The Kansas Court of Appeals held that the existence of adequate state tort remedies did not bar claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and that the limitation period for § 1983 claims is two years.

Kansas prisoner James Gragg was entitled to release on April 28, 1996. After he was convicted, however, KAR 446124(g)(6) was amended, altering the calculation of good time credits and specifically depriving Gragg of some of his good time credits.

Gragg filed a petition for habeas corpus, arguing that the application of KAR 446124(g)(6) was an ex post facto law. The trial court agreed and ordered that Gragg's release date be recalculated. Despite that order, no recalculation was completed and Gragg remained in prison until July 27, 1996, forty-seven days beyond his release date.

On April 28, 1998, Gragg filed a state court § 1983 action against prison officials for holding him beyond his release date. The trial court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss, holding that Gragg's cause of action under § 1983 was barred because an adequate state remedy for false imprisonment was available and that a false imprisonment claim must be brought within one year.

Citing Zinermon v. Burch , 494 U.S. 113, ...

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that Los Angeles County Jail prisoners who were kept beyond their release dates for the purpose of awaiting the completion of records searches for any outstanding warrants or detainers could sue for money damages under 42 USC § 1983.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) had a longstanding policy that when a prisoner at the LA County Jail reaches his/her due date for release, only then is the routine pre-release records search commenced for outstanding holds, warrants and detainers. As a result, prisoners are detained past the service of their sentences until the administrative checks are completed, often one or two days later.

Valerie Streit was among six groups of prisoners who sued Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block and the County for damages in federal district court (C.D. Cal.) under § 1983, alleging defendants were liable because they had a policy of intentionally over detaining prisoners in violation of their California and United States constitutional rights.

Defendants moved unsuccessfully to have the suits dismissed because the LASD claimed it was performing a law enforcement function, not an administrative function, when checking for such holds/detainers; because the LASD was not a ...

A Mississippi man who was improperly jailed for nearly 10 months because of a "bureaucratic snafu" was awarded just $36,200 by a federal jury in Jackson, Mississippi in October 2000.

Joseph Jones, a Jackson mechanic, was stopped by a state patrol officer in June 1994, at which time the officer ...

In late 2000 ex-Ohio state prisoner Ricky Carter, 44, agreed to accept a $25,000 award to compensate him for being incarcerated over 13 months past his release date. Carter, who was due to be released March 15, 1998, was instead illegally held until April 28, 1999. Ohio prison official Joe ...

On May 4, 2000, the New York court of Claims awarded Allen Israel $5,600 in damages after New York parole officials wrongfully violated his parole. Israel had a maximum parole expiration date of April 12, 1996. His parole was later revoked due to a traffic offense but no new maximum ...

On February 1, 2000, San Bernadino County, California settled a lawsuit with Jeffrey Darr for $49,999. Darr filed suit claiming that county sheriff deputy James Wiebeld (now promoted to detective) had framed him on methamphetamine manufacturing charges, for which he spent three years in jail awaiting trial, so Wiebeld could ...

On April 14, 1999, a Wayne county jury in Michigan awarded Willie Thomas Jr., Larry Reid and Edward Grant $35,000 in damages each. The three men had been Michigan state prisoners who were released after serving their entire sentences. Several months later, the Michigan DOC ordered their arrest claiming that ...

On October 29, 1999, the New York court of claims awarded. $3,000 in damages to Frank Nicchio. Nicchio was a New York state prisoner who was wrongly held 30 days past his release date from prison. Nicchio was granted summary judgment on the issue of liability. The case went to ...

A federal district court judge in Virginia held that a prisoner's refusal to sign an agreement to pay a court ordered fine does not allow the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to keep him imprisoned indefinitely. This ruling amply illustrates the vast power and arrogance of the BOP. Its facts are unusual to say the least.

Jabari Zakiya was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for tax evasion and failing to file income tax returns. He was also fined $25,000, given three years supervised release and a $200 special assessment. He self reported to prison on January 5, 1995 and his sentence, with no good time reductions, should have ended on May 5, 1996. His good time release date was February 29, 1996.

Prior to his scheduled good time release date, the BOP gave Zakiya a form to sign whereby he would agree to pay, while on supervised release, the remaining balance of the fine. Zakiya refused to sign the form for political reasons and has languished in prison ever since, years after his sentence expired! The BOP insists that it can keep Zakiya in prison until he dies if he does not sign the form.

Various pro se habeas ...

Correctional Services Corp. (CSC) announced Aug. 23, 1999 that it was withdrawing from an $8.7 million-a-year contract to operate the Pahokee Youth Development Center, a 350 bed Florida juvenile facility, 8 months before the contract is due to expire.

The announcement came six weeks after the Pahokee facility failed a major state inspection and one week before a court hearing on safety concerns at the privately-operated youth center. State inspectors had criticized the facility's counseling services, poor physical condition, education programs, disruptive atmosphere and continued complaints of physical abuse by staff members.

After reviewing the inspection report Juvenile Court Judge Ron Alvarez compared the CSC-run youth center to a "third-world country that is controlled by ... some type of evil power," and gave the company 7 weeks to make improvements. "Treatment of these children, so far, based upon this report, comes dangerously close to being inhumane," Alvarez said.

The Pahokee youth center has gone through five administrators since it opened in 1997, and has been criticized by state monitors and child-welfare advocates for poor manageme nt and excessive use of force. The Washington-based Youth Law Center has condemned conditions at the facility as a "denial of basic constitutional rights." There ...