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Parole Commission Guidelines Not Ex Post Facto

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

Filed under: Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Parole, Federal Legislation

Parole Commission Guidelines Not Ex Post Facto by The federal prisoner in this case, Noble Simpson, filed a pro se habeas corpus petition against the U.S. Parole Commission. Simpson's suit challenged, on ex post facto grounds, the Commission's application at his second parole hearing of it's guidelines which were not …

Nominal Damages in Eighth Amendment Claim Upheld

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

Filed under: Sexual Assault, Prisoner-Staff Assault, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Damages, Evidentiary Ruling, Jury Instructions

Nominal Damages in Eighth Amendment Claim Upheld by Rederick Cummings was accused of attempting to rape a prison employee. During the course of "investigating" the rape allegations prison officials beat Cummings several times. Cummings filed suit alleging that the beatings violated his eighth amendment rights. At trial a jury found …

WA DNA Identification Statute Upheld by District Court

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

Filed under: DNA Testing/Samples, Religious Freedom, Religious Practices

WA DNA Identification Statute Upheld by District Court by The state of Washington has adopted legislation requiring prisoners convicted of sex offenses or violent crimes to submit to a blood draw in order to provide officials with DNA identification information. Joe Ryncarz filed a pro se 42 U.S.C. section 1983 …

Outgoing Mail May Contain Slander

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

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Legality of Rules, Guilty Pleas, Qualified Immunity, Mail Regulations

Outgoing Mail May Contain Slander by Aprisoner at the Iowa Men's Reformatory received a major disciplinary infraction for "verbal abuse" as a result of comments included in a letter he had written to his brother. The prisoner, Rick Bressman, wrote: "yeah, their (sic) real assholes, my counselor is a dick …

Prisoner's Assault Claim Must Go to Trial

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

Filed under: Prison Rebellion, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Civil Procedure, Summary Judgment, Evidentiary Ruling

Prisoner's Assault Claim Must Go to Trial by Prisoner's Assault Claim Must Go To Trial William Moore is a prisoner at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville. He filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claiming that his eighth amendment rights were violated when prison guards came to …

Law of Medical Treatment Explained

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

Filed under: Blind Prisoners, Medical, Medical Expenses, Vision, Eyeglasses, Damages, Frivolous Litigation, Administrative Exhaustion, Qualified Immunity

Law of Medical Treatment Explained by Ed Mead By Ed Mead Case Goes to Trial Over $12.40 Pair of Glasses Aprisoner at the Iowa State Penitentiary (ISP), Dean Benter, filed a suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging he was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the …

"Tough On Crime" Law Increases Michigan Crime Rates

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

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Crime, State Legislation

"Tough On Crime" Law Increases Michigan Crime Rates by Despite the increased use of prison as a criminal sanction, nearly every category of violent crime rose from 1981 to 1991. In the past decade, Michigan's legislature has passed many "tough on crime" laws and quadrupled the state's corrections budget, according …

Court Declines to Define "Frivolous" Suits

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

Filed under: Medical, Medication, Tuberculosis, Frivolous Litigation

Court Declines to Define "Frivolous" Suits by Anthony Brown is a Maryland state prisoner. After telling prison medical staff he had already been vaccinated, he was given another tuberculosis inoculation and broke out in a rash. Brown filed suit under §<%0> 1983 claiming that the vaccination violated his eighth amendment …

WA State DOC "Work Ethic" Program: Capitalist Training Camp, or Liberal Rehabilitation Scheme?

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

Filed under: Prison Industries, Conditions of Confinement, Boot Camps

WA State DOC "Work Ethic" Program: Capitalist Training Camp, or Liberal Rehabilitation Scheme? by PLG WA State DOC "Work Ethic" Program: Capitalist Training Camp, or Liberal Rehabilitation Scheme? By P. L. G. During the last session of the Washington State legislature, there was a bill passed mandating that DOC implement …

Reviews

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

Filed under: Commentary/Reviews, Reviews

Reviews by La Patria Radical is a bi-lingual (English and Spanish) tabloid published by the MLN (Movimiento de Liberacion Nacional, a Puerto Rican independence party). Each issue provides information about the Puerto Rican independence movement, community activism, government repression of the movement and updates on the numerous Puerto Rican political …

Materials on Prison Rape Survival Available

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

Filed under: Sexual Assault, Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, Resources

Materials on Prison Rape Survival Available by The Safer Society Program has recently produced and published a series of audio tapes made by ex-prisoners specifically for men confined in jails and prisons. Rape in prison is an important issue that has received all too little attention due to the stigmas …

Weed and Seed: The Fortress Culture

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

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Crime

Weed and Seed: The Fortress Culture by Christian Parenti America's inner cities are being militarized. And Operation Weed and Seed, initiated in 1991 by the Bush administration in order to subordinate social spending to the agenda of the Justice Department, lies at the heart of the assault. Michael Zinzun of …

Discipline For Rude Letter Struck Down

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

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Legality of Rules, Attorney Fee Awards, Damages, Qualified Immunity, Mail Regulations

Discipline For Rude Letter Struck Down by Lobester Loggins is a Missouri State prisoner. In 1989 he sent his brother a letter. Pursuant to prison policy a prison mail clerk opened and read the letter, which stated in part that "there's a beetle eyed bitch back here who enjoys reading …

Only One Appeal on Qualified Immunity

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

Filed under: Appeals, Money/Property, Tax Law, Qualified Immunity

Only One Appeal on Qualified Immunity by Only One Appeal On Qualified Immunity This case involves a taxpayer suing an IRS agent claiming her constitutional rights were violated when the agent garnished her wages and seized her house, even though he knew she owed no taxes. While this is not …

Death Row Prisoners Entitled to Limited Contact Attorney Visits

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

Filed under: Retaliation for Litigating, Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Death Row, Attorney Visits

Death Row Prisoners Entitled to Limited Contact Attorney Visits by This case involves a class action suit filed by Oklahoma death row prisoners and prisoners in the control unit of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. The case provides a revealing look at the mentality driving the construction of control units. The …

Dime Down

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

Filed under: Lockdowns, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Dime Down by Bill Dunne By Bill Dunne The lockdown at the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, is now a decade old. The magnitude of the decades in human experience is obvious in the marking of cultural epochs--the sixties, the fifties, the eighties. It even emerges in popular music as …

Disastrous Conditions in Vermont Prisons

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

Filed under: Sexual Harassment, Staff-Prisoner Harassment, Systemic Medical Neglect, Dental Care, Overcrowding, Sex Offender Treatment, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)

Disastrous Conditions in Vermont Prisons by Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project who have just visited four Vermont Prisons announced today that they plan to extend and deepen their investigation into unconstitutional prison conditions there. Attorney Edward Koren, team member and veteran litigator in major prison …

Editorial

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

Filed under: Commentary/Reviews, Editorials

Editorial by Ed Mead Editorial Comments By Ed Mead Well, at long last here I am writing my very first editorial from the streets! Regular PLN readers will remember that some month ago I initiated a campaign to get myself free. For reasons I still don't quite understand, I am …

Langford v. Bullock, MT, Fifth Amended Complaint, ADA Compliance, 1993

Brief • December 30, 1993

Filed under: Classification, Disabled Prisoners, Failure to Treat, Totality of Conditions, Fire Hazards, Overcrowding, Eighth Amendment, Reading Materials, Americans with Disabilities Act, Sex Offender Treatment, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Protective Custody

Langford v. Bullock, MT, Fifth Amended Complaint, ADA Compliance, 1993 t Langford v. Racicot PC-MT-001-001 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "lark J. Lopez idward I. Koren National Prison Project the American Civil Liberties Jnion Foundation L875 Connecticut Ave., NW Washington, DC 20009 Telephone: 202/234-4830 Edmund F. Sheehy, …

Lucasville: A Brief History

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

Filed under: Organizing, Prison Rebellion, Overcrowding, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Lucasville: A Brief History by John Perotti By John Perotti The pinnacle of the prisoners' rights movement had about reached its peak when I arrived at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville, Ohio, in 1977. I had been transferred from the Ohio State Reformatory (OSR) in Mansfield, Ohio, …