Nominal Damages Not Automatic by The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has held that nominal damages are not automatic when a jury renders a verdict for excessive use of force, but fails to award compensatory or punitive damages. Temporary detainee George B. Oliver filed a civil rights action …
Danish Security Firm Buys Out the Wackenhut Corporation by Danish Security Firm Buys Out The Wackenhut Corporation In 1954, former FBI agent George Wackenhut and three FBI buddies formed a private detective firm in Miami. In 1955, the firm moved into the security guard business after winning a contract with …
Foree v. Broward County, FL, Expert Report, Indifference Pregnancy, 2002 Case 0:02-cv-61356-KAM Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 09/25/2002 Page 32 of 39 KENNETH KASSIN, M.D. 1600 S. Federal Highway, Suite 611 Pompano Beach, FL. 33062 (954) 941-8100 April 15, 2002 Jemey Nodan Counhouse Tower, Suite 400 44 West Flagler …
Foree v. Broward County Sheriff's Office, FL, Petition for Removal, Deliberate Indifference Pregnancy, 2002 Case 0:02-cv-61356-KAM Document 1 Entered on FLSD Docket 09/25/2002 Page 37 of 39 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SEVENTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA CIVIL DIVISION CASE NO.: 02016927 CACE 05 CHARLEEN …
Florida Guard's Threat of Death Requires Summary Judgment Denial by A federal district court in Florida has denied summary judgment to a guard that threatened violence against a prisoner who filed a lawsuit against the guard's brother. While confined at Florida's Liberty Correctional Institution, prisoners Joseph Wilson and David Croft …
Florida Guards Murder Another Prisoner, Get Another Acquittal by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A state jury has acquitted three Florida prison guards in the murder of death row inmate Frank Valdes. The guards, Captain Timothy Thornton, Sgt. Jason P. Griffis, and Sgt. Charles A. Brown, were exonerated of …
News in Brief by Roger Hummel Alaska: On April 11, 2002, Cynthia Cooper, the head prosecutor in the state attorney general's office, resigned after being judicially admonished for pursuing felony charges against a public defender who crashed his car into a light pole. Anchorage prosecutors had agreed to a misdemeanor …
New Florida Trend: Abuse in a Spray Can by Frank Valdes may have accomplished in death what he could not in life: a decrease in prisoner beatings by guards. The problem of abusive guards, nonetheless, has not disappeared after Valdes's murder. The form of the abuse has progressed to frequent …
Motion Accepted as Appeal Notice; Damage Award Set Off Against Costs by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a pro se motion must be accepted as a notice of appeal if it states the intent to appeal, and that a jury's damage award could be set off …
Deaths in Florida and Virginia Jails Spark National Investigations by Gary Hunter The badly bloated body of Kathy Kearns was removed from her Virginia Beach jail cell in the early morning hours of April 26, 2001. Testimony from witnesses and evidence from jail and city records show that Kearns desperately …
Frivolous Dismissal Reviewed Under Abuse of Discretion Standard by The court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has held that a district court's dismissal of a prisoner's 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit for frivolousness is reviewed by the abuse of discretion standard. It also held that the prisoner's litigation history …
Wackenhut Searches for New Business by Wackenhut Searches For New Business In the 1990s, states couldn't build prisons fast enough. To keep up with the ever-increasing number of prisoners, many states turned to private prison companies like Wackenhut Corrections, Corrections Corporation of America, and Cornell Corrections. But the prison-building boom …
Florida's Prisoner Indigency Statute Unconstitutional by The Florida Supreme Court, in two separate cases, has held that Florida's Prisoner Indigence Statute (PIS) is unconstitutional, and ordered reinstatement of cases dismissed for failing to comply with PIS. Prisoner Douglas M. Jackson, Sr., filed a writ of mandamus seeking to compel the …
Florida DOC Clears Itself of Racism Charges by The September 2001 issue of PLN reported on a series of lawsuits filed by black prison employees against the Florida Department of Corrections, as well as racist brutality by Florida prison guards. Florida DOC Secretary Michael Moore at the time promised to …
Connecticut and Florida Change Felon Disenfranchisement Laws by Connecticut and Florida take different approaches as they address the disenfranchisement of convicted felons. In Connecticut, state lawmakers, after intense debate and much legislative maneuvering, passed a bill that gives back the right to vote to convicted felons on probation. In a …
Excessive Force Claims Not Subject to Exhaustion; Supreme Court Grants Review by The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the exhaustion requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) does not apply to assault and excessive force claims. Connecticut state prisoner Ronald Nussle brought a …
Carruthers v. Pride, FL, Complaint, Work Injury, 2001 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT, SECOND JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR. LEON COUNT', FLORIDA CASE NO.: D CD DIVISION: Calvin Carruthers Plaintiff, • C:. • (VI tlfr27 r." VS. Prisons Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, Inc, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, and Donald Larson, …
Osterback v. Moore, FL, Settlement, Rule 68 Control Unit Conditions, 2003 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA MIAMI DIVISION CASE NO. 97-2806-CIV-HUCK MAGISTRATE JUDGE BROWN MARK OSTERBACK, et al., Plaintiffs, v. MICHAEL W. MOORE, et al., Defendants. / DEFENDANTS’ REVISED OFFER OF JUDGMENT Defendants, MICHAEL W. MOORE, et …
Racist Knot of Florida Guards by Willie Wisely The fake hunting regulations prominently posted in a Calhoun Correctional Institution colonel's office read, "OPEN SEASON ON PORCH MONKEYS." The daily kill limit was ten according to the sign, Roy Hughes, a black guard, told the St. Petersburg Times December 19, 1999. …
Suits Claiming Racial Discrimination Plague Florida Prisons by Gary Hunter Citing incidents dating back to 1993, over 100 current and past employees are suing the Florida DOC for perpetuating a "long standing custom or policy of racial discrimination." What began as two law suits in December 1999 increased to four …
