizing Prison Health Care In Puerto Rico

Article • October 15, 2005 • from PLN October, 2005

Filed under: Medical, Systemic Medical Neglect, Injunctions (PLRA)

First Circuit Upholds Order Privatizing Prison Health Care In Puerto Rico by Michael Rigby The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals held that an order governing the privatization of health care in Puerto Rican prisons was valid and did not violate the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). This case is …

BOP Good-Time Statute Upheld By Three Circuits

Article • April 15, 2005 • from PLN April, 2005

Filed under: Sentencing, Good Time, Habeas Corpus

BOP Good-Time Statute Upheld By Three Circuits by by John E. Dannenberg The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a U.S. District Court ruling that had accorded BOP prisoners 54 days good-time credit per year, holding instead that the maximum credit available is only 47 days per year. In …

Eighteen Indicted for Drug Smuggling and Weapons Possession Inside Puerto Rican Prisons

Article • April 15, 2004 • from PLN April, 2004

Filed under: Gang Policies, Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution

Eighteen Indicted for Drug Smuggling and Weapons Possession Inside Puerto Rican Prisons by Lonnie Burton Eighteen Indicted for Drug Smuggling and Weapons Possession Inside Puerto Rican Prisons by Lonnie Burton On May 8, 2003, a 21-page indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury sitting in San Juan, Puerto …

First Circuit Reverses 12(b)(6) Dismissal in Jail Rape Case

Article • November 15, 2003 • from PLN November, 2003

Filed under: Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, Civil Procedure, Complaints

First Circuit Reverses 12(b)(6) Dismissal in Jail Rape Case by The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a district court's Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of a failure to protect action, holding that the complaint sufficiently stated a claim for failure to protect. On August 30, 1999, Jesus …

PLRA Not Applied to Attorney Fees, $407,635 for Puerto Rican Prisoners

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

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Guard Brutality/Beatings, Civil Procedure, New Trial Motions

PLRA Not Applied to Attorney Fees, $407,635 for Puerto Rican Prisoners by PLRA Not Applied to Attorney Fees, $407,635 for Puerto Rican Prisoners A federal district court in Puerto Rico has denied the defendant's motion for new trial in an excessive force case, and awarded attorney fees and costs to …

Puerto Rico Prison Officials Fined $10 Million

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

Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Conditions of Confinement, Totality of Conditions, Overcrowding, Ventilation, Clothing, Bedding, Hygiene Supplies, Vermin, Exposure to Heat, Injunctions, Contempt (Civil Procedure)

Puerto Rico Prison Officials Fined $10 Million by A federal court in Puerto Rico held prison officials in contempt for failing to comply with court orders governing prison conditions and imposed a contempt sanction of $10 million. More than 20 years ago the court first dealt with prison overcrowding in …

Mailbox Rule Applies to Section 2254/2255 Motions

Article • July 15, 2000 • from PLN July, 2000

Filed under: Appeals, Habeas Corpus, Mail, Legal Mail

Mailbox Rule Applies to Section 2254/2255 Motions by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prisoner's pleadings were filed at the time he mailed them, even though he used the prison's regular mail system instead of its legal mail system. While incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in …

Notes from the Unrepenitentiary

Article • December 15, 1999 • from PLN December, 1999

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Sentencing, Pardons/Clemency

Notes from the Unrepenitentiary by Linda Evans They call themselves POWs because Puerto Rico has been fighting a war for independence since 1898, when the U.S. first invaded the island. Puerto Rico is one of the few colonies left in the world. The U.S. military and transnational corporations want to …

Medical Care Unconstitutional in Puerto Rico Prisons

Article • April 15, 1999 • from PLN April, 1999

Filed under: Medical, HIV/AIDS, Systemic Medical Neglect, Staffing, Injunctions, Contempt (Civil Procedure)

Medical Care Unconstitutional in Puerto Rico Prisons by Medical Care Unconstitutional In Puerto Rico Prisons A federal court in Puerto Rico has held that the lack of medical care in the Puerto Rican prison system is unconstitutional. This is a class action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 brought by Puerto …

Inadequate Prison Security Violates 8th Amendment

Article • February 15, 1998 • from PLN February, 1998

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Prison/Jail Murders, Eighth Amendment, Staffing, Supervisory Liability, Premises Liability, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death)

Inadequate Prison Security Violates 8th Amendment by Afederal district court in Puerto Rico held a prison security officer could be held liable for a prisoner's murder when he knew of inadequate staff supervision and non functioning cell locks, among other things, and did nothing to improve security. Angel Orta Fernandez, …

Prisoners of Colonialism: The Struggle for Justice in Puerto Rico

Article • July 15, 1997 • from PLN July, 1997

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Commentary/Reviews, Reviews, Prisoners-International

Prisoners of Colonialism: The Struggle for Justice in Puerto Rico by Daniel Burton-Rose Review by Daniel Burton-Rose This work by Ronald Fernandez provides a history of Puerto Rico's efforts to free itself from the imperial rule of the United States, from the time it was "won" from the Spanish in …

Detainees May Be Disciplined

Article • December 15, 1995 • from PLN December, 1995

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Sanctions (Disciplinary Hearings)

Detainees May Be Disciplined by The court of appeals for the first circuit has reversed a district court ruling that pretrial detainees may not, consistent with the constitution, be punished for misconduct in the jail. In the Dec. '94 issue of PLN we reported Collazo Leon v. US Bureau of …

BOP Can't Punish Detainees

Article • December 15, 1994 • from PLN December, 1994

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Sanctions (Disciplinary Hearings), Habeas Corpus

BOP Can't Punish Detainees by Vladimir Collazo-Leon is a pretrial detainee in Puerto Rico, held by the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). While going to a visit he allegedly offered a jail guard a bribe if the guard would help him escape. The guard infracted Collazo and at a disciplinary …

PR Prisoners Rebel

Article • October 15, 1994 • from PLN October, 1994

Filed under: Organizing, Prison Rebellion, Work Strikes, Prisoners-International

PR Prisoners Rebel by On July 10, 1994, more than 8,000 prisoners in 16 prisons across the US occupied island of Puerto Rico went on strike to protest overcrowding and bad living conditions. Puerto Rico's 34 prisons hold almost 11,000 prisoners. For the first ten days of the strike prisoners …

Freedom for Puerto Rican POWs

Article • September 15, 1993 • from PLN September, 1993

Filed under: Discrimination, Political Prisoners

Freedom for Puerto Rican POWs by Today the United States government holds in its custody many Puerto Rican women and men, criminalizing them for having fought for the independence of their country. Like George Washington in his day, they are anti-colonial combatants. Washington's contemporary, Thomas Paine, defended in Common Sense …

Minn. Prison Signs Contract for Puerto Rican Inmates

Article • May 15, 1993 • from PLN May, 1993

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Private Prisons

Minn. Prison Signs Contract for Puerto Rican Inmates by Minn. Prison signs Contract for Puerto Rican Inmates St. Paul, Minn. - about 500 prisoners from Puerto Rico will come to Minnesota as early as this month under a deal that finally will fill a privately operated prison in Appleton built …