Disputed Material Facts in Failure to Protect Suit Preclude Interlocutory Appellate Review by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is without jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal on qualified immunity issues where material facts are in dispute. The Court of Appeals let stand most of a …

Qualified Immunity Denied in Washington Rape of Transsexual Prisoner by The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a Washington guard's claim of qualified immunity in sexually assaulting a transsexual prisoner. The Court also held the protection afforded by the Gender Motivated Violence Act (GMVA) extends to transsexuals, but upheld …

Transgender Treatment Questioned by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit issued a ruling that prisoners suffering from gender dysphoria (i.e., transexualism) are not entitled to curative treatment under the eighth amendment. The ruling is extremely unusual in that it comes as an "advisory opinion." A long standing judicial …

Farmer Loses at Jury Trial by In the July, 1994, issue of PLN we reported Farmer v. Brennan, 114 S.Ct. 1970 (1994), where the supreme court held that prisoners have an eighth amendment right to be protected by prison officials from rape or attack by other prisoners. Farmer proceeded to …

Farmer Remanded Again, for Discovery by The court of appeals for the seventh circuit held a district court erred in dismissing a case without allowing the plaintiff to conduct discovery in order to oppose the defendants' motion for summary judgment. In doing so the court gives a detailed discussion of …

S.Ct. Hears Argument in Prisoner Attack Case by On January 12, 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Farmer v. Brennan , Case no. 92-7247. Farmer is a transsexual federal prisoner who was raped after being placed in general population at the U.S. Penitentiary at Terre Haute, IN. …