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U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Sex Offender Registration Laws

Article • July 15, 2003 • from PLN July, 2003

Filed under: Discrimination, Sex Offender Registration, Ex Post Facto

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Sex Offender Registration Laws by In two decisions handed down on March 5, 2003, the United States Supreme Court reversed the Ninth and Second U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, both of which had struck down state sex offender registration laws, popularly known as "Megan's Law(s)." In …

Alaska Prisoners' Benefits Extended to Arizona

Article • June 15, 2003 • from PLN June, 2003

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Overcrowding, Civil Procedure, Settlements, Mootness

Alaska Prisoners' Benefits Extended to Arizona by The Supreme Court of Alaska sustained a lower court's ruling which provisionally allowed Alaska prisoners to be transferred to an Arizona prison, required the Arizona facility to comply with Alaska's prison overcrowding settlement agreement, and found the Alaska prisoners' challenge to the process …

Good Time on Alaska CS Sentences Subtracted from Aggregate Sentence

Article • February 15, 2003 • from PLN February, 2003

Filed under: Sentencing, Good Time, Parole

Good Time on Alaska CS Sentences Subtracted from Aggregate Sentence by The Alaska Court of Appeals held that good time credits for prisoners serving consecutive sentences are subtracted from the entire sentence rather than against each separate sentence. The court also held that prisoners serving more than one sentence receive …

Alaska Prison Design Case Settles for $1 Million

Article • December 15, 2002 • from PLN December, 2002

Filed under: Medical, Skeletal Injury, Premises Liability

Alaska Prison Design Case Settles for $1 Million by In August, 2001, the state of Alaska settled a lawsuit involving faulty prison design which resulted in serious injury to a prisoner for $1,000,000. In February, 1994, Carry Johnson was returning to his cell at the Ketchikan Correctional Center in Alaska. …

Jailers Liable for Foreseeable Prisoner Suicide

Article • October 15, 2002 • from PLN October, 2002

Filed under: Mental Health, Suicides

Jailers Liable for Foreseeable Prisoner Suicide by The Supreme Court of Alaska held that a jailer owes its prisoners the duty of reasonable care to protect them from foreseeable harm, including self-inflicted harm. Rudolph Joseph was arrested in Nome, Alaska on. May 11, 1996 and committed to the Anvil Mountain …

Alaska Filing Fee Statute Upheld

Article • July 15, 2002 • from PLN July, 2002

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Filing Fees

Alaska Filing Fee Statute Upheld by The supreme court of Alaska held that a state statute requiring prisoners to pay the filing fees in civil cases is constitutional, but that a superior court erred when it dismissed the plaintiff's case before the time limit it had imposed for the payment …

Alaska Supreme Court Reverses Former Prisoner's $2.4 Million Jury Award

Article • November 15, 2001 • from PLN November, 2001

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Shelter, Damages, Jury Instructions, Premises Liability

Alaska Supreme Court Reverses Former Prisoner's $2.4 Million Jury Award by The Supreme Court of Alaska reversed a jury verdict and a $2.4 million damage award in favor of a former prisoner who was injured when he fell down a stairway. In February 1994, Carry Johnson was returning to his …

$1.4 Million Awarded to Raped Alaska Women Prisoners

Article • July 15, 2001 • from PLN July, 2001

Filed under: Work Release, Staff-Prisoner Assault, Private Prisons, Cornell Corrections, Contractor Misconduct, Guard Misconduct, Gender Discrimination -- Women, Contractor Liability, Failure to Train/Supervise

$1.4 Million Awarded to Raped Alaska Women Prisoners by $1.4 Million Awarded To Raped Alaska Women Prisoners On January 22, 2001 an Anchorage, Alaska superior court jury awarded nearly $1.4 million to five women in a civil action arising from their being sexually assaulted by a guard at an Anchorage …

No Written Screening or Administrative Exhaustion Required

Article • September 15, 1999 • from PLN September, 1999

Filed under: PLRA, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA)

No Written Screening or Administrative Exhaustion Required by A federal district court in Alaska chided the Alaska attorney general's office when the latter complained the court was not providing a written summary of its screening of prisoner lawsuits under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. The court held it was under no …

Rehabilitation or Corporate Profit

Article • December 15, 1998 • from PLN December, 1998

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Organizing, Prison Rebellion, Work Strikes, Guard Brutality/Beatings

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 …

Alaska Classification Subject to Court Review

Article • May 15, 1998 • from PLN May, 1998

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Prisoner Privileges, Rehabilitation/Recidivism

Alaska Classification Subject to Court Review by The supreme court of Alaska held that prison classification hearings are adjudicatory determinations subject to judicial review and that Alaska prisoners have a state constitutional right to rehabilitation. Richard Brandon is an Alaska state prisoner transferred to a privately run prison in Florence, …

Alaska Computer Printer Ban Questioned

Article • April 15, 1998 • from PLN April, 1998

Filed under: Computers, Court Access, Writing Implements

Alaska Computer Printer Ban Questioned by The supreme court of Alaska held that a state superior court wrongly granted summary judgment to prison officials in a lawsuit challenging a ban on computer printers in the prisoners' cells. Geoffrey Mathis is an Alaska state prisoner. In 1993 prison officials issued a …

Copying Claims Not Barred by Res Judicata

Article • April 15, 1997 • from PLN April, 1997

Filed under: Court Access, Photocopies, Res Judicata

Copying Claims Not Barred by Res Judicata by The court of appeals for the ninth circuit held that an Alaska state prisoner's claim that he was denied photocopies was not barred by res judicata where a similar claim was litigated in a class action suit but the issue was not …

Newell Superseded

Article • July 15, 1996 • from PLN July, 1996

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Notice of Rules, Computers, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Qualified Immunity

Newell Superseded by In the April, 1996, issue of PLN we reported Newell v. Sauser, 64 F.3d 1416 (9th Cir. 1995) which held that Alaska prison officials were not entitled to qualified immunity for infracting a prisoner who had another prisoner's legal papers in his cell. On March 11, 1996, …

Alaska Prisoner Has Right to Call Witnesses at Hearing

Article • July 15, 1996 • from PLN July, 1996

Filed under: Prisoner-Staff Harassment, Disciplinary Hearings, Witnesses (Disciplinary Hearings), Staff Assistance, False Charges (Disciplinary Hearings), Confrontation

Alaska Prisoner Has Right to Call Witnesses at Hearing by The Alaska supreme court held that refusing to allow a prisoner to call witnesses and to question the accusing staff member at a prison disciplinary hearing violated the prisoner's due process rights. Mattfi Abruska is an Alaska state prisoner. He …

Jailhouse Lawyers Retain Right to Assist Prisoners

Article • April 15, 1996 • from PLN April, 1996

Filed under: Retaliation for Litigating, Notice of Rules, Computers, Court Access, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Legal Materials, Appeals, Qualified Immunity

Jailhouse Lawyers Retain Right to Assist Prisoners by The court of appeals for the ninth circuit has held that prison officials are not entitled to qualified immunity when they punish a jailhouse lawyer for assisting another prisoner. Terry Newell, an Alaska state prisoner, was employed as a prison law library …

Alaska Overcrowding Fines Increase

Article • February 15, 1996 • from PLN February, 1996

Filed under: Overcrowding, Civil Procedure, Contempt (Civil Procedure)

Alaska Overcrowding Fines Increase by In the November 1995, issue of PLN we reported on prison overcrowding in Alaska. In 1981 Alaska prisoners filed a class action suit challenging overcrowding and conditions in the prison system. The prisoners won most of the suit, the key aspect was a court ordered …

TRO Granted in Alaska Sex Offender Registration

Article • December 15, 1995 • from PLN December, 1995

Filed under: Discrimination, Sex Offender Registration, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Ex Post Facto

TRO Granted in Alaska Sex Offender Registration by Since 1990, when Washington state passed the Community Protection Act (CPA), many states have followed suit and copied its provisions. The Washington CPA is one of the most draconian laws of its type in the country concerning the registration and civil commitment …

Alaska Prisoners in Exile

Article • November 15, 1995 • from PLN November, 1995

Filed under: Classification, Out of State Transfers, Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Overcrowding

Alaska Prisoners in Exile by Anthony Brown I would like to respond to a News in Brief segment of your February 1995 issue of PLN concerning the shipment of Alaska state prisoners to the Penal Detention Center [a private prison operated by the Corrections Corporation of America] in Florence, AZ, …

AK Disciplinary Hearing Violates Due Process

Article • June 15, 1994 • from PLN June, 1994

Filed under: Disciplinary Hearings, Disciplinary Litigation, Witnesses (Disciplinary Hearings), Written Findings

AK Disciplinary Hearing Violates Due Process by Richard Brandon is an Alaska state prisoner. During a search of his cell prison guards found homemade liquor and a stolen radio. Brandon was infracted and found guilty at a disciplinary hearing and his administrative appeals were denied. Brandon filed an appeal with …