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 …
Ohio Appeals Court Allows Prisoner's Request for Past Work Information on Guards by The Fourth District Court of Appeals of Ohio has reversed the decision of the Pickaway County Court of Common Pleas denying a prisoner's request for specific work information relating to two guards in the Department of Rehabilitation …
Second and Sixth Circuits Uphold Validity of PLRA's Taxation of Costs by Two recent appellate decisions from the Second and Sixth Federal Circuits have upheld the validity of the PLRA's taxation of costs against unsuccessful prisoner litigants, 28 U.S.C. §1915(f). The Second Circuit ruled that taxation of costs could be …
Ohio Appellate Court Holds No Privacy Right in Urine by The highly influential Tenth District Court of Appeals of Ohio has ruled that prisoners "have no reasonable expectation of privacy in the items they possess in a prison or in the activities in which they engage while incarcerated. This loss …
Damages Awarded in Ohio Disciplinary Suit by A federal district court in Ohio held that a trial was required to determine if a prisoner was improperly denied the right to call witnesses at a disciplinary hearing. The Court also held that the suit was not barred by the PLRA or …
Ohio Eliminates Prison Oversight Committee; Reduces Prison Funding by Ronald Young The Ohio legislature reduced funding for the state prison system that will result in the elimination of 1,100 jobs within the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DORC). The May 2001 legislative action also eliminates a prison oversight committee. Ohio …
