$377,500 Awarded in Tennessee Jail Death by In September 2001, a federal jury in Memphis, Tennessee, awarded $377,500 in damages to the estate of a mentally ill jail prisoner killed by guards. In November 1996, Calvin Shaw, a paranoid schizophrenic, was arrested on sexual assault charges and imprisoned at the …
Jailhouse Lawyering Protected; Frivolous Claims Are Not by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that a prisoner could not maintain an access to the courts claim based on an action that has been dismissed as frivolous, but the plaintiff can …
CCA Gets Tangled in Financial Quagmire by Ronald Young CCA Gets Tangled In Financial Quagmire Corrections Corporation of America said it is contesting an $8.1 million request for payment from Merrill Lynch & Company related to its hiring of the investment firm in late 1999 for advice on a company …
CCA Medical Cost-Saving Contract Unconstitutional by A Tennessee federal district judge as found an incentives contract between the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and a private doctor unconstitutional and must be stopped. The contract provided for financial incentives for the physician to reduce costs, which motivated him to reduce medical …
$235,000 Awarded to CCA Prisoner in Medical Suit by On March 23, 2001, a federal jury in Memphis, Tennessee, awarded Tennessee state prisoner Charles Degan $235,000 in damages in a medical neglect suit against Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the world's largest private, for profit, prison company. In 1998 Degan's …
$9.5 Million Awarded in Prisoner Van Fire Death by $9.5 Million Awarded In Prisoner Van Fire Death In late February 2001, Kathryn Catalano received a $9.5 million jury award in a Tennessee U.S. District Court. She sued after her father died in an extradition van fire. Federal Extradition Agency (FEA) …
$3 Million Award Not Excessive in Prisoner Beating Death by The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a $778,000 verdict and $2.2 million punitive damage award against Shelby County, Tenn. deputy sheriff Rhett Shearin and life prisoner Jerry Ellis in a county jail beating death where Shearin …
$40,000 Awarded in Tennessee Jail Failure to Protect Suit by A U.S. District Court in Tennessee ordered Shelby County to pay $40,000 to Jacob Miller for injuries suffered in an attack by fellow prisoners at Shelby County Correctional Center (SCCC). Miller arrived at SCCC in December 1995 to serve a …
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 …
