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Defendants' Attorney Fee Award Must Be Supported by Record

Article • July 15, 2001 • from PLN July, 2001

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Civil Procedure, Frivolous Litigation, Costs

Defendants' Attorney Fee Award Must Be Supported by Record by The court of appeals for the Tenth circuit held that district courts who award civil rights defendants attorney fees must explain the basis for the award. G. Sam Houston is a Colorado prisoner convicted of assorted sex crimes against children. …

Celestine v. US, CO, Settlement, Excessive Force, 2001

Brief • May 8, 2001

Filed under: Excessive Force

Celestine v. US, CO, Settlement, Excessive Force, 2001

Colorado Prisoner Challenges 'Sex Offender' Label

Article • March 15, 2001 • from PLN March, 2001

Filed under: Classification, Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Good Time, Sex Offender Treatment

Colorado Prisoner Challenges 'Sex Offender' Label by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Colorado prisoner's classification as a "sex offender" is subject to due process considerations. In 1985, the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) modified its Administrative Regulation governing classification to include a Sex Offender Component in …

Permanent Injunction Granted for Kosher Diets

Article • March 15, 2001 • from PLN March, 2001

Filed under: Food, Injunctions, Religious Freedom, Religious Diet

Permanent Injunction Granted for Kosher Diets by The Colorado Federal District Court granted a permanent injunction against the Department of Corrections (CDOC) finding the CDOC in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment for failing to provide Colorado Prisoners with a kosher diet. As reported in the …

Turner v. Schultz, CO, Order Dismissing Claims, Guard Assault in Prison, 2001

Brief • February 15, 2001

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings

Turner v. Schultz, CO, Order Dismissing Claims, Guard Assault in Prison, 2001 130 F.Supp.2d 1216 (2001) William Vance TURNER, Plaintiff, v. Officer Roderick SCHULTZ, Officer Michael Lavallee, Officer James Bond, Lieutenant David D. Armstrong, Lieutenant Fnu King, Captain M. Mooneyham, Assistant Warden Greco, Warden Joel H. Knowles, Lieutenant Rowe, Lieutenant …

Certificate of Review Mandatory in Colorado Negligence Suits

Article • January 15, 2001 • from PLN January, 2001

Filed under: Brain Injury, ENT, Civil Procedure, Damages, State Law Claims, Expert Witnesses, Sovereign Immunity

Certificate of Review Mandatory in Colorado Negligence Suits by Bob Williams The Colorado Supreme court has held that prisoners must file a "certificate of review" under Colorado law when suing a licensed professional (LP) for negligence, whether or not the LP is a named party, but that a failure to …

Qualified Immunity Denied in CO Rape Case; Suit Settled for $70,000

Article • January 15, 2001 • from PLN January, 2001

Filed under: Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, Conditions of Confinement, Failure to Protect (General), Damages, Settlements, Qualified Immunity

Qualified Immunity Denied in CO Rape Case; Suit Settled for $70,000 by In an unpublished ruling, the Tenth Circuit has denied qualified immunity to prison officials who failed to protect a prisoner from being raped by another prisoner. Marvin Gray, a "large and powerful individual with a violent past," was …

County Jail Time Returned to CO Lifers

Article • November 15, 2000 • from PLN November, 2000

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Jail Specific, Good Time

County Jail Time Returned to CO Lifers by The Colorado Supreme Court has held that prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment are entitled to presentence confinement (PSC) credits for the time they spent in the county jail before sentencing. Until 1977, life sentences in Colorado were a minimum of ten years …

Colorado DOC Attacks Jailhouse Lawyers

Article • September 15, 2000 • from PLN September, 2000

Filed under: Court Access, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Legal Materials

Colorado DOC Attacks Jailhouse Lawyers by In March 1998, PLN reported on the case of Tebbetts v. Whitson, 956 P.2d 639 (Colo.App. 1997), where a Colorado prisoner was convicted of attempted bartering as a jailhouse lawyer and possessing another prisoner's legal papers. The Court of Appeals held the attempted bartering …

Censorship challenged in CO DOC

Article • September 15, 2000 • from PLN September, 2000

Filed under: Gang Policies, Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations

Censorship challenged in CO DOC by Censorship Challenged in CO DOC Eight publishers, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, and seven Colorado prisoners have filed suit in Federal District Court challenging the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) Administrative Regulation (AR) 300-26 governing prisoner reading material. Over the past three years the …

Private Prison Contract May be Invalid

Article • July 15, 2000 • from PLN July, 2000

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Private Prisons, Interstate Corrections Compact

Private Prison Contract May be Invalid by Private Prison Contract May Be Invalid The Colorado state court of appeals remanded a case to the trial court for a determination of the validity of a private prison contract. The court implied that the contract may be invalid but failed to indicate …

Colorado Prison Population Exploding

Article • June 15, 2000 • from PLN June, 2000

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Statistics/Trends, Overcrowding, Parole

Colorado Prison Population Exploding by Bob Williams Last summer the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, John Suthers, announced to the Colorado Legislature that Colorado's male prison population is growing at its fastest rate ever. In fact, at an average of 1.3% per month in the second quarter …

Colorado Denies Hepatitis C Treatment as Too Expensive

Article • May 15, 2000 • from PLN May, 2000

Filed under: Medical, Hepatitis

Colorado Denies Hepatitis C Treatment as Too Expensive by Bob Williams While much attention has been paid lately to denying AIDS/HIV treatment as being too expensive for prisoners, little focus has been aimed at those restricting or denying treatment for prisoner's infected with the hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis is spreading …

Qualified Immunity Denied in BOP Transsexual Strip Search

Article • May 15, 2000 • from PLN May, 2000

Filed under: Strip Searches, Qualified Immunity, Transgender

Qualified Immunity Denied in BOP Transsexual Strip Search by Bob Williams The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied qualified immunity to federal prison officials for a transsexual strip search conducted in front of numerous spectators. Dee Farmer, a prisoner in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at FCI Englewood, …

No Appeal Bond Required for Indigent Colorado Litigants

Article • May 15, 2000 • from PLN May, 2000

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Appeals, Prisoner Property

No Appeal Bond Required for Indigent Colorado Litigants by No Appeal Bond Required for Indigent Colorado Litigants The Colorado Supreme Court has held that a state district court may not condition an indigent prisoner's appeal on the posting of an appeal bond. Thomas E. Rodden, a Colorado prisoner in the …

Tenth Circuit Holds Prison Officials Liable for Failing to Provide Religious Meals

Article • April 15, 2000 • from PLN April, 2000

Filed under: Food, Civil Procedure, Damages, Defenses, Magistrates, Qualified Immunity, Supervisory Liability, Religious Diet, Religious Practices

Tenth Circuit Holds Prison Officials Liable for Failing to Provide Religious Meals by Tenth Circuit Holds Prison Officials Liable For Failing To Provide Religious Meals The Tenth Circuit court of ap- peals has held that prison officials unconstitutionally interfered with a punitive segregation prisoner's exercise of religion when they failed …

CCA Facility Cited for Sex Scandal

Article • March 15, 2000 • from PLN March, 2000

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Guard Misconduct, Lockdowns, Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings

CCA Facility Cited for Sex Scandal by On Sept. 17, 1999, Colorado Dept. of Corrections officials confirmed that they are investigating allegations of brutality, sexual misconduct and drug trafficking involving guards at the CCA-operated Kit Carson Corr. Facility in Burlington, which houses around 650 state prisoners. The investigation began in …

Tenth Circuit Clarifies Three Strikes

Article • February 15, 2000 • from PLN February, 2000

Filed under: PLRA, Filing Fees (PLRA), Frivolous Litigation (PLRA), Habeas Corpus

Tenth Circuit Clarifies Three Strikes by The court of appeals for the Tenth circuit held that under 28 U.S.C. 1915(g), which prohibits IFP status for prisoner litigants that have had three or more suits dismissed as frivolous, malicious or for failing to state a claim upon which relief can be …

PLRA Attorney Fee Cap Not Retroactive in Attorney Client Case

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

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Attorney Client, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Visiting, Attorney Visits

PLRA Attorney Fee Cap Not Retroactive in Attorney Client Case by A federal district court in Colorado has held that the attorney fee cap in the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d) does not apply to attorney fees accrued prior to the enactment of the PLRA, but …

Private Transportation Company Liable Under 42 USC § 1983

Article • October 15, 1999 • from PLN October, 1999

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Private Prisons, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Transport Companies, Contractor Misconduct, Contractor Liability

Private Transportation Company Liable Under 42 USC § 1983 by Private Transportation Company Liable Under 42 USC § 1983 A federal district court in Colorado held that alleged sexual assaults committed by an employee of a private transportation company, under contract with the state Department of Corrections, were committed under …