No Liberty Interest in Judicially Ordered Work Release by The plaintiff did not have a liberty interest in staying on work release, since his placement on work release was part of his criminal sentence, and the sentencing judge made the decision to remove him from work release. At 631: "Altering …
Parole Violators Flood Pennsylvania Prisons by Michael Rigby In the latest performance of justice by the numbers, a behind the scenes power struggle is playing out between the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) and the state Board of Probation and Parole (BPP). As usual, prisoners are caught in the middle. …
Federal Prisoner Wins Right To Marry, Fees Awarded by A federal prisoner has settled his lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for $175 and permission to marry his fiancée. The court also awarded attorney fees of $21,537.50 in a separate proceeding. On November 2, 2000, while imprisoned at U.S.P. …
Pennsylvania Jail Prisoner Settles Use-Of-Force Suit For $15,000 by On January 3, 2005, a Pennsylvania prisoner settled his claims of excessive use of force and deliberate indifference against Lackawanna County Prison officials for $15,000. According to the complaint, plaintiff Mario Ludovici was arrested on October 13, 2001, on a warrant …
Staph Infections Kill Women Prisoners In Pennsylvania; Coroner’s Office Raided by Michael Rigby By Michael Rigby Three female prisoners have died after contracting a deadly strain of Staph infection while confined in Pennsylvania jails. All of the deaths occurred in March 2005. Two of the women, originally said to have …
Two Pennsylvania Prisoners Win $1.2 Million For MRSA Skin Infections Contracted County Jail by by John E. Dannenberg An uncontrolled and untreated chronic infection of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), a highly contagious, stubborn, disfiguring and sometime fatal bacterial disease, has permeated the Bucks County Correctional Facility (BCCF), unabated, for …
BOP Good-Time Statute Upheld By Three Circuits by by John E. Dannenberg The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a U.S. District Court ruling that had accorded BOP prisoners 54 days good-time credit per year, holding instead that the maximum credit available is only 47 days per year. In …
Pennsylvania Statute Banning Sex Between Staff and Prisoners Upheld by In a unanimous decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed a trial court ruling that had found a Pennsylvania statute prohibiting sex between prisoners and prison staff unconstitutional. The court remanded the case to the lower court for trial. Eileen Mayfield …
$78,435 in Attorney Fees for Successful Challenge to Pennsylvania's Megan's Law by by Matthew T. Clarke A federal court in Pennsylvania has awarded the plaintiff's attorneys $78,435 in attorney fees and costs in an action that challenged the application of the community notification provision-of Pennsylvania's Registration of Sex Offenders Act …
Non-Contact Visits for Pennsylvania Sex Offenders Upheld by The Pennsylvania Court of Appeals held that a convicted sex offender confined at the State Correctional Institution at Waymart (SCI-Waymart) did not have a right to contact visits with minor children. Jeffrey Garber, a prisoner of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC) …
Guards Fornicate, Sell Drugs in Pennsylvania Jails by Guards Fornicate, Sell Drugs In Pennsylvania Jails The Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania is a den of perversion and sexual predation. To date, eleven guards have been ordered to stand trial on charges they sexually assaulted female prisoners at the jail. The …
Wrongfully Convicted Pennsylvania Prisoner Settles for $2.3 Million; Forensics Expert Fired by A wrongfully convicted ex-prisoner who spent 15-years in a Pennsylvania prison got modest compensation from the government that imprisoned him by winning a $2.3 million settlement in the lawsuits he filed. In Washington state, a forensic scientist was …
Hearsay Testimony of Prison Officials Found Inadmissible in Criminal Prosecution and Probation Revocation by Hearsay Testimony of Prison Officials Found Inadmissible in Criminal Prosecution and Probation Revocation The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that prison officials' testimony in the prosecution of a prisoner was inadmissible hearsay and that it …
Mailbox Rule Applied To Administrative Forfeiture Proceeding by Bob Williams Mailbox Rule Applied To Administrative Forfeiture Proceeding by Bob Williams In a case of first impression, the Third Circuit has held that the mailbox rule applies to administrative forfeiture proceedings. The Court also held that the failure to apply the …
Local Officials Tell Prisoners: "You don't live here" by Peter Wagner Many prison town officials are quick to claim prisoners as residents when the Census Bureau comes to town, but prisoners report that this is the only time these officials are so welcoming. The Census Bureau counts the nation's mostly …
Amended Pennsylvania Parole Statute Ruled Ex Post Facto; Third Circuit Orders Release on Parole by John E Dannenberg Amended Pennsylvania Parole Statute Ruled Ex Post Facto; Third Circuit Orders Release On Parole by John E. Dannenberg The US District Court (E.D. Pa.) held that a 1996 amendment to the Pennsylvania …
Prisons Nationwide Fail to Treat HCV Epidemic by John E Dannenberg Prisons Nationwide Fail To Treat HCV Epidemic by John E. Dannenberg The JeopardyTM answer is: "The national average treatment rate for HCV-infected prisoners." The winning question is: "What is approximately 1%?" With HCV [Hepatitis-C] infection rates in state prisons …
Denial of Grievance Forms Excuses Failure to Exhaust by Denial of Grievance Forms Excuses Failure to Exhaust The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a Pennsylvania federal district court's dismissal of a state prisoner's civil rights suit for failure to state a claim. Pennsylvania prisoner Mark Mitchell was incarcerated …
Former Warden and Two Jailers Sentenced for Philadelphia Jail Beating by Former Warden and Two Jailers Sentenced for Philadelphia Jail Beating A former warden and two former guards were sentenced in federal court for their roles in connection with the severe beating of a federal prisoner who was being held …
U.S. Parole Law Amendment Ruled Ex Post Facto as Applied by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a 1987 change to the U.S. Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) (18 U.S.C. § 4206(c)) that allowed for parole eligibility to be extended beyond …
