Media Interview Protected Free Speech by A federal district court in Pennsylvania held that the transfer of a prisoner for his participation in a pre-authorized media interview and his subsequent correspondence with the newspaper reporter violated the prisoner's constitutional rights. Prison officials were denied qualified immunity and the prisoner was …
Pro Se Pennsylvania Prisoner Awarded $100,000 in Guard Attack by On February 25, 1999, a federal jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania awarded state prisoner Gerald Henderson $100,000 in compensatory and punitive damages stemming from an attack by prison guards. On March 29, 1995, while imprisoned at SCI-Rockview, Henderson was using the …
Prisoners Have First Amendment Right to Private Conversations with Their Attorneys by Prisoners Have First Amendment Right to Private Conversations With Their Attorneys A federal district court in Pennsylvania held that prisoners have privacy and free speech rights to private conversations with their attorneys. Pennsylvania state prisoners incarcerated on death …
Third Circuit Holds 28 USC § 1915(g) Does Not Apply Retroactively by Third Circuit Holds 28 USC § 1915(g) Does Not Apply Retroactively The court of appeals for the Third circuit held that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) does not allow courts to revoke the In Forma Pauperis status of litigants …
BOP Warden Held in Contempt for Failure to Forward PLRA Filing Fee by The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that prison wardens are responsible for ensuring Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) filing fees are transmitted from the trust accounts of prisoners to the courts. Wardens who fail …
First Amendment Guarantees Kosher Meals by The court of appeals for the Third 1 Circuit held that under the First Amendment, prison officials must provide Jewish prisoners with a diet sufficient to sustain them in good health without violating kosher laws. However, the food need not be hot, nor even …
Physical Injury Rule Applied to Pre-PLRA Asbestos Exposure by The court of appeals for the Third Circuit held that a prisoner does not have a cause of action, under 42 U. S. C. section 1983, for damages for emotional distress caused by exposure to asbestos, without proof of physical injury. …
PLRA Consent Decree Termination Provision Upheld by 2nd and 3rd Circuits by The courts of appeal for the Second and Third circuits have upheld the consent decree termination provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) against a wide array of constitutional challenges. In the July, 1998, issue of PLN …
Imminent Danger Overrides Three Strikes by The court of appeals for the Third Circuit held that conditions allegedly resulting from a vent emitting particles of dust and lint into a cell constitute a serious physical injury for purposes of circumventing the "three strikes" provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act …
Pennsylvania Brutality Suit Settled for $5,000 by In June, 1998, the Lancaster County prison in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, settled a brutality suit with former prisoner Ruben DeJesus by paying him $5,000 in damages and waiving 4,180 in prison rent and $1,128.23 in medical costs. DeJesus filed suit after being beaten by …
Publication Reviews by Voices Behind the Walls is a bi-monthly newsletter published by Pennsylvania prisoners. Each issue covers news and events in the PA prison system as well as commentaries on the criminal justice system. Subscriptions are $10 for prisoners and $20 for everyone else. Contact: VBTW, P.O. Box 474, …
Pennsylvania Ban on Writing by Mumia Abu-Jamal Enjoined by The court of appeals for the Third circuit held that a district court erred when it refused to grant a Preliminary Injunction (PI) to PLN columnist Mumia Abu-Jamal to enjoin a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) rule prohibiting him from writing. …
BOP Violent Offender Notification Policy Overinclusive by The court of appeals for the Third Circuit held that a conviction for simple possession of a weapon by a convicted felon is not a "crime of violence" within the scope of 18 U.S.C. section 4042(b), a law which requires federal prison officials …
Former 'Guinea Pigs' Protest by Fifty former Pennsylvania state prisoners protested outside the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on a cold December morning in 1998 to draw attention to the pain and suffering they say resulted from medical experiments performed on them in Holmesburg prison "We are the experimentation …
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Draws the Line on Jailhouse Snitches by In a highly unusual ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that "luck or happenstance" is the only allowable means for prosecutors to obtain incriminating information through the use of jailhouse snitches. In a 4-2 decision, the court overturned a murder …
Pennsylvania Consent Decrees Terminated Under PLRA by In two separate rulings, different federal district courts in Pennsylvania held the consent decree termination provisions of the PLRA to be constitutional and dissolved the decrees at issue. In the July, 1998, issue of PLN we reported Imprisoned Citizens Union v. Shapp, 977 …
PLRA Allows Fees on Fees in Failure to Protect Suit by The court of appeals for the Third circuit held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) allows lawyers to collect attorney fees in litigating attorney fee awards. The practice is sometimes referred to as "fees on fees." The court …
Fired SCI Greene Guards Regain Jobs by After months of negotiation with the union, the Pennsylvania DOC agreed to reinstate two guards who were fired from its Greene County prison. George Reposky and Mark Powell were fired and other guards were disciplined in May 1998 for using excessive force against …
Anatomy of a Whitewash by Mumia Abu-Jamal "Authority is never without hate" --Euripides In a decision that was as remarkable as it was predictable, the Greene County DA, David Pollock, announced his office would take no criminal action against prison guards who were viewed on videotape, "roughing up" men in …
Struggling Against the Death Machine by Dan Pens Imagine your entire life concentrated within one tiny cage. Twenty-four hours, by seven days, times three-hundred sixty-five. The state of Pennsylvania owns the cage. Everything you own, everything you do, is squeezed into that suffocating space. There is nothing else. The State …
