by Matthew T. Clarke

On September 8, 2004 the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that prisoners
incarcerated in a private prison must first exhaust the prison's
administrative remedies before bringing suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
challenging unconstitutional prison conditions.

Louis Boyd, Sammie Everett, Murray Allen, Howard R. Harris, Joshua O.
Kyles, Larry B. Lemmons, Jesus Villanueva Mata, Patrick U. McGee, Randall
Miller, Paul Nemchek, Luis Nieves, Jerome Paul, Cory Purifoy, Shannon Quinn
and Tracy Smith are Wisconsin state prisoners incarcerated at Correction
Corporation of America's (CCA's) Whiteville Correctional Facility in
Whiteville, Tennessee. All were allegedly beaten and called racial epithets
by members of the prison's Special Operations Response Team (SORT).
The plaintiffs filed three separate civil rights actions in federal
district court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The parties agreed to have a
magistrate judge hear the cases. The magistrate judge granted the
defendants' motion to dismiss on the ground that the plaintiffs had failed
to exhaust their administrative remedies as required by the PLRA, 42 U.S.C.
§ 1997e.

The plaintiffs appealed, alleging that the PLRA's administrative remedies
exhaustion requirement did not apply to private prisons and that the
prisoners had exhausted the available remedies. The Sixth Circuit ...

In an unpublished opinion filed on August 7, 2001, the U.S. Eighth Circuit
Court of Appeals upheld a judgment against Correctional Medical Services
(CMS) for failing to provide adequate dental care to a Missouri prisoner.
While imprisoned in the Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC),
plaintiff Edward Allen Moore sued CMS and various MDOC medical personnel
for failing to timely provide him dental care and for mishandling medical
service requests (MSRs). The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for
the Western District of Missouri pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state
tort law. Prior to trial the court dismissed several defendant prison
employees and Moore's state law claims. A jury subsequently acquitted a
prison doctor and nurse of wrongdoing but entered a judgment against CMS.
Both parties appealed and the Eighth Circuit affirmed.

With regard to Moore's appeal, the appellate court held that the prison
defendants were properly dismissed because "Moore failed to create trial
worthy issues on whether these defendants knew of and refused to remedy an
objectively serious deprivation of dental care, or ignored his allegations
that MSRs were being discarded." The Court further held that Moore's state
law claims were invalid because he had failed ...

On August 16, 2001, a Maine jury awarded $200,000 to a registered nurse who
claimed she was fired by Prison Health Services (PHS) for voicing concerns
about the quality of care being provided to juvenile prisoners and because
of her age.

The plaintiff worked at the Northern Maine Juvenile Detention ...

In the week of January 1, 2001, a lawsuit alleging false arrest and an
unconstitutional strip search in retaliation for supporting a particular
candidate for district attorney settled for $50,000.

In 1999, while attending Gallup High School, Emily Ellison was actively
supporting Navajo causes and candidates for the 2000 elections in McKinley
County. On September 12, 1999, Ellison was cited for speeding 11 to 15
miles per hour over the limit and not carrying proof of financial
responsibility. Ellison later appeared before Judge Karl Gillson and filed
a demand for jury trial, which the judge granted. When McKinley County
District Attorney Mary Helen Baber and her two assistants, Michael Sanchez
and Gerald Byers, learned of Ellison's request for a jury trial, they
allegedly decided to use the power of the state to punish her for
supporting Baber's competition for district attorney.

On November 5, 1999, Ellison received a second ticket for speeding 1 to 10
miles per hour over the limit. The case was assigned to Judge Rhoda Hunt
but Ellison initially appeared before Judge Gillson. She pled not guilty
and requested postponement of the bench trial until after Christmas break
so she could go out of town to look ...

In 1998, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $60,000 to settle a
lawsuit filed by the father of a prisoner who died from a drug overdose at
a CCA-operated prison.

Hugh Wayne Martin, a Texas state prisoner, was transferred to the Venus
Pre-release Detention Center in September 1995. The prison ...

A Delaware Chancery Court denied a motion to dismiss filed by Prison Health
Services, Inc. The motion sought to dismiss the complaint of Up and Up
Health Services, Inc. Both companies were bidding for a contract to provide
managed health care services to the Immigration and Naturalization Services
(INS). The complaint, stated a Vice President of Up and UP in charge of'
its INS project was recruited by PHS with an offer of double his salary and
a promise of a substantial bonus if UP and UP was awarded the INS contract.
PHS used the Vice President's knowledge of Up and Ups trade secret to bid
the project, which remained ongoing. Up- and Up sought injunctive relief.
Precluding PHS from using its propriety information in furtherance of the
INS bid effort and use of the Vice President with his confidential
information in the effort; also sought was monetary damages for the harm.
The court held that as the bidding process was ongoing, injunctive relief
could be granted to stop the use of the trade secrets, and as monetary
damages alone would not be adequate relief, dismissal was inappropriate.
See: BCE Emergis Corporation v. Prison Health Services, 2001 WL 695538
(Del. ...

On May 16, 2002, a jury found Correctional Medical Services (CMS) of
Illinois and Kane County liable for the death of Ethel Hare--a prisoner
with chronic liver disease, hepatitis, and HIV--and awarded her estate
$450,000.

While imprisoned in the Kane County Jail, Hare sought medical care from
CMS--the jail's for-profit ...

On July 28, 2003, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a district
court to reconsider whether the State of Missouri could confiscate a
prisoner's judgment against a prison medical provider under the state's
cost of incarceration statute.

Acting pro se, Edward Allen Moore, a Missouri state prisoner, was ...

Florida's Second District Court of Appeal has affirmed an order of a Polk
County Circuit Court that held Prison Health Services (PHS) must comply
with Florida's Public Records Act.

The Lakeland Ledger Publishing Company sought records pertaining to a
settlement agreement reached to resolve litigation resulting from the
treatment of a prisoner. The Circuit Court ordered PHS to produce those
records.

In so holding, the Court held the PHS contracted to act on behalf of the
Sheriff by providing medical services and all its records that would
normally be subject to the Public Records Act if in the possession of the
public agency are likewise covered by that law even though in the
possession of PHS, a private corporation.

The Circuit Court's order was affirmed. See: Prison Health Services v. The
Lakeland Ledger Publishing Company, 718 So.2d 204 (Fla. 2nd Dist. 1998).

A Delaware Superior Court has denied a motion to dismiss a complaint
alleging First Correctional Medical (FCM) was deliberately indifferent to
the serious medical needs of prisoner Gregory D. Smith, causing his death.

The suit alleged FCM's policies, procedures, and customs displayed a
continuous deliberate indifference to prisoners' serious medical needs by;
(1) failure to hire a regional medical director to oversee incarcerated
prisoners; (2) failure to maintain adequate staffing levels of nurses and
physicians at the infirmary; (3) practice of refusing to authorize
necessary outside medical care when it was believed the prisoner would be
released soon; (4) practice of medical care by telephone; (5) practice of
routinely withholding medical treatment for profit; and (6) establishment
of an HMO type organization whereby all outside medical referrals must be
approved by FCM headquarters in Arizona which has resulted in substantial
delay and denial of necessary treatment by individuals who were without
adequate knowledge to make such determinations.

FCM conceded that Smith had serious medical needs of sickle cell disease,
wound treatment and rheumatoid arthritis. The complaint alleged
absolutely zero effort to treat Smith's medical conditions. As such, the
court held a cause of action was stated and denied FCM's motion ...