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Due Process for Control Unit Placement

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, Ad-Seg Hearings

Due Process for Control Unit Placement by The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that confinement in the Marion control unit, in and of itself, did not violate the Eighth amendment. The court affirmed most of a district court injunction ordering the BOP to improve various conditions as …

Ban on Disciplinary Hearing Witnesses Struck Down

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Witnesses (Disciplinary Hearings)

Ban on Disciplinary Hearing Witnesses Struck Down by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that prisoners have a right to call live witnesses at disciplinary hearings. The court held that a blanket Oregon prison rule banning all live witnesses at disciplinary hearings was unconstitutional. Rules in question …

Marion Lockdown Upheld, BOP Must Follow Own Rules

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Lockdowns, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Money/Property, Prisoner Property, Denial of Religious Services

Marion Lockdown Upheld, BOP Must Follow Own Rules by The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that the Marion lockdown, started in 1983, did not violate the due process or Eighth amendment rights of prisoners. The ban on group religious services was constitutional as was the denial of …

No Right to Clergyman of Choice

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Injunctions, Mootness, Clergy

No Right to Clergyman of Choice by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that Oregon prisoners do not have the right to clergymen of their choice, hence, prisoners can't sue when their favored clergyman is fired by prison officials. Court also held that injunctive and declaratory relief …

No Right to UNICOR Employment

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Work, Prison Industries, Prison Labor

No Right to UNICOR Employment by The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that federal prisoners at Marion had no statutory right to employment within the prison or at UNICOR, the federal prison industries program. The court held that the Marion lockdown did not violate the religious rights …

Prison Disciplinary Conviction on Unidentified Informant's Testimony Okay

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Informants (Disciplinary Hearings), Written Findings, Habeas Corpus

Prison Disciplinary Conviction on Unidentified Informant's Testimony Okay by The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming the U.S. District Court of Oregon, held that a prisoner's due process rights in a prison disciplinary hearing were not violated despite the lack of specificity in the time frame for the prison …

Denial of Orthopedic Shoes for 21 Months Defeats Summary Judgment

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Medical, Medication, Pain, Podiatry, Clothing, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability

Denial of Orthopedic Shoes for 21 Months Defeats Summary Judgment by An Oregon federal district court has held that prison officials at the Snake River Correctional Center could be liable for delaying adequate treatment of a prisoner's spastic paralysis, which resulted in a chronic case of claw foot. The prisoner, …

Dismissal of Oregon Guard's Disability Claim Reversed

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Guards/Staff, Employee Litigation, Disabled Employees

Dismissal of Oregon Guard's Disability Claim Reversed by The Court of Appeals of Oregon held that genuine issues of material fact precluded summary judgment of a former jail guard's disability claim. Scott Evans, a guard employed by the Multnomah County Sheriff's office, had heart surgery and was placed on an …

Probationer Waives Right to Counsel

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Counsel, Appointment of Counsel, Probation

Probationer Waives Right to Counsel by The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that a federal probationer could waive his constitutional right to counsel as given by 18 USC § 300A and the U.S. Constitution. This ruling applies to modification hearing as well. It is well established that Federal probationers, …

Oregon Prisons Ordered to Reduce Population to Design Capacity

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Overcrowding, Injunctions

Oregon Prisons Ordered to Reduce Population to Design Capacity by An Oregon federal district court entered injunctive relief requiring prison officials at the Oregon State Penitentiary, the Farm Annex, and Oregon State Correctional Institution to bring the population at those prisons to design capacity. This class action suit alleged the …

Oregon Seizure of Punitive Damages for Victim Fund Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Victims, Damages

Oregon Seizure of Punitive Damages for Victim Fund Upheld by The Oregon Supreme Court, sitting En Banc, held that Oregon's "split recovery" statute authorizing the State to seize 60 percent of all punitive damages awards does not violate the Oregon Constitution. Since 1987, ORS 18.540 has "directed that [60 percent] …

Incarceration Alone Does not Provide Basis for Adoption

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Family, Family Law, Fathers in Prison

Incarceration Alone Does not Provide Basis for Adoption by The Oregon Court of Appeals held that a parent's incarceration, by itself, does not provide a sufficient basis to adopt his or her child without consent. In 1998, Daniel M. Moran was incarcerated for being a felon in possession of a …

Oregon DSU Conditions Unconstitutional

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Food

Oregon DSU Conditions Unconstitutional by An Oregon federal district court, after trial and personally visiting the Disciplinary Segregation Unit (DSU) at Oregon State Prison, held DSU conditions are unconstitutional. A prisoner confined to the DSU, who gained 60 pounds while in DSU, has a recorded medical history of hypertension, epilepsy, …

Oregon Architects Not Liable For Design Negligence In Detainee Suicide

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Immunity/Liability, Premises Liability, Suicides

Oregon Architects Not Liable For Design Negligence In Detainee Suicide by Oregon state prisoner Paul Lyche committed suicide by hanging himself in a year old Washington County jail cell. Lyche's estate sued for negligence on the part of the architects. The federal district court granted summary judgment for the architects. …

State Court Habeas for Spinal Treatment Bars Federal Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Pain, Surgery, Sentencing, Habeas Corpus

State Court Habeas for Spinal Treatment Bars Federal Suit by The plaintiff, wheelchair-bound as a result of a gunshot wound, alleged that prison officials had failed to address his chronic pain and had rejected the advice of a specialist to implant a spinal cord stimulation (SCS) device. Another doctor later …

Parole Rule Ex Post Facto That Changes Revocation Standard

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Ex Post Facto, Parole

Parole Rule Ex Post Facto That Changes Revocation Standard by Application of a parole regulation that postdated the petitioner's offense and created a "significant risk of a more onerous sentence" violates the Ex Post Facto Clause. It need not be certain that the particular petitioner would serve more time. Here, …

Violent Oregon Prisoner Murders Cellmate; County Points Fingers; Family Sues

Article • December 15, 2006 • from PLN December, 2006

Filed under: Prison/Jail Murders, Failure to Protect (General), Wrongful Death, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death)

Violent Oregon Prisoner Murders Cellmate; County Points Fingers; Family Sues by By all accounts, 22-year-old Thomas Allen Tommy Gordon is an extremely dangerous man. In 2001 he fatally shot his friend, Dylan Beck, in the back of the head while they were driving in Vancouver, Washington. While awaiting trial Gordon …

Oregon Predatory Sex Offender Designation Order Reversed; Notice and Hearing Required in All Cases

Article • November 15, 2006 • from PLN November, 2006

Filed under: Discrimination, Sex Offender Registration

Oregon Predatory Sex Offender Designation Order Reversed; Notice and Hearing Required in All Cases by Oregon Predatory Sex Offender Designation Order Reversed; Notice and Hearing Required in All Cases The Oregon Supreme Court held that every offender facing a predatory sex offender designation under Oregon's community notification law is entitled …

Supreme Court: No Exclusionary Rule for Vienna Convention Violations

Article • November 15, 2006 • from PLN November, 2006

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, International, International Law

Supreme Court: No Exclusionary Rule for Vienna Convention Violations by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke On June 28, 2006, the Supreme Court held that violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Notification (Convention) do not require exclusion of evidence from a criminal trial and are subject to procedural default …

Oregon Guard Gets 32 Months For Sex With Prisoner

Article • October 15, 2006 • from PLN October, 2006

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution

Oregon Guard Gets 32 Months For Sex With Prisoner by The first guard caught in the snare of Oregons new law criminalizing sex with prisoners is a 36 year old mother of three. The judge called the case a tragedy, as he sentenced the 11-year veteran prison employee to 32 …