Legislative Immunity For Local Jail Budget Votes by The Eleventh Circuit has held that county commissioners are entitled to absolute legislative immunity for failing to adequately fund a jail, thereby causing inadequate jail conditions Current and former Alabama jail prisoner plaintiffs sued alleging overcrowding, inadequate medical care and medical facilities, …
Sixth Circuit Requires Administrative Exhaustion by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit ruled that all prisoners filing § 1983 actions involving prison or jail conditions must allege, and prove, they have exhausted administrative remedies and a failure to do so will result in the dismissal, without prejudice, of …
Publications Lawsuit Settled in Alabama by Cayce Moore On February 28, 1998, U.S. district judge U.W. Clemon approved the final settlement in a lawsuit challenging a year of blanket censorship at Donaldson Correctional Facility (DCF), Alabama's highest security prison. In March, 1997, DCF warden Steve Dees implemented a policy that …
Consent Decree Termination Upheld by Consent Decree Termination Upheld: In the April, 1997, issue of PLN we reported Hadix v. Johnson , 947 F. Supp. 1100 (ED MI 1997) where a district court struck down 18 U.S.C. § 3626 as unconstitutional. Section 3626 allows for the immediate termination of consent …
No Interlocutory Appeals in Decree Terminations by The court of appeals for the Sixth circuit held that it lacks jurisdiction to hear interlocutory appeals in motions to terminate consent decrees. In 1984 the United States sued the state of Michigan over unconstitutional prison conditions. The lawsuit was settled with a …
Right to Psychiatric Care Clearly Established by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that prisoners' right to psychiatric care was clearly established and prison psychiatrists who failed to properly treat a suicidal prisoner were not entitled to qualified immunity from money damages. Anthony Wade was a mentally …
Michigan's Parole Amendments Constitutional by The court of appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the 1992 amendments to Michigan's parole laws, that postpone initial mandatory review hearings for certain state prisoners and reduce the frequency of subsequent mandatory parole hearings, do not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of …
Alabama HIV+ Prisoners Case Remanded Once Again for Proper RA Consideration by The court of appeals for the eleventh circuit held that prisoners asserting a claim to Rehabilitation Act (RA) protection had the burden of showing that they were "otherwise qualified" under the Act, or could be made so by …
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 …
