Butler County, Ohio, Settles Jail Booking Fee Suit by Butler County, Ohio, Settles Jail Booking Fee Suit The Sheriff and Commissioners of Butler County, Ohio, settled a lawsuit over its Pay-to-Stay program brought in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, by a citizen …
Ohio Federal District Court Finds RLUIPA Constitutional by In a case of first impression in the Sixth U.S. Circuit, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has refused to dismiss Ohio prisoners' religious rights claims based on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 42 …
Ohio Supreme Court Orders Changes in Parole Board Procedures by Robert Woodman On December 18, 2002, in a 6-1 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered a fundamental change in the way the Ohio Adult Parole Board, a division of the Adult Parole Authority (APA), makes parole determinations. The decision may …
Ohio Prison Officials Cannot Alter Jail-Time Credit Award by The Court of Common Pleas of Marion County, Ohio, has granted release to an Ohio prisoner on habeas corpus after finding that Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DORC) officials illegally altered a court sentencing entry to "correct" a perceived error in …
U.S. District Court Finds Supermax Placement at Ohio Prison "Atypical and Significant Hardship" by Robert Woodman U.S. District Court Finds Supermax Placement at Ohio Prison "Atypical and Significant Hardship" by Robert Woodman In a ruling believed to be the first of its kind, Judge James Gwin of the United States …
Ohio Appeals Court Upholds § 1983 Medical Care Claim by Ohio Appeals Court Upholds § 1983 Medical Care Claim Ohio's Fourth District Court of Appeals has partially reversed the dismissal of an Ohio prisoner's 42 U.S.C. §1983 complaint filed in state court. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DORC) prisoner …
Fatal Overdoses: Drugs and Death in Prison by On April 27, 1997, at Ohio's Trumbull Correctional Institution, Daniel Ray Williams died by lethal injection. Williams, then 37, was not on death row; the lethal injection was a self-administered dose of heroin. Robert Baksi, a Trumbull prisoner who reportedly had a …
Ohio Prisons Make Almost $5 Million in Improper Food and Education Payments by Roger Hummel After receiving an anonymous tip about billing irregularities, the Ohio State Auditor conducted a special audit of the two state prisons: the Noble Correctional Institution (NCI) at Caldwell and the Belmont Correctional Institution (BCI) in …
Correctional Medical Services Pays Out Another $1 Million in 1997 Ohio Escape, Murder by The family of Charles Dials, who was carjacked and killed by prisoner Alva Campbell during an escape attempt in April 1997, was awarded a $1 million default judgment against CMS in Franklin County (OH) Common Pleas …
Prisoners, Politics, Money and the Census by Gary Hunter It's a standing joke that the Texas economy has been grounded in the 3 C's: cattle, crude, and convicts. But while Texas gets most of the publicity for its massive prison build-up, the human-warehousing trend is literally sweeping the countrysideand it …
Ohio Nearly Closes 100 Year Old Asylum/Prison by Gary Hunter In April 2002, state budget cuts threatened to force the closure of Orient Correctional Institution near Columbus Ohio. Orient originally opened as a mental asylum in 1902 and was converted to a prison in 1984. The closing would have relocated …
Supreme Court: "Reasonable Attempt" Suffices Absent Actual Notice of Forfeiture by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The US Supreme Court held that due process of law was satisfied when a reasonable attempt was made to serve a federal prisoner with a statutory notice of administrative forfeiture of his …
Ohio District Court Grants TRO on Grooming Regulations by The Federal District Court for the Northern District of Ohio has granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Marion Correctional Institution (MCI), Marion, Ohio, preventing Warden Christine Money from enforcing a grooming policy against two Orthodox Chassidic Jews. Michael Goodman and …
Disputed Material Facts in Failure to Protect Suit Preclude Interlocutory Appellate Review by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is without jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal on qualified immunity issues where material facts are in dispute. The Court of Appeals let stand most of a …
Ex-Ohio Sheriff's Deputy Wins $650,000 Verdict Against CMS for Prisoner Escape by Franklin County (Ohio) prisoner Alva Campbell was escorted to court in April 1997 while in his wheelchair, unable to walk. He was not handcuffed or otherwise restrained and was being guarded only by then-Franklin County Deputy Sheriff M. …
Two Federal Courts Grant Injunction for HCV Treatment by A federal court in Oklahoma issued an unpublished opinion granting a preliminary injunction ordering prison officials to provide prescribed medications for a prisoner's liver disease. Another federal court in Ohio issued an unpublished opinion granting a preliminary injunction ordering prison officials …
Summary Judgment Denied in Ohio Jail Booking Fee Challenge by Robert Woodman In a case of first impression, an Ohio Federal District Court denied summary judgment to the Hamilton County [Ohio] Sheriff and the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners in a former jail prisoner's challenge to Hamilton County's assessment of …
Ohio Prison Supervisors Possibly Liable for Employing Known Racist Guard by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court's grant of summary judgment to Ohio prison officials and remanded for trial a case involving alleged official indifference to the actions of a known racist guard. The appeals …
Ohio Supreme Court Rules Indigent Sex Predator Gets Paid Expert Witness by The Ohio Supreme Court has held that an indigent defendant in a sexual predator classification hearing is entitled to an expert witness at state expense "if the court determines, within its sound discretion, that such services are reasonably …
Sixth Circuit Finds Ohio Response to Jewish Prisoner's Hair 'Exaggerated' by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a case addressing an Ohio prisoner's suit over the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's (DORC) hairlength restriction "as applied," has reversed the district court's denial of qualified immunity to DORC defendants, but …
