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 …
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 …
