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No Court Access Right to Litigate Civil Forfeiture

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

Filed under: Exercise, Bedding, Court Access, Forfeiture, Qualified Immunity

No Court Access Right to Litigate Civil Forfeiture by The U.S. court of appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that prisoners do not have an access-to-court right to defend against civil forfeiture. The court also accorded qualified immunity, sua sponte, to all defendants on the prisoner's conditions of confinement claims. …

Prisoner Can Attend His Civil Trial at Government Expense

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

Filed under: Court Access, Court Appearances, Costs

Prisoner Can Attend His Civil Trial at Government Expense by A federal district court in Maryland held that it would permit a federal prisoner, confined in Pennsylvania, to personally attend his three-day civil rights trial in Greenbelt, Maryland, at government expense. In separate incidents in 1993 and 1994, Anthony Hawks …

Iowa to Close Prison Law Libraries

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

Filed under: Public Defenders, Court Access, Law Library Access/Adequacy

Iowa to Close Prison Law Libraries by In February, 1999, Iowa Department of Corrections director W.L. "Kip" Kautzky announced that within the next two years all prison law libraries in Iowa would be phased out. Kautzy claimed that the state of Iowa currently spends $500,000 a year to maintain its …

$130,000 in Damages and Fees Awarded in New York Retaliation Suit

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

Filed under: Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Retaliatory Transfers, Retaliation for Organizing, Disciplinary Hearings, Retaliatory Discipline, Attorney Fee Awards, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Paralegals, Damages, Costs

$130,000 in Damages and Fees Awarded in New York Retaliation Suit by In the October, 1996, issue of PLN we reported Alnutt v. Cleary, 913 F. Supp. 160 (WD MY 1996). The case involves New York state prisoner Jeffrey Alnutt who filed suit in 1990 after various guards at the …

PLRA Physical Injury and Administrative Exhaustion Requirements Not Retroactive

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

Filed under: Toilets, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Physical Injury Rule, Court Access, Court Appearances

PLRA Physical Injury and Administrative Exhaustion Requirements Not Retroactive by A federal district court in Illinois held that 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), which requires administrative exhaustion before prisoners file suit, and 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e), which requires physical injury, before prisoners can file suit, do not apply retroactively to suits …

Prisoner May Not File Unsigned Complaint for Another Prisoner

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

Filed under: Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Complaints

Prisoner May Not File Unsigned Complaint for Another Prisoner by The Fifth Circuit court of appeals has held that the a pro se prisoner's civil rights complaint was time barred even though a prisoner assisting the pro se prisoner filed a timely unsigned complaint. Raul Gonzales, a Texas state prisoner, …

Seventh Circuit Defines Court Access Claims Involving Property

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

Filed under: Court Access, Legal Property, Damages, Injunctions, Complaints, Prisoner Property

Seventh Circuit Defines Court Access Claims Involving Property by The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that prisoners cannot base court access claims on the loss of property unless that loss results in an ongoing hindrance or actual injury to an underlying claim. The court also discussed pleading …

Judicial Sentence of Life in Solitary Upheld

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

Filed under: Gang Policies, Criminal Prosecution, Judiciary, Telephones, Telephone Access, Mail Regulations

Judicial Sentence of Life in Solitary Upheld by The court of appeals for the Second circuit affirmed a court imposed sentence of life imprisonment in solitary confinement and prohibiting all communication with anyone except the defendant's attorney and close family members after the district court had approved them. The appeals …

No Right to Mutual Legal Assistance in 11th Circuit

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

Filed under: Court Access, Prisoner Legal Assistance

No Right to Mutual Legal Assistance in 11th Circuit by The court of appeals for the eleventh circuit held that actual injury is a threshold requirement in all prisoner access to courts claims. Without such a showing, under the doctrine of standing, federal courts do not have jurisdiction to address …

Samuels v. Mockry Reversed Once Again

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

Filed under: Retaliation, Retaliation for Litigating, Prison Labor, Judiciary, Summary Judgment

Samuels v. Mockry Reversed Once Again by The court of appeals for the second circuit held that an issue of fact as to whether prison officials acted with a retaliatory animus when they placed a prisoner in the "Limited Privileges Program" (LPP), precluded summary judgment for the defendants. This is …

AEDPA Statute of Limitations Tolled

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

Filed under: Transfers, Disciplinary Litigation, Court Access, Legal Materials, Limitations, Habeas Corpus

AEDPA Statute of Limitations Tolled by The court of appeals for the Third circuit held that the one year statute of limitations in which to file a federal habeas corpus petition is a statute of limitation subject to tolling. In 1994 Frank Miller, a New Jersey state prisoner, was found …

Movant Bears Summary Judgment Burden