Prisoners Entitled to Safe Jail by The eleventh circuit court of appeals has reaffirmed that county officials can be held liable for failing to protect jail detainees from violence by other detainees. In 1990 Larry Hale was held in the Tallapoosa County Jail in Alabama after failing to appear in …
Gunslingers Dressed in Hot Pink by Alabama has been in the forefront of new, not necessarily good, ideas lately. The state that brought back chain gangs has announced, in May, 1995, that it will begin dressing male prisoners who habitually expose themselves to female guards in hot pink pants and …
Chain Gangs Challenged in Court by In the July, 1995, PLN, we reported that the state of Alabama had reintroduced chain gangs to its prison system on May 3, 1995. We did not give much attention to the issue because it has received enormous media coverage, most of it rather …
MI Drug Patch Testing by A reader submitted a copy of a MDOC memorandum from the acting warden of Egler Prison, in Jackson Michigan, which we quote in full: AThis facility has been selected to participate in a Pilot Study of the PharmChem Sweat Patch as a means for testing …
Qualified Immunity Granted for Denial of Exercise by In the May, 1994, issue of PLN we reported Allen v. City and County of Honolulu, 39 F.3d 936 (9th Cir. 1994) which held that prison officials were not entitled to qualified immunity for denying a segregated prisoner at least one hour …
AL Brings Back Chain Gangs by Ron Jones, commissioner of the Alabama DOC, has announced that it has ordered 300 sets of leg irons to the tune of $17,000 so prisoners can be put to work for the first 90 days of their sentences. Jones is carrying out a directive …
Pen, Photocopies and Exercise Must Be Provided by Prisoners held in segregation and control units have a clearly defined right to court access, which includes proper writing materials and adequate writing materials. They also have a well defined right to outdoor exercise. John Allen and Terry Smith are Hawaii state …
AG Mail Must be Treated as Legal Mail by Rakim Muhammad is a Michigan state prisoner. He challenged a Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) policy of treating mail to prisoners from the state Attorney generals office as ordinary mail, i.e. opened outside the addressees presence, rather than as legal mail …
Police Report Inadmissible in Rape Case by William Miller is a Michigan state prisoner. He filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claiming that he was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment when a prison supervisor and two guards were informed he was in danger, did nothing to protect him …
MI DOC Visitor Ban Overturned by Randy Kelley is a Michigan state prisoner who was infracted and found guilty by a prison disciplinary board of sexual misconduct, namely, cupping his hands over his wifes breasts during a visit. As a result, both he and his wife were given a permanent …
MI DOC Has Duty to Give Women Prisoners Legal Aid by Past issues of PLN have detailed the long running saga by Michigan state prisoners to ensure their right of access to the courts [See: PLN, Nov. 1994] whereby the DOC must provide them with either law library access or …
From a Michigan Reader by Reader Mail I was curious as to how you get your stories. They are very interesting, and that one in the Sept. issue about Emmett Jones and jury rigging in Michigan really hit close to home. I might have a story for you. I recently …
Warden Killed in Alabama by In Mid-October, 1994, Kelvin Washington, 27, was arrested and charged with the murder of Charles Farquhar, the warden of a state prison cattle ranch in Greensboro, Alabama, his wife and two prisoners. The bodies believed to be that of Farquhar and his wife were found …
MI DOC Creates Liberty Interest in Seg Release by Wendell Mackey is a Michigan state prisoner. He was found guilty of possessing contraband and assaulting another prisoner and placed in administrative segregation. After spending nearly one year in segregation, he was reclassified and scheduled to be released to general population. …
State Must Provide Assistance for Parental Suits by Women prisoners in Michigan filed a class action suit against the Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) challenging the decision to reduce funding to Prison Legal Services in order to end PLS assistance in parental rights matters. The prisoners argued that the decrease …
Cooling Towers Spread Legionnaire's by The Federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a report stating that cooling towers holding contaminated community water can lead to serious outbreaks of Legionnaire's disease, a pneumonia like illness that can be fatal. The bacteria causing the disease are spread by water or …
MI Parole Consent Decree Vacated by In 1977 Michigan state prisoners filed a class action suit challenging the procedures by which they were granted or denied parole. In 1981 the US district court in Michigan entered a consent decree settling a lawsuit between the Michigan state Parole Board and Michigan …
$273,000 Settlement for Gassing by A hallucinating diabetic was sprayed in the face with a chemical spray called "Freeze + P." after he had been arrested and tried to escape. The spray contains tear gas and a red pepper derivative. After being held in the Montgomery County, Alabama, jail for …
Prison TV: Luxury or Management Tool? by Paul Wright By Paul Wright In March 1994, the Florida state legislature passed a law severely restricting how the DOC could spend prisoner welfare funds. It specifically prohibited the expenditure of welfare funds for cable television, to rent movie videos, televisions, VCRs or …
The Unconstitutionality of Discriminatory Jury Selection by Emmet Jones The foundation for an analysis of the right to be a juror, or be tried by a jury of peers is securely rooted in the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The Sixth Amendment prohibits any substantial under-representation of …
