Eighth Amendment Applies to Escaped Convicts by The court of appeals for the Sixth circuit held that escaped convicts are not subject to Fourth Amendment protections simply because they are outside of a facility. Only the Eighth Amendment applies. Since the law in this regard was unsettled, a guard who …
No Liberty Interest in Ohio Visiting Rules by Afederal district court in Ohio held that Ohio state visiting rules do not create a liberty interest in visitation. Melissa Blair is a former Ohio prison guard married to Ohio prisoner Lemont Blair. The Blairs' visiting privileges were suspended after prison officials …
Corrupt Cleveland Cops/Guards Sentenced by In the July 1998 issue of PLN , we reported the arrest of 51 Cleveland area police and jail guards who were lured into an FBI sting with promises of high-paying "moonlighting" jobs as security guards for illegal drug shipments. On August 19, 1998, 49 …
With Advocates Lke These: Capitulation, Collaboration and CURE-Ohio by Paul Wright In the May, 1998, issue of PLN we reported on the November 1, 1997, statewide work strike in Ohio. The purpose of this article isn't to rehash last year's events but to examine basic questions of advocacy versus activism, …
Youngstown Break-Out Leads to Political, Financial Fall-Out by Alex Friedmann On July 25, 1998 a half-dozen prisoners, including four convicted murderers, cut through two fences and escaped from the CCA-operated Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, Ohio. According to Warden Jimmy Turner the successful break-out was due to errors by …
Ohio Sells Prison Records by The state of Ohio has sold its state prison records, dating back to 1972, to the on-line information service Lexis-Nexis. Other states are expected to follow. Lexis-Nexis is a private on-line computer service that provides news, business and legal information. The service also features on-line …
Ohio Union Officials Protest Prison Labor by Ohio state prisoners performed 2.9 million hours of unpaid "community service" labor in 1997 at schools, fairgrounds, churches and other locations. But when the St. Clairsville, Ohio, Board of Education recruited unpaid prison labor in the construction of an outdoor classroom, representatives of …
Prisoner Attendance at Depositions Discussed by The court of appeals for the Sixth circuit held that a district court erred when it issued an order permitting a prisoner plaintiff to attend the pretrial deposition of prison officials conducted by his lawyer. In doing so, the court set forth standards lower …
FBI Law Enforcement Sting Nabs 53 in Ohio by FBI Law Enforcement Sting Nabs 53 In Ohio In February, 1998, a federal grand jury indicted 53 Cleveland area people as a result of an FBI sting operation where federal agents posed as drug kingpins and hired police, county jail guards, …
$350,000 Awarded in Ohio Prisoner Death by $350,000 Awarded In Ohio Prisoner Death Sybil Norris, 29, was doing a six-month stretch for shoplifting at the Ohio Reformatory for Women when she died, needlessly, of an asthma attack. Two years later, in December 1997, the Ohio Court of Claims awarded $350,000 …
Fatal Mismanagement at Ohio CCA Prison by In February 1998, federal judge Sam Bell ordered the Corrections Corp. of America to halt the transfer of inmates from Washington, D.C., to the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center (NOCC), a CCA-owned prison in Youngstown, Ohio. Bell agreed with Alphonse Gerhardstein, the Cincinnati attorney …
Work Strike Suppressed and Sabotaged in Ohio by Daniel Burton-Rose The October 16th, 1997, issue of the Cleveland black community newspaper The Call and Post printed a letter announcing a statewide work strike by Ohio prisoners on November 1st. The letter was signed by Prisoners United For Equal Justice. The …
CURE-Ohio and the Aftermath by [Editor's Note: The following information reaches PLN by mail from an Ohio reader whose name and initials we are withholding at our discretion.] The situation with CURE-Ohio is getting worse! CURE has formed a "coalition" of outside support groups, and is dictating policy to them. …
In Memory - Reverends Ernest Bromley and Maurice McCrackin by John Perotti On December 18, 1997, Reverend Ernest Bromley passed away. Less than two weeks later, on December 30, 1997, Bromley's partner, comrade, and Brother, Reverend Maurice McKrackin ("Rev Mac" to all) followed him. Both had a long painful fight …
Ohio Death Row Uprising by In the November '97 PLN , we reported "Tensions Rise in Ohio Prisons." Our coverage of the September 5, 1997 uprising on Ohio's death row at the Mansfield Correctional Institution (MANCI) was based entirely on published press reports, and as such was woefully inadequate. PLN …
Ohio Students Rally in DC by Students from Dayton Ohio's Colonel White High School were outraged when they read about Kemba Smith in Emerge magazine. Smith, a 24-year-old Virginia woman, was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison without the possibility of parole for refusing to cooperate with federal prosecutors …
More Ohio Jail Construction Corruption by In the April '97 issue of PLN we reported "Ohio Jail Construction Corruption?" about questionable contract provisions and cost overruns by a construction firm owned by Ohio governor George Voinovich's brother. That article was about the firm's $9 million renovation of the Franklin county …
Americans with Disability Act Applies to Jails by In two separate rulings, federal district courts in Ohio and Michigan held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 42 U.S.C. § 12131 and the Rehabilitation Act (RA), 29 U.S.C. § 794, apply to county jails. Leonard Raufman was imprisoned in the …
Ohio Overtime Gravy by According to a report in the Columbus Dispatch, overtime pay for Ohio state employees is expected to reach an all-time high of $72 million in 1997. Among the 68 Ohio state agencies, employees of the state's burgeoning prison system account for $23.7 million, about a third …
Former Prison Security Chief Convicted by Julia Lutsky By Julia Lutsky William T. Mack, 53, was convicted at the end of May in a continuing federal investigation of corruption at the Mansfield Correctional Institute (MANCI) in Ohio. Mack, who had been chief of security at MANCI prior to his transfer …
