Florida Religious Name Change Upheld by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court order requiring the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to allow Muslim prisoners to use their religious name to obtain prison services. While incarcerated, Florida death row prisoner Kenneth D. Quince converted to Islam …
Custodial Rape of Female Prisoners Widespread in U.S. by Roger Smith Custodial Rape Of Female Prisoners Widespread In U.S. by Roger Smith American jail and prison officials sexually molest hundreds, and possibly thousands of women prisoners each year. According to a March 2001 report by Amnesty International USA, over 1,000 …
Three Florida Guards Charged with Beating 'Gunner' by Three Florida state prison guards were arrested October 6, 2000 and charged with kicking and beating a prisoner so severely that his crushed right testicle had to be surgically removed. The beating was administered by guards as a form of "counseling" to …
Bogus Felons List Results in Suppression of Florida Votes by Ronald Young Bogus Felons List Results In Suppression of Florida Votes by Ronald A. Young Undoubtedly, it was the politically motivated decision handed down by five U.S. Supreme Court justices to put a halt to counting untallied Florida votes which …
Texas and Florida Prisoners Used in Medical Experiments by Julia Lutsky When the AIDS epidemic struck in the mid eighties and pharmaceutical companies wished to test new and promising drugs, what better place than in the nation's prison systems? AIDS has no known cure and test subjects in the prison …
"The Judge Gave Me Ten Years--He Didn't Sentence Me to Death" by Anne-Marie Cusac "The Judge Gave Me Ten Years--He Didn't Sentence Me to Death" Prisoners with HIV deprived of proper care By Anne-Marie Cusac In prisons and jails across the country, prisoners with HIV or AIDS are denied proper …
Cursory Medical Treatment Cruel and Unusual by The U.S. court of appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a failure to diagnose a prisoner's colon cancer may have been extremely negligent, but it did not rise to the level of deliberate indifference. However, a factual dispute precluded summary judgment on …
Florida X-Wing Guard Acquitted in Valdes Beating by The first of five Florida State Prison guards to be tried in connection with the beating death of "XWing" prisoner Frank Valdes was acquitted by a jury in a rural county dominated by the state "corrections" industry. In the October 1999 PLN …
Solomos v. Jenne, FL, Appeal Brief, Jail Fees, 2000 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA THOMAS SOLOMOS AND LUCAS PITTERS, ON BEHALF OF THEMSELVES AND ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, Petitioners, CASE NO. SC01-510 vs. SHERIFF KEN JENNE, Respondent. ____________________________________/ _________________________________________________________________ AMENDED INITIAL BRIEF OF PETITIONERS _________________________________________________________________ ON DISCRETIONARY REVIEW FROM …
Florida 'Sexual Predator' Fails in Daring Bid for Freedom by A "violent sexual predator" who broke out of Florida's civil commitment detention center in a brazen midday helicopter escape was captured, along with his helicopter-flying accomplice, 4 ½ miles away after a 25-hour manhunt. Shortly after 1:00 P.Mon June 5, …
Without Running Water by A A Without running Water By David M. Reutter PLN previously reported that Florida's Martin Correctional Institution (MCI) had been evacuated as a result of bad water. [See PLN, May, 2000: Bad Water Causes Florida Prison Evacuation.] That report was based solely upon media reports that …
The Restraint Chair: Safe and Humane? by Anne-Marie Cusac Jail and prison employees call it the "strap-o-lounger," the "barcalounger," the "we care chair," and the "be sweet chair." Prisoners and their lawyers have other names for the device: "torture chair," "slave chair," and "devil's chair." They are not referring to …
Deviant Doctors Dumped on Prisoners by How does a psychiatrist come by the "qualifications" required to work in a state prison? Not all prison doctors have questionable pedigrees, but the case of Dr. Valentino Andres is all too common. According to a California prisoner and PLN subscriber, Dr. Andres is …
Wackenhut Wracked by Sexual Abuse Scandals by Ronald Young Wackenhut Wracked By Sexual Abuse Scandals by Ron Young After a decade as a leading operator of corporate-owned prisons, Wackenhut Corrections has become a prisoner of its own problems. In New Mexico, a 500-page legislative report written by five consultants calls …
Federal Judge Hits BOP Mule with Two-by-Four by Federal Judge Hits BOP Mule With Two-by-Four A ticked-off federal judge in Miami interrupted the fraud and money-laundering trial of jewel dealer Jack Hasson February 2, 2000, for an "extraordinary display of judicial pique and power," the Palm Beach Post reported. U.S. …
FDOC Hazardous to Prisoners' Health by Mark Sherwood by Mark Sherwood and Bob Posey Thirty percent of the 129 doctors who provide medical care to prisoners incarcerated in the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) have marks on their records ranging from malpractice to fraud. The FDOC rarely fires or disciplines …
Bad Water Causes Florida Prison Evacuation by More than 700 prisoners at Florida's maximum-security Martin Correctional Institution (MCI) had to be evacuated October 26, 1999 while state crews scrambled to make emergency repairs to a water plant plagued by breakdowns, sickening odors and contaminants. Workers set up portable toilets and …
PLRA Applies to Prospective Relief; Fees Are Not Prospective Relief by A federal court in Florida held that a provision of the Prison Litigation reform Act (PLRA) automatically staying enforcement of prospective relief under consent decrees applies only to prospective relief engendered within the consent decree, and not to the …
Four Florida Prison Guards Face Murder Charges by Nine guards from Florida State Prison's "X-Wing" were suspended while state law enforcement investigators probed their role in the July 17, 1999 beating death of X-Wing prisoner Frank Valdes [see page 1 of the October 1999 PLN]. On February 2, 2000, four …
