Gay Prisoners Not Entitled to Double-Occupancy Cell by Gay Prisoners Not Entitled To Double-Occupancy Cell The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that legitimate penological interests supported a prison policy to restrict homosexual male prisoners to single celled housing while at the same facility yet permitting homosexual female prisoners …
Ninth Circuit Affirms Constitutionality of RLUIPA by by John E. Dannenberg In a case of first impression, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court ruling that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) (42 U.S.C. § 2000 cc et seq.) passes constitutional …
Over 100 Prisoners Exonerated Through DNA, Government Cuts Funding by Rex Bagley Bruce Godschalk became a free man on February 14, 2002,after fifteen years of incarceration for a crime he refused to admit to. In May, 1987 he was convicted in Philadelphia for the rape of two women and indecent …
Virginia Law Repeals Phone Rate Ruling by Matthew T. Clarke Effective July 1, 2002, the Virginia legislature has enacted a law specifically designed to undercut a favorable ruling on prison phone rates by the State Corporation Commission (SCC). Robert Lee Jones, a Virginia state prisoner, filed a complaint with the …
Home Detainee Has Fourth Amendment Rights by The Supreme Court of Virginia has held that a defendant who entered the Fairfax County Sheriff's Electronic Incarceration Program (Program) did not automatically waive his right to privacy of his home by agreeing to enter the Program. Upon entering the Program, Michael L. …
Connecticut Pays $1,850,000 in Deaths of Two Prisoners Transferred to Virginia by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The Connecticut Department of Corrections (CDC) settled two claims in March 2002 totaling $1,850,000 for the wrongful deaths of a mentally ill prisoner and a severely diabetic prisoner who were transferred …
Virginia Guards Acquitted of Assaulting Prisoner by Michael Rigby Three former prison guards were acquitted March 27, 2002 on charges of beating a shackled prisoner at the Wallens Ridge State Prison, a Virginia supermax. Lt. Jeffrey Compton, Sgt. Mathew Hamilton and Michael Bliley were charged with felonious assault and fired …
Virginia Sheriff Investigated for Misuse of Prisoner Funds by Lonnie Burton When prisoners at the Richmond, Virginia jail buy goods from the inmate store, the profits were supposed to be used for the benefit of the prisoners. Instead, an investigation has revealed that Richmond's sheriff, Michelle B. Mitchell, has been …
U.S. Supreme Court: No Death Penalty for Retarded; Juries Must Impose Death Sentence by David Zuckerman June was a good month for many death row prisoners. In Ring v. Arizona , 122 S.Ct. 2428 (2002) and Atkins v. Virginia , 122 S.Ct. 2242 (2002), the Supreme Court placed new and …
Courts Retain Power To Grant TROs Under PLRA by The District of Columbia (DC) Court of Appeals has vacated a district court ruling on the merits of a prisoner lawsuit where the district court also found that the prisoner plaintiffs failed to exhaust administrative remedies prior to filing suit. Louis …
States Capitulate on Reading Legal Mail by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The disturbing trend of several states to inspect legal mail outside the presence of the prisoner [see PLN Mar. 2002 "State Prisons Abrogate Attorney Client Privilege"] has begun to crumble under court challenges. Begun under the …
Deaths in Florida and Virginia Jails Spark National Investigations by Gary Hunter The badly bloated body of Kathy Kearns was removed from her Virginia Beach jail cell in the early morning hours of April 26, 2001. Testimony from witnesses and evidence from jail and city records show that Kearns desperately …
Stun Gun, Four-Point Restraint Use Curtailed in Virginia Prisons by Because Connecticut's prisons were overfull, Lawrence Frazier was sent to Virginia to serve his time. He didn't go home alive. He died in a Richmond hospital of cardiac arrhythmia after prison guards repeatedly shocked him with an Ultron II stun …
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 …
Virginia Settles Juvenile Death Suit for $1.2 Million by In early April 2001, the Virginia Attorney General's office announced it had agreed to settle a wrongful death suit for $1.2 million. In the December 1999 issue of PLN we reported the death of Wallace Dandridge, 16, a developmentally disabled child …
Notes from the Unrepenitentiary: A Matter of the Past by Marilyn Buck In Charlottesville, Virginia, Mary Smith, a Black working class woman, got fired from her job at the University of Virginia Medical Center. So did eight other workers. They all had prior felony convictions. Ms. Smith's was for $200 …
Denial of Interest Does Not Violate Takings Clause by The Fourth Circuit held that the denial of interest earned on prison trust accounts does not violate the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Virginia prisoner William Washlefske earns an average of $108.76 each month from prison labor. That money is …
Virginia Rent-a-Cell Program Expected to Net $100 Million by Virginia Rent-A-Cell Program Expected to Net $100 Million The state of Virginia will pocket an estimated $100 million in 2001 by warehousing out-of-state and federal prisoners for a fee. About 10% of the Virginia jail and prison population is out-of-state or …
Virginia Excessive Force Claim Set for Trial by A federal district court in Virginia denied Deputy Sheriff F.C. Bruce's motion to dismiss a claim brought by Kelvin Watford in which Watford complained that Bruce assaulted him, resulting in "bruising, scarring, and swelling." The Court discussed " de minimis injury" and …
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 …
