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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 …
Families Accuse Arkansas Prison of Poor Communication on COVID-19 Prisoners by Kevin Bliss by Kevin Bliss Arkansas’ Cummins Unit prison facility had 11 confirmed deaths due to coronavirus as of June 9, 2020. Families were concerned over a lack of communication and delayed notification from the Arkansas Department of Corrections …
Silence: The Bureau of Prisons’ Pathetic Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic by Christopher Zoukis by Christopher Zoukis The silence is deafening. Over a week in mid-May, Prison Legal News tried to contact public information officers at seven federal prisons seeking an answer to a straightforward question: What are you doing …
Report: Oaks of Justice Pitch to Help Prisoners Return Home Appears Shady by Bill Barton by Bill Barton It’s scarcely news that people incarcerated in federal prison are often desperate for any possible chance to return home. Unfortunately, prisoners aren’t really in a position to verify the legitimacy of assorted …
Innocence Project Working to Prove Arkansas Executed Innocent Man by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon On January 23, 2020, the family of an Arkansas man who was executed three years earlier, filed a lawsuit to obtain evidence from the scene of the murder for which he was convicted, hoping to …
Arkansas Supreme Court Denies Prisoner Preliminary Injunction on Religious Issues by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso On June 6, 2019 the Supreme Court of Arkansas denied a prisoner’s appeal of a circuit court’s refusal to issue a preliminary injunction regarding Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) policies as applied to …
$425,000 Settlement in Arkansas Detainee’s Death from Asthma Attack by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The estate of a pretrial detainee who died at Arkansas’ Pulaski agreed to a $425,000 settlement to resolve a civil rights action. The settlement requires payment from Pulaski County and its medical vendor, Turn …
Eighth Circuit Reverses District Court’s Order Requiring Halal Meals by Chad Marks by Chad Marks Abdulhakim Muhammad, a state prisoner in Arkansas, filed suit under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000 cc-1 to 2000 cc-5. He argued …
