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 …
Federal Prisoner's Conviction for Contraband Weapon a Crime of Violence by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a federal prisoner convicted of possessing contraband, a razor blade inside a matchbook, is eligible to be sentenced for a crime of violence." The prisoner was indicted by a grand …
Prisoner's Letter Treated as Motion; Subpoena's Require Cost Prepayment; Plaintiff's Deposition to be Furnished by Defense by Prisoner's Letter Treated as Motion; Subpoena's Require Cost Prepayment; Plaintiff's Deposition to be Furnished by Defense A Pennsylvania federal district court treated a pro se prisoner plaintiff's letter as a motion seeking subpoena …
Trial Required in Pennsylvania Guard Beating by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that summary judgment for defendant prison guards was inappropriate without a trial to develop the facts, in a case where a prisoner claimed he was viciously beaten by …
Federal Appeals Courts Address Finality of Dismissals, Grievance Contents by In two, separate, unrelated cases, the Third and Seventh U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals have addressed the finality of dismissals without prejudice, the contents of grievances, and various procedural points under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) and prisoner suits …
Receipt of Federal Funds Waives Eleventh Amendment Immunity for Rehabilitation Act by The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed in part and reversed in part a Pennsylvania Federal District Court's grant of summary judgment to state defendants in a prison employee's claim involving the Rehabilitation Act (RA) and …
