Clarence Freeman’s hot check turned out to be his death warrant after it resulted in his arrest and incarceration at the Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas, where he was fatally assaulted by a guard.
On New Years Day in 2008, Freeman worked a double shift passing out meal trays ...
On August 25, 2009, Senator Ted Kennedy died of brain cancer. With his passing prisoners lost one of the few advocates they had in the US Senate. Not surprisingly, mainstream media accounts largely ignored this aspect of Senator Kennedy’s long career. Probably the highlight of this was his role on ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 6
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that improperly-filed state habeas corpus applications and requests to the parole board for special review do not toll the one-year AEDPA limitations period established by 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d).
Barry Michael Wion, a Texas state prisoner, filed a federal petition for writ of ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 7
The New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s order that invalidated two townships’ ordinances restricting where registered sex offenders could live. The March 24, 2009 ruling held that the statewide Megan’s Law takes precedence over local statutes that impose residency restrictions on sex offenders.
Before the state Supreme Court ...
by Kent Russell
This column provides “habeas hints” to prisoners who are considering or handling habeas corpus petitions as their own attorneys (“in pro per”). The focus of the column is on habeas corpus under AEDPA, the 1996 habeas corpus law which now governs habeas corpus practice throughout the U.S. ...
by Corey Weinstein, MD, CCHP
During the past 25 years I’ve spent a lot of time with survivors of torture, men and women enduring long term solitary confinement in California’s prisons. They are the most urgent victims of US mass incarceration with its overcrowded facilities and policy of incapacitation, not ...
By the time Warden Jeffrey Merrill revealed on June 3 that three Maine State Prison employees had been put on paid leave as a result of a state police investigation of an inmate’s death in April, probes of corruption and other issues at the 925-prisoner lockup had already cast a ...
by Matt Clarke
During last year’s election campaign, President Obama came out forcefully against torture by U.S. officials and in favor of closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which holds approximately 230 alleged “terrorism” suspects. However, what Obama has done on these issues since taking office is another ...
by David M. Reutter
“The PLRA has had a devastating effect on the ability of incarcerated persons to protect their health and safety and vindicate other fundmanetal rights,” concludes a June 2009 report titled No Equal Justice: The Prison Litigation Reform Act [PLRA] in the United States. The report was ...
by David M. Reutter
The Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) has fired three guards, demoted a warden and disciplined other employees following an investigation into dozens of children being shocked with stun guns during “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” on April 23, 2009. Apparently, some FDOC employees ...
by Matt Clarke
On July 30, 2008, Paepaega Matautia, Jr., 39, a mail room guard at the Special Commitment Center (SCC) for sex offenders on McNeil Island in Washington state, was arrested on federal charges of attempting to possess and distribute crack cocaine at the facility. The next day, SCC ...
by Matt Clarke
Faced with budget cuts due to the down economy, jails across Southern California have turned to a new revenue stream – immigration detention. The federal government paid over $55 million to house immigrant detainees in California jails in fiscal year 2008. That was up from $52.6 million ...
by Matt Clarke
On March 12, 2009, J. Clark Kelso, California’s federal court-appointed receiver over prison medical care, demanded the resignations of his chief of staff, John Hagar; Stephen Weston, Hagar’s assistant; and medical services CEO Dr. Terry Hill. Hagar and Weston both resigned; Hill refused to resign and was ...
As California’s budget crisis deepens, local law enforcement agencies are looking for creative ways to cover shortfalls in their budgets. Increasingly, county sheriffs are raiding funds intended by the Legislature to be expended “primarily for the benefit, education and welfare of the inmates confined within the jail.” Referred to as ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 22
Sacramento County Jail Settles Excessive Force Suit for $260,000
On April 20, 2009, Sacramento County agreed to settle an excessive force suit brought by a former prisoner at the Sacramento Main Jail (SMJ) for $260,000.
On December 1, 2005, Donald Black, a probationary sergeant at SMJ, ordered the use of ...
Nebraska prison officials cannot delay paying $204,856.28 in attorney’s fees and costs awarded in a lawsuit where they were found to have violated the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) by failing to post a prayer schedule and to provide a prisoner with kosher ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 23
On August 20, 2009, Prison Legal News filed suit in Superior Court against the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Michael Hennessey and City Attorney Dennis Herrera. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed to comply with their statutory obligations under the California Public ...
Reviewed by David Preston
Of the many and varied detours a man can take off the road to happiness, a trip to prison would have to be about the most discombobulating. And for most of us, a prison stint in an impoverished and violence-blighted nation like Columbia would have to ...
by David M. Reutter
While the economic downturn has caused the price of goods and commodities to decrease in the free world, the cost of items in Florida’s prison canteens has skyrocketed under a new contract.
Florida law requires that items sold in prison canteens “shall be priced comparatively with ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 26
by David M. Reutter
Florida’s Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BCSC) agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle a civil rights action, in mid-trial, brought by a former prisoner who was left brain damaged after a beating from other prisoners, who were encouraged by guards.
When Dana C. Jones entered the ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 26
by David M. Reutter
With the suspension of two top officials at the Monroe County Correctional Facility (MCCF) in Snydersville, Pennsylvania, efforts to turn the jail around have hit yet another stumbling block. The February 27, 2009 suspensions – and later resignations – of Warden David Mauro and Captain Owen ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 28
by David M. Reutter
Despite winning a lawsuit which held that officials in Hardin, Montana could contract to receive out-of-state prisoners, the town’s Two Rivers Detention Facility sits empty and the bonds issued to finance the prison are in default. In a desperate move, Hardin offered to take in prisoners ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 29
Washington State’s Kitsap County Jail paid $4.7 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged its failure to properly care for a developmentally disabled man left him brain damaged from dehydration.
William E. Trask, 44, was born developmentally disabled. Despite that, he was healthy and led an active life. He even ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 29
In order to cut operating costs, Michigan has changed the way state employees can receive overtime. Statewide, the change is expected to save $8 million annually, with half of the savings coming from prisons.
The change, which became effective October 1, 2008, comes as the result of a contract with ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 30
On February 28, 2008, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary M. Collyer denied a summary judgment motion filed by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit challenging the BOP’s refusal to confirm or deny the existence of disciplinary records related to a former BOP employee. ...
by Matt Clarke
On March 24, 2009, a U.S. District Court ruled that hearings held by the Texas parole board before imposing sex offender parole conditions on prisoners not convicted of sex offenses were constitutionally inadequate.
Raul Meza, a Texas prisoner, was convicted of murdering an eight-year-old girl and sentenced ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 31
On August 28, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas unsealed a settlement agreement in a nationwide class-action lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest private prison firm. On July 27, 2009, Prison Legal News had filed a motion to intervene in the suit ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 32
California’s Kern County agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit in the beating death of a pre-trial detainee at the county’s jail. The August 15, 2005, incident involved “as many as 14 detention officers [who] … beat, hit, kicked, kneed, punched, choked, taunted, mocked, and tormented an inmate ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 3, 2009, the Maricopa County (Arizona) Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to settle for $500,000 a lawsuit brought by survivors of a man beat to death in the Fourth Avenue Jail of the Maricopa County Jail System. The jail is operated by sheriff Joe Arpaio, ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 33
On March 27, 2009, Los Angeles County agreed to pay $7,000,000 to a youth that was severely beaten at the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall (Nidorf) in Sylmar, California after the youth was pressured, but refused, to join a gang.
Raymond Amande, Jr. was attacked in a recreation room by ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 33
On April 30, 2009, Hamilton County, Ohio agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of over 600 individuals who were jailed for non-payment of a fine without first being afforded an attorney or hearing to determine whether they could pay.
The Plaintiff in the case, Michael Powers, ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 34
The possession or introduction of small amounts of marijuana into a New York state prison is not punishable as a felony, the New York Court of Appeals held.
Robert Finley, a New York state prisoner, was charged with felony promoting prison contraband in the first degree after three marijuana joints ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 34
At the request of the legislature, the Bureau of State Audits examined the adult parole discharge practices of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and found that parolees, even those regarded as violent or serious offenders, occasionally slip through bureaucratic cracks in policies designed to prevent their premature discharge ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 34
Made in the U.S.A. got a whole new meaning with the passage of a recent Maryland law that requires all Maryland and United States flags to be produced in the United States.
For many years in Maryland, all but one flag that flies at the State House was made in ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 35
On April 15, 2009, the Mississippi Legislature passed legislation authorizing up to 25 percent, or $25,000 annually, of the money collected from prisoner telephone calls to fund a Jail and Prison Ministry.
Since the late 1990s, the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry has provided church services at the Lauderdale ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 35
Clerk Erred in Refusing to File Unsigned 28 U.S.C. § 2255 Motion
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that it was error for a district court clerk to refuse to file an unsigned 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion.
On May 20, 2004, Georges Michel’s co-defendant, James ...
by David M. Reutter
The corporate philosophy of cutting corners to enhance profits is catching up with Aramark Correctional Services, causing the company to lose prison and jail food service contracts and putting other contracts in jeopardy. Aramark has discontinued its contract with Florida’s entire prison system, while the company ...
by Matt Clarke
A Missouri federal judge issued an injunction against enforcement of a new Missouri law imposing Halloween-related restrictions on registered sex offenders. However, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction on October 30, 2008.
As part of the general demonizing and harassment of registered sex offenders ...
Timothy E. Helms remains paralyzed from the neck down following a confrontation with guards after he lit a fire in his cell at North Carolina’s Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville. The next day, on August 4, 2008, Helms arrived at Catawba Valley Medical Center in the back of a squad ...
by David M. Reutter
The Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC) paid $144,523.20 to settle a civil rights action that claimed prison officials sat idly watching a mentally ill prisoner physically maim herself.
In 1976 at the age of 13, Shane Elizabeth Eggen was placed in state custody by her parents, ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 40
On September 15, 2009, the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) agreed to revise its policy prohibiting prisoners from receiving books purchased for them by third parties or sent to them free of charge. The DOC also agreed to eliminate any prior approval requirement as applied to book vendors and distributors. ...
Hawaii prison officials said Tuesday that all of the state’s 168 female inmates at a privately run Kentucky prison will be removed by the end of September because of charges of sexual abuse by guards. Forty inmates were returned to Hawaii on Aug. 17.
This month, officials from the Hawaii ...
by David M. Reutter
A lawsuit against the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists (LSBEP) accuses retired Army Col. Larry C. James of professional and ethical violations stemming from his former role as chief psychologist at the U.S. military prisons in Abu Ghraib, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 43
On April 29, 2008, the Superior Court of Connecticut upheld the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission’s decision to invalidate a state prison rule that prevented indigent prisoners from obtaining copies of records under the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) without charge.
Richard Quint, a Connecticut prisoner, requested various records ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 44
On May 12, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the length of a prisoner’s confinement in administrative segregation (ad seg) affects whether there has been a due process violation.
Carey Harden-Bey, a Michigan prisoner at the Alger Maximum Correctional Facility, was placed in ad ...
by Matt Clarke
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the federal conviction of a New York jail guard for intentionally using excessive force on a prisoner in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242.
Zoran Teodorovic, a pre-trial detainee at the Westchester County Jail, was housed in a special section ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 45
On May 22, 2003, indigent prisoner Kenneth Lee Denham was arrested and detained by Oakland police officers at the city jail. He was later taken to the county jail, but the county refused to accept him because he was too sick. Oakland police then transported Denham to ValleyCare Medical Center ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 46
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held on March 27, 2008 that the Oakland Police Department’s (OPD) policy permitting non-medical strip searches of detainees in the field, conducted in public view without either a warrant or an arrest, was partly unconstitutional. Three plaintiffs, all minorities, sued ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 46
Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal has held that there is no meaningful distinction between incarceration in prison or jail and confinement in a sex offender civil commitment facility for the purposes of sentence calculation.
The Court’s ruling came in a Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.800(a) proceeding involving Florida state prisoner William J. ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 47
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a district court’s sua sponte dismissal of a prisoner’s challenge to his conditions of confinement.
Sala-Thiel Thompson, a federal prisoner, filed a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 alleging that his conviction was entered without jurisdiction and that several ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 47
Florida’s First District Court of Appeal has held that application of a 1983 gain time statute to a prisoner who committed his offense in 1981 violated the ex post facto clause. Before the appellate court was a petition for writ of certiorari filed by Florida state prisoner Reginald Burks.
After ...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held it was a violation of due process for a district court to deny a criminal defendant the right to cross-examine a lab technician who tested a urine sample that showed positive for illegal drugs, when the sample was clearly adulterated ...
A federal grand jury has returned indictments against two Lucas County, Ohio jail guards in connection with the death of a prisoner. Additionally, Lucas County’s sheriff and another jail employee face charges of lying to investigators.
According to the indictment, guards John Gray and Jay Schmeltz beat and choked jail ...
A federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) warden does not have authority to reward a prisoner’s cooperation with prison officials with a reduced sentence under Fed.R.Crim.P. Rule 35(b), the First Circuit held on May 23, 2008.
Edward B. Ellis, a federal prisoner serving 20 years, provided assistance to the warden of ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 50
Alabama: On July 23, 2009, former prison guard Kenya Morton, 27, was sentenced to a year in jail and 3 years supervised release for promoting contraband. He was caught during a routine search at the Bibb County Correctional Facility with two bags of marijuana and hydrocodone on February 29, 2008. ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 52
The State of Oregon and Multnomah County paid a former detainee $30,000 to settle his illegal detention claims.
In 2006, Irving Robinson was confined in the Multnomah County Jail, facing criminal charges. The State failed to bring him to trial within 60 days as required by OR5136.290, and the charges ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2009
published in Prison Legal News
October, 2009, page 55
The Sixth Circuit of Appeals has affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a prisoner’s due process and equal protection claims, but reversed the dismissal of Eighth Amendment claims based on failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
Before the Court was the appeal of Kentucky State Penitentiary prisoner Henry David Grinter, following ...
