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PLRA Attorney Fee Provision Not Retroactive in Jail Conditions Suit

Article • November 15, 1999 • from PLN November, 1999

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Totality of Conditions, Attorney Fee Awards, Attorney Client, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Attorney Visits

PLRA Attorney Fee Provision Not Retroactive in Jail Conditions Suit by The court of appeals for the DC Circuit held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PRLA) provision, which caps attorney fee awards, applies to work performed after the act's effective date (April 26, 1996), even when the suit was …

Prisoners Have First Amendment Right to Private Conversations with Their Attorneys

Article • September 15, 1999 • from PLN September, 1999

Filed under: Attorney Client, Civil Procedure, Injunctions, Declaratory Judgment, Death Row, Attorney Visits

Prisoners Have First Amendment Right to Private Conversations with Their Attorneys by Prisoners Have First Amendment Right to Private Conversations With Their Attorneys A federal district court in Pennsylvania held that prisoners have privacy and free speech rights to private conversations with their attorneys. Pennsylvania state prisoners incarcerated on death …

Colorado Contraband Rule Requires Visitor Notice

Article • February 15, 1999 • from PLN February, 1999

Filed under: Notice of Rules, Criminal Prosecution, Smoking, Attorney Client, Visiting, Attorney Visits

Colorado Contraband Rule Requires Visitor Notice by The Colorado supreme court held that a state statute criminalizing the introduction of contraband into county jails was constitutional but affirmed dismissal of criminal charges because the jail failed to comply with the statute's notice requirements. Thomas Holmes, an attorney, was charged with …

Struggling Against the Death Machine

Article • September 15, 1998 • from PLN September, 1998

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Prison Rebellion, Hunger Strikes, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Legal Property, Prisoner Property, Death Row, Visiting, Attorney Visits

Struggling Against the Death Machine by Dan Pens Imagine your entire life concentrated within one tiny cage. Twenty-four hours, by seven days, times three-hundred sixty-five. The state of Pennsylvania owns the cage. Everything you own, everything you do, is squeezed into that suffocating space. There is nothing else. The State …

San Francisco City and County Jail Conditions Held Unconstitutional

Article • June 15, 1998 • from PLN June, 1998

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Totality of Conditions, Fire Hazards, Overcrowding, Ventilation, Exposure to Cold, Plumbing, Sewage, Water, Sanitation, Asbestos, Jail Specific, Lighting, Shelter, Noise, Attorney Client, Special Masters, Premises Liability, Attorney Visits

San Francisco City and County Jail Conditions Held Unconstitutional by A federal district court in California ruled that numerous conditions of confinement at San Francisco county jail # 3 violated contemporary standards of decency and the eighth and fourteenth amendments. Of particular importance to West coast readers, the court found …

Hicks v. Erie County, NY, Amended Complaint, Conspiracy to Obstruct Inmate Counsel, 1997

Brief • July 9, 1997

Filed under: Appointment of Counsel, Grievances, Visiting, Attorney Visits

Hicks v. Erie County, NY, Amended Complaint, Conspiracy to Obstruct Inmate Counsel, 1997 Rogers HICKS, Bernard J. Zolnowski, Jr., John Ives,..., 1997 WL 33793132... 1997 WL 33793132 (W.D.N.Y.) (Trial Pleading) United States District Court, W.D. New York. Rogers HICKS, Bernard J. Zolnowski, Jr., John Ives, individually and on behalf of …

California Prisoners Entitled to Contact Attorney Visits

Article • June 15, 1997 • from PLN June, 1997

Filed under: Visitor Searches, Attorney Client, Visiting, Attorney Visits

California Prisoners Entitled to Contact Attorney Visits by The California state court of appeals affirmed a superior court granting a writ of habeas corpus to a prisoner who was denied contact visits with his attorney. Alan Roark is a California state prisoner represented by Charles Lindner in his direct criminal …

Attorney Fees Awarded in Jail Suit for Attorney-Client Space

Article • August 15, 1996 • from PLN August, 1996

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Attorney Client, Costs, Consent Decrees, Visiting, Attorney Visits

Attorney Fees Awarded in Jail Suit for Attorney-Client Space by Criminal defense attorneys filed suit against the Washington County Jail in Oregon claiming that the space available for client consultation violated their clients right to counsel by inhibiting full and free consultation between clients and counsel; violated the attorneys' right …

Death Row Prisoners Keep Right to Contact Visits with Counsel

Article • October 15, 1995 • from PLN October, 1995

Filed under: Retaliation for Litigating, Attorney Fee Awards, Attorney Client, Death Row, Mental Health, Attorney Visits

Death Row Prisoners Keep Right to Contact Visits with Counsel by The court of appeals for the tenth circuit has held that condemned and maximum security prisoners held in an Oklahoma control unit are entitled to contact visits with their attorneys. The court also held that all violations of prisoners' …

Limits on Contact Visits With Counsel Reversed

Article • January 15, 1995 • from PLN January, 1995

Filed under: Attorney Client, Death Row, Visiting, Attorney Visits

Limits on Contact Visits With Counsel Reversed by Lee Barnett is a California state prisoner on death row. He filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claiming that prison officials had retaliated against him for filing civil rights suits against them; that he was denied contact visits with his attorney …

Pretrial Detainee Housed at Marion

Article • January 15, 1995 • from PLN January, 1995

Filed under: Habeas Corpus, Visiting, Attorney Visits

Pretrial Detainee Housed at Marion by Most PLN readers are familiar with the US Penitentiary at Marion, IL. The prison was totally locked down in October of 1983 and has remained that way ever since. Prisoners are locked in their cells 23 hours a day in extremely harsh and punitive …

Ninth Circuit Upholds Ban on Attorney Contact Visits

Article • February 15, 1994 • from PLN February, 1994

Filed under: Prison Labor, HIV/AIDS, Food, Attorney Client, Standing, Rehabilitation Act, Visiting, Attorney Visits

Ninth Circuit Upholds Ban on Attorney Contact Visits by This is a class action suit filed by Arizona state prisoners. They sued on two issues. First, they contend that the Arizona DOC's policy and practice of banning all contact visits between prisoners and their attorneys at various prisons violates their …

Death Row Prisoners Entitled to Limited Contact Attorney Visits

Article • January 15, 1994 • from PLN January, 1994

Filed under: Retaliation for Litigating, Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Death Row, Attorney Visits

Death Row Prisoners Entitled to Limited Contact Attorney Visits by This case involves a class action suit filed by Oklahoma death row prisoners and prisoners in the control unit of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. The case provides a revealing look at the mentality driving the construction of control units. The …

Indiana Control Unit Prisoners File Suit and Strike

Article • August 15, 1992 • from PLN August, 1992

Filed under: Hunger Strikes, Eighth Amendment, Exposure to Cold, Clothing, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Telephone Access, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Visiting, Attorney Visits

Indiana Control Unit Prisoners File Suit and Strike by Paul Wright On May 4, 1992, the Indiana Civil Liberties Union filed a class action suit in the Marion County, Indiana, Superior Court. The action is Taifa Vs. Bayh, and challenges numerous conditions of confinement at the Westville, IN, Maximum Control …