U.S. Courts News Reporter
I spent more than 40 years in the Louisiana penal system—from December 1965 to April 2006.
Eight of my first eleven months of initial jail confinement were spent in a solid concrete cell with a full steel door. It was a freezing tomb in the damp winter and a sweltering oven in the humid summer.
I was transferred from the “parish jail” to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in November 1966.
I was placed in a solitary confinement known as CCR—the … Read the rest
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The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.
In most state and federal prisons, a person held in solitary confinement is allowed regular access to physical activity. However, guards can deny this access for a limited period in response to misconduct. This week, we highlight cert petitions that ask the court to consider, among other things, whether prison … Read the rest
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This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, whether a prisoner’s 27-year period in solitary confinement violates either the Eighth Amendment or the 14th Amendment, and whether a settlement can include a provision in which a debtor agrees that any payments are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Dennis Wayne Hope has been in solitary confinement for 27 years since 1994. In Hope v. Harris, Hope … Read the rest