Pennsylvania Officials Link Halfway House Payments to Recidivism Rates by Derek Gilna Community corrections centers, also known as halfway houses, receive a great deal of money to help prepare prisoners to reenter society. Unfortunately, according to a recent study in Pennsylvania, the state’s 38 halfway houses with 4,313 beds have …
Third Circuit Holds No RLUIPA Damages by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a judgment for prison officials on a Pennsylvania prisoner's religious freedom claims. Pennsylvania prisoner Shawn Sharp is a Sunni Muslim who "identifies himself as a member of the Habashi sect." "Jumah is a group prayer service …
Third Circuit: Prison Disciplinary Hearing Officer Must Examine Potentially Exculpatory Evidence by The Third Circuit held, twice in the same case, that it is a due process violation for a prison hearing officer not to examine documentary evidence that a prisoner charged with a disciplinary infraction believes will exonerate him, …
Fifth Amendment Right Waived, If Not Invoked During Polygraph Test by Pennsylvania parolee David S. Knoble served his sentence for endangering the welfare of a child, conspiring with his wife for her to engage in sexual intercourse with his 14-year old son and then placed on four-year probation. He was …
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Reinstates Homeless Man's Failure-to-Register Conviction by In 1998, William Howard Wilgus was convicted of aggravated indecent assault. Because he was a sexually violent predator, he was required to register under the Megan's Law 42 Pa. C.S. § 9795.1 (6) (4). His five years to life imprisonment sentence …
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds Right-to-Know Law on Public Records by On May 29, 2012, Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the Right-to-Know Law (RTKL), which generally provides access to public records of a Commonwealth or local agency. Gretchen Wintermantel, a reporter for the Scranton Times Tribune, used the RTKL to have access …
Third Circuit: Non-Sex-Offender Prisoners Entitled to Due Process Before Prison Requires Sex Offender Treatment by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On October 4, 2010, the Third Circuit held that a prisoner who has not been charged with or convicted of a sex offense may not be compelled to participate in …
Pennsylvania DOC Settles Accommodation Suit by Brandon Sample On July 19, 2010, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) agreed to pay $2,000 to a Pennsylvania state prisoner who sued after he was denied access to certain religious publications. Basil Allah Yates, a member of the Nation of Islam, sued the …
Why Are Prisoners Committing Suicide in Pennsylvania? by Matt Stroud By the time John McClellan, Jr. was found dead inside Pennsylvania’s State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Cresson in May 2011, he had long been categorized as “special needs” for his history of addiction and mental instability. Yet prisoners and staff …
Equitable Tolling of AEDPA Includes Non-English Speaking Petitioners by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a language inability, when combined with denial of legal or translation assistance, can be an extraordinary circumstance for equitable tolling purposes in habeas cases. The issue was before the Third Circuit following …
Dismissal of Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Legal Mail Claim Reversed by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the grant of summary judgment to officials at Pennsylvania’s State Correctional Institution at Smithfield (SCI) in a civil rights action claiming they engaged in a pattern or practice of opening a prisoner’s legal mail …
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Clarifies Incarcerated Parents’ Rights by The Pennsylvania Supreme Court entered orders in two separate cases that affect the rights of incarcerated parents. The first reiterates the principle that a parent’s incarceration, standing alone, cannot constitute proper grounds for the termination of his or her parental rights. The …
NAACP Sues over Censorship of Criminal Justice Reform Ad by The NAACP has partnered with the ACLU of Pennsylvania to sue the city of Philadelphia, charging its rejection of an advertisement promoting criminal justice reform to appear at the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) violates the First Amendment. The ad was …
Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania v. Wetzel, PA, Complaint, Solitary Confinement of Mentally Ill, 2013 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA : DISABILITY RIGHTS NETWORK OF : PENNSYLVANIA, : : Plaintiff, : : v. : Civil Action No. ______ : JOHN WETZEL, in his …
In Memory of Jon E. Yount (1938-2012) by Peter Wagner Sometime in the early morning of April 26, 2012, in his cell in a remote Pennsylvania prison, a 74-year-old jailhouse lawyer serving a life sentence hung himself. He was a quiet man who avoided taking credit for his work, so …
McCallion v. Ames, PA, Complait, Guard Excessive Force, 2013 Case 1:13-cv-00050-SPB Document 1 Filed 02/13/13 Page 1 of 9 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA JEROME McCALLION, Plaintiff, v. BRIAN AMES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) 50 Erie Civil …
Johnson v. Medlock, Complaint, Wrongful Death, Medical - Failure to Treat, 2009 Case 1:13-cv-00050-SPB Document 1 Filed 02/13/13 Page 1 of 9 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA JEROME McCALLION, Plaintiff, v. BRIAN AMES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) …
Pennsylvania: Former BOP Warden Pleads Guilty to Cover-up by Troy Levi, the former warden of Federal Detention Center (FDC) Philadelphia, was indicted by a federal grand jury on September 13, 2011. Levi, 49, was charged with multiple counts of obstruction of justice, witness tampering and making false statements to federal …
Jackson v. City of Pittsburg, PA, Voire Dire Questions,2013 PLAINTIFFS' PROPOSED VOIR DIRE QUESTIONS This is a serious case involving a number of issues on which people hold deep and strong beliefs, including but not limited to, the use of profane language, excessive force by police, and retaliation for the …
