Ninth Circuit Rejects Prisoner's Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege by The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a prisoner's conviction for threatening President George W. Bush. Robert Romo was confined at Montana's Dawson County Adult Correction and Detention Facility. While there, Romo met with Donald LaPlante, a licensed professional counselor whose job included …
PLRA Exhaustion Requirement Applies to Montana Prisoners in Private Prisons by The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of five Montana prisoners' suits under 42 U.S.C. §1983 for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, holding that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) requirement to exhaust administrative remedies prior to …
Montana: No Liberty Interest in Assignment to Particular Prison by The Montana Supreme Court held in this case that a prisoner in the Montana Department of Corrections (MDOC) had no federal or state constitutional liberty interest that required him to be housed in a particular prison. Paul Wright [not the …
Montana State Prisoner Not Entitled to Disability And Rehabilitation Benefits While Incarcerated by Montana State Prisoner Not Entitled to Disability And Rehabilitation Benefits While Incarcerated The Montana Supreme Court held on appeal from the Workers' Compensation Court that state prisoner Gary Quigg was not entitled to disability benefits while performing …
Montana Supreme Court Reverses Dismissal of Injunctive Action by The Montana Supreme Court reversed a lower court's dismissal of a prisoner's action, finding that his claims were not barred by res judicata. Anthel Brown was sentenced to the Montana State Prison (MSP) on November 8, 1976. He was confined to …
Sheriff Liable for Guard Hiring in Suicide by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that a Montana sheriff was liable for hiring a deputy sheriff with a history of abusive violence towards prisoners. The hiring was the proximate cause of the suicide of a Native American jail …
Parents of Jail Suicide Victim Have Familial Association Right by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the parents of an arrestee, who committed suicide while in the Helena (Montana) city jail, could maintain a claim, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, based upon a Fourteenth Amendment …
Prisoner's Retaliation Claims Dismissed by The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has effectively ended the claims of Kevin Murphy, a prisoner at the Montana State Prison (MSP), who had alleged that MSP officials had violated his First Amendment rights by retaliating against him for writing a letter to a …
Cause Of Action For Monetary Damages Available Under Montana Constitution by The Montana Supreme Court held that the Montana Constitution provided a cause of action for money damages for certain violations of rights guaranteed by the state constitution and that qualified immunity was not available for those committing such violations. …
Prisoners In 13 States Allowed Work-Access To Social Security Numbers by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported that prisoners in thirteen states had access to Social Security numbers (SSNs) during the course of their prison employment. Following a nationwide survey, the …
Montana Awards New Prison Phone Contract by The State of Montana has contracted with Public Communications Services (PCS), Inc. to provide phone services to prisoners in the Department of Corrections, according to a January 3, 2006 press release. PCS holds itself out as a bargain for both the DOC and …
SABER's Sexual History Disclosure Requirement Violates Fifth Amendment by The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the compelled sexual history disclosure required by the Sexual Abuse Behavior Evaluation and Recovery Program (SABER) violates the Fifth Amendment's guarantee against self incrimination. The court also held that a supervised release condition …
Indigent Montana Detainee Entitled to Jail Good Time Credit by The Montana Supreme Court held that a prisoner awaiting revocation of his suspended sentence is entitled to be credited for good time for the time served in a county jail if the prisoner is unable to secure bond for no …
Wrongfully Convicted Pennsylvania Prisoner Settles for $2.3 Million; Forensics Expert Fired by A wrongfully convicted ex-prisoner who spent 15-years in a Pennsylvania prison got modest compensation from the government that imprisoned him by winning a $2.3 million settlement in the lawsuits he filed. In Washington state, a forensic scientist was …
Montana BMPs Are Cruel and Unusual Punishment by Mark Wilson The Montana Supreme Court held that the use of Behavior Modification Plans (BMPs) and the living conditions of A-Block (Max) at the Montana State Penitentiary (MSP) constituted "an affront to the inviolable right of human dignity possessed by [prisoners] and …
Prisons Nationwide Fail to Treat HCV Epidemic by John E Dannenberg Prisons Nationwide Fail To Treat HCV Epidemic by John E. Dannenberg The JeopardyTM answer is: "The national average treatment rate for HCV-infected prisoners." The winning question is: "What is approximately 1%?" With HCV [Hepatitis-C] infection rates in state prisons …
Montana Supreme Court Denies Hepatitis-C Treatment by A divided Montana Supreme Court denied a state prisoner's habeas corpus petition seeking treatment for his Hepatitis-C (Hep-C) disease because the factual basis presented was inadequate. Keith Brown, incarcerated at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby, Montana, alleged he suffers from diagnosed Hep-C …
Police Supervisors Must Actually Read Search Warrants by At 990: The officers who lead a team that executes a warrant are responsible for ensuring that they have lawful authority for their actions. . . . They must actually read the warrant and satisfy themselves that they understand its scope and …
Interview by One Montana Parole Board Member Violates Due Process by The Montana Supreme Court held that prisoners in that state have a due process and statutory right to personally appear before all Parole Board members who will decide the merits of the prisoner's parole application. Montana prisoner Rodney West …
$20,000 Settlement in Montana Jail Strip Search by Eric Lynn agreed to accept a $20,000 out-of-court settlement after complaining that Missoula County policemen violated his civil rights by conducting an improper strip search at the County Detention Center. Lynn, a University of Montana senior, was among a group that protested …
