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 …
ADA Requires Phones for Deaf by A federal district court in Michigan held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. 12131 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, requires state prison officials to provide prisoners and the people they call with Telecommunications Device for the …
New Improved Chain Gang by F.B. Just so you will know, contrary to many published reports nationwide, the chain gang HAS NOT been abolished in Alabama. They have simply stopped chaining the prisoners on the chain gang in groups of five. These prisoners are still individually chained for no other …
Motive in Denying Due Process Irrelevant by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that prison officials are liable for keeping a prisoner in administrative segregation without a hearing if they acted intentionally or with deliberate indifference; their motive in doing so is irrelevant. Gregory Howard, a Michigan …
PLRA Stay Provision Held Unconstitutional by In two separate rulings different judges in Michigan held that the stay provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3626(e) are unconstitutional. Among the PLRA's provisions to section 3626(e) which provides that "Prospective relief subject to a pending …
No Right to Assistance in Family Law by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that prison officials are under no obligation to provide prisoners with the assistance of counsel in child custody cases. This is the latest installment in the ongoing saga of Glover v. Johnson, a …
Settlement Reached in Alabama Chain Gang Suit by A year after Alabama became the first state in the nation to revive the use of chain gangs, state officials have agreed to end the practice permanently. As this issue goes to press details are sketchy and it is unclear whether the …
Prison: An Entitlement System? by According to a recent computer analysis, Alabama's prison population has tripled since 1980, but the state's crime rate has remained the same. A Birmingham News analysis of Corrections Department statistics and census records show that nearly one of every 167 Alabamans older than 14 are …
Warden Liable for Prison Rape by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that supervisory prison officials can held liable under the eighth amendment when they ignore the risk of sexual assault to vulnerable prisoners that are later raped. Timothy Taylor is a Michigan state prisoner who is …
Alabama Prison Chief Fired over Women in Chains by Alabama's prison commissioner, Ron Jones, was abruptly fired on April 26th after announcing plans to put female prisoners on chain gangs. Jones had ordered the warden at Julia Tutwiler State Prison for Women to develop the chain-gang policy. He said the …
Michigan Visiting TRO Denied by A federal district court in Michigan denied state prisoners a Preliminary Injunction (PI) in their challenge to new visiting rules. The Michigan DOC recently enacted more restrictive rules on visitation that prohibit visits by all minors other than prisoners' own children; it prohibits visits with …
No Free Lunch by Most readers are aware of the growing practice of charging prisoners and jail detainees a fee for medical services. Two southern jurisdictions have introduced what may be the next wave - charging for meals. Sheriff Bobby Knowles of the St. Lucie County Jail in Fort Pierce, …
Michigan Parole Law Unconstitutional by A federal district court in Michigan held that 1992 amendments to Michigan laws extending the time period between parole reviews violated the ex post facto clause of the US constitution. This case consists of a class action suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 filed by …
