Search | Prison Phone Justice

Collect Only Telephone Calls to Attorneys Denies Access to Counsel

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Client, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Attorney Calls

Collect Only Telephone Calls to Attorneys Denies Access to Counsel by The California First District Court of Appeal has held that pre-trial detainee's have a right to a direct line telephone ...

Alabama Jail Totality Of Conditions Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Medical Records, Contagious Disease -- Misc., Notice of Charges, Totality of Conditions, Failure to Protect (General), Staffing, Exercise, Attorney Client, Telephone Access, Due Process, Religious Freedom, Denial of Religious Services

provide a reasonable degree of privacy when a prisoner is consulting with an attorney. 9. Visitation, Telephone and Mail: the jail must provide pretrial detainees reasonable visitation from their children ...

$54,000 Attorney Fees Awarded in Indiana Disability Discrimination Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Disabled Prisoners, Attorneys, Attorney Fee Awards, Telephone Access

$54,000 Attorney Fees Awarded in Indiana Disability Discrimination Suit by An Indiana federal district court has awarded $54,000 in attorney fees and costs in a prisoner's disability discrimination lawsuit. The award came after a $5,000 summary judgment settlement between the parties. James Kennington was arrested and booked into Indiana's Marion …

Jail Detainee Has Right of Court Access

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Court Access, Legal Materials, Telephone Access, Attorney Calls

Jail Detainee Has Right of Court Access by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that a California jail detainee's court access rights were violated when the jail interfered with court ordered local and long distance phone calls, legal materials, subpoena runner and obtaining legal materials and an …

Jail Vermin States Claim

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Exercise, Showers, Vermin, PLRA, Physical Injury Rule, Telephone Access

Jail Vermin States Claim by The court of appeals for the Eighth circuit, sitting en Banc, held that a Missouri jail prisoner had stated a constitutional claim because he was held in a six foot by six foot cell for 72 hours at a time and allowed only one fifteen …

Ad-Seg Phone Limit Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access

Ad-Seg Phone Limit Upheld by The court of appeals for the Eighth circuit upheld a Nebraska prison's administrative segregation policy that permitted ad seg prisoners to call only three on a list, and the list was limited to two family members and one female friend. In doing so, the appeals …

Collect Call Phone System Doesn't Violate Right to Court Access

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Client, Court Access, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

Collect Call Phone System Doesn't Violate Right to Court Access by A federal district court in Tennessee held that no constitutional violation occurred when a Tennessee prison replaced its coin operated phones with a coinless, collect call only phone system. Lawsuit was brought in context of access to counsel and …

$4,000 Award to IN Jail Prisoner Placed on Suicide Watch

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: HIV/AIDS, Strip Cells, Bedding, Hygiene Supplies, Court Access, Writing Implements, Damages, New Trial Motions, Telephone Access, Postage, Suicides

of the jail's policy; also named in the suit were two deputy jail guards who he alleged violated his constitutional rights by denying him water, hygiene items, visitation privileges, telephone access, writing ...

Prisoner Prevailing Party, Awarded Attorney Fees

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Telephone Access, Mail, Legal Mail, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness)

with regulations regarding "process and delivery of plaintiff's mail and telephone access." In addition, prisoner's refusal to volunteer to be double bunked could not affect his privilege status. However ...

Los Angeles County Jail Conditions Unconstitutional

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Totality of Conditions, Ventilation, Exercise, Jail Specific, Lighting, Court Access, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Court Appearances, Telephone Access

Los Angeles County Jail Conditions Unconstitutional by A California federal district court held the conditions at the Los Angeles County Jail were unconstitutional. This class action suit resulted in a non-jury trial that alleged violations of the pre-trial detainees' constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The court found the detainees …

Jail Segregation Ban on Collect Calls Upheld

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Telephone Access, Attorney Calls, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

Jail Segregation Ban on Collect Calls Upheld by One of the plaintiff's claims was exhausted. At 291-92: He doesn't have "proof-positive," but he does have "some proof that his efforts to file grievances . . . were not facilitated by the Jail as required by the policy." Exhaustion is an …

BOP Prison Phone Suit Wrongly Dismissed

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Retaliation, Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Venue, Telephone Access

BOP Prison Phone Suit Wrongly Dismissed by New federal prison telephone policies limiting prisoners to 300 minutes per calendar month were instituted after the Bureau of Prisons settled ...

Mentally Ill WI Prisoner Sues over Control Unit Conditions

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Staffing, Exercise, Clothing, Lighting, Noise, Appointment of Counsel, Class Certification, Telephone Access, Publications/Books, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement

association." The court can't tell exactly how much his telephone access is limited, but allows the claims to go forward. Visiting--Conditions, Restraints (945-46): The plaintiff is allowed to proceed on his ...

Ex-Communication: Competition and Collusion in the U.S. Prison Telephone Industry

Article • January 15, 2007 • from PLN January, 2007

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Crime, Statistics/Trends, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

of prison telephone access in the U.S. is itself of relatively recent vintage. Until the early 1970s, prisoners of the state and federal prison systems were limited to one collect call every three months ...

Tenth Circuit Reinstates Colorado Ad Seg Conditions Claims

Article • January 15, 2007 • from PLN January, 2007

Filed under: Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Exercise, Showers, Frivolous Litigation (PLRA), Court Access, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Limitations, Telephone Access

confinement in three state prisons from September 2000 to August 2003. He was locked down all but five hours per week and alleges he was denied access to a telephone, showers, outdoor exercise, law library ...

Texas Prisoner Gets 40 Years For Cellphone; Guards Get Probation

Article • October 15, 2006 • from PLN October, 2006

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Crime, Telephone Access

Texas Prisoner Gets 40 Years For Cellphone; Guards Get Probation by Michael Rigby In April 2006 a Texas prisoner was sentenced to 40 years in prison for possessing a contraband cell phone--8 years more than the 32-year sentence he was already serving for auto theft. The sentence, the longest anyone …

Survivors of Texas Jail Suicidee Win $516,000 Against Phone Provider

Article • August 15, 2006 • from PLN August, 2006

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Damages, Costs, Telephone Access, Municipal Liability, Product Liability, Mental Health, Suicides

Survivors of Texas Jail Suicidee Win $516,000 Against Phone Provider by Matthew T. Clarke The mother and son of a prisoner who committed suicide by hanging himself from a telephone in his ...

BOP Awards Unisys Corp. Nationwide Prison Phone Contract

Article • March 15, 2006 • from PLN March, 2006

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access

BOP Awards Unisys Corp. Nationwide Prison Phone Contract by The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) contracted with Unisys Corp. (Bluebell, Pennsylvania) to install new telephone systems ...

American Bar Association Recommends Expanded Prisoner Telephone Access

Article • February 15, 2006 • from PLN February, 2006

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Attorney Calls

American Bar Association Recommends Expanded Prisoner Telephone Access by by John E. Dannenberg The Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association (ABA) made a formal ...

Mere Pendency of Proceedings Deprives Court of Jurisdiction in Jail Collect Call Case; Attorney Fee

Article • August 15, 2005 • from PLN August, 2005

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Public Defenders, Injunctions, Standing, Mootness, Telephones, Telephone Access, Attorney Calls

alleged that HCJC's policy of allowing prisoners to make only collect telephone calls, in combination with the Hamilton County Public Defender's policy of refusing collect calls operated to deny pretrial ...