Eastern District of California Blog

Jury Convicts Federal Inmate Of Assault

On April 20, 2017, a Sacramento jury convicted a federal inmate of assault with serious bodily injury on another inmate at FCI Herlong.  See United States v. McNeal, No. 2:16-CR-0014-GEB.

Stone Pleads Guilty After Feds Withdraw Request To Seek Death Penalty In USP Atwater Killing Case

In United States v. Sammy Stone, Attorney General Holder had authorized the government to seek the death penalty in 2012 on Stone's charge of murdering his cellmate at USP Atwater in 2003.  Recently, the defense convinced Holder to deauthorize the case after further information came to light and Stone agreed to a life sentence.  He pled guilty  in Fresno federal court on January 13, 2014.  Stone was represented by defense attorneys Don Knight and AFDs Lexi Negin and Tivon Schardl.

Is Taft CI Unconstitutional?

The title of this post is inspired by Professor Michael Tigar's post on his blog TigarBytes entitled "Private Prisons are Unconstitutional," which was highlighted in Professor's Berman's sentencing blog.  Based on Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510 (1927), Ward v. Monroeville, 409 U.S. 57 (1972), and other cases, Prof. Tigar contends that contracts requiring the feds to send enough people to prison to fill up 80-100% of beds in private prisons are troubling and raise serious due process concerns.  He ends his post with the "hope that someone will start to litigate these issues."

I echo that thought.  One such issue I've raised is whether due process prohibits private prison employees from taking away good time credit (GTC) for disciplinary violations where the corporation that runs the prison has a financial incentive to keep its prison cells full.  While inmates may challenge the disallowance of federal GTC through a § 2241 petition in federal court, it is exceedingly difficult.  They are not entitled to a court-appointed attorney and rarely have the funds to hire an attorney.  And courts often require that they first go through the Bureau of Prison's legal obstacle course to exhaust their administrative remedies, all with limited legal access and without the help of counsel. 

I raised this issue, however, in a successful appeal last year after the Ninth Circuit, on its own, appointed counsel.  In Arrendondo-Virula v. Adler, No. 10-17654 (9th Cir. Feb. 14, 2013), the Ninth Circuit gave my client back 27 days of GTC that was taken away as discipline imposed by an employee of Mangement and Training Corporation (MTC), which operates the private federal prison in Taft, California.  The Court did not reach the due process issue though.  Rather, the Court agreed that the then-applicable BOP regulation provided that "only institution staff" could take disciplinary action under 28 C.F.R. §541.10(b)(1) and that the taking away of GTC was unlawful because the MTC employee did not qualify as BOP "institution staff." 

The BOP regulation, however, is no longer in effect and the due process question is ripe for litigation.  To jump start anyone out there who may be interested in litigating this constitutional challenge, here's the excerpt from my opening brief that raises the unresolved due process issue.  [Update:  Here's Prof. Tigar's response to this post].

Atwater Prison Guards To Carry Pepper Spray

Corrections officers at U.S. Penitentiary Atwater and six other tension-racked federal prisons now will be armed with pepper spray, prompted in part by a 2008 murder.

Urged on by lawmakers, U.S. Bureau of Prisons officials are training selected officers to use the spray canisters that can drop a violent inmate from up to 12 feet away. Although described as a "pilot program" that will formally start in several weeks, the decision marks a policy shift for officials who until now have warned against the dangers of arming prison guards.

Fresno Bee, 6/22/12

New Federal Prison In Mendota On-Track To Open Next Year

The long-awaited federal prison in Mendota now has an award-winning warden, a growing staff and an opening date that's coming within sight.

After a stop-and-start history, the medium-security facility in western Fresno County is on track to open "early next year," Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Felicia Ponce said Thursday.

For approximately 1,152 inmates, Federal Correctional Institution Mendota will be a new home. For those willing to work inside prison walls, including newly named Warden Paul Copenhaver, the 960-acre facility will present fresh opportunities.

Merced Sun-Star, 7/18/10

New Federal Prison Expected To Open Next Year In Mendota

With new Obama stimulus funds, a new federal, medium security prison in Mendota, CA, about 35 miles west of Fresno, should be ready to open in 2010.  According to the Fresno Bee, plans for a minimum security camp have been scrapped.