Concubine and Children Cannot Sue for Wrongful Death of Federal Prisoner by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a concubine and her children could not sue for damages resulting from the cancer death of federal prisoner Jose Miguel Ruiz. This action was brought under the Federal Tort …
Court Holds Florida's Administrative Processing Fee is Constitutional by by David M. Reutter On December 21, 2004, Florida's Leon County Circuit Court held that a 2004 law that imposed an administrative processing fee on monies deposited into prisoner accounts does not violate the Florida Constitution's single-subject rule. The December 2004 …
Florida's Faith-Based Programs Under Watchful Eyes by David Reutter by David M. Reutter With budget cuts eliminating its substance abuse programs and most educational programs in its prisons, the State of Florida is turning to religious groups to rehabilitate its prisoners. Since 1995, Florida's prison population has exploded from 62,000 …
Five Florida Cases Remanded for Award of Jail or Prison Credits by Florida's Second and Fifth District Courts of Appeals have remanded five separate cases for the award of jail or prison credit. Each case was filed under Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a) alleging illegal sentences were imposed for …
PHS and Florida Sheriff Fight Over Liability in Jail Beating Death Suit by Florida's Second District Court of Appeals has reversed the grant of summary judgment to the Florida Association of Counties Trust (FACT) and the Sheriff of Polk County in a lawsuit seeking indemnification by Prison Health Services (PHS). …
Telder v. Coutny of Volusia, FL, Discovery Notice, Jail Suicide, 2005 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT OF THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA ORLANDO DIVISION TERRENCE JAMES TELDER as Personal Representative for the Estate of Eric Jon Telder, and on behalf of himself and survivors Tristyn Telder, Kendel Cheatham and …
Report Lambastes New York Lockdowns by by: Michael Rigby Emotional and physical distress...restricted diets... "greeting beatings" ...high rates of mental illness...a reliance on warehousing instead of treatment. This is the troubling reality of disciplinary confinement in New York, according to a 54-page report released on October 22, 2003, by the …
Florida's Private Prison Industry Corporation Under Siege by David Reutter by David M. Reutter As early as 1980, drugstore mogul Jack Eckerd was convinced a private company could provide higher profits to Florida if it ran the state's Prison Industries. After Eckerd's lobbying of the Florida Legislature, that Legislature enacted …
Florida's $4 Administrative Processing Fee for Prisoner Banking Fees Challenged by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A class action suit filed in Florida's Leon County Circuit Court challenges a new law enacted by the Florida Legislature in its 2004 session. That Legislature amended § 944.516, Florida statutes, to add …
Judge Barkett Dissents from Expansion of "In Custody" Meaning for PLRA purposes by Judge Barkett Dissents from Expansion of "In Custody" Meaning for PLRA purposes Judge Barkett has dissented from the denial of en banc review of an Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision that held the Prison Litigation Reform …
Private Capitol Punishment: The Florida Model by David Reutter by Ken Kopczynski, 111 pp. 2004, Authorhouse, softbound Reviewed by David M. Reutter As the prison industrial complex has expanded, the privatization of prisons has increased. The pages of PLN have chronicled the mental and physical abuse, as well as medical …
Prisons, Profits and Prophets by Bill Berkowitz The nation's largest private prison corporation is joining forces with conservative faith-based ministries by Bill Berkowitz In an era where the Bush Administration touts faith-based organizations as engines of individual and social transformation, and is actively recruiting and funding religious organizations to deliver …
Class Action Challenges Treatment of Florida's "Sexual Predator" Civil Detainees by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A federal class action has been filed in the Federal District Court in Ft. Myers by eight residents of the Florida Civil Commitment Center (FCCC), seeking to enforce their rights to mental health …
PLRA Indigency Provision Inapplicable When Filing Fee Paid by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Ap-peals held the In Forma Pauperis (IFP) provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) cannot be used to dismiss a case when the plaintiff pays the filing fee. Thomas R. Farese, a federal prisoner, filed …
No Qualified Immunity for Florida Jail Guards in Prisoner Murder by The U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in a case involving a Florida pre-trial detainee's death at the hands of a mentally ill co-prisoner, affirmed denial of qualified immunity to two guards at the North Broward Detention Center (NBDC) …
Florida's Felon Disenfranchisement Law Under Spotlight by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Since the 2000 presidential election, Florida's voting laws have been under scrutiny. One of the issues being debated is Florida's constitutional provision that permanently disenfranchises felons. When Florida gave blacks the right to vote as a condition …
Florida Jail Pays Prisoner's Family $2.5 Million in Methadone Withdrawal Death by On May 23, 2001, Karen Johnson, 43, literally died of medical neglect while being held prisoner in the Orange County Jail in Orlando, Florida. In July, 2002 PLN reported how Johnson desperately pleaded with her captors to continue …
Florida Prisoner Awarded Costs in Successful Records Request Litigation by David Reutter Florida Prisoner Awarded Costs in Successful Records Request Litigation by David M. Reutter Florida's First District Court of Appeals has held that a prisoner who successfully challenges a public agency's failure to produce public records is entitled to …
Florida's Incarceration Cost Recovery Statute Constitutional by The Florida Supreme Court held that a Florida statute that imposes civil liens for recovery of incarceration cost and victim restitution violates neither the Ex Post Facto Clause or Due Process. Florida prisoner 011ie James Goad, who has been incarcerated since February 1991, …
PLRA Physical Injury Rule Applied to Non-Prison Case by PLRA Physical Injury Rule Applied to Non-Prison Case The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) applies to lawsuits that claim injuries suffered during custodial episodes, even if such custody occurred outside prison walls. …
