Shelton v. Kane, PA, Complaint, Violence in Special Management Units, 2011 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA NORMAN SHELTON, Plaintiff, v. CIVIL ACTION THOMAS R. KANE, JOSEPH NORWOOD, BRIAN A. BLEDSOE, CHUCK MAIORANA, DARRELL YOUNG, KRISTA REAR, J. DUNKELBERGER, JOHN ADAMI, J. FOSNOT, F. …
American “Corrections” by Mumia Abu-Jamal At SCI Pittsburgh in Woods Run, Pennsylvania, prisoners and guards alike made the phenomenon of imprisonment more hellish than usual. That’s because, according to at least one broadcast report, men at the medium- to minimum-security lock-up, particularly those convicted of sexual assaults against children, were …
Prison Records Officer Entitled to Qualified Immunity; No Evidence of Deliberate Indifference to Sentencing Errors by Mark Wilson On April 22, 2010, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Pennsylvania prison records officer was entitled to qualified immunity for a prisoner allegedly being confined 10 months beyond his …
Gifts Not “Income” for Pennsylvania Child Support Orders by The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) applied an erroneous definition of “income,” to withdraw funds from a prisoner’s trust account. On May 26, 2005, a trial court issued an order to withhold income for …
Reporter Cannot be Compelled to Disclose Source Under Pennsylvania Law by David Reutter By David M. Reutter The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held the state’s media shield law prohibits the compelled disclosure of a confidential source’s identity, or any information that could expose the source’s identity, rejecting an invitation to …
Pennsylvania DOC Agrees to Comply with Clean Air Act at Four Prisons by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A settlement agreement to remedy violations of the federal Clean Air Act at four Pennsylvania state prisons was announced on January 4, 2011. The settlement between the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections …
No Refund or Waiver of Appellate Filing Fee by Mark Wilson By Mark Wilson In three consolidated cases, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that voluntary dismissal of appeals does not result in refunds of the Appellants’ $455 filing fees. The court also held that it has no authority …
No Time Limit for Defendants to Raise a PLRA Defense by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On May 17, 2010, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment to prison officials on the eve of trial, holding it was an abuse of discretion …
Jacobs v. PA DOC, PA, Court Order, Conspiracy Due Process, 2011 Case 2:04-cv-01366-JFC Document 230 Filed 06/07/11 Page 1 of 59 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA ANDRE JACOBS, Plaintiff, v. PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTONS, JEFFERY A. BEARD, et al., Defendants. ) ) ) …
Lancaster County Prison Settlements, Todd B. Spidle of Sunday News, 2011 Recent settlements of lawsuits filed against Lancaster County Prison PRISON INMATE James Hodapp Paul Barbacano Vance Laughman Strip search suit Luis Rivera Marquez James Wilson Felix Nieves Jon Eichelman TOTAL SETTLEMENT COSTS OF DEFENSE TOTAL COUNTY PAYOUT $122,500 $75,000 …
$50,001 Verdict for Pennsylvania Prisoner in Failure to Protect Suit by A federal jury awarded $50,001 to a Pennsylvania state prisoner who claimed guards ignored his requests to be protected from his cellmate. After SCI Fayette prisoner Robert E. Ivory, Jr. was involved in a fight with his cellmate, Russell …
Pennsylvania Jail Pays $3 Million to Settle Class-Action Strip Search Suit by A $3 million settlement was reached in a class-action civil rights complaint that challenged the blanket strip search policy at Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County Jail (ACJ). The class, which was certified in June 2008, includes almost 13,000 people who …
$75,000 Settlement in Pennsylvania Jail Beating by A $75,000 settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought by a former prisoner who was beaten by guards at Pennsylvania’s Westmoreland County Prison (WCP). In June 2009, James P. Edwards, 28, was arrested on a parole violation. He was on parole following …
Pennsylvania Prisoners’ Civil Rights Action Against TV Reality Stars Dismissed as Frivolous by By David M. Ruetter The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a Pennsylvania prisoner lawsuit alleging violations under 42 U.S.C. §1983 and state law claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent …
Subjective Knowledge that Object is a “Weapon” Not Required to Convict Federal Prisoner of Violating Contraband Statute by On June 7, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a federal prisoner’s conviction for possessing a weapon while in prison. Eric Holmes was charged with violating 18 …
Summary Judgment Denied in an Unconstitutional Strip Search by A Pennsylvania Federal District Court denied defendant’s summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging an unconstitutional strip search that violated a prisoner’s Fourth Amendment rights. Upon being booked into the Chester County Jail on September 13, 2007 for DUI and other traffic …
Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Negligence Claim Denied by On March 19, 2008, Pennsylvania prisoner John McCool filed a medical negligence claim against the Pennsylvania DOC and various officials and employees for their improper treatment of his medical condition. The district court sua sponte dismissed his complaint on June 4, 2008 partially under …
Pennsylvania DOC Agrees to Pay $110,000 to Settle Sex Abuse Suit by On August 27, 2007, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) agreed to pay $110,000 to settle a lawsuit by a female prisoner who alleged that she was forced to perform sex acts on another prisoner while another guard …
Philadelphia Settles Diabetes Suit by On March 13, 2003, the City of Philadelphia agreed to settle a suit over the adequacy of care provided to diabetic prisoners at Philadelphia jails. The terms of the settlement require the city to establish policies related to the treatment of prisoners with diabetes. For …
Third Circuit Says Asthma May be Physical Injury by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court’s dismissal of a federal prisoner’s Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) negligence claim for failing to show a sufficient physical injury under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Federal prisoner Mike Perez …
