| 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. |
|
FCC head Ajit Pai accused of 'clear conflict of interest' in prison phone company deal This is a comment that HRDC has filed asking that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who has been a steadfast opponent to efforts to regulate the prison phone industry, recuse himself from such matters due a conflict of interest. Especially notable were his instructions, 8 days after taking over as chairperson of the FCC to order FCC lawyers not to defend the FCC order capping the cost of intrastate prison and jail phone calls in the lawsuit filed by the telecom companies. The appeals court noted it was pretty unheard of for an agency not to defend its own orders. It turns out that Pai had previously represented Securus Technologies while he was a partner at the law firm of Jenner Block in Chicago. Securus is in the process of being sold to another hedge fund, Platinum Technologies which must also be approved by the FCC. We are asking that Pai recuse himself from all FCC decisions involving the prison phone industry. Read the full comment here From the International Business Times: FCC head Ajit Pai accused of 'clear conflict of interest' in prison phone company deal Rights groups have called out Chairman of Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Ajit Pai for an alleged conflict of interest in the sale of prison phone company Securus Technologies. Securus Technologies is in the process of being bought by hedge fund Platinum Equity and the decision is pending with the FCC. Ajit Pai represented Securus before being appointed as the commissioner of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). As the chair of FCC, Pai directed the commission to drop their court's defence of rules that put a cap on phone rates charged by prison phone companies. This led phone companies like Securus to charge high rates, according to a report by Ars Technica. Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) executive director Paul Wright has pointed out that there are no actual rules or laws being broken by Pai, but "the appearance of impropriety of continuing to act in the financial interests of a former client" is what they are fighting. Wright wrote in a filing with the FCC that "(Ajit Pai) represented Securus as its attorney while employed as a partner with the law firm of Jenner & Block, LLP, immediately preceding his confirmation as FCC Commissioner in May 2012," he added, "he has never stopped representing the interests of his client Securus Technologies". Read More |
No more perfume or lipstick kisses on mail to Michigan inmates Lonely Michigan prison inmates can soon forget about receiving perfume-scented letters or ones marked with a lipstick kiss from a loved one. And their children will no longer be able to send them homemade birthday or Christmas cards to ease the stress of their time behind bars. New restrictions on incoming mail - which prison officials say are designed to cut down on the smuggling of drugs and other contraband - are to go into effect Oct. 1, according to a notice posted on the Corrections Department website. The planned changes are prompting outrage among friends and family members of inmates. "Ridiculous," said Brenda Bradley of Novi, who writes regularly to a close friend at St. Louis Correctional Facility. Read More |
| 
| Click photo to subscribe now |
|
From the PLN in Print Archives Report: "Culture of Racism," Frequent Use of Force at Northern California Prison In December 2015, California's Office of the Inspector General reported there was a "culture of racism and lack of acceptance of ethnic differences" among guards at the High Desert State Prison (HDSP), who engaged in "alarmingly" frequent uses of force against prisoners. That report prompted state corrections officials to commission an external review of the facility, which is located about 200 miles north of Sacramento. Corrections Secretary Scott Kernan ordered the outside review in March 2016, and the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA), which conducted the investigation, published their results on September 23, 2016. The findings of the report, which cost California taxpayers $188,000, were wide-ranging and revealed what was described as a prison staffed by employees "without a clear sense of direction" who viewed prisoners as "little more than wild animals." HDSP was designed to hold about 2,200 prisoners but at the time of the study housed more than 3,400. Around three-quarters of the employees at the facility are white, while more than three-quarters of the prison population is black and Hispanic. The facility holds some of the state's "toughest" prisoners, the report said, and guards rarely interacted with them. "It was as if the officers and the inmates had reached an agreement," ASCA investigators wrote. "You can do your thing and we'll do ours, so long as you don't get violent." Because staff viewed prisoners as "dangerous animals," the guards did little to prevent violence, instead keeping their distance until something happened. When violence did erupt, which the report said occurred almost daily, guards reacted "quickly en mass to suppress it with force." The report blamed the caustic culture on a lack of communication and leadership at the facility, noting that HDSP had had 15 wardens in the past 21 years, including five during a recent 18-month period. Read More |
Georgia: 'I Would Avoid Blacks on This Jury': Will a Secret Memo See a Murder Case Overturned? Attorney Stephen Reba found the memo amid a sheaf of loose papers in one of 10 banker boxes left over from the 2007 murder trial of a coastal Georgia physician: an itemized list of recommendations as to who should sit, and not sit, on Dr. Noel Chua's jury. A paragraph on the first page grabbed Reba's eye. "Personally, I would avoid blacks on this jury. I understand you have some constitutional concerns there that have to be kept in mind, but try to avoid them." Reba, a Decatur attorney, said the memo he found in the Brunswick Circuit district attorney's old case files in the summer of 2013 raises serious questions about whether, in striking the jury that ultimately convicted Chua, either the DA, now a circuit superior court judge, or his staff may have flouted the U.S. Supreme Court's 1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky. Batson established, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld, that the use of preemptory challenges to keep African-Americans off juries because of their race violates the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. Chua is a Filipino-American. Read More |
| 
| Click photo to subscribe now! |
|
Delaware: Former death row inmate carries on his fight outside prison walls According to a former death row inmate, a former prosecutor's alleged vendetta was supposedly satisfied with his first-degree murder conviction in 2012. Until it wasn't, according to Isaiah W. McCoy, who was later exonerated. After an overturned guilty verdict and acquittal that followed in a second trial, Mr. McCoy left prison a free man on Jan. 19, 2017 after over six years and eight months incarceration. In a 56-page civil complaint filed July 28, Mr. McCoy blamed much of his self-described wrongful and malicious prosecution on now-retired Deputy Attorney General R. David Favata, later suspended from practicing law for six months and a day by the Delaware Supreme Court for his conduct at trial. Arrested after the shooting death of James Munford in a Rodney Village bowling alley parking lot on May 4, 2010, Mr. McCoy was convicted and sentenced to death on Oct. 11, 2012. Read More |
Oregon: He was ready to return to a life of crime. Dave's Killer Bread offered an alternative. Andre Eddings' life was beginning to look dire. After being caught and charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, Eddings was in jail with a felony record. "I remember thinking to myself, 'I'm a failure now,'" he says. "I will never amount to anything. I'm just throwing my life away." As a kid, Eddings had shown a lot of promise. Growing up with parents who struggled to get by, he was dedicated to creating a life for himself. "I wanted to make something of myself. I wanted to become successful. I wanted a good job making a livable wage," he says. He kept a 3.8 GPA through high school, then continued to perform well academically as he went on to college and played football. So what happened? It was only after a football injury that things went awry. "The doctor basically gave me an ultimatum," he says. "Keep playing and potentially injure myself for the rest of my life, or give it up and save my body." Eddings chose to give up his athletic career and ended up dropping out of college and moving home to work. With no degree and stuck in a dead-end job, Eddings looked to others to find a path toward what he considered success. It didn't take long for him to start dealing drugs - and to get caught.
When he got out of jail, Eddings wanted nothing more than a path back onto the straight and narrow.
Read More |
| HRDC Needs Your Help to Continue the Fight for Prison #PhoneJustice! Click the Banner to Donate Today! |
|
Missouri: Family of St. Charles County jail inmate gets $75,000 in death settlement St. Charles County has agreed to pay $75,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a jail inmate who died in 2013. The confidential settlement agreement, obtained by the Post-Dispatch via Missouri's open records laws Thursday, does not admit fault. It says Robert Breeding died Aug. 30, 2013 of natural causes. It also restricts the ability of the Breeding family to discuss the settlement "In order to avoid the inference that the Breedings received compensation for some wrongful or mistaken action by the County. . . ." In an email, Associate County Counselor Rory P. O'Sullivan wrote that the county agreed to the settlement "solely for the purpose of avoiding further expenses and the risks inherent in litigation" and didn't admit any fault. Read More |
Georgia: Lawsuit alleges systematic abuse at Augusta State Medical Prison A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a disabled inmate at the Augusta State Medical Prison alleging guards routinely use excessive force and the practice is ignored by the Department of Correction's administration. The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of Eugene Griggs by the Southern Center for Human Rights on July 27. Defendants are Warden Scott Wilkes, Assistant Regional Director Stan Shepard, Regional Director Belinda Davis and former prison guard Verneal Evans, who retired last year. The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. According to the lawsuit, Griggs is a 48-year-old man debilitated by Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare disorder in which the immune system attacks the nervous system. Griggs, who is about 6 feet tall and weighs 120 pounds, suffers weakness and diminished sensation in his arms and legs. Griggs has also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. On July 15, 2016, the lawsuit contends, Griggs was in a line waiting to see a mental health counselor when Evans, the corrections officer, grabbed the obviously frail and disabled Griggs by the throat and slammed him to the floor. Read More |
Louisiana: Suit resolved for lawyers investigating alleged inmate abuse A settlement has resolved a lawsuit that accused Louisiana prison officials of blocking attorneys from investigating "alarming" allegations of inmate abuse, including claims that mentally ill prisoners were forced to kneel or bend down and bark like dogs to get food. A federal judge on Thursday signed off on the settlement agreement between prison officials and the Advocacy Center, a New Orleans-based nonprofit that filed the suit last month. The 22-page agreement spells out procedures for lawyers to visit David Wade Correctional Center in Homer and interview disabled prisoners and staff members. The settlement doesn't resolve any potential claims that prisoners may have over their alleged abuse, nor does it include any admission of wrongdoing by prison officials. Read More |
Please note that the content of our newsletter mainly consists of news reports from third-party sources. We are not responsible for the accuracy or content of third parties, nor do their statements or positions necessarily reflect those of HRDC/PLN. Our newsletter content is for informational purposes only. |
|
| |
|
|
