23 results for 'nos:"Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus"'.
J. Morgan reverses, in part, a magistrate's denial of an inmate's motion concerning spoliation of evidence. Although four prison guards argue they lost surveillance video and body scans that justified four days of fruitless searching of an inmate suspected of inserting contraband in his rectum, there is evidence the guards acted with the intent to deprive the inmate of the photos for use in his excessive force suit against them. Furthermore, the body scans the prison produced were not of the inmate.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morgan, Filed On: April 9, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv2680, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Evidence, Discovery, Prisoners' Rights
J. Jung denies the Department of Corrections food service provider's motion to dismiss the diabetic inmate's suit alleging that it has consistently failed to provide diabetic inmates with timely, adequate meals. The inmate has adequately pleaded that the alleged failure to provide meals constitutes deliberate indifference to a serious medical need, and while he has not stated sufficient facts to show that the food service provider has a policy of serving diabetic inmates late, he has pleaded sufficient facts to support the allegation that the meals are calorically and nutritionally deficient. Finally, the prisoner's amended complaint states facts showing the personal involvement of a staff member who responded to the prisoner's grievances in these alleged violations, reviving previously-dismissed claims against that staff member, though the prisoner is cautioned that failure to prove those allegations may result in sanctions.
Court: USDC Middle District of Florida, Judge: Jung, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 8:23cv26, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Prisoners' Rights
J. Davis partially grants the prison officials' motion for summary judgment on the prisoner's claims against them. The officials are entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity on a request for monetary damages, and a failure-to-intervene claim against a corrections officer who allegedly observed her husband and another officer attacking the prisoner fails because the prisoner was not in a position, according to video evidence, to see whether the officer was watching. Other claims against the officer survive.
Court: USDC Middle District of Florida, Judge: Davis, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv298, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Prisoners' Rights
J. Dick orders a Louisiana corrections officer to pay $12,500 in attorney fees to a state prisoner who was burned and stabbed by another inmate as the guard watched “and did nothing.” The inmate was awarded $10,000 in compensatory damages following a bench trial, and is entitled to the maximum under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: 3:19cv29, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Evidence, Damages, Police Misconduct
J. Morgan denies immunity to four prison officers who allegedly violated an inmate’s constitutional right to basic hygiene and sanitation during his four-day confinement to a “dry cell.” The officers suspected the inmate stored contraband in his rectum, repeatedly ordered him to ingest laxatives, perform bowel movements in full restraints, submit to strip-searches, and undergo x-rays; however, no contraband was found.
According to the inmate’s undisputed account, he was denied a shower, not allowed to wash his hands or brush his teeth, and had to eat near an open bucket of human waste.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morgan, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv2680, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Immunity, Police Misconduct
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J. Davis partially grants the prisoner's motion to compel discovery and dismisses the prison officials' motions for summary judgment in a case alleging failures to treat the prisoner's serious medical needs. A request for documents and communications from 2020 through today related to requests for and use of pull-up diapers in the prison is not overly broad, and is granted, as is a request for information on the number of inmates who suffer from incontinence. A request for information on these inmates is granted, with redactions of identifying information. The officials must also provide available communications between their staff and ADA coordinators discussing the prisoner, assessments of his status as a mobility-impaired inmate, documents relied upon to assess the prisoner's medical condition for the purposes of ADA compliance or the necessity for an assistant, and documents related to wound care protocols and a "wound program." A request for orientation documents provided to inmates upon transfers to new facilities is also granted, as are requests for identification of the individuals involved in determining the prisoner's ADA status and communications about his recent transfer. His requests are otherwise denied.
Court: USDC Middle District of Florida, Judge: Davis, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv997, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Discovery, Prisoners' Rights
J. Cummings denies a motion from the Cook County sheriff and several county correctional officers, who wanted to stay a civil lawsuit brought by a county jail inmate until he’s faced trial for aggravated battery charges. The inmate claims three correctional officers beat him in a jail elevator without security cameras; he further alleged the practice is widespread among correctional officers, and that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart knew about it but turned a blind eye. The court declines to issue a stay because nothing in the inmate’s civil complaint would undermine the criminal prosecution he faces.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Cummings, Filed On: November 17, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv6243, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Procedure, Police Misconduct, Prisoners' Rights
J. Dick orders judgment in favor of class-action litigants and against the state department of corrections, ending a yearslong litigation of medical treatment claims at Louisiana’s maximum-security prison in Angola. “The attitudes of those in medical leadership” at the corrections department and the sprawling 18,000-acre prison farm “easily demonstrate that injunctive relief is required in this case.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: 3:15cv318, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Health Care
J. Dick grants a request by incarcerated juvenile offenders to certify a class-action civil suit against the Governor of Louisiana and state corrections officials for the transfer of certain youths in state custody to the former “death row” facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. The state says the transfers applied to a “handful” of violent youth who were endangering the public by repeatedly attempting to escape from youth care facilities statewide. The suit alleges locked-up youth have been allegedly harmed by the threat of transfer to Angola as a form of punishment where their constitutional rights will be violated by continuous cell restrictions and a lack of educational, rehabilitative, recreational, mental health services. Further, the suit challenges the state’s alleged failure to accommodate a sub-class of disabled children confined at Angola. The goal of the juveniles’ suit is “specific and quite simple:” forbid the state from transferring youth to the state’s maximum-security prison for adult men.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv573, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Constitution, Evidence, Government
J. Doughty denies a request by a North Louisiana parish prison commission to dismiss an inmate’s claims that understaffing of the jail has resulted in lax enforcement of contraband rules and smoking bans. A magistrate judge’s report supports the prisoner’s claims that the officials’ negligence has resulted in non-smoking inmates and jail employees being exposed to cancer-causing tobacco smoke and ill effects from synthetic marijuana, such as the litigant’s excessive coughing and nosebleeds. “In Louisiana, prison authorities owe a duty of reasonable care to protect inmates from harm.”
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Doughty, Filed On: August 8, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv4037, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Health Care, Negligence, Prisoners' Rights
J. Corley partially grants the prison officials’ motion for summary judgment on the prisoner’s claims. A portion of the prisoner’s First Amendment retaliation claim, which alleges that a guard attempted to force him to become a “snitch” by threatening to falsely tell other inmates he was one if he did not, is dismissed because the prisoner’s refusal to “snitch” was not protected conduct for a retaliation claim. The portion of the claim related to his filing of a grievance survives, however, and the guard’s qualified immunity argument fails as to that portion of the claim. The case is referred to the Pro Se Prisoner Mediation Program.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Corley, Filed On: August 2, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv341, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: First Amendment, Prisoners' Rights
J. Illston partially grants the amputee prisoner's motion for attorneys' fees and costs in his successful civil rights suit arising from his forcible extraction from his cell without his wheelchair. Deductions and reductions are made to the lodestar totaling 5.3 hours, and to the total hours claimed totaling 382.78 hours. 25% of the prisoner's compensatory damages award must also be used to pay a portion of the fee award attributable to the prisoner's successful civil rights claim. A 1.6 multiplier to the lodestar is appropriate because of "the extraordinary results achieved" and the need to attract counsel to meritorious prisoners' rights cases.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Illston, Filed On: July 28, 2023, Case #: 3:18cv1245, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Attorney Fees, Prisoners' Rights
J. Hamilton partially grants the prison officials' motion for summary judgment in the prisoner's suit alleging that they retaliated against him for filing inmate appeals. The officials have demonstrated that there are no issues of material fact regarding incidents in 2019, but not regarding one prison guard's alleged involvement in a subsequent 2020 incident. Taking the prisoner's claims as true, the guard also would not be entitled to qualified immunity for that incident. The prisoner's motion to compel is denied, however, and he is referred to a pro se mediation program.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Hamilton, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 4:20cv3128, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Prisoners' Rights
J. Bourgeois denies a requests by consul for the American Civil Liberties for the “complete files” of all juvenile offenders temporarily housed in the former death row facility at the state’s maximum security prison at Angola, Louisiana. Advocates for the detained children have not set forth any arguments as to why records dating to each juvenile’s adjudication are relevant to an upcoming hearing on current conditions at the youth detention facility on the 18,000-acre prison farm. The hearing is set for Aug. 15, 2023.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Bourgeois, Filed On: July 9, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv573, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Family Law, Government, Prisoners' Rights
J. Menendez recommends denying the Minnesota Sex Offender Program detainee's motions for sanctions and appointment of counsel in his suit alleging a variety of civil rights violations by the program. The detainee's numerous claims do not make this matter factually or legally complex, and are within his capabilities to investigate as a pro se litigant. They are also recommended for dismissal.
Court: USDC Minnesota, Judge: Foster, Filed On: June 5, 2023, Case #: 0:11cv979, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Sanctions
J. Vance dismisses a State pretrial detainee’s civil rights claims against the Jefferson Parish Sheriff as “frivolous” and without merit. The ruling also adopts the findings of a magistrate judge’s report, allowing the detainee to proceed on claims that he couldn’t walk after three Kenner City police officers threw him on the ground and beat his ankles with “a long black stick.” The defendant’s excessive force complaint is stayed, pending resolution of criminal charges he slashed a woman’s face with a razor.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vance, Filed On: June 2, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv197, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Constitution, Police Misconduct, Prisoners' Rights
J. Jackson denies requests by the State of Louisiana to dismiss a prison inmate’s excessive force claims against a guard escorting him to a treatment center at the state maximum security prison. The inmate claims his feet and hands were shackled when he implored the officer to slow down. The officer allegedly threw the manacled prisoner down, kneed him in the ribs and choked him, resulting in the inmate’s dislocated shoulder. A prison official’s use of force is excessive and violates the Constitution “only when such force is applied maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm rather than to maintain or restore discipline. The inmate’s allegations do not reveal the need for any use of force.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv68, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution
J. DeGravelles denies a request by a doctor at a parish jail, refusing to dismiss constitutional claims against him by the family of a prisoner who died from brain cancer. The family alleges that the physician’s denial of a life-saving medical device, an Optune, violated both state human rights law and his constitutional right to medical care. The doctor’s refusal to provide the device, despite “full knowledge” that the inmate needed it, constituted deliberate indifference, and “every reasonable officer would know, beyond debate, that this was the case.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv548, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, Medical Malpractice