Search | Prison Legal News

News in Brief

Article • March 1, 2022 • from PLN March, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: In Mobile on January 21, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama announced that an 18-month federal prison sentence for bribery had been handed down by a federal court to Lakerdra Shanta Snowden, 31, a former guard at the Escambia County …

News in Brief

Article • February 1, 2022 • from PLN February, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: According to Birmingham Real-Time News, a kidnapper was recaptured after being erroneously released from jail in Jefferson County, Alabama, on December 17, 2021. The prisoner, Matthew Burke, 35, was apprehended during a traffic stop after being released from the Jefferson County Jail on Dec. 11 …

Floreal-Wooten v. Washington County Detention Center, AK, Complaint, Medical Treatments-Covid, 2022

Brief • January 13, 2022

Filed under: Consent to Treatment, Forcible Treatment, COVID-19

Floreal-Wooten v. Washington County Detention Center, AK, Complaint, Medical Treatments-Covid, 2022 Case 5:22-cv-05011-TLB-CDC Document 2 Filed 01/13/22 Page 1 of 14 PageID #: 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS FAYETTEVILLE DIVISION EDRICK FLOREAL-WOOTEN; JEREMIAH LITTLE; JULIO GONZALES; DAYMAN BLACKBURN v. PLAINTIFFS Case No. 5:22-cv-05011-TLB-CDC WASHINGTON COUNTY DETENTION …

Eighth Circuit Holds Arkansas Jailers Entitled to Qualified Immunity in Prisoners’ Suit Over Black Mold in Showers, Lack of Cleaning Supplies

Article • December 1, 2021 • from PLN December, 2021

Filed under: Sanitation, Qualified Immunity

Eighth Circuit Holds Arkansas Jailers Entitled to Qualified Immunity in Prisoners’ Suit Over Black Mold in Showers, Lack of Cleaning Supplies by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that Arkansas jailers were entitled to qualified immunity in a lawsuit brought by …

Eighth Circuit Rules District Court Must Use Federal Law for Admissibility of Expert Testimony

Article • December 1, 2021 • from PLN December, 2021

Filed under: Expert and Opinion Testimony

Eighth Circuit Rules District Court Must Use Federal Law for Admissibility of Expert Testimony by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit agreed with Plaintiff Craig Shipp that a district court erred when it failed to rely on federal law in determining the …

Preliminary Injunction Bars Arkansas from Confiscating Prisoners’ COVID Stimulus Money

Article • November 1, 2021 • from PLN November, 2021

Filed under: COVID-19, Seizure of Prisoner Funds

Preliminary Injunction Bars Arkansas from Confiscating Prisoners’ COVID Stimulus Money by David Reutter by David M. Reutter An Arkansas federal district court issued a preliminary injunction that bars the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) from carrying out a state law that confiscates prisoners’ stimulus money and distributes it to the …

Hayes v. Graves, AR, Brief in Support of Class Certification, COVID Stimulus Checks, 2021

Brief • October 12, 2021

Filed under: COVID-19, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Tax Law

Hayes v. Graves, AR, Brief in Support of Class Certification, COVID Stimulus Checks, 2021 Case 4:21-cv-00347-LPR Document 127 Filed 10/12/21 Page 1 of 9 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS CENTRAL DIVISION STEVEN C. HAYES, ADC # 657050, On behalf of himself and all …

Hayes v. Graves, AR, Motion for Class Certification, COVID Stimulus Checks, 2021

Brief • October 12, 2021

Filed under: COVID-19, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Tax Law

Hayes v. Graves, AR, Motion for Class Certification, COVID Stimulus Checks, 2021 Case 4:21-cv-00347-LPR Document 126 Filed 10/12/21 Page 1 of 3 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS CENTRAL DIVISION STEVEN C. HAYES, ADC # 657050, On behalf of himself and all others similarly …

News in Brief

Article • October 1, 2021 • from PLN October, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: On August 19, 2021, twoconvicted robbers were convicted of murder in the death of a fellow prisoner they and two others attacked in 2017 at Bibb Correctional Facility in Brent, Alabama. According to a report by Montgomery TV station WSFA, Dominique Covin and Roderick DeLaune …

Eighth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of HRDC Postcard-Only Suit Against Arkansas Jail

Article • October 1, 2021 • from PLN October, 2021

Filed under: PLN Litigation, Prison Mail

Eighth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of HRDC Postcard-Only Suit Against Arkansas Jail by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the postcard only policy of the Baxter County, Arkansas Jail and Detention Center (BCJ) constituted a de facto permanent ban on the First Amendment …

Lamar v. Hutchinson, AR, Order Granting Preliminary Injunction, Covid Response, 2021

Brief • September 3, 2021

Filed under: COVID-19, Money/Property, Seizure of Prisoner Funds

Lamar v. Hutchinson, AR, Order Granting Preliminary Injunction, Covid Response, 2021 Case: 4:21-cv-00347-r 1 Document#: 79-0 Filed: 09/o,---·-Q21 Page 1 of 30 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS CENTRAL DIVISION PLAINTIFF ANTHONY LAMAR ADC#120479 v. Member Case No.: 4:21-CV-00529 Master Case No.: 4:21-CV-00347 DEFENDANTS ASA HUTCHINSON, …

University of Arkansa Law Review - Spring 2021

Publication • 2021

Filed under: Prison Rape Elimination Act

University of Arkansa Law Review - Spring 2021 U N I V E R S I T Y O F A R K A N S A S AT L I T T L E R O C K LAW REVIEW ARTICLES Diagrammatics and the Proactive Visualization of Legal Information …

Southern Republican Senators Criticize Third Pandemic Relief Bill for Giving Payments to Prisoners

Article • May 1, 2021 • from PLN May, 2021

Filed under: Anti-Alienation Statutes

Southern Republican Senators Criticize Third Pandemic Relief Bill for Giving Payments to Prisoners by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Editors’ Note: On March 17, the IRS announced that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals filing for the 2020 tax year was extended from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021.  No Republican senator voted to …

Southern Republican Senators Generate Publicity by Criticizing Third Pandemic Relief Bill For Giving Payments to Prisoners

Article • March 31, 2021

Filed under: COVID-19, Money/Property, Seizure of Prisoner Funds

Southern Republican Senators Generate Publicity by Criticizing Third Pandemic Relief Bill For Giving Payments to Prisoners by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke  No Republican senator voted to pass the very popular third pandemic economic impact relief bill that sent most Americans a $1,400 relief payment. Initially, they said that the …

Eighth Circuit Dismisses Hormone Therapy Suit as Moot When Arkansas Prison Officials

Article • March 22, 2021

Filed under: Medical, Hygiene Supplies, Transgender

Eighth Circuit Dismisses Hormone Therapy Suit as Moot When Arkansas Prison Officials by On January 8, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that mid-litigation treatment of a prisoner’s gender dysphoria with hormone therapy mooted her claims, requiring dismissal. Arkansas prisoner Stansel Alexander Prowse brought …

News in Brief

Article • February 1, 2021 • from PLN February, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Afghanistan: As fighting continued between Taliban forces and the Afghan military on September 3, 3020, both parties announced they had nearly completed a prisoner exchange negotiated the previous February. According to a report by Japan’s public broadcasting company, HNK, the Taliban said all 1,000 Afghan prisoners …

News in Brief

Article • January 1, 2021 • from PLN January, 2021

News in Brief by Alabama: On August 21, 2020, Sylvester Hartley became the seventh prisoner to die of complications from COVID-19 at Alabama’s St. Clair Correctional Facility, according to a report in the St. Clair News-Aegis. The 60-year-old, who was serving a life-without-parole sentence for three counts of first-degree kidnapping, …

Arkansas Governor Hutchinson Grants Commutation for Blind Mother

Article • December 1, 2020 • from PLN December, 2020

Filed under: Blind Prisoners, Pardons/Clemency

Arkansas Governor Hutchinson Grants Commutation for Blind Mother by Kevin Bliss Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson agreed to commute Willie Mae Harris’ sentence after 34 years in prison for accidentally shooting her abusive husband. She was released on June 5, 2020. Harris, 72, from Bradley, Arkansas was charged with murder in …

Letter to Governors Cuomo and Hutchinson Regarding Affordable Prison Communication Services

Publication • September 22, 2020

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Letter to Governors Cuomo and Hutchinson Regarding Affordable Prison Communication Services September 22, 2020 The Honorable Andrew Cuomo Governor of the State of New York and Chair of the National Governor’s Association The Honorable Asa Hutchinson Governor of the State of Arkansas and Vice Chair of the National Governor’s Association …

Report: Arkansas Let Asymptomatic Prison Employees Infected with Coronavirus Continue to Work

Article • September 1, 2020 • from PLN September, 2020

Filed under: COVID-19, Failure to Protect (General)

Report: Arkansas Let Asymptomatic Prison Employees Infected with Coronavirus Continue to Work by David Reutter by David M. Reutter In late April 2020, prisoners at Arkansas’ Cummins Unit knew that the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, was spreading among not only the prison’s inmates but also its staff. But a …