$600,000 In GA Medical Neglect Suit by On February 27, 1999, a Baldwin county superior court jury in Georgia awarded prisoner Stephanie Stitt $600,000 in damages in a medical neglect suit against Correctional Medical Systems (CMS). Stitt fell and injured her back while playing volleyball at the Baldwin State Prison. …
Inquiry Required Before Dismissal for Failure to Pay Partial Filing Fee by Inquiry Required Before Dismissal for Failure to Pay Partial Filing Fee The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held a district court must inquire into why a prisoner failed to pay an initial partial filing fee as ordered …
Georgia Prisoner Wins $60,000 Retaliation Verdict by On September 30, 1999, U.S. district court judge Orinda Evans awarded Georgia state prisoner Ray Yelverton $60,000 in compensatory and punitive damages in a retaliation suit against prison officials. Yelverton was convicted of child molestation charges in 1990. He was imprisoned at the …
Ex-Welfare Workers in Georgia Replaced with Prison Slaves by To save money, a South Georgia recycling plant fired 50 trash sorters, including 35 who had taken jobs to get off welfare, and replaced them with prison slave labor. The former welfare clients had been earning $5.20/ hour before they were …
Go Directly to Jail: At the Academy in Alpharetta, Men Pay Big Bucks to Pretend They're in Prison by Dan Savage By Dan Savage Alpharetta, Georgia- I'm naked, and I'm not happy. In just under an hour, I've been subjected to two of three punishments I'd specifically asked to be …
Georgia Parole Regulation Still Ex Post Facto by The U.S. court of appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the retroactive application of an amendment to the Georgia parole regulations, changing the frequency of required parole reconsideration hearings, continues to violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of the federal constitution. …
Georgia Court Access Consent Decree Terminated by After being in effect less than a decade, a consent decree stemming from a class action lawsuit and providing for a mixed system of court access for Georgia state prisoners was dissolved on November 11, 1998, as U.S. District judge Anthony Alaimo vacated …
PLRA Doesn't Ban Class Actions by A federal district court in Georgia held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) does not ban class action suits by prisoners. In the October, 1998, issue of PLN we reported the Georgia DOC's settlement of a class action suit involving the beating and …
$250,000 FTCA Beating Judgment Reversed by The court of appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) shields the United States from liability for injuries sustained by a federal prisoner, as a result of an attack by another prisoner. A …
Georgia Prison Officials Take Taxpayers for a Long Ride by Georgia prison officials used $23,602 from state prison industries profits to attend a conference on prisons in Israel tied to the country's 50th anniversary celebration. DOC chief Wayne Garner defended the trip, saying he has been a" good steward of …
New Trial After Magistrate Conducts Jury Selection by The court of appeals for the Eleventh circuit held that a magistrate presiding over jury selection, when the plaintiff objects, constitutes reversible error and is not subject to a harmless error analysis. Albert Thomas, a Georgia state prisoner, sued state prison officials. …
Georgia Brutality Suit Settled for $283,500 by In a brief hearing on April 23, 1998, U.S. district judge Harold Murphy finalized an agreement that allowed 14 prisoner plaintiffs and their attorneys to receive $283,500. After approving the settlement judge Murphy was quoted as saying, "The settlement is fair, responsible and …
Georgia DOC Turns to Private Prisons by Alex Friedmann According to a report by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, by July 2003 the state will have just 42,000 prison beds for a projected 55,000 state prisoners. This imbalance is primarily due to a "two strikes" law that took …
The Buck Stops Where? by Alex Friedmann When Georgia prisoner Stanley Reed filed a federal habeas petition in January 1997 he probably didn't expect the response he received: The warden refused to answer the petition, raising the possibility that Reed might be released by default. The reason? Reed, although a …
Bob Bensing, Hero, Dies Suddenly by The world lost a hero in the struggle for human rights on February 3, 1998. Southern Center for Human Rights lawyer Bob Bensing, 42, was returning to Atlanta, GA, from Valdosta State Prison after meeting with two prisoner plaintiffs. His car reportedly hydroplaned and …
Health Care Contractor Subject to Monell Liability by The court of appeals for the eleventh circuit held that private companies performing traditional government functions are liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 but enjoy the protection of Monell v. Dept. Of Social Services of New York , 436 U.S. 658, 98 …
The Abuse of U.S. Women Prisoners by Julia Lutsky It is really like this dirty little secret that everyone in corrections knows about and doesn't want to talk about. It is a huge problem." The words are those of Brenda Smith, senior counsel of the National Women's Law Center quoted …
Georgia Prison Guards Speak Out by Dan Pens Shortly after Wayne Garner took over as Georgia's Corrections Commissioner in December 1995, he addressed the state legislature wherein he quipped, "...thirty to thirty-five percent [of GA prisoners] ain't fit to kill, and I'm going to be there to accommodate them." [See: …
Get More Georgia Prison Information by For those interested in learning more about the current wave of human and civil rights abuses in the Georgia DOC the Prison and Jail Project, a non profit grassroots group in Georgia, has published a 45 page booklet titled "Stop Human Rights Abuses in …
Senior DOC Officials Implicated by After lower ranking guards crossed the blue line, Hays state prison Lt. Ray McWhorter offered a stunning account of events -- including allegations that senior GA DOC officials not only witnessed the massive shakedown, but were instrumental in igniting the firestorm of brutality. McWhorter admitted …
