Search | Prison Phone Justice

Entire Texas Prison System Locked Down to Search for Phones; Prison Cell Phone Problem is Pandemic

Article • March 15, 2009 • from PLN March, 2009

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Guard Misconduct, Prison/Common Area Searches, Criminal Prosecution, Lockdowns, Telephone Access, Death Row, State Legislation

prisoners regular access to telephones so they can call their families. Although the state has signed a contract to have phones installed at all TDCJ facilities, the installation is not expected ...

Ninth Circuit Upholds Admission of Statements to Police in Phone Conversation Absent Miranda Warning

Article • February 15, 2009

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Crime, Habeas Corpus, Telephones, Telephone Monitoring

Ninth Circuit Upholds Admission of Statements to Police in Phone Conversation Absent Miranda Warning by Washington State prisoner Habib Saleh sought review of his federal habeas corpus denial challenging the admission of statements made in a voluntary phone conversation he initiated at his trial for first degree murder. The court …

Texas Awards Prison Phone Contract

Article • February 15, 2009 • from PLN February, 2009

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, State Legislation

Texas Awards Prison Phone Contract by Matthew Clarke On August 14, 2008, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ) awarded a phone service contract to two companies, Kansas-based Embarq Corp. and Dallas-based Securus Technologies, Inc. Prior to this historic event, the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) was the only …

More Damages, Costs & Attorney Fees Awarded in NH False Disciplinary Case

Article • February 15, 2009 • from PLN February, 2009

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Retaliatory Discipline, False Charges (Disciplinary Hearings), Clothing, Showers, Toilets, Water, Strip Cells, Bedding, Hygiene Supplies, PLRA, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Restraints, Damages, Settlements, Costs, Telephone Access, Mail Regulations

for a quick shower while wearing shackles. They were not allowed telephone calls, mail or non-attorney visits, and their food was half the normal portion. The conditions were especially onerous for Palacio ...

Georgia Sheriff Must Give Revenue from Prisoner Phone Calls to County

Article • January 15, 2009 • from PLN January, 2009

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Court of Appeals has held that a sheriff must turn over to the county all revenue from a profit-sharing prisoner telephone contract. The ruling upholds an order of declaratory relief granted to Lincoln ...

Nebraska Appeals Court: Failure to Exhaust Remedies Jurisdictional Defect

Article • December 15, 2008

Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Civil Procedure, Administrative Exhaustion, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates, Telephone Monitoring

-Netix Telephone Company, which operated the prison "calling system." Mumin claimed, among other things, that the monitoring and recording of his "private telephone conversations involving discussions ...

Nevada Phone Contract Reduces Costs to Prisoners’ Families But Increases State’s Kickback

Article • November 15, 2008 • from PLN November, 2008

Filed under: Telephone Rates, News, State Legislation

Nevada Phone Contract Reduces Costs to Prisoners’ Families But Increases State’s Kickback by David Reutter Nevada Phone Contract Reduces Costs to Prisoners’ Families But Increases State’s Kickback by David M. Reutter A panel headed by Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons has approved a contract that reduces the cost of in-state collect …

NY DOC’s Former 60% Prisoner Phone Call Kickback Scheme Did Not Violate Prisoners’ Families’ Constitutional Rights

Article • October 15, 2008 • from PLN October, 2008

Filed under: Money/Property, Tax Law, Telephone Rates

; (NYDOC) policy of contracting for prisoner collect telephone calls, which resulted in a 60% kickback to NYDOC from the telephone company, did not violate the constitutional rights of the recipients ...

Harris County, Texas Sends 600 Jail Prisoners to Private Pen in Louisiana

Article • October 15, 2008 • from PLN October, 2008

Filed under: Out of State Transfers, Private Prisons, Emerald Correctional Management, Overcrowding, Telephone Rates

Harris County, Texas Sends 600 Jail Prisoners to Private Pen in Louisiana by Harris County, Texas Sends 600 Jail Prisoners to Private Pen in Louisiana In December 2007, Harris County, Texas officials announced they were sending an additional 200 jail prisoners – 180 of them women – to a privately-run …

Millions Paid in Mississippi Jail Deaths; Ten Guards Sentenced for Abuses; Corruption Continues

Article • September 15, 2008 • from PLN September, 2008

Filed under: Staff-Prisoner Assault, Private Prisons, Correctional Services Corp., Jail Misconduct, Judicial Misconduct, Prison Labor, OB/GYN, Criminal Prosecution, Failure to Protect (General), Overcrowding, Excessive Force, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Restraints, Damages, Disclosure of Records, Telephone Access, Suicides, ACA

Millions Paid in Mississippi Jail Deaths; Ten Guards Sentenced for Abuses; Corruption Continues by Bob Williams “The house always wins,” Warden Don Cabana proclaimed to the Sun Herald, a Mississippi newspaper, in July 2007. However, Harrison County, home of the Harrison County Adult Detention Center (ADC), has agreed to pay …

Florida DOC Ends Unofficial Transfer-for-Sale Policy

Article • September 15, 2008 • from PLN September, 2008

Filed under: Transfers, Misconduct/Corruption, DOC/BOP misconduct, Attorney Misconduct, Telephone Rates

reduced the cost of canteen items and collect telephone calls accepted by prisoners’ families and friends. “I didn’t feel the high cost of phone calls for prisoners and their families was proper. I stopped ...

Sandin Inapplicable to Pretrial Detainees

Article • August 15, 2008

Filed under: Dental Care, Escapes, Strip Cells, Restraints, Attorney Calls, Mail, Mail Regulations, Ad-Seg Hearings, Access to Media

Sandin Inapplicable to Pretrial Detainees by Procedural Due Process--Disciplinary Proceedings (920): Sandin does not apply to detainees, who are entitled to procedural due process in disciplinary proceedings. Here there was some evidence because staff said the plaintiff had confessed. Procedural Due Process--Administrative Segregation (921): Placement of an escape risk in …

Jail Phone Wiretapping Exempt from California Invasion of Privacy Act, FCA

Article • August 15, 2008

Filed under: Crime/Demographics, Criminal Prosecution, Telephone Rates

Jail Phone Wiretapping Exempt from California Invasion of Privacy Act, FCA by California state prisoner David Windham appealed the refusal of a court to suppress jail telephone recordings ...

Authorities Listen in on Attorney-Client Calls at Jails in FL, CA and TX

Article • August 15, 2008 • from PLN August, 2008

Filed under: Criminal Prosecution, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

Department claimed the attorney calls had been recorded due to an “inadvertent glitch” in the phone system, according to the Union Tribune. The system was not supposed to record calls placed to phone numbers ...

Right to Consult, Hire Counsel Well Established and Constitutionally Protected

Article • August 15, 2008

Filed under: Attorney Client, Attorney Calls, Qualified Immunity, Mail, Legal Mail, Attorney Visits

Right to Consult, Hire Counsel Well Established and Constitutionally Protected by At 953-54: The right to hire and consult an attorney is protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech, association and petition. ... It has long been recognized that the First Amendment prohibits the state from interfering …

New York Prison System Phone Kickbacks Upheld; Reversed by Court of Appeals

Article • August 15, 2008

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

New York Prison System Phone Kickbacks Upheld; Reversed by Court of Appeals by A New York Supreme Appellate Court has sidestepped ruling on the merits of a lawsuit claiming that the practice of the New York Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) of receiving a commission from prisoner phone calls was …

Wisconsin County Bans Profiteering in Jail Phone Contracts

Article • July 15, 2008 • from PLN July, 2008

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates, State Legislation

contracts for jail telephone services. The ordinance requires that jail phone contracts (1) must not generate revenue to the county and (2) must be awarded to the lowest bidder consistent with public safety ...

Nevada Criminalizes Cell Phones in State Prisons

Article • June 15, 2008 • from PLN June, 2008

Filed under: Telephone Access, News, State Legislation

Nevada Criminalizes Cell Phones in State Prisons by On May 10, 2007, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons signed into law AB-106, a bill making it a felony for prisoners to possess a cell phone in prison or for a person to furnish a prisoner with a cell phone. Anyone charged with …

Monitoring and Limiting Phone Calls by Kansas Prisoners Upheld

Article • May 15, 2008

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

to contact such "privileged persons" on a case by case basis. These calls are subject to monitoring. Courts are divided over whether there is any First Amendment right to telephone access at all. The court ...

Alabama DOC Charges Prisoners Unlawful Fees to Cover Budget Shortfalls

Article • May 15, 2008 • from PLN May, 2008

Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Staffing, Money/Property, Seizure of Prisoner Funds, Telephone Rates

Alabama DOC Charges Prisoners Unlawful Fees to Cover Budget Shortfalls by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On June 1, 2007, the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts released an audit report critical of the funding practices of the state's Department of Corrections (DOC). The DOC operates 19 prisons, 10 …