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Money Damages Available for Consent Decree Violations

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

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Damages, Injunctions, Contempt (Civil Procedure), Consent Decrees, Prisoner Property

Money Damages Available for Consent Decree Violations by Two prisoners at the Georgia State Prison (GSP) filed suit under § 1983 concerning the confiscation of personal property and the procedures at prison disciplinary hearings. In the mid-70's these issues had been litigated as part of a class action suit by …

Increasing Parole Review Time is Ex Post Facto

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

Filed under: Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Parole

Increasing Parole Review Time is Ex Post Facto by South Carolina's legislature passed a statutory amendment decreasing the frequency of parole reconsideration hearings from every year to every two years. A prisoner filed a civil rights complaint, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming the amendment was an unconstitutional ex …

Ad Seg Right to Eyeglasses and Toilet Paper

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

Filed under: Eyeglasses, Disciplinary Hearings, Liberty Interests, Hygiene Supplies, Legal Materials, Ad-Seg Hearings

Ad Seg Right to Eyeglasses and Toilet Paper by Vernon Williams is a California state prisoner in administrative segregation (ad seg) at San Quentin. He filed suit challenging numerous conditions of his confinement. The court granted Williams leave to proceed In Forma Pauperis. This is not a ruling on the …

Overcrowding Emergency Measures Get Old

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

Filed under: Classification, Transfers, Overcrowding

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 …

The Federal SRA: A Social Experiment Gone Astray

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

Filed under: Sentencing, Parole, U.S. Sentencing Guidelines

The Federal SRA: A Social Experiment Gone Astray by Lee Alphonso Moore In 1984 Congress confronted the rise in drug and firearm related crimes by instituting a social experiment. The social experiment became known as the Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) of 1984. Congress assumed longer federal prison sentences--without parole--would serve …

US Marshals Liable for Beating

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

Filed under: GEO Group/Wackenhut, Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Federal Tort Claims Act, Contractor Liability

US Marshals Liable for Beating by Fred Sandoval is a federal prisoner. While being transported to a court hearing the Marshals Service placed him in a private jail run by the Wackenhut corporation, contracted to the US government. A Wackenhut guard antagonized another prisoner who, thinking Sandoval was the culprit, …

Court Reporters Entitled to Only Qualified Immunity

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

Filed under: Immunity/Liability, Qualified Immunity, Judicial Immunity

Court Reporters Entitled to Only Qualified Immunity by Jeffrey Antoine was convicted of bank robbery in the US district court in Tacoma, WA. He appealed his conviction and ordered a copy of the trial transcript from the court reporter, May Ruggenberg. After two years of delays, filing deadlines passing, time …

California Prisons Grow

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

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Crime, Statistics/Trends, Overcrowding

California Prisons Grow by Since 1973 the U.S. prison population has tripled. According to a recent study by the Sentencing Project, a record 1.1 million Americans are now behind bars at a cost of $20.3 billion a year. We now have the highest rate of incarceration in the world, far …

No Waiver of Witness Fees for IFP Litigants

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

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Magistrates, Witnesses

No Waiver of Witness Fees for IFP Litigants by Bobby Dixon is a California state prisoner. He filed suit under § 1983 claiming that he was denied adequate medical treatment by prison officials. The case went to trial before a magistrate judge who granted the defendants' motion for a directed …

Periodical Reviews

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

Filed under: Commentary/Reviews, Reviews

Periodical Reviews by Journal of Prisoners in Prisons is a biannual publication from Canada. Each issue is about 140 pages in length in a bound soft cover book type format. The latest issue (Vol. 4, No. 2) has several excellent articles regarding control units including lengthy, detailed pieces on Marion …

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 …

Choice Between Exercise and Access Struck Down

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

Filed under: Exercise, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Qualified Immunity, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Choice Between Exercise and Access Struck Down by The message in this case is that both the right of access to the courts and the right to outdoor exercise are important ones. "To sanction the policy of forcing a prisoner to choose between two important, indeed fundamental, rights," the court …

Disobeying State Court Order Basis for Section 1983 Liability

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

Filed under: Classification, Disciplinary Litigation, Damages, Costs, Contempt (Civil Procedure), Qualified Immunity

Disobeying State Court Order Basis for Section 1983 Liability by Ernest Walters is an Iowa state prisoner. He was infracted for allegedly lying to a guard. He was found guilty at a disciplinary hearing and punished. Walters filed a post conviction action in state court and won a default judgement …

Shackling Plainitff Violates Right to Fair Trial

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

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Court Access, Court Appearances, Juries

Shackling Plainitff Violates Right to Fair Trial by Edward Lemons is an Illinois state prisoner. He claimed that while in segregation he was attacked and severely beaten by prison guards. When his case went to trial the judge went along with the defendant's request that Lemons be handcuffed and manacled …

Lopez v. Riveland, WA, Complaint, Spanish Interpreter, 1993

Brief • July 21, 1993

Filed under: Interpreters

Lopez v. Riveland, WA, Complaint, Spanish Interpreter, 1993 Salvador Lopez #998452 Washington State Reformatory P.O. Box 777 Monroe, Washington 98272-0777 Appearing pro se UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE SALVADOR LOPEZ 998452, CORTEZ ) SANCHEZ 991415, GUILLERMO ) MONDRAGON 702922, FRANCISCO ) MORALES 700908, JOSE CARRANZA …

Lopez v. Riveland, WA, Affidavit of Arturo Hernandez, 1993

Brief • July 21, 1993

Lopez v. Riveland, WA, Affidavit of Arturo Hernandez, 1993 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OP WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE Salvador Lopez, et al., Vs. Plaintiffs, Chase Riveland, et al., Defendants, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) CASP: NQ. Affidavit of Arturo HernandezC'Jo1Iez ------------) STATE OP WASHINGTON …

Lopez v. Riveland, WA, Affidavit of Miguel, 1993

Brief • July 21, 1993

Lopez v. Riveland, WA, Affidavit of Miguel, 1993 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE Salvador Lopez, et al., Vs. Plaintiffs, Chase Riveland, et al., Defendants, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) CASE NO. Af~idavi~ o~ Miguel Espinoza ------------) STATE OF WASHINGTON COUNTY OF …

Lopez v. Riveland, WA, Affidavit of Guillermo Mondragon, 1993

Brief • July 21, 1993

Lopez v. Riveland, WA, Affidavit of Guillermo Mondragon, 1993 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE Salvador Lopez, et al., Vs. Plaintiffs, Chase Riveland, et al., Defendants, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) CASE NO. ~~ldavlt of Qalilermo MOndragon -----------) STATE OP WASHINGTON COUNTY …

Lopez v Riveland Wa Affi of Jose Carranza 1993

Brief • July 21, 1993

Lopez v Riveland Wa Affi of Jose Carranza 1993 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE Salvador Lopez, et al., Plaintiffs, VS. Chase Riveland, et al., Defendants, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) CASE NQ. A~~idavit of 30se Carranza ------------) STATE OF WASHINGTON COUNTY …

Prison Riot in Argentina

Article • July 15, 1993 • from PLN July, 1993

Filed under: Prison Rebellion, Crime/Demographics, Escapes, Prisoners-International

Prison Riot in Argentina by One prisoner was killed and several were injured by gunfire and several others managed to escape from Batan prison outside Mar de Plata, Argentina, when a riot erupted after a Feb. 8, 1993, break out attempt. According to differing reports, either 23 or 18 of …