Court Vacates Default Judgments by The court relieves defendants from entry of default, since plaintiff shows no prejudice to his ability to present his case, the fault was counsel's rather than the parties' (he was awaiting service of all defendants before answering), defendants moved promptly to set the default aside …
Confiscation of Prisoner Property Upheld by The confiscation of the plaintiff's property did not deny due process because the state made post-deprivation remedies available in the form of a grievance procedure. At 515: "The mere fact that plaintiff has faced some difficulty in having his grievance heard, based on his …
Tight Handcuffs on Arrestee Violates Fourth Amendment by Placing excessively tight handcuffs on an Pennsylvania arrestee and needlessly failing to loosen them for ten minutes, resulting in permanent nerve damage, would constitute excessive force under the Fourth Amendment under the circumstances alleged, where the officer was not in a dangerous …
Pennsylvania DOC Rule Denying Sex Offenders Visits with Minors Upheld by The plaintiff, convicted of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse against his stepdaughter, was denied contact visits with his children pursuant to a prison regulation denying contact visits with minors to all prisoners ever convicted of sex offenses against minors, notwithstanding …
Supreme Court Sets Standard in Establishment Clause Suits by The United States Supreme Court held that state statutes from Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, which supplemented teacher's salaries in religious schools, violated the religious establishment clause of the First Amendment. A federal district court found that Rhode Island's provision, which provided …
Pennsylvania County Pays U.S. INS $16 Million for Detainee Housing Overcharges by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg On October 25, 2006, York County, Pennsylvania agreed to pay the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) $16 million to settle a dispute over alleged overcharges for INS detainees who were housed …
Pennsylvania Work-Release Program Criticized by Gary Hunter Some citizens of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania feel that county work-release prisoners are forfeiting too much of their salary to a greedy judicial system. Businessman Lewis Knepp employs work-release prisoners. He tells how one of his employees, who earns $10 an hour and takes …
1997 Changes in Pennsylvania Commutation Law Held Ex Post Facto by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania held that a 1997 state ballot constitutional amendment, which modified Pennsylvania?s commutation laws to require a unanimous vote rather than a simple majority …
$470,000 Paid in Pennsylvania Jail Prisoners Seizure Related Death by $470,000 Paid in Pennsylvania Jail Prisoner's Seizure Related Death The Estate of a Pennsylvania prisoner has settled its civil rights action alleging Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment violations for the wrongful death of Virginia Brejcak, 42, at the Bucks County Correctional …
Supreme Court: Banning Publications to Punish Recalcitrant Prisoners Trumps Their First Amendment Rights by John E Dannenberg Supreme Court: Banning Publications to Punish Recalcitrant Prisoners Trumps Their First Amendment Rights by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC) policy of banning its …
Pennsylvania Correctional Industries Overcharges Customers, Stockpiles Cash, Fails Mission by Matthew T. Clarke On September 13, 2005, Jack Wagner, the Pennsylvania Auditor General issued a report on his audit of Pennsylvania Correctional Industries (PCI). The audit covered, the period of July 1, 2000, through February 18, 2005, and was generally …
Aramark to Pay $65,000 for Overbilling Pennsylvania Prison by Pennsylvania's Dauphin County Prison (DCP) will receive $65,000 from its food service vendor due to overbilling. The settlement comes on the heels of a several-month grand jury investigation started in 2004 to examine allegations of watered-down food and overcharging. The agreement, …
Estate of Pennsylvania Prisoner Killed By Wexford Health Sources Settles Suit for $2.15 Million by Michael Rigby Wexford Health Sources and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have agreed to pay $2.15 million to the family of an asthmatic prisoner who died after her medication was denied at the State Correctional Institution …
Love Letter Mail Scam Nets Ten Prisoners $221,000 and Fed Time by On October 4, 2005, Karen Ann Erdely, 40, a Pennsylvania state prisoner, was sentenced to the maximum term of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The federal court found that she was the …
Buddhist Prisoner Properly Denied Vegan Diet Under First Amendment; Case Remanded for RLUIPA Claim by David Reutter The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a prisoners First Amendment religious exercise right to practice Mahayana Buddhism was not violated by prison officials refusal to provide a vegan diet. The …
BOP Sexually Explicit Materials Ban Requires Factual Development by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals Reversed a district courts dismissal of a federal prisoners challenge to the Ensign Amendment, which prohibits federal prisoners from receiving sexually explicit materials. The Ensign Amendment was first passed by Congress in 1997 and prohibits …
Exhaustion Not Required in Pennsylvania Parole Denial Challenges by The Third Circuit Court Of Appeals held that a Pennsylvania state prisoner challenging the denial of parole need not file a petition for a writ of mandamus in order to satisfy the dictates of exhaustion before seeking federal habeas review. Pennsylvania …
Wackenhut Settles Pennsylvania Suicide Suit For $125,000 by On May 11, 2005, Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (now known as Geo Group) agreed to settle for $125,000 a lawsuit arising from the suicide death of a prisoner in the Wackenhut-operated George W. Hill Correctional Facility, also known as the Delaware County prison. …
Jewell v. Gonzales, PA, Order, Bop R Rated Movie Ban, 2006 Case 1:97-cv-00408-SJM-SPB Document 80 Filed 03/17/2006 Page 1 of 55 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA RICHARD JEWELL, et al., Plaintiffs, v. ALBERTO R. GONZALES, et al., Defendants. ) ) ) ) ) …
From the Editor by Paul Wright In addition to PLN's own censorship litigation for prisoners we also undertake advocacy and support for prisoner rights on behalf of prisoners in other court cases. In the current supreme court term, PLN submitted an amicus brief in Goodman v. Georgia, a case involving …
