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Prison TV: Aid and Comfort to the Enemy

Article • June 15, 1995 • from PLN June, 1995

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Prisoner Privileges

Prison TV: Aid and Comfort to the Enemy by Adrian Lomax I've been serving time in Wisconsin prisons since 1980. A lot of changes in the way these joints are run have come down the pike in that time, almost all of them for the worse: less recreation, less visiting, …

Tommy's Jobs Program

Article • May 15, 1995 • from PLN May, 1995

Filed under: Work, Prison Industries

Tommy's Jobs Program by Adrian Lomax Gov. Tommy Thompson recently unveiled his startling plan to put inmates to work in Wisconsin prisons. Thompson wants to allow private businesses to construct production facilities inside state prisons and employ inmates as laborers. The Governor assures us that his plan will accomplish several …

WI Guard Indicted for Mail Obstruction

Article • March 15, 1995 • from PLN March, 1995

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Mail Regulations

WI Guard Indicted for Mail Obstruction by In the October, 1994, issue of PLN we reported that U.S. Postal investigators were investigating the discovery of large quantities of prisoner mail found in the garbage at the Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. On December 8, 1994, the US Attorney for the …

Televisions in Prison

Article • January 15, 1995 • from PLN January, 1995

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Prisoner Privileges

Televisions in Prison by Reader Mail Your article, Prisons TV: Luxury or Management Tool? [Vol.5 No.9, Sept. '94], raises an issue that has been debated by myself and some other prisoners here in Wisconsin. I believe that Wardens and others within the DOC have a perception that televisions are assisting …

WI Enacts Sex Predator Law

Article • January 15, 1995 • from PLN January, 1995

Filed under: Civil Commitment, News, State Legislation

WI Enacts Sex Predator Law by By Jan Starks On May 26, 1994, Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson enacted a Sexual Predator Law, officially called 1993 Wisconsin Act 479. It was designed especially for two current prisoners: Gerald Turner, who in 1973 killed 9 year old Lisa French on Halloween night …

Shortened Pens States Claim

Article • November 15, 1994 • from PLN November, 1994

Filed under: Court Access, Writing Implements

Shortened Pens States Claim by Two prisoners in the segregation unit of the Waupun Correctional Institution at Waupun, Wisconsin, filed suit challenging the prison's practice of issuing segregation prisoners only the ink tube portion of a ball-point pen with which to write. Prisoners who modify the ink tube in anyway …

WI Removes Weights and Tennis Courts

Article • November 15, 1994 • from PLN November, 1994

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Exercise, Prisoner Privileges

WI Removes Weights and Tennis Courts by Wisconsin's hard-line Republican Governor Tommy Thompson, apparently concerned about his upcoming re-election bid, has ordered all weights and tennis courts removed from the Wisconsin prison system by October 1, 1994. Wisconsin prison officials were in the process of conducting an inventory of weights …

Hazardous Waste Found in WI Prison

Article • November 15, 1994 • from PLN November, 1994

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Prison Industries, Conditions of Confinement, Environmental Law, Water

Hazardous Waste Found in WI Prison by Since 1993 the Wisconsin Department of Corrections has been the subject of several scathing investigations by that state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The investigations have made several alarming discoveries, concluding that the DOC is failing to keep track of and properly dispose …

Refusal to Help Prisoner Eat Illegal

Article • November 15, 1994 • from PLN November, 1994

Filed under: Classification, Transfers, Disabled Prisoners, Nervous System, Food, Qualified Immunity

Refusal to Help Prisoner Eat Illegal by A Wisconsin state prisoner suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, had difficulty eating due to weakness in his arms, hands, jaw, facial and throat muscles used in eating due to the disease's progression. Part of the treatment …

Prisoner Mail Trashed at Waupun

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

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Mail, Mail Regulations

Prisoner Mail Trashed at Waupun by In the editorial in the September, 1994, issue of PLN, we noted that subscribers at the Waupun Correctional Institution at Waupun, WI. had complained of not receiving their issues of PLN. Shortly thereafter we learned why. The August 4, 1994, edition of the Wisconsin …

The "Correcting Corrections" Project Distributes Prison Video Documentaries

Article • September 15, 1994 • from PLN September, 1994

Filed under: Reviews, Organizing

The "Correcting Corrections" Project Distributes Prison Video Documentaries by Community activists in Madison, Wisconsin have joined together to develop the Correcting Corrections Project. Correcting Corrections combines art and journalism to create a series of educational videos, to organize community meetings, to arrange for radio and cable television broadcasts, and to …

Cross Gender Strip Searches Illegal

Article • July 15, 1994 • from PLN July, 1994

Filed under: Discrimination, Gender Discrimination -- Men, Strip Searches, Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Cross Gender Strip Searches Illegal by David Canedy is a Wisconsin state prisoner. He filed suit claiming that during a shakedown of his housing unit female guards strip searched him, causing him embarrassment, humiliation and mental distress. Male guards were readily available and could have conducted the search. He also …

Supreme Court Defines "Deliberate Indifference" in Prison Rape Case

Article • July 15, 1994 • from PLN July, 1994

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Injunctions

Supreme Court Defines "Deliberate Indifference" in Prison Rape Case by The US Supreme Court heard only one prison related case in its 1994 term, and it resulted in a win for the prisoner. In Farmer v. Brennan the court was asked to answer what constitutes "deliberate indifference" to a prisoner's …

Jail Detainees Have Right to Library Access

Article • April 15, 1994 • from PLN April, 1994

Filed under: Law Library Access/Adequacy, Civil Procedure, Complaints, Sanctions, Qualified Immunity

Jail Detainees Have Right to Library Access by This case involves a consolidated appeal of one suit by three Wisconsin county jail detainees and one by an Indiana jail detainee. All of the plaintiffs claimed their right of access to the courts was violated because the jails they were held …

Needs Mail Stamping of Prisoner Mail Information

Article • March 15, 1994 • from PLN March, 1994

Filed under: Mail, Mail Regulations

Needs Mail Stamping of Prisoner Mail Information by Reader Mail On November 1, 1993, Wisconsin Prisons started to stamp prisoner mail as originating in a prison. We filed for a temporary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. On October 28, 1993, the court came …

WI Prisoners Not Entitled to Minimum Wage

Article • January 15, 1994 • from PLN January, 1994

Filed under: Prison Industries, Federal Statutory Law, Fair Labor Standards Act, Ashurst Summers Act

WI Prisoners Not Entitled to Minimum Wage by In part of the continuing struggle to obtain minimum wages for their labor, five Wisconsin prisoners filed suit under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. The Wisconsin prison industries program, under the name of Badger State …

A Bunch of Scumbags

Article • December 15, 1993 • from PLN December, 1993

Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Crime, Conditions of Confinement, Environmental Law, Attorney Misconduct

A Bunch of Scumbags by Adrian Lomax By Adrian Lomax Awhile back a friend wrote in her letter to me that, as she was writing, her son walked into the room and asked what she was doing. Upon hearing her answer, the son said, "Those guys in prison are a …

WI Ad Seg Rules Don't Create Liberty Interest

Article • November 15, 1993 • from PLN November, 1993

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Liberty Interests, Ad-Seg Hearings

WI Ad Seg Rules Don't Create Liberty Interest by Wisconsin regulations governing the transfer of state prisoners to "temporary lockup" status do not create a protected liberty interest under the fourteenth amendment due process clause, a majority of the Wisconsin supreme court ruled June 3, 1993. The majority agreed with …

Report from the Hole

Article • November 15, 1993 • from PLN November, 1993

Filed under: Organizing

Report from the Hole by Adrian Lomax Report From The Hole By Adrian Lomax The guard stood in the middle of the seg unit, counting, 26 of the 40 cells had the 3x12 inch Plexiglas windows in the cell doors covered with paper form the inside. The 5:00 PM count …

Rules for Appointment of Counsel Clarified

Article • August 15, 1993 • from PLN August, 1993

Filed under: Appointment of Counsel, Transgender, Transgender Medical Procedures

Rules for Appointment of Counsel Clarified by Dee Farmer is a male to female transsexual federal prisoner. She filed suit against BOP officials claiming they were deliberately indifferent to her serious medical needs, in violation of the eighth amendment, by not providing her with medical and psychiatric treatment for her …