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Pennsylvania Prison Crowding, Parole Crisis Result in New Laws, Parole Suspension

Article • April 15, 2009 • from PLN April, 2009

Filed under: Sentencing, Parole, Murder by Parolees, State Legislation

Pennsylvania Prison Crowding, Parole Crisis Result in New Laws, Parole Suspension by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On September 29, 2008, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell ordered a moratorium on paroles. Three weeks later he lifted the suspension of paroles for non-violent offenders, and the moratorium was completely withdrawn last December. …

$28 Million Awarded in Excessive Force Verdict in Police Killing of Child

Article • April 15, 2009

Filed under: Shootings, Damages, Settlements, Police, Excessive Force (Police)

$28 Million Awarded in Excessive Force Verdict in Police Killing of Child by A federal jury in Pittsburgh has awarded the family of a 12-year-old who was shot and killed by two Pennsylvania state troopers. The shooting occurred on Christmas Eve, 2002. The jury’s verdict followed a two week trial. …

From the Editor

Article • April 15, 2009 • from PLN April, 2009

Filed under: Commentary/Reviews, Reviews, Editorials

From the Editor by Paul Wright I generally don’t write about books in my monthly editorial but this is an unusual month. PLN’s first book, the long awaited and much anticipated Prisoners’ Guerrilla Handbook to Correspondence Programs in the US and Canada has been printed and is now being shipped. …

Pennsylvania Contractor Prohibited from Using State and Federal Funds for Religious Purposes

Article • April 15, 2009 • from PLN April, 2009

Filed under: Religious Freedom, Required Religious Programming, Proselytizing

Pennsylvania Contractor Prohibited from Using State and Federal Funds for Religious Purposes by Bob Williams Pennsylvania Contractor Prohibited from Using State and Federal Funds for Religious Purposes by Bob Williams Citizens in Bradford County, Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit against the County and state and federal officials after government funds …

$16,000 Awarded in Father's Day False Arrest

Article • April 15, 2009

Filed under: Damages, Wrongful Imprisonment, Family Law, Fathers in Prison, Police, False Arrest, Arrest Warrants

$16,000 Awarded in Father's Day False Arrest by On November 30, 2005, John McHenry of Delaware County, Pennsylvania was awarded $1,000 in compensatory damages and an additional $15,000 in punitive damages as a result of his civil rights suit for false arrest. On June 16, 2002, Father's Day, McHenry was …

GEO Cancels Contract at Pennsylvania Jail, Looks Elsewhere for Business

Article • March 15, 2009 • from PLN March, 2009

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Wexford Health Services, Community Education Centers, Contractor Misconduct, Lobbying, HIV/AIDS, Medication, Respiratory, Conditions of Confinement, Staffing, Contractor Liability, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Suicides

GEO Cancels Contract at Pennsylvania Jail, Looks Elsewhere for Business by David Reutter GEO Cancels Contract at Pennsylvania Jail, Looks Elsewhere for Business by David M. Reutter GEO Group, Inc. (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections), the second-largest private prison company in the nation, has operated the jail in Delaware County, …

Pennsylvania Private Prison Construction Halted For Environmental Assessment

Article • March 15, 2009

Filed under: Cornell Corrections, DOC/BOP misconduct, Conditions of Confinement, Environmental Law, Settlements, Administrative Procedures Act (Federal), National Environmental Policy Act

Pennsylvania Private Prison Construction Halted For Environmental Assessment by The Pennsylvania based Citizens Advisory Committee on Private Prisons, Inc. (CACOPP), filed a complaint against the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for bypassing environmental and administrative policies in the contracting of a private prison's construction. The construction was halted pending the …

B. W. V. Powell, PA, Complaint, Racketeering, 2009

Brief • February 25, 2009

Filed under: Labor Racketeering

B. W. V. Powell, PA, Complaint, Racketeering, 2009 Case 3:09-cv-00286-CCC Document 3-5 Filed 02/25/09 Page 1 of 102 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA B.W., a minor, by FLORENCE WALLACE : Parent and Natural Guardian, and : FLORENCE WALLACE in her own right, : JEFFREY ARNOTT, DAWN BABBITT, …

Pennsylvania Prison Official Settles Termination Lawsuit For Investigating Beating

Article • February 15, 2009

Filed under: DOC/BOP misconduct, Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Retaliation against Staff, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Civil Procedure, Settlements

Pennsylvania Prison Official Settles Termination Lawsuit For Investigating Beating by Former Pennsylvania county prison official, Lt. Constance Bowers, brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit after being terminated in 2004, two months short of 20 years service to the state. She was allegedly terminated for failure to end an investigation …

Why Does Pennsylvania Have the Death Penalty? Still Asking

Article • February 15, 2009

Filed under: Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Why Does Pennsylvania Have the Death Penalty? Still Asking by Robert Zaller Dr. Robert Zaller, Professor of History, Drexel University March 6, my colleague Julia Hall and I moderated a symposium at Drexel's law school to address the question of Pennsylvania's death penalty. It pulled together a distinguished panel from …

Pennsylvania Prisoner Appointed Counsel on Retaliation / MRSA Infection Claims

Article • February 15, 2009 • from PLN February, 2009

Filed under: Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Skin, Attorneys, Appointment of Counsel

Pennsylvania Prisoner Appointed Counsel on Retaliation / MRSA Infection Claims by Pennsylvania Prisoner Appointed Counsel on Retaliation / MRSA Infection Claims A Pennsylvania federal district court appointed counsel to a prisoner in a lawsuit claiming he contracted a serious infection and faced retaliation after filing grievances about his medical condition. …

Muslim Prisoners Cannot be Forced to Handle Pork; Qualified Immunity Denied

Article • February 15, 2009

Filed under: Disciplinary Litigation, Retaliatory Discipline, RLUIPA, Qualified Immunity, Religious Freedom, Religious Diet, Denial of Religious Services

Muslim Prisoners Cannot be Forced to Handle Pork; Qualified Immunity Denied by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Muslim prisoner’s complaint that prison officials disciplined him for refusing to handle pork stated a claim under the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act …

Unemployment Compensation Denied to Guard Who Failed to Stop Prisoner Assault

Article • February 15, 2009 • from PLN February, 2009

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Guard Misconduct, Retaliation against Staff, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Employee Litigation

Unemployment Compensation Denied to Guard Who Failed to Stop Prisoner Assault by Unemployment Compensation Denied to Guard Who Failed to Stop Prisoner Assault The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has held that a guard who was fired for willful misconduct for failing to report the planned assault of a prisoner was …

USA v. Conahan & Ciavarella Jr, PA, Indictment, judge misconduct fraud juvenile center, 2009

Brief • January 26, 2009

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Judicial Misconduct, Juveniles, Juvenile Prisons

USA v. Conahan & Ciavarella Jr, PA, Indictment, judge misconduct fraud juvenile center, 2009 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. MICHAEL T. CONAHAN and MARK A. CIAVARELLA, JR. , Defendants. } ) } ) ) ) } } NO. FILED SCRANTON …

Pennsylvania Prisoners Remain On Death Row After Death Sentences Vacated

Article • January 15, 2009

Filed under: Malpractice, Eighth Amendment, Exercise, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty, Death Row

Pennsylvania Prisoners Remain On Death Row After Death Sentences Vacated by Bob Williams By: Bob Williams Pennsylvania State death row prisoners appealed the dismissal of their 2005 § 1983 and mandamus complaint regarding restrictive confinement and the medical conditions it caused. Their death sentences were either vacated or overturned but …

Third Circuit Bars § 1983 Action For Untimely Release Under Heck

Article • January 15, 2009

Filed under: Sentencing, Habeas Corpus, Wrongful Imprisonment

Third Circuit Bars § 1983 Action For Untimely Release Under Heck by Pennsylvania state ex prisoner Hozay Royal appealed the 2004 dismissal of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action after being released six months past his mandatory release date. The dismissal was affirmed because the action was barred under Heck …

Ruling Against Expression is No Music to Prisoners’ Ears

Article • December 15, 2008 • from PLN December, 2008

Filed under: Media, Tapes/Music

Ruling Against Expression is No Music to Prisoners’ Ears by David Hudson ??by David L. Hudson, Jr.? “Prison walls do not form a barrier separating the inmate from the protections of the Constitution.” So wrote Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in the 1987 decision Turner v. Safley. But the statement has …

Pennsylvania Jail Rebuffs Calls for Independent Review of Abuse Claims

Article • December 15, 2008 • from PLN December, 2008

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, Misconduct/Corruption, Jail Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings

Pennsylvania Jail Rebuffs Calls for Independent Review of Abuse Claims by Pennsylvania Jail Rebuffs Calls for Independent Review of Abuse Claims by David M. Reutter Jails and prisons are often located in areas hidden from public view, and as a result often become extremely insular. Those who work within such …

Failure to Name Defendant in Administrative Appeal Does Not Foreclose Including Him in § 1983 Complaint

Article • October 15, 2008

Filed under: Failure to Protect (General), Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Civil Procedure, Complaints, Parties, Supervisory Liability

Failure to Name Defendant in Administrative Appeal Does Not Foreclose Including Him in § 1983 Complaint by The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that when a defendant in a prisoner’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights complaint had participated in the administrative grievance process, but had not been …

Dismissal of Doe Defendants Required if Named Defendants Dismissed

Article • August 15, 2008

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Complaints, Parties

Dismissal of Doe Defendants Required if Named Defendants Dismissed by The plaintiff sued, invoking 1983, the Moroccan Treaty of 1787, the Free Moorish-American Zodiac Constitution, etc. At 424: "In cases that allow for Doe defendants, other identified defendants have been able to represent the unknown individual defendants' interests." Allowing claims …