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 …
Michigan Consent Decree Not Changed by It seems that not a year goes by where PLN does not report at least two or three rulings concerning the ongoing effort by the Michigan DOC to vacate the various consent decrees it entered into with prisoners to settle various conditions lawsuits in …
Grievance Retaliation Unlawful by A federal district court in Michigan has held that it is unlawful for prison officials to retaliate against prisoners who complain of misconduct by guards and for prison officials to read legal mail sent to prisoners from the courts. Those claims were set for trial and …
Michigan ACLU Protests Religious Prison College by The ACLU of Michigan has sent a complaint to the attorney general's office against Spring Arbor College, which holds a $560,000 DOC contract to teach college courses at four Michigan state prisons. The complaint was filed after the school sent out letters to …
An Angry White Man by C L I would like you to know that I was so offended by your editorial in the November 1995 issue that I canceled my subscription. I will not support financially or in any way be associated with a publication ran by such blatantly Europhobic …
Back on the Chain Gang by John Stossel of ABC's 20/20 calls himself a libertarian. But rather than criticizing the reappearance of chain gangs as an assault on human liberty, Stossel promoted them on the June 9, 1995, broadcast as "reasonable punishment" and "only fair." When one Alabama prisoner pointed …
No Change in Michigan Consent Decrees by For almost 20 years Michigan state prisoners have been embroiled in class action prison litigation designed to ensure constitutional conditions within the Michigan prison system. Despite entry of consent decrees, the Michigan DOC has constantly sought to terminate their legal obligations imposed under …
Jury Demand Must Be Timely by The court of appeals for the eleventh circuit, in a case of first impression for that circuit, held that the right to a jury trial is fundamental and reversed a bench trial ruling against a prisoner holding he should have received a jury trial. …
AL Adds Rock Breaking to its Repertoire by Recent issues of PLN have re ported on plans by the Alabama Department of Corrections to dress alleged exhibitionist prisoners in hot pink outfits, to reinstitute chain gangs and to chain those prisoners who refuse to work on the chain gangs to …
