Failure to Protect Suit Dismissed by The plaintiff had a separation order from another prisoner whose brother he had killed. He was assaulted by that prisoner, who was permitted to be in the same population only because of error. There was no showing that the defendants actually knew about the …
Immigration Detainee Loses Failure to Protect Suit by The plaintiff immigration detainee was attacked by another prisoner and was warned not to retaliate against him. He was involved in a second altercation the next day in which the other prisoner "got cut"; the plaintiff was later criminally convicted for the …
Federal Work Release Statute Creates No Liberty Interest by A federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 3624, providing that prisoners will "to the extent practicable" receive some reasonable period of halfway house or home confinement before expiration of their sentences, does not create a liberty interest. The statute is not "explicitly mandatory" …
PA Prisoner’s Civil Rights Action Viable Because Factual Dispute Exists by Vincent Cortlessa, a Pennsylvania state prisoner, sued guards and Primecare Medical, a private health care company, in federal district court after the guards beat him and the health care company failed to provide adequate care. He argued that these …
$150,000 Settlement in Pennsylvania Jail Prisoner’s Suicide by Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County Correctional Facility (LCCF) has agreed to pay the family of a prisoner who committed suicide $150,000. The family contended LCCF was deliberatively indifferent to the risk that prisoner Luke Blumer, 19, posed to himself. Blumer was known to be …
$35,00 Settlement in Sexual Assault of Pennsylvania Female Prisoner by Guard by The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC) has settled a female prisoner’s federal lawsuit that claimed she was sexually assaulted by two male guards and videotaped naked by a female guard for $35,000. The settlement came in the case …
Pennsylvania Prisoners' Privacy not Unlawfully Invaded by Mayor's Monitoring Their Cells via Video Camera from His Home by Robert DeBlasio and Deborah McFadden, prisoners in a Pennsylvania county jail, sued the county, its cops and its mayor for invasion of privacy after learning that the mayor monitored their cells from …
One Dollar Awarded Pennsylvania Prisoner For Arbitrary Parole Denial by Pennsylvania State prisoner Alex Davis brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against personnel at SCI-Graterford prison in 2003 claiming deprivation of rights. He alleged due process violation for arbitrary parole denial. The jury awarded him one dollar. Davis sold …
Preliminary Injunction For Improved TB Testing in Pennsylvania Prisons by On September 29, 1992, a federal district court granted Pennsylvania state prisoners a preliminary injunction ordering the implementation of a new policy on the detection and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) cases in Pennsylvania state prisons. This is a, class-action suit …
Prison Music Program Not Constitutionally Required by A Pennsylvania federal district court has held that limitations imposed by prison officials on prisoners performing in “independent” music programs do not violate the constitution. The ruling came after a three-day non-jury trial in a civil rights action filed by prisoner Richard Young. …
Medical Experimentation Suits Time Barred by In an unpublished opinion, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that 298 former prisoners waited too long to sue over medical experiments performed on them in jail, between 1961 and 1974. From the 1950s until 1974, prisoners at the Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia, …
When Courts Get it Wrong: Clark v. Beard by Mumia Abu-Jamal by Mumia Abu Jamal When courts decide cases, the most important elements are the law, the facts and how to apply the relevant law to the facts. When courts err in any of these elements the result is usually …
Ongoing Incompetence by Disciplined Doctor Doesn't Establish Indifference by The plaintiff fell and broke his hip. A nurse concluded that he was merely bruised and didn't need to see a doctor. Three days later he saw a doctor at regular sick call who gave him an ace bandage for his …
Denial of HIV/AIDS Treatment Upheld by At 448: A medical need is serious if it is one that has been diagnosed by a physician as mandating treatment or is one that is so obvious that even a lay person would easily recognize the necessity for a doctor's attention.... The serious …
Pennsylvania Lifers' Commutation-Law Ex Post Facto Suit Remanded to Determine Standing by John Dannenberg by John D. Dannenberg In 1997, an amalgam of Pennsylvania prisoners, taxpayers and public interest groups sued the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons (Board) and top state officials in U.S. District Court, challenging restrictive 1997 amendments to …
Cheaper than Chimpanzees: Expanding the Use of Prisoners in Medical Experiments by Greg Dober by Gregory Dober "It is the duty of the doctor to remain the protector of the life and health of that person on whom clinical research is being carried out." Declaration of Helsinki In June 2006, …
Philadelphia City Jails Under Federal Supervision, Again, Temporarily by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A Pennsylvania federal district court has held that the conditions of confinement in the intake units at Philadelphia?s local police districts, the Police Administration Building (PAB), the Philadelphia Prison System (PPS) and the Curran Fromhold …
Settlement Involving Public Funds Discloseable Absent Contractual Confidentiality or Statutorily Protected Provisions by An anonymous Pennsylvania husband (plaintiff) filed a motion to seal his petition for settlement approval resulting from a malpractice suit following his wife's death. The court denied his motion because the information was made public upon the …
PA Prisoner's Civil Rights Action Viable Because Factual Dispute Exists by Vincent Cortlessa, a Pennsylvania state prisoner, sued guards and a private health care company in federal district court after the guards beat him and the health care company didn't provide him with adequate care. He argued that these actions …
