Critical Resistance: A Step Forward in the Struggle Against Prisons
by Micah Holmquist
In the mid 1960s the Berkeley campus of the University of California was home to Free Speech Movement which set the stage for many of the social movements that would follow. Today it may be the epicenter ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 3
Notes from Other Conference Participants
The conference was many things to many people. Perhaps, its biggest fault was that it tried to be all things to all people. The opening plenary, attended by more than 800 participants, had some inspiring moments. Unfortunately, it trailed off sod bogged down after far ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 4
Peaceful efforts, by Alaskan prisoners, on August 30, 1998, to address grievances and concerns repeatedly ignored at the Central Arizona Detention Center, in Florence, Arizona, were mercilessly squashed following a sit down demonstration in the prison exercise yard.
What was initially a peaceful, sit-down demonstration turned ugly when prison officials ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 4
The state of Idaho has overhauled its sex offender registration program. Offenders must now register upon release or when they move, and annually thereafter. There is a $10 administrative fee (read: tax) charged for the privilege. More significantly, for a nominal fee of $5, any person may obtain a list ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 5
When Timothy Stanley, 32, was in the Marion County (FL) Jail in January, 1997, facing drug charges, he needed some dental work done. According to the jail's medical log, Sheriff Ken Ergle's "dentist", Illya Fitzgerald Hathorn, pulled one of Stanley's teeth. Now Stanley is suing the jail because Hathorn was ...
By now PLN subscribers should have received a fund raiser letter from PLN . We are requesting donations from our readers in order to upgrade PLN 's aging computer equipment. Two PLN supporters have recently donated up to date software, including a state of the art mailing list program customized ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 6
The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that the "three strikes" provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) does not apply to cases pending at the time of the law's enactment and that the PLRA's physical injury requirement does not apply to First Amendment claims. The court ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 6
The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that the section of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), which requires immediate termination of previously granted prospective relief in litigation challenging prison conditions, violates separation of powers principles. This decision is unique because it is contrary to that of every ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 7
The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of attorneys for Michigan women prisoners, holding; (1) that attorney fee provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) does not apply retroactively, (2) that prisoners were prevailing party entitled to attorney fees, and (3) that payment of both ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 8
The warden of a private prison in New Mexico said that prison staff may have delayed notifying state police about a disturbance that sent five guards to a hospital August 7, 1998.
"It may be my fault we didn't respond quickly enough," said Donald A. Dorsey, warden of the Torrance ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 8
Afederal district court in New York held that a jail prisoner had stated a claim for violation of his Eighth Amendment rights when he was denied medical care as a part of the county's effort to cut medical costs by contracting the jail's medical care to a private business. Raymond ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 8
SWAT teams were called in to saw through a 3- to 4-inch thick steel door to reach four teens who had barricaded themselves in an office after allegedly leading an uprising at a juvenile detention center. The power saw cut through the door about an hour after authorities gave up ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 9
In a bizarre case involving the use of DNA fingerprinting, a 34-year-old Utah prison guard was charged with sexually assaulting two prisoners at the Utah State Prison in Draper.
After months of allegedly being forced to perform oral sex on the guard, a 21-year-old male prisoner was able to spit ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 9
The ACLU National Prison Project has announced the publication of its 1998 AIDS in Prison Bibliography. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report HIV in Prisons and Jails, 1995 , the overall rate of AIDS cases among prisoners was more than six times the rate in the general population. ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 9
About 2,500 high school students from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area left class on Thursday, October 1, 1998 to attend a rally. They converged on a Bayfair train station in San Leandro. From there, protesters marched to an Alameda County Sheriff's Department substation chanting, "Education, not incarceration."
Prison rights ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 10
In the July 1998 issue of PLN , we reported the arrest of 51 Cleveland area police and jail guards who were lured into an FBI sting with promises of high-paying "moonlighting" jobs as security guards for illegal drug shipments. On August 19, 1998, 49 of the defendants, all of ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 10
In the October, 1998, issue of PLN we reported Rouse v. Plantier , 987 F. Supp. 302 (D NJ 1997) which involves a class action lawsuit challenging the adequacy of treatment that diabetic prisoners receive in New Jersey state prisons. In that case the court denied the defendants' motion for ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 11
In the November, 1997, issue of PLN we reported California First Amendment Coalition v. Calderon , 956 F. Supp. 883 (ND CA 1997), where a district court in California issued an injunction requiring that California execution witnesses be given an opportunity to witness the execution procedure from the time the ...
By Paul Wright
In the October, 1997, issue of PLN we reported Legal Aid Society of Hawaii v. Legal Services Corporation, 981 F. Supp. 1288 (D HI 1997), which held that some congressional restrictions on groups that accept Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funding were unconstitutional. The court of appeals for ...
1. Rule 12(b)(6) Motions To Dismiss For Failure To State A Claim
In some prison cases filed pro se by prisoners, the defendants will file a "motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim." In cases filed in federal court under 42 U.S.C. §1983, a motion to dismiss for ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 14
Afederal district court in Ohio held that Ohio state visiting rules do not create a liberty interest in visitation. Melissa Blair is a former Ohio prison guard married to Ohio prisoner Lemont Blair. The Blairs' visiting privileges were suspended after prison officials discovered that Melissa had lied about her prison ...
H. Bruce Franklin,Editor, Penguin, 1998
by Daniel Burton-Rose
Closing a conversation about how hideous and abysmal prisons are these days, the great ex-con sociologist John Irwin remarked to me with a muted note of pleasure which I found somewhat unethical at the time: "Yeah, but one thing, there's going to ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 15
Afederal district court in New York held that an asthmatic prison guard was "disabled" under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., but compensation under 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(b)(3) could not exceed $300,000. The court further held that the guard was entitled to reinstatement to ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 15
A Texas appellate court held that the prison system and its employees are not entitled to common-law immunity, official immunity, or sovereign immunity for a claim under under the Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA), Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §101.021(a), when a prisoner fell down a staircase after being ...
September 13, 1971 Bloody Monday. New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller unleashes a firestorm of bullets and shotgun blasts into Attica's D-Yard. Eight minutes and 3,000 rounds of ammo later, 29 prisoners and 10 hostages lay fatally gunshot in spreading pools of blood. Another 89 are wounded.
May 18, 1998 Bloody ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 17
ATexas appellate court has held that the prison system was subject to liability when a prisoner slipped and fell in a prison butcher shop.
Doyle Dean Cobb, a Texas prisoner, filed a state lawsuit under the Texas Tort Claims Act, Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §101.021(a), after he slipped ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 17
AColorado state appeals court held that no evidence supported an infraction against a prisoner found guilty of bartering and possessing another prisoner's legal papers. John Tebbetts, a Colorado state prisoner, was infracted and found guilty of "bartering'' after prison officials found letters from four prisoners seeking legal assistance from Tebbetts ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 18
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that prison officials may not appeal a district court's denial of their motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity when the denial is due to disputed issues of material fact.
Larry Thomas, a California state prisoner filed suit under § ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 18
Afederal court in Utah has held that a blanket strip search policy by a jail may be unconstitutional. Kristin Foote, a motorist, was stopped, arrested, and taken to a county jail by two Utah Highway Patrol officers, one of whom was a drug recognition expert. Foote was pat searched by ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 20
Untimely Jury Demand Must Be Fairly Considered
According to the Seventh Circuit, a district court must fairly consider a pro se prisoner's untimely request for jury trial. The court also held that the prisoner's failure to answer defendants' motion for summary judgment may have been caused by confusion on whether ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 20
Prisoners in disciplinary segregation (keeplock) in the Second Circuit have a clearly established right to attend religious services according to a New York federal district court. The court also required the attorney general's office to explain why it should not be sanctioned for repeated misconduct.
In July, 1985, Sullivan Correctional ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 21
The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that a federal prisoner criminally charged with assault could not assert a defense of self defense when he had the time and opportunity to seek protection from guards.
Charles Haynes was a prisoner at the federal prison in Oxford, Wisconsin. While ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 21
The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that a statute denying Social Security benefits to prisoners is constitutional. Robert Butler is a 77 year old Nevada state prisoner. Butler was granted social security retirement benefits in 1983. He was later incarcerated and the Social Security Administration (SSA) determined ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 22
The Second Circuit has held that a civil rights claim may only be dismissed under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim if it is beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which entitle him to relief. A Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 22
The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that deportation, during the appeal from the denial of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus by a state prisoner, moots the appeal.
Fabio Diaz, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was an Indiana state prisoner. During his incarceration, ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 23
Prisons must provide a diet which conforms to prisoners' sincerely held religious beliefs according to a federal court in Colorado. Charles Beerheide, Sheldon Perlman, and Allen Fistell, Colorado state prisoners who are Orthodox Jews, filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the prison violated their First Amendment rights ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 23
The Court of Appeals for the State of Wisconsin held that the court is responsible for a pro se prisoner's access to a telephone to attend a court-ordered teleconference hearing.
Debra Christie, a Wisconsin prisoner, filed a pro se state petition for a writ of habeas corpus alleging the parole ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 24
AZ : On July 30, 1998, Tempe Jailer Chris Perry was suspended for 16 hours after an internal investigation found he had punched prisoner Jon M. Harding on the head three times after Harding bit him. Perry was cleared of excessive force charges arising from two other incidents. Perry was ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 25
The court of appeals for the eighth circuit held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb, still applies to the federal government. In the September, 1997, issue of PLN we reported City of Boerne v. Flores , 117 S.Ct. 2157 (1997), in which the United States supreme ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 25
The court of appeals for the Second Circuit held that the party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of showing it is entitled to judgment and a district court erred in dismissing a prisoner's court access claims. The court also held that the plaintiff had no liberty interest in ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 26
Consent Decree Termination Requires Fact Finding
The court of appeals for the Eighth circuit held that a district court failed to articulate its reasons for terminating its jurisdiction over a consent decree and remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing and an articulation of reasons for its decision.
In 1982 ...
Loaded on
Dec. 15, 1998
published in Prison Legal News
December, 1998, page 26
Bureau Of Prisons Transsexual Policy Challenged
Afederal district court in the District of Columbia held that trans-sexualism is a "serious medical condition" for which prisoners have a constitutional right to treatment. Dee Farmer is a federal prisoner who sued the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) challenging as unconstitutional the BOP policy ...
