Georgia’s Sex Offender Residency Restriction Unconstitutional; Work Restriction Approved by The Georgia Supreme Court has declared that a state law that prohibits registered sex offenders from residing or loitering at a location that is within 1,000 feet of any childcare facility, church, school or area where minors congregate (the “residency …
CA Uses Jail Inmate Welfare Funds for Reentry; Expands Early Release for Permanently Disabled CDCR Prisoners by In September 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill (SB) 718 into law, which amends penal code § 4025 to permit the use of Inmate Welfare Funds (IWF) collected in eight California counties to …
Georgia Suicide Claim Reinstated Against PHS by The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of a negligence claim against Prison Health Services, Inc. (PHS) stemming from a 17-year-old detainee’s suicide. The Court also concluded individual defendants were not entitled to official immunity, because they performed ministerial, rather than discretionary …
Georgia Prisoner Assaulted By Jailer Awarded $5,300 by On June 21, 2007, a federal jury in Georgia awarded $5,300 to a prisoner who claimed he was assaulted by a jailer while imprisoned in the Dougherty County Jail. Plaintiff Kelvin Boyd alleged that in 2000 jailer Santos Ruiz-Gonzalez hit him on …
PHS Not Liable for Prisoner Attack on Nurses by The plaintiffs were nurses employed by Prison Health Services, Inc., and were attacked and beaten by a prisoner. The Supreme Court's decision in Collins v. Harker Heights overrules prior authority suggesting that there might be a special relationship supporting liability in …
Wrongful Termination of Georgia Jail Guards by New Sheriff Settles for $7 Million by A $7 million settlement has been reached between the sheriff of Georgia?s Clayton County and 34 employees he fired on his first day in office. The employees alleged they were discriminated against based on their race …
Flurry of Escapes Emphasizes Prisoners' Desperation by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Last September produced a bumper crop of prison and jail escapes around the country, including a desperate escape by two Texas prisoners that resulted in the death of a guard, a car jacking and two shootouts. Plus a …
Federal Prison Staff Are Law Enforcement Official For Purposes Of FTCA Claims by Daniel E. Manville by Dan Manville Federal prisoners are no longer able to sue pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for property that was negligently lost or destroyed by federal prison staff. In Ali v. …
Georgia’s Prison Health System Squeezed by Increasing Population, Decreasing Staff Budget by David Reutter Georgia's Prison Health System Squeezed by Increasing Population, Decreasing Staff Budget by David M. Reutter With an increase in Georgia's prison population, the cost to provide medical care to prisoners has soared. Due to legislative budgetary …
PLN Obtains Injunction Against Fulton County Jail in Censorship Suit by Alex Friedmann On February 4, 2008 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta Division) granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by Prison Legal News over censorship at the Fulton County Jail. PLN brought …
Overdetention: When Completing a Prison Sentence Just Isn’t Enough by David Reutter Overdetention: When Completing a Prison Sentence Just Isn't Enough by David M. Reutter One of the most basic functions of a prison system is releasing prisoners when their sentences expire. In April 2007, the Massachusetts Department of Correction …
Statute of Limitations May Toll While Prisoner Exhausts Administrative Remedies by In 2003, William Howell, a Georgia state prisoner, sued jail guards in federal district court under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for an incident that occurred over two years before he filed suit. Since the applicable statute of limitations was two …
Prisoner Crashes Jet Ski into Dock in Camden County, Georgia by On September 16, 2006, a Camden County, Georgia jail prisoner crashed a Sheriff?s Department jet ski into a private dock at Harriet?s Bluff on the Crooked River. According to Sheriff Bill Smith, jail trustees were moving the jet skis …
In Forma Pauperis Status Does Not Waive Copying Fees When Requesting Records by Pro se Georgia State prisoner Embery McBride petitioned the Appellate Court to review a 1990 court ruling granting the Columbus, Georgia, police chief's (Chief) motion dismissing his action for the deliberate denial of documents. The court ruled …
Georgia Sheriff Offers Requested Documents After Legal Action Initiated by Georgia attorney Bruce Millar appealed a 1999 state court denial of his motion for an injunction which would require document production for use in his client's federal suit. The court affirmed the denial because Millar was offered the documents after …
PLN Files Censorship Suit Against Fulton County Jail in Georgia by On October 22, 2007, Prison Legal News filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Fulton County and Sheriff Myron Freeman, due to a Fulton County Jail policy that prohibits prisoners from receiving …
Document's Exemption From Production Under Act Dependant On Pending Charges Outcome by Georgia State prisoner Byron Parker petitioned for review of a 1986 court ruling denying him access to files for his potential post-conviction relief. A pending rape charge statutorily determined denial. The denial was reversed for a lack of …
Georgia Death Row Prisoner Not Afforded Evidence To Litigate Case by Georgia death row prisoner Ellis Felker appealed by way of mandamus a 1996 court ruling that the Houston County District Attorney (DA) complied with the production of records under the Open Records Act (Act). Additional materials were discovered last …
Settlement Agreement Confidentiality Provisions Maintained, Not Exposed In Courtroom Dispute by Georgia's Savannah College of Art and Design, Inc. (SCAD), appealed a 1998 court order unsealing settlement documents between the SCAD and the School of Visual Arts (SVA). The agreement's provisions stipulated to strict confidentiality. The court reversed the disclosure …
Claims Previously Litigated, Not Directly Appealed, Raised At Trial Barred For Habeas by Georgia State prisoner Jimmy Meders sought review of a 1992 habeas court's partial denial of claims for relief from his 1987 death sentence. Warden Schofield appealed the same court's grant to Meders for ineffective assistance of counsel …
