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Jail Liable for Distress Caused by Hostage Training

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Wrongful Imprisonment, Municipal Liability, Guards/Staff, Employee Litigation

Jail Liable for Distress Caused by Hostage Training by The defendants created a training exercise intended to prepare jailers for a hostage situation, and did entirely too good a job of it, according to the plaintiff jailers. They enlisted two probationary jailers to play inmates. They were allowed into the …

NM Jailers Entitled to Qualified Immunity for Not Releasing Prisoner

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Wrongful Imprisonment, Immunity/Liability, Qualified Immunity

NM Jailers Entitled to Qualified Immunity for Not Releasing Prisoner by The plaintiff obtained an order stating that he should be released from the Taos County Adult Detention Center; however, by then he was at the Bernalillo County Detention Center. Officials at the latter were entitled to qualified immunity for …

Class Certification Denied in Delay of Probable Cause Hearings Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Court Appearances, Civil Procedure, Class Certification, Wrongful Imprisonment

Class Certification Denied in Delay of Probable Cause Hearings Suit by The plaintiffs (196 of them) sought to represent a class of persons arrested without prior probable cause determinations challenging failure to provide timely probable cause hearings. The Supreme Court has said that generally, probable cause hearings should occur within …

Forbidding Prison Nurse From Leaving Work States False Imprisonment

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment, Employee Litigation

Forbidding Prison Nurse From Leaving Work States False Imprisonment by The plaintiff prison nurse alleged that, while suffering from a severe bout of poison ivy and trying to leave for medical treatment, she was "held hostage" by her supervisor and prevented from leaving the premises. The supervisor, by instructing an …

Wrongful Arrest Claim Supports Municipal Liability

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment, Municipal Liability, False Arrest, Arrest Warrants

Wrongful Arrest Claim Supports Municipal Liability by The plaintiff alleged that he was arrested without probable cause and subjected to excessive force by the police. He was held for 12 days, despite his protestations that the warrant on which he was held was for his twin brother. After he was …

No Liability For Pennsylvania Prisoner Held Six Months Past Release Date

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment

No Liability For Pennsylvania Prisoner Held Six Months Past Release Date by The plaintiff complained that he was detained for six months beyond his maximum release date. His Eighth Amendment claim fails because he does not show deliberate indifference; the defendant in the prison got to work on the problem …

No Qualified Immunity for Holding WI Prisoner Past Release Date

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment, Qualified Immunity

No Qualified Immunity for Holding WI Prisoner Past Release Date by The plaintiff alleged that he was held 65 days beyond his release date as a result of a miscalculation, despite his advising the defendants of their mistake and requesting that they correct it. At 720: Incarcerating a prisoner beyond …

Class of Over Detained, Strip Searched DC Prisoners Certified

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Searches, Strip Searches, Class Certification, Wrongful Imprisonment

Class of Over Detained, Strip Searched DC Prisoners Certified by The plaintiffs alleged that they were kept past their release dates by the D.C. Department of Correction; a subclass alleged that they were subjected to strip searches upon return to jail after judicial determinations that there was no basis for …

No Absolute Immunity for Parole Officials

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Parole Board Misconduct, Parole, Wrongful Imprisonment, Probation, Immunity/Liability, Qualified Immunity, Judicial Immunity

No Absolute Immunity for Parole Officials by The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's dismissal of a suit against several parole officials, finding they were not entitled to absolute immunity. In 1990, Lance Dawson was convicted of Indiana criminal charges and placed on probation for 3 years, …

D.C. Venue Improper in BOP Fine Punishment Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Civil Procedure, Venue, Wrongful Imprisonment

D.C. Venue Improper in BOP Fine Punishment Suit by The plaintiff allegedly was kept for three years beyond his sentence expiration because he refused to sign an installment schedule agreement for his unpaid fines. The wardens of prisons in Virginia and West Virginia were not subject to personal jurisdiction in …

Doing “Katrina Time”

Article • May 15, 2007 • from PLN May, 2007

Filed under: Attorneys, Public Defenders, Wrongful Imprisonment, State Legislation

later; the rest had to fight much longer to win their freedom. Defense attorney Phyllis Mann and other volunteers filed 2,100 wrongful imprisonment petitions in a five-month period, leading to almost ...

Prison Officials Liable for Holding Prisoner Past Release Date

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment

Prison Officials Liable for Holding Prisoner Past Release Date by The court of appeals for the Third circuit affirmed in part, reversed and remanded in part, a district court's ruling in favor of a Pennsylvania prisoner who was held nine months past his release date. The district court awarded $3,520 …

WA Prisoners Have Liberty Interest in Release

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Liberty Interests, Sentencing, Good Time, Wrongful Imprisonment

WA Prisoners Have Liberty Interest in Release by The court of appeals for the Ninth circuit held that a Washington state prisoner had a due process liberty interest in being released from prison on his good time release date. The plaintiff in this section 1983 case was held 20 days …

Judicial Immunity Does Not Bar Injunctive Relief or Attorney Fees

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment, Bond Fees, Judicial Immunity

Judicial Immunity Does Not Bar Injunctive Relief or Attorney Fees by The U.S. Supreme Court held that judicial immunity did not preclude issuance of injunctive relief against a Virginia state magistrate nor did it bar the award of attorney fees against her in a civil rights action. Respondents were arrested …

Police Officer May Be Liable for Failing to Disclose Exculpatory Evidence to Prosecutor

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Police Misconduct, Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment, False Arrest

Police Officer May Be Liable for Failing to Disclose Exculpatory Evidence to Prosecutor by Police Officer May Be Liable For Failing to Disclose Exculpatory Evidence to Prosecutor The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held a police officer can be liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims of false detention and …

Over Detention Claim Must Show Knowledge or Failure to Act on Problem

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment

Over Detention Claim Must Show Knowledge or Failure to Act on Problem by A Pennsylvania federal district court held a prisoner failed to show prison officials were deliberately indifferent to his claims that he was over-detained. The SCI Graterford prisoner alleged prison officials violated his constitutional rights by detaining him …

Intermediate State Appellate Court Ruling Fails to Override Qualified Immunity Defense in Over-Detention Suit

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Good Time, Habeas Corpus, Wrongful Imprisonment, Qualified Immunity

Intermediate State Appellate Court Ruling Fails to Override Qualified Immunity Defense in Over-Detention Suit by The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a ruling from the Florida First District Court of Appeals (DCA) falls short of the clarity of the law to defeat a defense of qualified immunity. A …

Nine Month Delay in Bringing Mississippi Detainee Before Court Defeats Qualified Immunity

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Prompt Hearings, Sentencing, Wrongful Imprisonment, Qualified Immunity

Nine Month Delay in Bringing Mississippi Detainee Before Court Defeats Qualified Immunity by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held jail officials at Mississippi's Hinds County Jail were not entitled to qualified immunity for failing to take a pretrial detainee before a court for nine months. The detainee was arrested …

Miscalculation of Sentence Defeats Summary Judgment

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sentencing, Good Time, Wrongful Imprisonment, Qualified Immunity

Miscalculation of Sentence Defeats Summary Judgment by A Florida Federal District Court held that prison officials may be held liable for miscalculating a prisoner's release date and causing him to be detained beyond his sentence expiration. Former prisoner James S. McCurry brought suit under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 seeking monetary …

Slow, Incompetent Investigation Causing Over Detention Not Deliberate Indifference

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Prompt Hearings, Sentencing, Parole, Wrongful Imprisonment

Slow, Incompetent Investigation Causing Over Detention Not Deliberate Indifference by The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held a parole board' s misinterpretation of a sentencing court's order and a slow investigation into the order's meaning did not exhibit deliberate indifference. The plaintiff, a former prisoner of the Philadelphia County Prison, …