NJ Sex Offender Registration Ruled On by In 1990 Washington state passed the Community Protection Act which contained provisions requiring that sex offenders register with police and it also allowed law enforcement officials to notify the public of the sex offender's address, criminal history, etc. Since then several other states …
No Habeas for Jailhouse Lawyer Aid by In a rather novel ruling the third circuit has ruled that federal courts lack authority to issue writs of habeas corpus to ensure that an imprisoned pro se litigant has the assistance of a jailhouse lawyer at trial. Michael Jones is a New …
Settlements and Jury Awards by NJ: Former Bayside State prison, NJ, doctor John Napoleon, will have to pay six prisoners $80,000 to settle an eighth amendment medical neglect suit against him. The prisoner plaintiffs, all incarcerated in NJ state or county prisons, claimed that Napoleon deliberately failed to treat them …
FBI Heroin Dealer by FBI agent Kenneth Withers stole one hundred pounds of high quality heroin from FBI evidence lockers and then sent mail solicitations with a one ounce sample packet of heroin, to drug dealers whose names he had acquired from FBI files. Withers, a seven year FBI veteran, …
NJ Prisoners' Resource Center by In conjunction with the New Jersey American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) former prisoners have set up a Prisoner's Resource Center (PRC) to provide services and advocacy for both current and former prisoners in New Jersey. Among the services provided for prisoners are: assistance with parole …
Infraction No Double Jeopardy Bar by Gene Newby and Raynaldo Barber were federal prisoners convicted in US District Court of assaulting and interfering with BOP guards. Prior to being criminally convicted they had been infracted and found guilty, in a prison disciplinary hearing, of the same charges. As a result …
NJ Prison "Emergency" 12 Years Old by On January 20, 1994, New Jersey governor Christie Whitman renewed a 12 year old "emergency" declaration that forces counties to keep more than 3,600 state prisoners in their jails and accept the state's payment rate. As earlier reported in PLN the New Jersey …
Access to Courts: Standing to Assert Right by Access To Courts: Standing To Assert Right This access to the courts case was filed by the Prisoners' Legal Association (PLA), a sanctioned organization of seven jailhouse lawyers operating inside the East Jersey State Prison. The PLA claimed they were harassed because …
Court Access for Spanish Speakers by This is a § 1983 access to the courts case filed by a county jail prisoner who was not conversant in the English language. The plaintiff, Acevedo, claimed that his jailers denied him meaningful access to the courts by failing to maintain an adequate …
Denial of Physical Therapy Shows Deliberate Indifference by Joel Durmer was a New Jersey state prisoner. Shortly before being imprisoned he suffered two strokes which left him weakened and partially paralyzed. His treating physician prescribed extensive physical and water therapy which he received until he entered the DOC's custody. After …
Harassment of Jailhouse Lawyer Violates Access to Courts by Aprison guard's harassment of inmate paralegals is actionable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 as a violation of other prisoners' right of access to the courts, which was recognized as a constitutional right in Bounds v. Smith , 430 U.S. 817 (1977), …
Overcrowding Emergency Measures Get Old by In Worthington v. Fauver, 440 A2d 1128 (1982), the New Jersey Supreme Court upheld an order by the governor, under the state's Civil Defense and Disaster Control Act, transferring state prisoners from overcrowded state prisons to county institutions. After more than a decade of …
ACLU Challenges NJ DOC Censorship by The Newark, NJ, law firm of Crummy, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger and Vecchione, acting on behalf of the New Jersey ACLU, has filed a class action law suit challenging the censorship of political publications by New Jersey prison officials. The law suit, PSC Publications, …
Sundiata Acoli Needs Letters by In 1973 Black Panther members Sundiata Acoli and Assata Shakur were captured after a shootout with New Jersey state troopers. One of their comrades, Zayd Shakur, and a police officer were killed. Now, twenty years later, Sundiata is up for parole (Assata escaped from custody …
Expungement of Infraction Reversed by Michael Elkin is a New Jersey state prisoner. During the process of obtaining and testing a urine sample from Elkin, prison officials did not comply with the terms of a consent decree requiring urine samples to have a "continuity of evidence" attached and completed. Elkin …
New Jersey Prisoners Support Network by Prisoners, ex prisoners, friends and family members of prisoners and community activists in New Jersey have begun forming a Prisoner Support Network. So far two meetings have been held to discuss ways to end various forms of repression and discrimination in the New Jersey …
NJ Prisoner Wins Censorship Suit by In April, 1991, New Jersey DOC officials at the Trenton prison banned MIM Notes (journal of the Maoist International Movement) because it contained articles on oppression at Trenton. The DOC said all future issues would also be banned. One of the prisoners, Kevin Thomas, …
NJ Ad Seg Rules Create Liberty Interest by Salvatore Gerardi is a New Jersey State prisoner who was suspected by prison officials of being part of a drug trafficking ring. Gerardi claimed his right to due process was violated when prison officials placed him in the Maximum Control Unit (MCU) …
Mail to Public Officials and Media Protected by Mail To Public Officials And Media Protected The New Jersey Department of Corrections had a regulation that prevented them from opening outgoing "legal correspondence," but allowed prison officials to open,-read; and censor mail being sent to public officials, government agencies and media …
Disclosure of AIDS Condition Violates Right to Privacy by Disclosure Of AIDS Condition Violates Right To Privacy The federal district court in New Jersey ruled that disclosure of a person's medical condition, especially exposure to or infection with HIV (the virus suspected of causing AIDS), is disclosure of a "personal …
