paragonparalegals

5/6/23 PRISON DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS ARE BIASED AGAINST PRISONERS The sad part of prison discipline is that the factual determinations of disciplinary hearing officers must only be based on “some evidence” in the record to support the disciplinary decision. Superintendent v. Hill 427 U.S. 445, 455-56 (1985). This is the lowest standard of review in the […]

10/30/22 As discussed in our previous post, the state only has so much time to prosecute a criminal defendant before the courts will dismiss a prosecution. The preceding post discussed the constitutional right to a ”speedy trial,” but this section discusses the Court Rule’s ”Time for Trial” rights. If the state violated the Time for

Jan 7, 2023 When you’re a prison administrator and you’ve been sued in federal court for your continued violation of prisoner civil rights, you’d think that you’d wise-up and stop your illegal activities–especially when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (federal jurisdiction) has published a case and warned you about your shenanigans. I mean, unless

Nov 13, 2022 While you’re waiting for trial, there’s time limits on the state to prosecute you promptly. In Washington, there is a ”Speedy Trial” right guaranteed by the state and federal constitutions, and then there is a ”Time for Trial” right created by Court Rule, which we’ll discuss in the next post. If the

11/6/22 When you’re getting sentenced in a criminal matter, you are entitled to receive credit for all time served in custody on that charge prior to sentencing. If the court failed to order that you receive credit for time served on your judgment sentence, then a PRP could be appropriate to get the court to

10/8/22 Let’s face it: anybody who has had any dealings with the Department of Corrections (DOC) for Washington State has never had anything nice to say about ANY of it. While there are good people within DOC, they’re far outnumbered by the bureaucratic red-tape of confusion and compartmentalization rampant in our prison’s administration. Fortunately for

10/2/22 Part 3: 42 U.S.C. §1983 Lawsuits One of the best dynamics of a 42 U.S.C. §1983 lawsuit is that it can be brought IN EITHER federal OR state courts. A main reason to bring a Section 1983 claim in state court (as opposed to federal court) is because of the Prison Litigation Reform Act

2/21/22 Part 2: 42 U.S.C. §1983 Lawsuits. The easiest way to see what type of lawsuit you can file under Section 1983 is to review the law itself:       Every person who, UNDER COLOR OF ANY STATUTE, ORDINANCE, REGULATION, CUSTOM OR USAGE, OF ANY STATE OR TERRITORY, OR OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, subjects, or causes

2/2/22 Part 1: Introduction to 42 U.S.C. §1983 To those of you whom are familiar with the less-than-professional ways that State-prison employees and officers mismanage the custody and care of our loved ones in prison, did you know that there is a federal law which prisoners can use to remedy the violation of any federal

1/26/22 Washington DOC is notorious for rejecting prisoners’ written communication, but what a lot of people don’t know is that prisoners have a constitutionally protected right to send and receive mail. Witherow v. Paff, 52 F.3d 264, 265 (9th Cir. 1995)(citing Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401, 407 (1989)). That is, your incarcerated loved ones