Michigan Visiting Restrictions Upheld by In the June, 1996, issue of PLN we reported Bazetta v. McGinnis , 902 F. Supp. 765 (ED MI 1996) which denied a preliminary injunction to Michigan prisoners, and their visitors, challenging prison visiting restrictions. In 1995 the Michigan DOC amended the Michigan Administrative Code …
Grievance Exhaustion Required by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) requires administrative exhaustion of all claims filed after the April 26, 1996, enactment of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Section 1997e(a) states that "no action shall be brought with respect to …
AL Jail Enjoined From Holding Prisoners Overnight by Afederal district court in Alabama held that conditions in the Pickens county jail in Carrolton, Alabama, were so abysmal it was not fit for human or animal habitation. Prisoners in the jail filed a class action suit challenging the conditions of their …
Alabama Jail Held in Contempt for Crowding by Afederal district court in Alabama held that a jail had willfully refused to comply with a consent decree limiting jail crowding and held the defendants in contempt and imposed sanctions of $100 per day for every prisoner held in the jail over …
Alabama AG Moves to Dissolve 17 Consent Decrees by Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor and state Prison Commissioner Joe Hopper went into federal courts across the state July 2, 1997, moving (under provisions of the PLRA) to dissolve consent decrees governing conditions at three state prisons and 14 county jails. …
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 …
Knowledge of Risk May Establish 8th Amendment Liability by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that a prison investigator's report indicating a prisoner was at risk of attack was sufficient to establish eighth amendment liability on the part of supervisory prison officials, if they read it. The …
The Abuse of U.S. Women Prisoners by Julia Lutsky It is really like this dirty little secret that everyone in corrections knows about and doesn't want to talk about. It is a huge problem." The words are those of Brenda Smith, senior counsel of the National Women's Law Center quoted …
PLRA Attorney Fee Cap Not Applicable to Pending Cases by A federal district court in Michigan, in two consolidated long running class action suits, held that 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d)(3) which limits attorney fees in civil rights cases to 150% of the amount allowed court appointed counsel under 18 U.S.C. …
U.S. Sues Prisons in Arizona and Michigan by In February 1997, the Justice Department filed separate lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Phoenix and Detroit alleging that state-run prisons in Michigan and Arizona fail to protect female prisoners from sexual assaults committed by prison guards and staff. At the Arizona …
Sixth Circuit Explains PLRA Again by In the June, 1997, issue of PLN we reported In Re Prison Litigation Reform Act, 105 F.3d 1131 (6th Cir. 1997) where the chief judge of the sixth circuit issued an administrative order to guide judges in that circuit on how to implement the …
Alabama Phone System Upheld by The court of appeals for the eleventh circuit held that a lower court had erred in finding that a telephone calling list of ten people violated prisoners' first amendment rights. Freddie Pope, an Alabama state prisoner, filed suit challenging a prison policy limiting to ten …
Jail Assault Requires Trial by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that whether a prisoner's question to a guard about what would happen if he assaulted another prisoner, required a trial to determine if the guard was liable when the questioner then assaulted another prisoner. William Street …
Michigan DOC Held in Contempt in Court Access Case by A federal district court in Michigan found the Michigan DOC to be in contempt of previous court orders and a consent decree governing court access and programming opportunities for women prisoners. The case began as a class action suit filed …
Automatic Stay Provisions by After a federal district court in Michigan found the Michigan DOC guilty of contempt for not complying with prior judicial orders on the prisoners' court access and educational opportunities, see: Glover v. Johnson, 934 F. Supp. 1360 (ED MI 1996), the defendants moved to immediately terminate …
Hill v. Germantown, TN, Plaintiff Consolidated Brief Supporting Fed Damages Claims - Joint and Several Liability in Wrongful Death (1997) IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF TENNESSEE FOR THE THIRTIETH JUDICIAL DISTRICT AT MEMPHIS GREGORY HILL, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. NO. 70577-9 T.D. CITY OF GERMANTOWN, et al., Defendants. RONALD CROWDER, …
Sixth Circuit Defines Legal Mail by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit has held that "legal mail" encompasses legal materials delivered to prisoners by any means, not just via the postal system. As such, the legal materials cannot be inspected outside the prisoner addressee's presence. Temujin Kensu is …
PLRA Consent Decree Termination Provision Unconstitutional by A federal district court in Michigan held that provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) calling for the immediate termination of consent decrees where no findings of constitutional violations were made by the court, was unconstitutional on several grounds. The PLRA created …
PLRA Applied to Attorney Fees by A federal district court in Michigan held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) required that attorneys representing prisoners be paid a maximum of $112.50 an hour. Hadix v. Johnson is the long running Michigan class action suit. After prevailing in the district court …
Execution Conflicts with Medical Ethics by David Nelson, a 51-year-old convicted murderer, was scheduled for execution in Alabama on December 8, 1996. A last-minute stay by the Alabama supreme court delayed the execution so that Nelson could donate a kidney to his brother, Louis Nelson, who lost a leg to …
