Improperly Installed Bunks State 8th Amendment Claim by The court of appeals for the Sixth circuit held that a prisoner's complaint that bunk beds are improperly installed upside down, and the anchor bolts' protrusion into the sleeping area states an eighth amendment claim. Tennessee prisoner Forrest Zayne Brown filed a …
BOP Prisoners' Convictions for Destroying Military Factory Upheld by In October, 1995, riots broke out in more than a dozen federal prisons after Congress voted down sentencing guideline commission rules that would have equalized the penalties for possession of crack and powder cocaine. [PLN Jan. 1996] As is historically the …
Wisconsin Prisoners Rebel at Private Tennessee Prison by On November 30, 1999, Wisconsin state prison officials were touring the Whiteville Correctional Facility (WCF) in Tennessee. The prison is operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and houses 1,500 Wisconsin prisoners. Just minutes after WCF warden Percy Pitzer led an entourage …
Prison Realty Hires PR Firm by Nashville-based Prison Realty Trust, the parent company of Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), has hired a leading public relations firm to improve its image. In Sept. 1999 Prison Realty retained Los Angeles-based Sitrick & Co., which specializes in crisis management. Sitrick will handle Prison …
Tennessee Prison Guard to Pay $50,000 for Stabbing by A former Tennessee Dept. of Correction guard has been ordered to pay $50,000 to a prisoner who was attacked and stabbed after he resisted the extortion demands of other prisoners. U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell ruled on August 7, 1999 that …
Prison Realty Stock Plummets; Shareholders File Suit by Last May the price of shares in Prison Realty Trust Inc., the parent company of Corrections Corporation of America, fell almost 35% within a week after Prison Realty announced it would pay increased costs for building and marketing private prisons. Several investment …
Tennessee Supreme Court Upholds Private Prison Disciplinary Procedures by When the Tennessee legislature passed the Private Prison Contracting Act of 1986, codified at TCA § 41-24- 101 to 115, the following provision was included: "No contract for correctional services shall authorize, allow or imply a delegation of the authority or …
Private Prison Escape Explained by On October 12, 1998, four prisoners escaped from the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) South Central Correctional Center in Wayne County, Tennessee [See: News In Brief, Feb. '99 PLN ]All of the escapees were eventually captured. On January 15, 1992, CCA warden Kevin Myers appeared …
Felon Possession of Firearm Nonviolent Offense by The court of appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that possesion of a firearm by a previously convicted felon is a "nonviolent offense," and federal prisoners who are otherwise eligible for one-year sentence reductions under the "Comprehensive Drug Abuse Treatment Program" (Program) are …
Wisconsin Resists Out-of-State Transfers by In October, 1996, Wisconsin's legislature granted the Department of Corrections (WDOC) authorization to house 700 prisoners in Texas County Jails. WDOC Secretary Michael Sullivan overcame the opposition to that first prisoner-export proposal by assuring the public that the crossborder option was merely a stop-gap measure …
Abuse of Prisoners Confirmed at CCA Facility by On August 5, 1998, Jerry Reeves, a guard at Tennessee's Whiteville Correctional Facility (WCF), suffered near-fatal injuries in an altercation with prisoners. WCF, which houses prisoners from Wisconsin, is owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). In the days …
Tennessee Prisoners Fight to Keep Money by Eight Tennessee prisoners have filed suit to challenge the constitutionality of a state law that allows the Department of Corrections to seize up to 90 percent of a prisoner's trust account to pay for the cost of their own imprisonment. The new law …
Tennessee Prison Privatization Bill Fails to Pass by Alex Friedmann Adramatic confrontation between the private corrections industry and opponents of prison privatization played out in Tennessee earlier this year, ending in an embarrassing defeat for the prison profiteers. Similar struggles can be expected in other states as privatization continues to …
PLN Writer Exiled by CCA by PLN Writer Exiled by CCA Alex Friedmann is a prisoner and a journalist. Until recently he also warmed a for-profit bunk at the Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) South Central Correctional Facility in Clifton, Tennessee. That is, until his corporate warders decided that Alex …
Union Reverses Position on Private Prisons by Last May, when a bill was introduced in the Tennessee legislature to privatize the state's entire corrections system, the private prison industry achieved a major coup by winning the support of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a 1.3 million-member …
Recent US Supreme Court Rulings of Interest: Civil Rights by The court held that 18 U.S.C. § 242 imposes criminal liability on government officials who violate the constitutional rights of citizens if the unlawfulness in question is apparent in light of preexisting law. The court adopted a test identical to …
U.S. Supreme Court: No Immunity for Private Prisons by Paul Wright The U.S. supreme court, in a five to four ruling, held that employees of privately owned and operated prisons are not entitled to qualified immunity from suit. In the January, 1997, issue of PLN we reported McKnight v. Rees, …
Jail Assault Requires Trial by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that whether a prisoner's question to a guard about what would happen if he assaulted another prisoner, required a trial to determine if the guard was liable when the questioner then assaulted another prisoner. William Street …
Prisoners Roasted Alive by A van carrying prisoners burst into flames alongside a Tennessee interstate highway, killing all six prisoners shackled inside a wire mesh cage in the back of the van. The prisoners were being transported in a van operated by Federal Extradition Agency, a private Memphis-based company that …
Hill v. Germantown, TN, Plaintiff Consolidated Brief Supporting Fed Damages Claims - Joint and Several Liability in Wrongful Death (1997) IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF TENNESSEE FOR THE THIRTIETH JUDICIAL DISTRICT AT MEMPHIS GREGORY HILL, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. NO. 70577-9 T.D. CITY OF GERMANTOWN, et al., Defendants. RONALD CROWDER, …
