No Qualified Immunity for Retaliatory Transfer; Jury Awards $219,000 in Damages by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a guard is not entitled to qualified immunity for initiating a retaliatory prison transfer against a prisoner who had complained to the guards supervisor that the guard failed to …
RLUIPA Bars Total Ban on Melanic Literature by A Michigan federal district court has entered an injunction that bars the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) from continuing a total ban on Melanic literature, requiring MDOC officials to screen such literature to ensure prohibited materials are prevented entry into MDOC prisons. …
Michigan DOC Improperly Calculated Sentences and Released Prisoners; Officials Fired and Demoted by Gary Hunter Prisoner release procedures in the Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) suffer from serious flaws, according to the Intake Processing Unit (IPU). The IPU undertook an audit and review of the way the DOC determined prisoner …
$365,000 Settlement For Restrained, Untreated Michigan Boot Camp Prisoner by On December 22, 2005, the state of Michigan agreed to pay $365,000 to a boot camp prisoner who was strapped in a restraint chair for six hours and later suffered kidney and liver failure. Craig Allen Cook II was arrested …
Michigan DOCs Visitation Ban for Substance Abuse Upheld by Michigan DOCs Visitation Ban for Substance Abuse Upheld The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a Michigan federal district court erred in refusing to dissolve its injunction ordering the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) visitation limitations violated the due …
Dismissal of the Publisher/Approved Vendor Only Challenge Reversed by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district courts sua sponte dismissal of a Michigan prisoners claims that rejection of a religious publications violated the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). On November 1, …
Diaz v. Romita, MI, Verdict From Beating Case, 2006 Case 2:05-cv-70928-VAR-DAS Document 43 Filed 06/09/2006 Page 1 of 6 Case 2:05-cv-70928-VAR-DAS Document 43 Filed 06/09/2006 Page 2 of 6 Case 2:05-cv-70928-VAR-DAS Document 43 Filed 06/09/2006 Page 3 of 6 Case 2:05-cv-70928-VAR-DAS Document 43 Filed 06/09/2006 Page 4 of 6 Case …
Michigan Jails Strip Policy Unconstitutional; Guards and Get Qualified Immunity, County Liable by David Reutter Michigan Jails Strip Policy Unconstitutional; Guards and Get Qualified Immunity, County Liable by David M. Reutter A Michigan federal district court has held that the practice of removing the clothing of unruly pretrial detainees and …
Alabama Diabetic Prisoner Stomped On and Retaliated Against by Guard Awarded $20,000 by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg A diabetic Alabama prisoner lying on the floor of his cell due to suffering from his diabetes condition had his leg stomped on by a guard. When the prisoner grieved the …
Alabama Work Release Prisoners Reclassified Following Escapes by In late September 2005, 275 minimum-security Alabama prisoners were moved from work camps to maximum-security prisons pursuant to an order by Governor Bob Riley. The prisoners had done nothing wrong. The move was purely reactionary following the escape of 3 prisoners in …
On Remand From Supreme Court, Sixth Circuit Reverses Judgment on Guard Retaliation Claim by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, on remand from the United States Supreme Court, reversed a district courts grant of summary judgment to a prison guard on a First Amendment retaliation claim. Michigan prisoner Shakur Muhammad …
Sixth Circuit Requires Total Exhaustion Under PLRA; Decision Conflicts with Hartsfield by A panel of the Sixth Circuit joined the Eighth and Tenth Circuits in holding that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) requires total exhaustion. One judge dissented, however, criticizing the majority opinion as being invalid for conflicting with …
Michigan Jail's Disproportionate Treatment of Women Results in $855,000 Settlement Agreement by A Michigan federal district court has approved a settlement awarding $855,000 in a class action alleging the conditions of confinement for women at the Livingston County Jail were disproportionate to that of men held at the jail. The …
Sixth Circuit PLRA Fee Set at $169.50 Not $135 by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals joined the Ninth Circuit in holding that the maximum allowable attorney fees under the [Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA)] should be based on the amounts authorized by the Judicial Conference, not the amount actually …
Sixth Circuit Upholds Michigan Ban On Prisoner Appeals of Discretionary Denials of Parole by The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Michigan's lately revised statute that forecloses state prisoners from challenging discretionary denials of parole. Because the former availability of such a challenge had led to thousands of mostly …
Michigan Jail Settles Suicide Suit for $280,000 by On June 6, 2004, Wayne County, Michigan, agreed to pay $280,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a county prisoner who committed suicide days after he was attacked by another prisoner. Jose Perez was arrested on December 27, 2000, …
From the Editor by Paul Wright In addition to PLN's own censorship litigation for prisoners we also undertake advocacy and support for prisoner rights on behalf of prisoners in other court cases. In the current supreme court term, PLN submitted an amicus brief in Goodman v. Georgia, a case involving …
Michigan's Dirty Little Secret: Sexual Abuse of Female Prisoners Pervasive, Ongoing by by Michael Rigby Despite reports of sexual abuse dating back 20 years ... despite a tumultuous decade of lawsuits that cost millions of taxpayer dollars ... and despite a promise by state officials to implement sweeping reforms, the …
Los Angeles County Jail Tests Prisoner Radio ID Tags by by John E. Dannenberg The Los Angeles (L.A.) County Sheriff's Department will spend $1.5 million to install a computerized radio ID tag system in 2006 to monitor the location of 1,900 prisoners at the Pitchess Detention Center (county jail) in …
Hawaii Prisoner Injured In Fight Awarded $25,427 by On February 1, 2005, a Hawaii court awarded $25,427.00 to a prisoner who claimed he was assaulted by another prisoner. Plaintiff Lael Samonte, 47, contended that while imprisoned at the Halawa Correctional Facility on May 22, 2002, he was attacked and knocked …
