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 …
Supreme Court Restricts ADA by Roger Smith The U.S. Supreme Court overruled an Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision allowing disabled persons to sue State employers for money damages in federal court under Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). 42 U.S.C. § 12112. The 54 majority held …
Guards Use Shotguns to Control Riot by Guards Use Shotguns To Control Riot Guards used shotguns loaded with rubber pellets to break up a riot at Wallens Ridge Prison in Virginia. On Sunday December 3rd, in a deliberate violation of prison procedure, prisoners returning from lunch left the sidewalk and …
Change in AIDS Medication States Claim by Change In Aids Medication States Claim A Virginia federal district court ruled prisoner Terry Lee Taylor stated a claim under 42 U.S.C. §1983 where a prison doctor order a change in Taylor's AIDS medication without notification. The new medication caused Taylor to suffer …
DC Prisoners Sue VA Over Restraints by Since 1998, about 1,200 District of Columbia prisoners have been caged at the Sussex II highsecurity state prison in Virginia when D.C. closed its aging Lorton Correctional Complex. On August 29, 2000 a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of those prisoners claims …
PLRA Attorney's Fees Cap Applies to Nonprisoner Intervenors by The Fourth Circuit has held that a publisher who intervened in a law suit filed by prisoners is subject to the attorney fees cap of the Prison Litigation Reform Act. Virginia state prisoners Donald Hodges and Michael Flores sued Keen Mountain …
CMS Fined Nearly $1 Million in Virginia by Dan Pens Correctional Medical Services (CMS) contracts with the Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) to provide medical care to some of its 30,000 prisoners. In a 13-month period starting in January 1999 the VDOC levied nearly $1 million in fines against CMS …
Stun Gun Death in VA Prison by After being electrocuted repeatedly by a stun gun, Lawrence James Frazier was strapped to a bed where he lapsed into a coma and never recovered. During a struggle with guards, Frazier was electrocuted 3 times by an Ultron II stun device that delivers …
