Search | Prison Phone Justice

You're in the Hole: A Crackdown on Dissident Prisoners

Article • February 15, 2002 • from PLN February, 2002

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Attorney Client, Telephones, Telephone Access, Attorney Calls, Mail Regulations, Attorney Visits

. Such silence on Berrigan's part was "most unusual," she says. Convinced that something was wrong, she telephoned the Federal Correctional Institution in Elkton, Ohio, where the seventy-seven-year-old peace ...

No Qualified Immunity for Shackling Prisoner to Hospital Bed

Article • February 15, 2002 • from PLN February, 2002

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Jail Specific, Reading Materials, Attorney Client, Restraints, Court Appearances, Complaints, Appeals, Americans with Disabilities Act, Telephone Access, Qualified Immunity

prisoners access to attorneys, visitors, legal materials, telephones, typewriters, computers, magazines, and recreational activities. The policy also banned personnel from bringing hospital prisoners ...

$522,458 Rebate Ordered in California Prisoner Phone Overcharges

Article • November 15, 2001 • from PLN November, 2001

Filed under: Contractor Misconduct, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Contractor Liability

contracts to the highest bidder; that is, to the bidder who offers CDC the greatest kickback. These reports state that this kickback amounts to a whopping 4044% of the gross telephone revenue billed ...

California Racial Segregation Case Reversed; Phone Claim Dismissed

Article • November 15, 2001 • from PLN November, 2001

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Civil Procedure, Limitations, Conspiracy (Civil Procedure), Telephone Rates

of Johnson’s telephone conspiracy claims holding that a prisoner’s First Amendment right to telephone access is subject to reasonable limitations and that prisoners are not entitled to a specific telephone rate ...

California Dials Wrong Number

Article • November 15, 2001 • from PLN November, 2001

Filed under: Guard Misconduct, Telephones, Telephone Access

California Dials Wrong Number by Willie Wisely by W. Wisely In reaction to bad publicity, lawsuits, and legislative hearings following a record number of fatal shootings of unarmed male prisoners, staged fights, and the sexual abuse and medical neglect of women prisoners, California established the allegedly independent Office of Inspector …

Malicious Use of Force Violates Eighth Amendment

Article • October 15, 2001 • from PLN October, 2001

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Summary Judgment, Telephones, Attorney Calls

Malicious Use of Force Violates Eighth Amendment by John E Dannenberg The Third Circuit held that in claims alleging the malicious use of force by prison guards the wantonness of the attack, rather than the degree of injury suffered, is the dispositive issue for courts reviewing such claims on summary …

Notes From the Unrepenitentiary: Whose Security?

Article • August 15, 2001 • from PLN August, 2001

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Monitoring, Mothers in Prison

: craftwork, cards and, of course, the telephone. Some women even call their children every day to help them with their homework. Others call to make sure the children get off to school on time or get home ...

Kentucky Phone Rate Ruling

Article • May 15, 2001 • from PLN May, 2001

Filed under: Injunctions, Telephone Rates, Immunity/Liability, Municipal Liability, Contractor Liability

Kentucky Phone Rate Ruling by A federal district court in Kentucky held that the filed rate doctrine barred any claims for money damages against Phone Company and county jail defendants. However, injunctive relief was still available. The court questioned the legality of an exclusive service provider contract. In the August, …

Ohio 'Entrepreneur' Lands in Hot Water

Article • April 15, 2001 • from PLN April, 2001

Filed under: Crime, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Monitoring

credit card and telephone scam he ran from behind bars. Lonny Lee Bristow, 27, was already serving a 9year 11month sentence at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, OH, for retaliation ...

Work Stoppage at Idaho CCA Prison

Article • February 15, 2001 • from PLN February, 2001

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Organizing, Work Strikes, Grooming Rules, Telephone Rates

to more stringent rules at the new CCA prison south of Boise, including a prohibition on beards and higher telephone call charges. The work-stoppage prompted an immediate response from state prison ...

IL Prison Phone Ruling Published

Article • February 15, 2001 • from PLN February, 2001

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

IL Prison Phone Ruling Published by In the June 2000, issue of PLN we reported that a federal district court in Illinois had dismissed a class action lawsuit challenging the phone rates charged to consumers who accept phone calls from prisoners in Illinois prisons and jails. The court's ruling is …

Controversy Surrounds Letourneau Tape

Article • December 15, 2000 • from PLN December, 2000

Filed under: DOC/BOP misconduct, Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls

Controversy Surrounds Letourneau Tape by A Washington DOC investigator allegedly left his job at the state women's prison in Purdy with a souvenir: a tape recording of Mary K. Letourneau talking on the phone with her attorney. After starting a new job at the state Attorney General's office in 1998, …

Alabama Officials Guilty in Phone Scam

Article • December 15, 2000 • from PLN December, 2000

Filed under: Misconduct/Corruption, Contractor Misconduct, Guard Misconduct, Government Misconduct, Criminal Prosecution, Telephone Rates

of interest while lobbying for the Public Service Commission, Boyett became their cover. Global sold the Alabama state prison contracts in 1993 to People's Telephone Co. in Miami. Ellis told the court that he ...

WA and IN Prison Phone Rates Challenged

Article • September 15, 2000 • from PLN September, 2000

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

are: American Telephone and Telegraph,GTE Northwest, Centurytel Telephone Utilities, Northwest Telecommunications, U.S. West and T-Netix. In 1998 these companies gave the Washington DOC 45% of their gross billed ...

Sweeping ADA/RA Jail Settlement Benefits Hearing Impaired Prisoners

Article • August 15, 2000 • from PLN August, 2000

Filed under: Deaf Prisoners, Fire Hazards, Jail Specific, Attorney Fee Awards, Court Appearances, Civil Procedure, Damages, Settlements, Defenses, State Law Claims, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Interpreters, Telephone Access

telephone access to the DOC by hearing impaired callers making calls to the DOC through the California Relay Service or other similar services by offering to immediately transfer all such calls to a live ...

$100,000 Awarded Under ICCPR in GA Jail Suit

Article • July 15, 2000 • from PLN July, 2000

Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Skeletal Injury, Gastrointestinal, Conditions of Confinement, Exercise, Jail Specific, Damages, International Law, Telephone Access

$100,000 Awarded Under ICCPR in GA Jail Suit by On February 24, 2000, a federal jury In Augusta, Georgia awarded 1100,000 in damages to a Danish citizen who was denied medical care and phone calls to his family in Denmark while he was awaiting trial in the Lincoln county jail …

West Virginia Prisoners Protest Visit/Phone Restrictions

Article • June 15, 2000 • from PLN June, 2000

Filed under: Prison Industries, Prison Rebellion, Work Strikes, Prisoner Privileges, Telephones, Telephone Access, Telephone Rates

in telephone service, and demanded that prisoners locked-down in the Quilliams II unit (a "supermax" segregation unit) be given back lost privileges. Warden Painter agreed to restore privileges ...

Illinois Phone Suit Dismissed

Article • June 15, 2000 • from PLN June, 2000

Filed under: Telephones, Telephone Rates

Illinois Phone Suit Dismissed by In the August, 1999, issue of PLN we reported that a class action suit had been filed in federal court in Illinois challenging the extortionate phone rates charged to those who accept collect calls from prisoners. On March 23, 2000, federal district court judge William …

New Mexico Private and State Prison Phone Rates Challenged

Article • May 15, 2000 • from PLN May, 2000

Filed under: Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Esmor/CSC, GEO Group/Wackenhut, Cornell Corrections, Civil Procedure, State Law Claims, Telephone Rates, Contractor Liability

New Mexico Private and State Prison Phone Rates Challenged by Two separate state court class action lawsuits have challenged the excessive phone rates charged to people who accept collect calls from New Mexico state prisoners. The first lawsuit, Valdez v. Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, was filed on December 30, 1999, in …

Private Prison Denied Wiretap Exception

Article • September 15, 1999 • from PLN September, 1999

Filed under: Cornell Corrections, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Standing, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

) intercepted telephone calls from the prisoners, including confidential and privileged legal communications. Section 2520 of the Act creates a private right of action for any person whose oral communication ...