Excessive Force Claims Require Administrative Exhaustion by The court of appeals for the Sixth circuit held that prisoners filing suit seeking only money damages for excessive use of force by prison employees must exhaust their administrative remedies before they file suit. Dwight Freeman, an Ohio state prisoner, filed suit seeking …
Pregnant OH Prisoner Obtains Abortion by A U.S. District Court enjoined the director of an Ohio prison from denying a pregnant jail prisoner access to abortion services. Jane Doe, a pseudonymous female prisoner at River City Correctional Center in Cincinnati, was approximately 6 weeks pregnant when she was incarcerated on …
Ohio Prison Food Contract Sparks Controversy by In 1998 senior officials of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DORC) were convinced that outsourcing prison food service would be the next great leap forward for Ohio penology. So they bid out a contract for private firms to provide food service …
Exhaustion Requirement Discussed, $86,250 Beating Award Upheld by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the term prison conditions, as used in the Prison Litigation Reform Act at §1997e(a), includes claims of excessive force, thereby subjecting prisoner claims to the Act's administrative exhaustion requirement. The court also held that …
Ohio Prisons Change Birthing Policy by In January, 2000, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and corrections (DORC), announced it would change its policies for pregnant prisoners at the Franklin Pre-Release Center in Columbus, Ohio, which houses the state's pregnant prisoners. The policy change is a result of a lawsuit filed …
Administrative Exhaustion not Jurisdictional Satisfied by Letters to Defendants by The court of appeals for the Sixth circuit reiterated that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) requires administrative exhaustion in all cases, even where prisoners seek money damages not available via prison grievance systems. The court also held that the …
$15,000 Awarded to Ohio Prisoner Beaten by Guards by On July 2, 1999, a federal jury in Columbus, Ohio, awarded Ohio prisoner James Morrison 115,000 in damages. Morrison filed suit claiming he was taken to a secluded area of a prison (unnamed in reports), where he was beaten and kicked …
Denial of Medication Precludes Summary Judgment by The U.S. district court for the southern district of Ohio held that a genuine issue of material fact precluded summary judgement against an arrestee who was denied needed AIDS medication during his eight-day jail incarceration. Devin Karl Murphy brought a 42 U.S.C. § …
Investigators Probe Ohio Paroles-For-Sale Scam by After receiving a tip from an unidentified informant in June of 1997, Ohio prison officials uncovered evidence of a parole-for-pay scam. While screening prisoner mail, officials read a letter from Grafton Correctional Institution prisoner Bubba Shumate addressed to Lynn Moore, a former Grafton prisoner …
Youngstown Case Reveals New Legal Issues for Prisoner Advocates, State Correctional Agencies and Private Prison Companies by Al Gerhardstein As the number of prisoners in private lock-ups continue to increase, lawsuits filed by them, not unexpectedly, are also on the rise. While that is no surprise to corrections professionals and …
Judicial Screening Applies Only to IFP Suits by The court of appeals for the Sixth circuit held that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), which requires judicial screening of lawsuits and dismissal under certain conditions, applies only to suits filed in forma pauperis (IFP), or without the pre-payment of the filing fees. …
A Day at the Prison Fun Park by Daniel Burton-Rose "Have you guys been here before?" a female high schooler asks two young guys in baseball caps and shorts. "We have," she goes on. "We liked it so much we came back a second time." I hear an older man …
CCA Settles Youngstown Suit for $2.48 Million by by Alex Friedmann On March 1, 1999 the Corrections Corp. of America agreed to pay $1.65 million plus $803,000 in attorney fees and expenses to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by Washington, D.C. prisoners at the company's Northeast Ohio Corr. Center in …
In Re Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, OH, Class Action Settlement, Excessive Force and Failure to Protect, 1999 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO EASTERN DIVISION IN RE NORTHEAST OHIO CORRECTIONAL CENTER : Case No. 4:97 CV 01995 (Polster, J.) : : CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT The Plaintiffs (as …
Ohio Prisons Cited by EPA by Dan Cahill In Ohio, the task of keeping water safe and pure is delegated to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA). The task of keeping prisoners locked up belongs to Ohio's Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (DORC). Under Ohio Revised Code (R.C.) §2921.44, the …
The Lucasville Trials by Staughton Lynd [Editors' note: The identity of persons who provided information to the author confidentially has been withheld. ] On April 21, 1993, 407 prisoners who for eleven days had occupied the L cell block at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville, Ohio, surrendered …
No Liberty Interest in Ohio Ad-Seg Rules by The court of appeals for the Sixth circuit held that Ohio prisoners have no state created liberty interest in remaining free of administrative segregation (ad-seg). Alvin Jones, an Ohio state prisoner, filed suit claiming that a 2k year placement in ad seg …
In Re Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, OH, Memo Approving Class Action Settlement, Conditions of Confinement, 1999 ,t:,I ' • ., . '9 UNITED STATES D1STRJcr COURT NORTHERN I)JSTRJCT OF OHIO EASTER>'\' DIVISION IN RE: NORTHEAST 01110 CORJ~ECTIONALCENTER ) CASE NO. 4:97 CV 1995 ) ) ) JUDGE DAN AARON POLSTER …
Timothy "Little Rock" Reed Released on Parole by Timothy "Little Rock" Reed Released on Parole On December 17, 1998, Timothy "Little Rock" Reed was reinstated to his Ohio parole following a five year extradition battle. Reed, a former prison activist, fled Ohio In 1993 when he was accused of violating …
Cheaper Than Lab Rats: Can Prisoners Glow in the Dark? by Hans Sherrer We get outraged and indignant when we read or hear of atrocities committed by Nazi doctors in the name of medical science. [1] Yet, if what the Nazis did is what triggers our sense of outrage, then …
