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Oregon Contraband Conviction Reversed

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

Filed under: Medical, Medication, Criminal Prosecution

Oregon Contraband Conviction Reversed by The Oregon Court of Appeals reversed a prisoner's conviction for supplying contraband, finding that there was insufficient evidence to sustain the conviction. Jose Hernandez, a prisoner at the Umatilla County jail, was found in possession of a powdery substance which was later determined to be …

Oregon DOC Liable for Attacks by Parolees

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

Filed under: Sexual Assault by Parolees, Crime/Demographics, Victims, Damages, Parole, Parole Liability, Murder by Parolees

Oregon DOC Liable for Attacks by Parolees by The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a trial court judgment against the Department of Corrections (DOC), concluding that violent crimes committed by a parolee were a reasonably foreseeable consequence of inadequate parole supervision. In 1984, Cal Brown was convicted of assaulting an …

Construction Audit Criticizes Oregon DOC

Article • December 15, 1999 • from PLN December, 1999

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, DOC/BOP misconduct

Construction Audit Criticizes Oregon DOC by A report by Oregon state auditors released March 18, 1999, cited over $4 million in questionable expenses paid to contractors during a 2,348 bed expansion at the Snake River Corr. Institution in Ontario. The secretary of state's Audit Division recommended that the Dept. of …

BOP Sentence Reduction Exclusion Based on INS Detainer Upheld

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

Filed under: Good Time, Immigration, Mental Health, Drug Treatment/Rehab

BOP Sentence Reduction Exclusion Based on INS Detainer Upheld by Ronald Young By Ronald Young The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that the Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) regulation conditioning a sentence on completion of a community-based treatment program was a reasonable and permissible construction of the statute …

Three Strikes Upheld by Ninth Circuit

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

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

Three Strikes Upheld by Ninth Circuit by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit upheld the constitutionality of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Section 1915(g) generally denies in forma pauperis status to prisoner litigants that have had more than three lawsuits dismissed as frivolous, malicious or for failing to state …

BOP Erred in Denying Early Release Eligibility

Article • August 15, 1999 • from PLN August, 1999

Filed under: Good Time, Habeas Corpus, Mental Health, Drug Treatment/Rehab

BOP Erred in Denying Early Release Eligibility by Afederal disctrict court in Oregon granted habeas corpus relief to two federal prisoners who challenged the Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) denial of early release eligibility. In 1994 Congress enacted the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act which amended 18 U. S. …

BOP Erred in Running State Sentence Consecutive to Federal Sentence

Article • July 15, 1999 • from PLN July, 1999

Filed under: Sentencing, Habeas Corpus

BOP Erred in Running State Sentence Consecutive to Federal Sentence by Afederal district court in Oregon granted a federal prisoner's petition for habeas corpus, ordering his immediate release from confinement. The court held that the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) improperly treated the prisoner's concurrent California state sentence as consecutive …

Warden's Smoking Ban Violates BOP Rules

Article • June 15, 1999 • from PLN June, 1999

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Smoking

Warden's Smoking Ban Violates BOP Rules by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that a warden's ban on smoking in a prison camp violated federal Bureau of Prison (BOP) rules requiring that warden's designate outdoor smoking areas. The warden of the BOP camp in Sheridan, Oregon banned …

Interstate Compact Violations Not Cognizable Under § 1983

Article • June 15, 1999 • from PLN June, 1999

Filed under: Classification, Out of State Transfers, Disciplinary Litigation, Interstate Corrections Compact

Interstate Compact Violations Not Cognizable Under § 1983 by Interstate Compact Violations Not Cognizable Under § 1983 The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that violations of the Interstate Corrections Compact (ICC) cannot be challenged via 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in federal court. Emory Ghana, a New Jersey …

Oregon "Predatory Sex Offender" Label Requires Notice and Hearing

Article • April 15, 1999 • from PLN April, 1999

Filed under: Discrimination, Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Disclosure of Records, Parole

Oregon "Predatory Sex Offender" Label Requires Notice and Hearing by Oregon "Predatory Sex Offender" Label Requires Notice and Hearing The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that due process requires that Oregon sex offenders receive notice and an evidentiary hearing before the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision (Board) may designate them …

Cheaper Than Lab Rats: Can Prisoners Glow in the Dark?

Article • March 15, 1999 • from PLN March, 1999

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Medical Misconduct, Medical Experiments/Exploitation

Cheaper Than Lab Rats: Can Prisoners Glow in the Dark? by Hans Sherrer We get outraged and indignant when we read or hear of atrocities committed by Nazi doctors in the name of medical science. [1] Yet, if what the Nazis did is what triggers our sense of outrage, then …

Our Sisters' Keepers

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

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Staff-Prisoner Assault, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Sexual Harassment, Staff-Prisoner Harassment, Contractor Misconduct, Guard Misconduct, Gender Discrimination -- Women

Our Sisters' Keepers by Daniel Burton-Rose No one can imagine. What it's like. Not unless you've gone through it. Christina Foos has. While incarcerated in a for-profit prison in Arizona, Christina says she was accosted by a guard, Ernesto Rivas, as she stepped out of the shower in March of …

PLN Sues Oregon DOC Over Bulk Mail Ban

Article • January 15, 1999 • from PLN January, 1999

Filed under: Mail, Publications/Books, Due Process, PLN Litigation

PLN Sues Oregon DOC Over Bulk Mail Ban by On October 29, 1998, Prison Legal News ( PLN ) sued the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) in federal district court for damages and declaratory and injunctive relief. Since at least 1991 the Oregon DOC has had a policy requiring that …

Physical Injury Requirement Inapplicable to First Amendment Claims

Article • December 15, 1998 • from PLN December, 1998

Filed under: Frivolous Litigation (PLRA), Physical Injury Rule, Municipal Liability, Religious Freedom, Proselytizing

Physical Injury Requirement Inapplicable to First Amendment Claims by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that the "three strikes" provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) does not apply to cases pending at the time of the law's enactment and that the PLRA's physical injury requirement …

SWAT Team Ends Juvenile Center Standoff

Article • December 15, 1998 • from PLN December, 1998

Filed under: Prison Rebellion, Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings

SWAT Team Ends Juvenile Center Standoff by SWAT teams were called in to saw through a 3- to 4-inch thick steel door to reach four teens who had barricaded themselves in an office after allegedly leading an uprising at a juvenile detention center. The power saw cut through the door …

BOP Sentence Reduction Granted to Non-Violent Offender

Article • November 15, 1998 • from PLN November, 1998

Filed under: Good Time, Habeas Corpus, U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Mental Health, Drug Treatment/Rehab

BOP Sentence Reduction Granted to Non-Violent Offender by Afederal district court in Oregon granted a federal prisoner's petition for habeas corpus because the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) had wrongly denied him a one year sentence reduction. Kenneth Johnson is a federal prisoner who was convicted of possessing stolen explosives. He …

PLN v. Cook, OR, Complaint, Censorship, 1998

Brief • October 29, 1998

Filed under: Censorship, PLN related

PLN v. Cook, OR, Complaint, Censorship, 1998 RECEIVE D ALISON HARDY , O SB 11 9 8060 Oregon Law Center 813 SW Alder Street Portland, OR 91205 Tel. (503) 295-2760 FAX (503) 295-0676 MARC BLAC KMA.."l, OSB 1173033 Ransom Blackman 100 1 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1400 Portland, OR 97204 Te …

Oregon Guard Pleads Guilty to Perjury

Article • August 15, 1998 • from PLN August, 1998

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Oregon Guard Pleads Guilty to Perjury by Aformer Oregon prison corporal pleaded guilty to one count of perjury on April 17, 1998, after prosecutors offered to downgrade the felony perjury charge to a misdemeanor. The guard, Cpl. Ronald Robertson, 32, was sentenced to two days in jail and 36 months …

Oregon's Prison Slavocracy

Article • May 15, 1998 • from PLN May, 1998

Filed under: Work, Prison Industries, Prison Labor, State Legislation

Oregon's Prison Slavocracy by Dan Pens What I propose is, that as we embark on this massive prison construction program, we try a new approach -- convert our "warehouses" into factories with fences around them. To do that we must change our thinking and change the reactionary statutes that stand …

Slaves-R-Us Corporate Partners Wanted

Article • May 15, 1998 • from PLN May, 1998

Filed under: Work, Prison Industries

Slaves-R-Us Corporate Partners Wanted by [The following "Marketing Focus" fax from the Oregon Department of Corrections found its way to PLN , the full text of which is reproduced here.] Prime land, buildings, and labor available to nursery industry. Nursery products-related individuals and business interested in expanding operations through public-private …