Arizona Can't Seize All Prison Labor Back Wages by The Arizona court of appeals held that the state of Arizona can only seize thirty percent of a successful prisoner litigants back wages award. In 1983 and 1984 Richard Ford, an Arizona state prisoner, worked for Cutter Industries, a private company …
Arizona DOC Settles Sexual Abuse Suit by On March 11, 1999 the Arizona Dept. of Corrections (ADOC) agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) which alleged that state prison officials failed to protect female prisoners from systemic sexual abuse, misconduct and harassment by guards. …
ADOC Settlement Terms by -Additional staff training on sexual misconduct and prisoner privacy issues. -Implementation of a program to inform the state's 1,810 female prisoners about their rights. -Requiring all male prison employees who may be alone with a female prisoner to notify a supervisor. -Providing two 15-minute periods a …
Arizona DOC Settles Kosher Diet Suit by On January 29, 1999, the Arizona Department of Corrections settled a lawsuit involving a Jewish prisoner's right to a kosher diet. Kenneth Ashelman, an orthodox Jewish prisoner, filed suit when the DOC refused to provide him with a kosher diet. The suit was …
Arizona Prisoners Can Pay Filing Fee in Installments by An Arizona appellate court held that a lower court had erred in ruling incarcerated felons were required to prepay, in its entirety, all filing fees when filing civil actions. Jose Inzunza-Ortega attempted to file a civil suit in Maricopa county (Phoenix) …
PLRA Exhaustion Requirement Not Retroactive by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that the administrative remedies exhaustion provision of 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), as amended by the PLRA, does not apply retroactively to prisoner actions filed prior to its enactment date of April 26, 1996. The court …
Mauro Vacated for Rehearing by In the February, 1999, issue of PLN we reported Mauro v. Arpaio, 147 F.3d 1137 (9th Cir. 1998) which struck down as unconstitutional an Arizona jail's ban on sexually explicit material. The Ninth circuit has ordered that opinion withdrawn because a panel of 11 judges …
Denial of Handicapped Jail Facilities Set for Trial by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that a handicapped detainee was entitled to a trial to prove jail conditions were unconstitutional in light of his disability. On remand, the lower court was instructed to consider whether the plaintiff …
Arizona Jail Porn Ban Struck Down by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that a jail rule banning all sexually explicit materials was unconstitutional. In 1993 the Maricopa county jail in Phoenix, Arizona, adopted rules banning all sexually explicit materials from receipt or possession by Jail prisoners. …
Our Sisters' Keepers by Daniel Burton-Rose No one can imagine. What it's like. Not unless you've gone through it. Christina Foos has. While incarcerated in a for-profit prison in Arizona, Christina says she was accosted by a guard, Ernesto Rivas, as she stepped out of the shower in March of …
Juvenile Crime Still Pays -- But at What Cost? by Alex Friedmann Juvenile Crime Still Pays – But at What Cost? by Alex Friedmann [Last February, PLN published a cover article, "Juvenile Crime Pays," concerning the proliferation of for-profit juvenile justice services. This month we revisit the topic following recent …
En Banc Review Granted in Taylor by In the December, 1998, issue of PLN we reported Taylor v. United States , 143 F.3d 1178 (9th Cir. 1998). In that case, a panel of the Ninth circuit court of appeals unanimously held that 18 U.S.C. § 3626(b)(2) is unconstitutional. This provision …
Arizona Jail Slave Labor Used to Stuff Ballot Envelopes by Prisoners at the Maricopa County Jail (home of "America's Meanest Sheriff") were used to stuff 400,000 envelopes with ballots for early voting in the 1998 elections. Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne said that jail inmates received community service credit …
PLRA Termination Provision Unconstitutional in Ninth Circuit by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that the section of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), which requires immediate termination of previously granted prospective relief in litigation challenging prison conditions, violates separation of powers principles. This decision is unique …
Rehabilitation or Corporate Profit by Peaceful efforts, by Alaskan prisoners, on August 30, 1998, to address grievances and concerns repeatedly ignored at the Central Arizona Detention Center, in Florence, Arizona, were mercilessly squashed following a sit down demonstration in the prison exercise yard. What was initially a peaceful, sit-down demonstration …
Arizona DOC Paralegal Fraud: Law Libraries Closed, Replaced by Scam Artists by Dan Pens One year ago this month, PLN reported that 34 Arizona prison law libraries were permanently closed and replaced with visiting paralegals under contract with the state. [See: "Experiment in Access: Law Libraries Eliminated in Arizona Prisons" …
Arizona Paralegals Obstruct Court Access by by [AZ prisoner, name withheld by request] The elimination of Arizona prison law libraries is an experiment that other states (and the courts) are watching. Does the contract paralegal system work? And does it provide constitutionally adequate access to the courts? After one year …
Sentence Runs During Wrongful Release by The Arizona supreme court held that when a prisoner is incorrectly released before his sentence expires the sentence continues to run and the offender is entitled to any good time credits he would have accrued had he remained in custody. The court also held …
Former Arizona Governor Sentenced by O'Neil Stough In September, 1997, Republican Governor J. Fife Symington, III, was convicted in federal court of seven counts of fraud related to fabrications and misrepresentations he made on financial statements in securing loans. Following his conviction, he resigned as Governor. On February 2, 1998, …
Parolee Must Receive Morrissey Hearing by A parolee who is convicted of a new crime has a due process right to a parole revocation hearing that fulfills all six requirements of accurate fact-finding set out in Morrissey v. Brewer , 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593 (1972). William John was …
