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Alaska PRA Requires Disclosure of Settlement Agreement

Article • August 15, 2008

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Settlements, Disclosure of Records

Alaska PRA Requires Disclosure of Settlement Agreement by The Anchorage Daily News (newspaper) sued in state court under tae state Public Records Act (Act), Alaska Stat. § 9.25.110 to compel the Anchorage School District (School District) to release a copy of its settlement agreement in a federal suit. The trial …

Alaska PRA Requires Disclosure of Fiscal Report and Employee Performance Evaluation

Article • August 15, 2008

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Disclosure of Records, Depositions

Alaska PRA Requires Disclosure of Fiscal Report and Employee Performance Evaluation by The Anchorage Daily News (newspaper) obtained an injunction in state court under the state Public Records Act (PRA), Alaska Stat. § 44.62.310 et seq, compelling the city of Anchorage to produce a tape recording. The city later refused …

“Discretionary Function Immunity” Inapplicable to Alaska PO Duties

Article • August 15, 2008

Filed under: Victims, Sentencing, Parole, Sovereign Immunity, Parole Liability, Murder by Parolees

“Discretionary Function Immunity” Inapplicable to Alaska PO Duties by The Alaska Supreme Court has held that a parole officer’s day-to-day supervisory activities related to parolees are operational duties which are not entitled to discretionary function immunity. On November 23, 1996, Alaskan prisoner Calvin McGrew was released on parole. He was …

$2.5 Million Settlement For Private Prison Construction Cancellation

Article • August 15, 2008

Filed under: Private Prisons, Allvest, Zoning

$2.5 Million Settlement For Private Prison Construction Cancellation by The City of Delta Junction (City) and Alaska corporations Allvest, Inc., and Delta Corrections Group, LLC (DCG), settled a lawsuit after House Bill 149 threatened to halt private prison construction underway at Ft. Greely. Allvest/DCG and the City commenced the building …

Alaska DOC Liable for Rape of Federal Prisoner by Prison Doctor

Article • June 15, 2007 • from PLN June, 2007

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Immunity/Liability, Sovereign Immunity

Alaska DOC Liable for Rape of Federal Prisoner by Prison Doctor by Alaska?s Supreme Court has held that the intentional-tort immunity law does not prevent a suit against the state when it breaches a duty separate from its role as an employer. B.R., a federal prisoner housed at the state …

Alaska Jail Settles Alcohol Withdrawal Death Case For $573,000

Article • June 15, 2007 • from PLN June, 2007

Filed under: Drug/Alcohol Withdrawal, Immunity/Liability, Contractor Liability, Medical Neglect/Malpractice

Alaska Jail Settles Alcohol Withdrawal Death Case For $573,000 by On June 12, 2006, the State of Alaska settled a federal civil rights lawsuit over the wrongful death of a prisoner in a state-run jail for $573,000. Julia Walker is the mother of Troy Wallace, who died while a prisoner …

Alaska Pays Victims of Prisoner-Orchestrated Mail Bomb $2.6 Million

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Crime, Victims, Supervisory Liability, Mail, Mail Regulations

Alaska Pays Victims of Prisoner-Orchestrated Mail Bomb $2.6 Million by Following a verdict for the plaintiffs in December 1995, the State of Alaska agreed to settle with the victims of a prisoner-orchestrated mail bomb for $2.6 million. On September 17, 1991, plaintiffs, the father and stepmother of a witness who …

Alaska Superior Courts May Not Grant Furloughs Under Criminal Rule 35(b)

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Classification, Furloughs

Alaska Superior Courts May Not Grant Furloughs Under Criminal Rule 35(b) by The Alaska Court of Appeals held that superior courts may not use their authority to modify sentences under Criminal Rule 35(b) to grant furloughs to prisoners, but may use that authority to impose a term of periodic imprisonment. …

Alaska Supreme Court Reverses SJ, Orders Continuance to Prisoner

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Malpractice, Civil Procedure, Summary Judgment, Disclosure of Records, Discovery, Expert Witnesses

Alaska Supreme Court Reverses SJ, Orders Continuance to Prisoner by The Alaska Supreme Court reversed a grant of summary judgment to prison medical staff and instituted the lower court to grant plaintiffs' requested continuance. Federal prisoner Donald Hymes and his wife Rita sued two Alaska Department of Corrections (ADOC) medical …

Ninth Circuit Upholds Prosecutor Denying Detainee Phone Access

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Telephone Access, Attorney Calls, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Ninth Circuit Upholds Prosecutor Denying Detainee Phone Access by The plaintiff, a federal pre-trial detainee held in a local jail, was placed in administrative segregation and lost telephone access based on a letter from the prosecutor to the U.S. Marshal, which requested such action because the plaintiff's superseding indictment named …

After 34 Years, Alabama Complies With Mental Health Order

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Settlements, Injunctions, Class Certification, Class Notice, Mental Health, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)

After 34 Years, Alabama Complies With Mental Health Order by In what used to be Wyatt v. Stickeney, the Alabama mental health/mental retardation litigation filed in 1970, the court grants a joint motion for a declaration that the defendants have complied with the most recent settlement agreement and to vacate …

Alaska Prisoners' Disciplinary Hearing Rights

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Prison Labor, Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Double jeopardy (Hearings), Written Findings, Counsel, Disciplinary Strategies, Standard of Review, Fair Labor Standards Act, Extended Family Visiting

Alaska Prisoners' Disciplinary Hearing Rights by In 1975 Alaska's supreme court held that under the state and federal constitutions, Alaskan prisoners enjoy substantial due process rights in prison disciplinary hearings, moreso than prisoners enjoy under the U.S. Constitution alone. The state supreme court held that Alaskan prisoners have the right …

§ 1983 Seeking Post Trial DNA Evidence Not Heck Barred

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Disciplinary Litigation, DNA Testing/Samples, Sentencing, Wrongful Conviction, Habeas Corpus, False Arrest

§ 1983 Seeking Post Trial DNA Evidence Not Heck Barred by The Ninth Circuit joined the Eleventh circuit in holding that a § 1983 action seeking post-conviction access to DNA evidence is not barred by Heck v. Humphrey, 512 US 477 (1994). In 1994, William Osborne was convicted of kidnapping …

Religious Retaliatory Transfers Unconstitutional

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Religious Discrimination, Retaliation, Retaliatory Transfers

Religious Retaliatory Transfers Unconstitutional by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that Alaska prisoners did not state a claim for relief that they were involuntarily transferred to out of state prisons. This occurred at a time when Alaska had no state prisons of its own, therefore felons …

Alaska: 1997 Tort Reform Legislation Facially Constitutional

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Damages, State Legislation

Alaska: 1997 Tort Reform Legislation Facially Constitutional by The Supreme Court of Alaska held that tort reform legislation enacted by the Alaska Legislature was facially constitutional. Plaintiffs, persons considering tort actions, sought declaratory judgment voiding the legislation. The 26 SLA 1997 legislation "included many new tort law provisions, including caps …

Alaska: 1991Tort Reform Legislation Facially Constitutional

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Damages, Limitations

Alaska: 1991Tort Reform Legislation Facially Constitutional by The Supreme Court of Alaska held that tort reform legislation enacted by the Alaska Legislature was facially constitutional, Plaintiffs, persons considering tort actions, sought declaratory judgment voiding the legislation. The 26, SLA 1997 legislation "included many new tort law including including caps on …

Alaska Prisoners Cannot Challenge Conditions of Confinement Under State Post-Conviction Relief Statute

Article • November 15, 2004 • from PLN November, 2004

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Habeas Corpus

Alaska Prisoners Cannot Challenge Conditions of Confinement Under State Post-Conviction Relief Statute by Roger Smith The Alaska court of appeals has dismissed a prisoner's suit challenging the conditions of his confinement in an Alaska prison under AS § 12.72.020(c), Alaska's post-conviction relief statute. This ruling came after the court found …

Cornell Company - The Prison Industry's Enron

Article • February 15, 2004 • from PLN February, 2004

Filed under: Work Release, Staff-Prisoner Assault, Private Prisons, Financing, Cornell Corrections, Contractor Misconduct, Guard Misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Staffing, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, State Legislation

Cornell Company - The Prison Industry's Enron by Gary Hunter It was not an earthshaking day when Cornell Corrections was founded in 1991. It was more like a pebble plummeting over a cliff, leading to a landslide of greed and corruption. Backed by Dillon Read Venture Capital, David Cornell's callous …

Successive Petition Habeas Rule in Parole and Disciplinary Cases

Article • January 15, 2004 • from PLN January, 2004

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Parole, Habeas Corpus

Successive Petition Habeas Rule in Parole and Disciplinary Cases by Successive Petition Habeas Rule in Parole and Disciplinary Cases The Seventh and Ninth U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, in unrelated cases, have construed and applied the "second or successive petition" rule of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b). The rule requires that …

Expert Testimony Required in Alaska Medical Suits

Article • November 15, 2003 • from PLN November, 2003

Filed under: Injury -- Misc., Civil Procedure, Summary Judgment, Expert Witnesses

Expert Testimony Required in Alaska Medical Suits by The Alaska Supreme Court held that pro se litigants are not entitled to judicial advice as to the ramifications of every decision made during the course of litigation. That court affirmed the trial court's summary dismissal of the pro se plaintiff's medical …