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Article • October 15, 1998 • from PLN October, 1998
Loompanics Unlimited by Paul Wright Loompanics modestly bills itself as "the best book catalog in the world." If it's not the best it is certainly the most diverse, having all the books you've heard about but probably haven't seen in the neighborhood bookstore. Loompanics is a publisher and vendor that …
Article • September 15, 1997 • from PLN September, 1997
Gun Law Threatens Police, Military, Prisons by In September, 1996, an acrimonious 104th Congress, faced with government "shut-down," passed the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997. The budget battle garnered so much attention that little notice was given to a "rider" attached to the bill that poses a threat to …
Article • March 15, 1997 • from PLN March, 1997
Congress Bans Porn in Federal Prisons by Paul Wright With little notice and no fanfare on September 30, 1996, president Clinton signed into law the mammoth Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Bill, PL 104-208, which is the federal government's budget. Section 614 of the law states: "None of the funds made available …
Article • August 15, 1996 • from PLN August, 1996
Anti-Terrorism Act Terrorizes Habeas Petitioners by David Zuckerman [Editor's note: A future issue of PLN will report on the other aspects of the Counter-Terrorism bill.] Every election year, politicians compete to be "tougher on crime" than their opponents. In the last couple of decades, federal habeas corpus has generally been …
Article • July 15, 1996 • from PLN July, 1996
Legal Services Funding Cut by In 1974 Richard Nixon created the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The purpose of the LSC was to make grants to agencies and groups around the country which provided legal services to the poor: welfare recipients, prisoners, public housing tenants, aliens, farm workers, etc. In recent …
Prison Litigation Reform Act Passed by Paul Wright On April 27, 1996, president Clinton signed the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) into law attached as a rider to the budget for the Justice Department. The PLRA is the culmination of a lengthy campaign waged by prisoncrats and the National Association …
Zimmer Amendment Passed by When president Bill Clinton signed the budget for the Department of Justice it included a rider inserted by Congressman Dick Zimmer (R-NJ). In its entirety it states: "None of the funds made available in this Act shall be used to provide the following amenities or personal …
Damn Lies and Statistics by Most PLN readers are well aware of the conservative PR campaign designed to convince legislators and the voting public that the courts are threatened with drowning in a deluge of prisoner-initiated litigation. The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) has developed model legislation designed to …
Article • March 15, 1996 • from PLN March, 1996
How Many Times Do We Pay? by Jon Marc Taylor Across the country a litany of political voices have been raised demanding that prisons become tougher. One expediently popular way to achieve this punitive nirvana is to eliminate inmate "perks" such as televisions, weight lifting equipment and coffee pots. The …
Federal Prisons Erupt by Dan Pens At least five federal prisons erupted in violence within days after a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to overrule a recommendation by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to end the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine offenses. Information on …
Article • October 15, 1995 • from PLN October, 1995
Cocaine Sentencing Disparities May Change by The Sentencing Guidelines Com mission (SGC) is an independent body created by Congress in 1984 to reduce sentencing disparities in the federal court system. This has included creating sentencing guidelines which greatly restrict the discretion of judges in imposing sentences. In 1986 and 1988 …
Helms Amendment Ruled On by In the December, 1994, issue of PLN we analyzed various provisions of the federal crime bill that was passed that year. One of the provisions was the Helms amendment which limited the relief that federal courts could grant in class action suits brought by prisoners …
Article • June 15, 1995 • from PLN June, 1995
Attention Prisoners Convicted of Drug Offenses! by The PLN has often stated that in terms of political power prisoners don't have a voice that anyone in power has to listen to. A PLN reader in USP Lewisburg disagrees and submitted the following. Inform everyone you know (your spouse, children, family …
No Habeas for Jailhouse Lawyer Aid by In a rather novel ruling the third circuit has ruled that federal courts lack authority to issue writs of habeas corpus to ensure that an imprisoned pro se litigant has the assistance of a jailhouse lawyer at trial. Michael Jones is a New …
Article • March 15, 1995 • from PLN March, 1995
Confronting the Helms Amendment by In the December, 1994, issue of PLN we reported on and analyzed the federal crime bill and discussed one of its components, section 20409, which seeks to limit prisoners ability to challenge prison overcrowding via class action suits. Elizabeth Alexander, Associate Director for Litigation of …
Article • February 15, 1995 • from PLN February, 1995
Contract With America = Contract on Prisoners by Paul Wright In late September, 1994, while running for Congress Republican congressional candidates signed Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America" which included detailed proposals in the form of draft legislation to modify federal criminal law in important respects. It is dubbed the "Taking …
Federal Crime Bill Passes by Paul Wright By Paul Wright In the October and November, 1993, issues of PLN, I wrote articles about the "anti-crime" proposals that had been submitted in the US Congress by democrats and republicans, respectively. I predicted then the most repressive aspects of both proposals would …
Article • December 15, 1994 • from PLN December, 1994
Prisoners Lose Pell Grants by Dan Pens A provision of the $30.2 federal anti-crime bill was the elimination of prisoners from eligibility for federal Pell Grants. Much attention was given to this portion of the debate by the mainstream media. Senators and Congressional Representatives know a good sound bite when …
Women Prisoners Entitled to Equal Education by This is a precedent setting case that should be read and studied by women prisoners who are denied educational opportunities comparable to those offered to male prisoners. This ruling applies to state prisons who receive federal funding and who provide educational programs. Since …
Article • August 15, 1994 • from PLN August, 1994
Crimes Against Habeas Corpus by Susan Blaustein By Susan Blaustein With its myriad new death penalty offenses, "three-strikes" provisions, mandatory minimums and moneys for prisons and police, Congress left only one thing out of its much-vaunted new crime package: any protection for Americans' most basic constitutional rights. In their poll-driven …
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