Search | Prison Phone Justice

New Mexico Lawyers Entitled to Jail Visiting, Phone and Records Access

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN October, 2004

Filed under: Attorney Client, Settlements, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Discovery, Attorney Calls, Mental Health, Attorney Visits

prohibiting class counsel from having access to the jail, its prisoners and staff, its records, and from imposing time limits on telephone calls to lawyers by prisoners. This is a class action suit ...

Prisoner Phone Recordings not Exempt from FOIA Disclosure

Article • March 15, 2003 • from PLN March, 2003

Filed under: Attorney Misconduct, Freedom of Information Act, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

§2510(5) this latter phrase is defined as specifically excluding telephones being used by law enforcement (including prison authorities). Thus while the law includes specific equipment related ...

Washington Jail Sued Over Conditions

Article • February 15, 2003 • from PLN February, 2003

Filed under: Medication, Systemic Medical Neglect, Conditions of Confinement, Totality of Conditions, Failure to Protect (General), Staffing, Exposure to Cold, Plumbing, Water, Jail Specific, Laundry, Exposure to Heat, Attorney Client, Attorney Calls, Mail Regulations, Legal Mail

, and by locking the jail down during the day thereby denying prisoners the opportunity to telephone their lawyers. The jail also prohibits all access to books, magazines and newspapers, "in violation of the First ...

Texas Extends 6th Amendment Right to Prisoners: Confidential Attorney Calls Allowed

Article • November 15, 2002 • from PLN November, 2002

Filed under: Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls

Texas Extends 6th Amendment Right to Prisoners: Confidential Attorney Calls Allowed by On December 14, 2001, Texas finally released its stranglehold on the right to confidential phone calls ...

U.S. Cited for Human Rights Violations

Article • May 15, 2002 • from PLN May, 2002

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Legal Mail, Attorney Visits

U.S. Cited for Human Rights Violations by Gary Hunter On May 15, 2001, at a human rights conference in Geneva, the United States was denounced for its inhumane and discriminatory practices. Amnesty International and the U.N. Committee Against Torture cited the U.S. for oppressive tactics by both public law enforcement …

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 ...

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 …

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, …

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 ...

Experiment in Access: Law Libraries Eliminated in Arizona Prisons

Article • October 15, 1997 • from PLN October, 1997

Filed under: Attorney Client, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Paralegals, Photocopies, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Legal Mail

Experiment in Access: Law Libraries Eliminated in Arizona Prisons by O'Neil Stough The August 1996, issue of PLN reported Lewis v. Casey, 116 S.Ct. 2174 (1996). The Lewis court, though not explicitly overturning Bounds v. Smith, 430 US 817, 97 S.Ct. 1491 (1977), redefined the meaning of "court access" as …

Connecticut Supreme Court Upholds Phone and Mail Restrictions

Article • April 15, 1997 • from PLN April, 1997

Filed under: Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring, Mail Regulations

Connecticut Supreme Court Upholds Phone and Mail Restrictions by In the February, 1995, issue of PLN we reported that Connecticut state prisoners had filed a class action suit in state court challenging prison regulations that required the recording of prisoner phone calls and that prisoners, outgoing mail could be read …

Washington Court Access Suit Settled

Article • February 15, 1996 • from PLN February, 1996

Filed under: Transfers, Attorney Fee Awards, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Legal Materials, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Photocopies, Settlements, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Legal Mail

in their cell or other assigned area. Attorney Calls: Prison phones in Washington are recorded and monitored. To make what is purported to be an unrecorded call prisoners must submit a form requesting to make ...

Detainee States Claim for Retaliation and Med Needs

Article • December 15, 1995 • from PLN December, 1995

Filed under: Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Pain, Skeletal Injury, Strip Cells, Bedding, Attorney Client, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Telephones, Telephone Access, Attorney Calls

on a detainee's telephone privileges that prevented him from contacting his attorney violate the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Tucker v. Randall, 948 F.2d 388, 390-91 (7th Cir. 1991)." Murphy claimed that he ...

9th Circuit Affirms Court Access Case

Article • June 15, 1995 • from PLN June, 1995

Filed under: Law Library Access/Adequacy, Photocopies, Injunctions, Interpreters, Telephones, Attorney Calls

9th Circuit Affirms Court Access Case by In a wide ranging ruling, a unanimous panel of the ninth circuit court of appeals affirmed most of a lower court ruling designed to ensure Arizona prisoners' right of access to the courts. In the May 1994 issue of PLN we reported Casey …

AZ DOC Denies Court Access

Article • May 15, 1994 • from PLN May, 1994

Filed under: Hygiene Supplies, Attorney Client, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Law Library Access/Adequacy, Photocopies, Special Masters, Interpreters, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Attorney Calls

held that the ADOC also denied prisoners' confidential attorney calls. The lack of a central policy allows individual prisons to set arbitrary standards which permit the improper denial of calls ...

Death Row Prisoners Entitled to Limited Contact Attorney Visits

Article • January 15, 1994 • from PLN January, 1994

Filed under: Retaliation for Litigating, Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Death Row, Attorney Visits

to the courts require confidential attorney calls. The solution ordered by the court was that prison officials provide a longer phone cord on the telephone cart to permit the prisoner to take the phone ...

Pro Se Detainee Has Access Rights

Article • October 15, 1993 • from PLN October, 1993

Filed under: Law Library Access/Adequacy, Photocopies, Mootness, Telephones, Attorney Calls

Pro Se Detainee Has Access Rights by A detainee held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) at San Diego, named Gust Janis, was awaiting trial on federal drug manufacturing and possession charges. Janis was also involved in a number of other criminal and civil cases, telling the court he has …

Court Dissolves 1-800 Injunction

Article • May 15, 1993 • from PLN May, 1993

Filed under: Attorney Client, Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's, Telephones, Telephone Rates, Attorney Calls

Court Dissolves 1-800 Injunction by Iowa state prisoners filed suit seeking preliminary and injunctive relief against an Iowa prison policy prohibiting them from calling their attorneys toll free 1-800 numbers. They claimed this practice violated their right of access to the courts. The district court agreed and granted a preliminary …

Federal Judge Says Prisoners Denied Access to Courts

Article • March 15, 1993 • from PLN March, 1993

Filed under: Law Library Access/Adequacy, Photocopies, Special Masters, Telephones, Attorney Calls

not speak English; failed to provide confidential photocopying services for prisoners' legal documents; and arbitrarily denied prisoners confidential telephone calls with their attorneys. Muecke added that he ...

Counsel Appointed in Denial of Telephone, Beating Claim

Article • April 15, 1992 • from PLN April, 1992

Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Skeletal Injury, Appointment of Counsel, Attorney Client, Telephones, Attorney Calls, Telephone Monitoring

Counsel Appointed in Denial of Telephone, Beating Claim by Counsel Appointed In Denial Of Telephone, Beating Claim Billy Tucker was arrested and jailed in Kendall County, Ill. At the time ...