| Prison Legal News, a monthly print publication that covers criminal justice issues, is a project of the Human Rights Defense Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. |
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2017 Has Already Seen Several Prison Rebellions Although the nationwide prison strike has fallen from headlines in recent months, incarcerated individuals continue to resist abuse and mistreatment while supporters on the outside rally to their defense. Prisoners in Delaware made international headlines when they took hostages and held Building C at the Vaughn Correctional Center for nearly 24 hours. They demanded access to rehabilitation and education services, and spoke out against "improper sentencing orders, status sheets being wrong, [and] oppression towards the inmates." They also said their protest was against President Donald Trump, "everything that he did" and "all the things that he's doing now." "We know that the institution is going to change for the worse," a spokesperson for the prisoners told a journalist. The uprising ended when police used a back hoe to break through a barricade made of footlockers and entered the building. Some outlets reported the prisoners were armed with "sharp objects." One corrections officer, who was taken hostage, was found unresponsive and later declared dead. Officials say the officer was forced into a closet and killed. A second hostage, a female prison counselor, was rescued shortly after officers retook the unit. Some reports indicated officers found prisoners protecting her when they entered the building. Information on prison rebellions is tightly controlled by the state. Aside from prisoners' brief and hurried phone calls to family members, and in some cases, journalists, the narrative we have is largely provided by prison and law enforcement officials. History teaches us to approach these narratives with skepticism for their tendency to distort facts to disfavor prisoners and the message they are trying to get out. Because prison rebellions rarely get coverage of the scale of the Vaughn Rebellion, the public's unfamiliarity with uprisings may give the impression that they are infrequent. But in reality, prisoners, their families, and their support networks take action against abusive conditions, mistreatment, and a lack of access to programs and services all over the country, on a regular basis. Several prison uprisings have occurred in the first weeks of 2017. Read More |
Idaho: Trial starts Monday in 'ghost worker' private prison lawsuit A private prison company accused by inmates of dangerously understaffing an Idaho prison as part of a scheme to boost profits will have a chance to present its defense to jurors Monday when a civil trial begins in Boise's U.S. District Court. Eight inmates at the Idaho Correctional Center sued the Nashville, Tennessee-based Correction Corporation of America in 2012, contending that poor management and chronic understaffing led to an attack in which they were jumped, stabbed and beaten by a prison gang. The inmates contend the company, which has since changed its name to CoreCivic, purposely understaffed the prison in a so-called "ghost worker scheme." The federal trial beginning on Monday will mark the first time CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger has been asked to testify on the matter. In the lawsuit, the inmates contend that the former warden of the prison was instructed to decrease spending on staff before the attack happened, and they also contend that those directions came from the top of the company. They want Hininger to testify about what he said during quarterly conference calls with investors that were held in the months and days before the attack. CoreCivic's attorneys fought to keep Hininger from having to testify, but so far haven't prevailed. Top executive testimony is pretty rare in private prison litigation, said Alex Friedmann, the managing editor of prisoner rights publication Prison Legal News. "Typically, since CEOs or other high-level corporate officials aren't directly involved or responsible for, say, the violation of someone's rights in the prison context, they can't be held liable," said Friedmann, who has been involved in other lawsuits against CoreCivic in the past. "However, if it can be shown that a CEO was responsible for enacting a policy that resulted in the violation of someone's rights, or was directly involved or had knowledge but failed to act, etc., then they can potentially be held liable."
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| New in our Bookstore! The Federal Prison Handbook 491 pages. The Federal Prison Handbook, by Christopher Zoukis, is the definitive guide to surviving incarceration in a federal prison. This handbook teaches individuals facing incarceration, prisoners who are already inside, and their friends and family everything they need to know to protect themselves and their rights. The thorough information was compiled by someone who has first-hand experience with the federal prison system, as Zoukis is an advocate currently serving time at a federal prison. His insider's view of this unknown world guides inmates through the mental stresses of confinement. In detailed chapters broken down by topical areas, readers discover: - What to expect on the day you're admitted to prison, and how to greet cellmates for the first time
- What to do about sexual harassment or assault
- The best ways to avoid fights, and the options that provide the greatest protection if a fight cannot be avoided
- Medical, psychological and religious services
- How to communicate with the outside world through telephones, computers and mail.
- What you can buy in the official commissary and the underground economy
- How to avoid scams, schemes, theft, and other problems
- Comprehensive analysis of Federal Bureau of Prisons policy and regulatory guidelines
Importantly, this text provides detailed instructions on how prisoners can protect their rights. The author is a college-educated prisoner who has fought extensively to preserve his rights and the rights of other prisoners. Read More and Shop Here |
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CLE Seminar: Representing Victims of Law Enforcement Misconduct West Palm Beach, Florida March 2-3, 2017 Human Rights Defense Center and National Police Accountability Project will be hosting a day and a half CLE seminar on representing the victims of law enforcement misconduct. Presented by some of the best civil rights lawyers in the country it's a great chance to learn more about this critical area of the law and held in sunny West Palm Beach Florida it's an opportunity to escape from the cold and snow if you live in well, a cold and snowy place. The South Florida-based Human Rights Defense Center in collaboration with the National Police Accountability Project are offering a two-day CLE seminar at the Marriott Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida, with a full seminar day on Thursday, March 2 and a half day on Friday, March 3. HRDC and NPAP have secured a fantastic room rate of $185 per night at the Marriott where the seminar will be held, a bargain for a winter getaway in Florida. The hotel is in close proximity to numerous beaches, and we hope that those of you in less-than-temperate winter environments will consider escaping the cold with us. And if your family is jealous of your respite, consider bringing them along! More Info Here Visit the Facebook Event Page |
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From the PLN in Print Archives Trapped California wastes tens of millions of dollars a year keeping people in prison long after they've been rehabilitated - denying parole for arbitrary reasons and destroying lives in the process. Part One: Cruel and Indefinite Punishment Demian Johnson knows he has to be extremely cautious when he's around his fiancée. He can briefly hug her when she arrives and maybe give a short kiss before she leaves. Sometimes, he can hold her hand, but they can't have any other physical contact. Johnson is 51 years old and is currently incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison, a men's correctional facility in Ione, a small city in Amador County, two hours east of Oakland. His fiancée, Hilda Wade, a retired home health aide, tries to visit him every Saturday and occasionally stays overnight in a nearby hotel when she doesn't want to do the ninety-minute drive to and from her Oakley home twice in one day. Wade told me in a phone interview that they are careful not to break any rules when they talk in the waiting room of the overcrowded prison, which currently houses roughly 2,800 prisoners in a facility designed for 1,700. "We're very respectful in there," she said. "We don't want him to get no write-ups." Wade and Johnson started dating in the summer of 2014. One of Wade's friends, who is engaged to a fellow prisoner of Johnson, suggested the two meet at Mule Creek. When Wade's friend originally asked Wade to come with her to prison to meet Johnson, Wade scoffed. "I don't want to be with no guy in jail!" she recalled, with a laugh. But her friend spoke very highly of Johnson, and eventually Wade decided she would tag along. The connection between the two was strong from the beginning, Wade said. "When I first met him, it was like I've been knowing him for years. It was like this instant attraction." After regular visits, it became clear to Wade that she wanted to marry him - once he is finally released. "He is the best man I've ever met in my lifetime," she said. "I love him to death." Johnson told me in a recent phone interview from prison that their time together means the world to him. "Whenever I get a visit," he said, "it's the closest I get to feeling free." |
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More People Are Pleading Guilty to Crimes They Didn't Commit, So How Can We Stop It? Rodney Roberts was arrested and taken to a Newark, New Jersey, precinct in 1996 for assault following a dispute with a friend. A few days later, he was charged with kidnapping and sexual assault; he pleaded guilty to kidnapping that July. In 2014, Roberts went free-exonerated by DNA evidence after spending nearly 18 years in prison. Roberts' story is far from unique. In the U.S. judicial system, 97 percent of federal cases and 94 percent of state cases end in plea bargains, an agreement in a criminal case in which the defendant pleads guilty to a specific charge in return for some concessions from the prosecutor. Like Roberts, many of those people are eventually found innocent: The National Registry of Exonerations has seen the annual number of exonerated more than double since the year 2011. As of January 2016, the United States averaged nearly three exonerations a week. This problem disproportionately affects people of color, who made up more than two-thirds of those exonerated in homicide cases in 2015. 
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There are numerous reasons for an innocent individual to plead guilty. In exchange, they often have their alleged crime demoted to a lesser offense, which means less potential time in prison and-more importantly-bypassing the possibility of facing the death penalty if tried in court. Roberts, for example, says he was given a choice by his public defender: Plead guilty without a trial and get a shorter sentence, or get life without parole if found guilty in court. "Lots of people take guilty pleas, not because they feel they're guilty of the crime they're being accused of, but because they do a calculation of how much they want to risk," said Ekow N. Yankah, professor of criminal procedures at the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, in a phone interview with Rewire. Other advocates, however, say mere awareness isn't enough. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Legal Defense Fund and the editor of Prison Legal News, told Rewire that those seeking to address the problem should confront the justice system as a whole-including the lack of quality public defenders or other help available for the accused, especially low-income defendants. "Lack of adequate defense is the real problem," Wright said. "If you're innocent it doesn't mean much; the cornerstones of the problems that afflict our justice system [are] at the trial level." In his view, defendants often plead guilty either because they're facing hefty prison sentences or because they believe their lawyers will not adequately defend them. He also pointed out that the prosecutorial and judicial system often works against those who take their cases to trial. Read More |
Court hears industry lawsuit against FCC regulation of prison and jail telephone industry On Monday, arguments were heard in a federal court case challenging the Federal Communications Commission's regulations of the prison and jail telephone industry. A decision is not expected for several months, but there are a few updates to share nevertheless. Centurylink, Global Tel*Link, Pay Tel, Securus Technologies, and Telmate sued the FCC when it started regulating the industry. Shortly thereafter, the Prison Policy Initiative joined with the D.C. Prisoners' Legal Services Project, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), The Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, and the Office of Communication, Inc. of the United Church of Christ as intervenors in support of the government respondents in the case, and we were all represented by the Institute for Public Representation at the Georgetown University Law Center. By joining the case, we could help the FCC defend its orders, and ensure that the unique interests of the families and other stakeholders were represented in the case. The recent presidential election made our 2013 decision to intervene especially important. The presidential election reshuffled the seats at the FCC. Ajit Pai, a commissioner since 2012 was made Chairman, and even though Pai had previously condemned the market failure caused by the corrupt commission system, he ultimately voted against the FCC's regulations of the industry. And on January 31, the FCC told the Court that it was not going to defend two aspects of the regulations. Even as the FCC refused to support its own regulations, our attorney, Andrew Schwartzman, was able to defend the FCC's work before the Court. We're glad we intervened. We don't know what the Court is going to decide, and we don't yet know how or whether Chairman Pai wants the FCC to address what he saw as "market failure" in the prison and jail telephone market. All of this will become clearer over the next few months, but that leaves us with the immediate question of what families with loved ones behind bars can expect to pay. That too is complicated, in part because the Court stayed part of the FCC's regulations. Read More |
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Groups slam Louisiana's public defender system in lawsuit Louisiana's governor was sued Monday by lawyers who say the public defender system denies effective representation to the poor. The lawsuit describes defendants waiting months in jail to meet a lawyer, defenders who are woefully overworked and so little funding that in some areas, low-level offenders don't get a public defender at all. Without lawyers to advocate for them, it says, some defendants have been advised to plead guilty rather than pursue their right to try to clear their names. The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and two law firms sued on behalf of 13 criminal defendants, and are seeking class-action status to cover all the indigent defendants accused of non-capital crimes in Louisiana. Kristen Clarke, who heads the Lawyers' Committee, said as many as 20,000 defendants could be affected. About 85 percent of the state's defendants are so poor they qualify for a public defender, according to the lawsuit. "Justice has been denied for far too long," said Lisa Graybill, the center's deputy legal director. "The state has known about this epidemic problem and failed time and time again to fix it."
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Mississippi AG files lawsuits in Epps bribery case Attorney General Jim Hood announced Wednesday his office has filed 11 civil RICO lawsuits against all corporate and individual conspirators connected to the prison bribery scandal involving former Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps. Hood is seeking damages and punitive damages against the following individuals and corporations: Epps; Cecil McCrory; Robert Simmons; Irb Benjamin; Sam Waggoner; Mark Longoria; Teresa Malone; Carl Reddix; Michael Reddix; Andrew Jenkins; Management & Training Corporation; The GEO Group, Inc.; Cornell Companies, Inc.; Wexford Health Sources, Inc.; The Bantry Group Corporation; AdminPros, L.L.C.; CGL Facility Management, LLC; Mississippi Correctional Management, Inc.; Branan Medical Corporation; Drug Testing Corporation; Global Tel*Link Corporation; Health Assurance, LLC; Keefe Commissary Network, LLC; Sentinel Offender Services, L.L.C. and AJA Management & Technical Services, Inc. 
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"The state of Mississippi has been defrauded through a pattern of bribery, kickbacks, misrepresentations, fraud, concealment, money laundering and other wrongful conduct," Hood said. "These individuals and corporations that benefited by stealing from taxpayers must not only pay the state's losses, but state law requires that they must also forfeit and return the entire amount of the contracts paid by the state. We are also seeking punitive damages to punish these conspirators and to deter those who might consider giving or receiving kickbacks in the future." Read More |
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