Sixth Circuit Extends Abela Ruling to Parole Denial Habeas Petitions by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the 90-day period to apply for certiorari review to the U.S. Supreme Court tolls the one-year statute of limitations for habeas corpus actions challenging parole denial. In so holding, the …
Sixth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of ETS/Retaliation Claims by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(10)(1) dismissal of an environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) claim filed by a Tennessee prisoner, concluding that the plaintiff alleged sufficient facts to state a cognizable Eighth Amendment claim. The appeals court …
A Captive Audience For Salvation by Jane Lampman A for-profit prison company stirs hope - and church-state issues - pursuing partnerships with Evangelical Christian ministries. NASHVILLE, TENN. - America has the highest incarceration level in the world, and its prisons serve too consistently as revolving doors. Are faith-based programs in …
$500,000 CCA Escape/Hostage Damage Award Upheld by The Tennessee State Court of Appeals upheld a $500,000 compensatory damage award against Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), to a woman who was taken hostage by an escaped CCA prisoner. Mike Settle was a prisoner at Hardeman County Correctional Facility (HCCF), a CCA …
PHS Parent Company Fires Executives For Cause In Billing Scandal by America Service Group, the parent company of Prison Health Services, has fired two high level employees in connection with billing improprieties by its prison pharmacy division. ASG fired Trey Hartman, president and chief operating officer of Prison Health Services, …
Four CCA Guards Indicted in Murder of Nashville Prisoner by Matthew T. Clarke Four guards have been indicted for reckless homicide and aggravated assault in the July 2004 murder of a female prisoner at the Metro Detention Facility in Nashville, Tennessee, previously reported in PLN. [see PLN, Apr. 2005, p. …
PLN Questions John Ashcroft on the Death Penalty by by Alex Friedmann On Feb. 13, 2006, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft gave a presentation in favor of the death penalty at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee as part of the school's Project Dialog series. The series' theme for 2006 …
Low Pay Drives Tennessee Guards to Smuggle Drugs, Contraband into Prisons by Tennessee lawmakers are complaining that their prison guards are helping to drugs and other contraband into the state's prisons. They specifically are bemoaning that those guards are being allowed to quit or resign without facing criminal prosecution when …
Incompetence, Brutality and Scandal Infest Tennessee Prisons and Jails by by Michael Rigby Tennessee isn't known for its huge prison system, like Texas or California. Nor is the state's capital city, Nashville, recognized for massively overcrowded jails such as the ones in Los Angeles or New York City. But one …
Los Angeles County Jail Tests Prisoner Radio ID Tags by by John E. Dannenberg The Los Angeles (L.A.) County Sheriff's Department will spend $1.5 million to install a computerized radio ID tag system in 2006 to monitor the location of 1,900 prisoners at the Pitchess Detention Center (county jail) in …
Lethal Injection Painful, Study Suggests; U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Issue by by Michael Rigby Hundreds of prisoners killed by lethal injectionthe preferred method of execution in 37 states and the federal Bureau of Prisonsmay have suffered agonizing deaths due to a routine failure to administer enough anesthesia, according to …
Mass Parole Re-Hearings in Tennessee Following AG Opinion by Alex Friedmann With some level of irony, on June 7, 2005 the Tennessee Attorney General's office sent a letter to the state's Board of Probation and Parole, recommending that the Board limit the amount of time between parole hearings and suggesting …
Tennessee Pretrial Jail Credit Mandatory, Not Waivable by The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed a defendant's convictions, holding that the trial court should not have accepted [his] plea agreement waiving pretrial Jail credit and that the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. …
Antibiotic Resistant Staph Infections Continue to Plague Prisons, Jails by Michael Rigby Antibiotic Resistant Staph Infections Continue to Plague Prisons, Jails by Michael Rigby Chelsea Johnson, 30, said it began as a small pimple that formed on her right cheek shortly after she arrived at the Orange County Jail in …
$800,000 Awarded to Wrongly Convicted Tennessee Man by After maintaining his innocence for 22 years, Clark McMillan was released from prison after DNA evidence cleared him of raping a 16 year-old in 1980. McMillan was released from a Tennessee prison in 2002 after DNA testing revealed a former Memphis resident …
Tennessee Public Records Act Requires Delivery Of Records To Prisoners by The Tennessee Court of Appeals has held that the state's Public Records Act requires a District Attorney General not only to make public records available, but to copy and deliver records requested by prisoners. Jaxie Raymond Jones, a Tennessee …
