State Audit Exposes VCE Mismanagement by Aweek after the Island of Dr. Moreau scandal broke, the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts released an audit of Virginia Correctional Enterprises (VCE) covering the period between July 1, 1996 and May 11, 1998. The report said that VCE posted an operating loss of …
$28,719 Assessed Against Pro Se Litigant by Afederal district court in Virginia assessed $28,719.25 in defendants' attorney fees against an unsuccessful pro se prisoner litigant but declined to impose Rule 11 sanctions. John McGlothlin, a Virginia state prisoner, filed suit claiming violation of his right to the free exercise of …
Virginia Prisons 'Wide Open to Business' by Dan Pens Slave Labor Meets Hollywood In a warehouse near the Baltimore airport in 1997, California businessman Trek Kelly observed a supplier peeling tags off crates of merchandise. Later he found a tag that had been overlooked. A tag with the words "Virginia …
Truth Takes a Holiday in Virginia DOC Press Release by Virginia state prisons chief Ron Angelone announced in July, 1997, that he would drop his blanket ban on reporters entering prisons for face-to-face interviews with prisoners, but said reporters would still not be allowed into 10 of Virginia's 52 state …
PLRA Filing Fee Provisions Not Retroactive by The court of appeals for the fourth circuit held that the provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) that require prisoners filing civil actions or appeals in forma pauperis (IFP) to ultimately pay the filing fees in full, do not apply retroactively. …
4th Circuit Establishes Detainee Excessive Force Standard by The court of appeals for the fourth circuit, sitting en bane, held that the constitution does not prohibit the police from slapping pretrial detainees or inserting pens in their noses, while threatening to "rip it open," provided there is no sign of …
Fingers in the PIE by D.H. I thought you might be interested in the Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) program that was implemented at select Virginia prisons in 1997. The program allows the VDOC to contract outside of Virginia for prisoners to perform labor at minimum wage. I worked in the …
VI Decree Modification Denied Under PLRA, DOC Held in Contempt by A federal district court in the Virgin Islands made specific factual findings under the terms of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) holding that prison and jail conditions on the island were unconstitutional and required federal court intervention to …
Qualified Immunity in Failure to Protect Claim by James Quigley By James Quigley The court of appeals for the fourth circuit, sitting en banc, held that there is no constitutional violation when unarmed prison guards fail to immediately intervene to protect a prisoner from assault by an armed prisoner; that …
PLRA Filing Fees Don't Apply to Habeas by The court of appeals for the Fourth and District of Columbia circuits held that the filing fee provisions of the PLRA do not apply to habeas corpus petitions filed by prisoners. These courts agreed with all other circuits, the second, third, fifth, …
PLRA Not Enough for Fourth Circuit by One of the PLRA's stated purposes was to cut down on "frivolous" prisoner litigation by requiring full payment of filing fees and imposing a "three strikes" limitation on prisoners who have had more than three suits dismissed for being frivolous or not stating …
PLN Readers Dissatisfied with Freedom Press by For several years PLN ran a free ad for Freedom Press, a post-conviction paralegal service based in Virginia and headed by James Gossard. After receiving a couple of complaints about their service, PLN discontinued the ad in May of 1995. We contacted Gossard …
Virginia Warden Stabbed by Dan Pens In the December 1996 issue of PLN we reported, "Botched Escape Sparks Rebellion," about an attempted escape and prison uprising at the Nottoway Correctional Center in Virginia. Cited in that article was the high level of tension in the Virginia prison system due, in …
Virginia Felons Disenfranchised by Virginia is one of 13 states that permanently revoke the voting rights of felons. As a consequence, nearly a quarter of a million Virginians, most of them black men, cannot vote. A Virginia newspaper, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, examined state police records to compile a report citing …
Virginia Hawks Parolees' Names by Beginning in July 1996, the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) began publishing what has so far proven to be a hot seller: lists of parolees' names, address, offenses, sex and race. The parolee lists costs $5 per zip code. Bargain hunters, however, can purchase a …
Botched Escape Sparks Rebellion by [Editor's Note: There is no source PLN is aware of that keeps accurate statistics on the number of prison disturbances/rebellions. It is apparent to many who monitor prison news, including PLN, that the number of rebellions is on the rise. We attempt to cover them …
Publisher Entitled to Notice of Magazine Censorship by The court of appeals for the fourth circuit held that publishers are entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard when their publications are censored by prison officials. Virginia DOC Operating Procedure 852 sets forth the process by which censorship of …
No Jurisdiction for Some Qualified Immunity Appeals by The court of appeals for the fourth circuit held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear an appeal by prison officials accused of being deliberately indifferent to the safety of a prisoner where they stood by while he was attacked and stabbed by …
Virginia Class Action Members Sought by In 1982 Virginia state lawmakers passed Section 53.1-151 (B1), dubbed the "3-Time Loser Law." The law was modified several times over the years. The most recent rewrite, in 1994, reads, "Any person convicted of three separate felony offenses of (i) murder, (ii) rape, or …
Qualified Immunity for ADA Suit by The court of appeals for the fourth circuit ruled that Virginia prison officials were entitled to qualified immunity from an obese prisoner's suit filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act (RA). The court went into extensive detail discussing the …
