11. Discipline.

U.S. D/strict Court DRUG TESTING

Alexander v. Gilmore, 202 F.Supp.2d 478 (E.D.Va. 2002). Two prisoners, one a current prisoner and one a former prisoner, sued a prison and officials. The district court found that a prisoner's placement in segregated housing following an institutional conviction for being under the influence of drugs, even though a confirmatory urine test was not conducted, was not sufficiently severe to support an Eighth Amendment claim. The court also held that the prisoners did not state a claim under the False Claims Act (FCA) by alleging that the prison had obtained federal funding for drug testing by falsely certifying that the requirements for testing and disposal of samples were being followed. According to the court, the prison, and employees who were acting in their official capacities, were exempt from the FCA and there was no showing that the employees were acting in their individual capacities. (Virginia Department of Corrections)

U.S. Appeals Court VISITS

Bazzetta v. McGinnis, 286 F.3d 311 (6th Cir. 2002). [Reversed by U.S. Supreme Court on June 16, 2003, in a unanimous decision.] A class of state prisoners and their prospective visitors brought a [section] 1983 action against a state corrections department, alleging that restrictions on prison visitation violated their First, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The district court entered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and the appeals court affirmed. The appeals court held that prisoners have no freedom of association rights to contact visits, but that a close analysis of prison regulations is especially appropriate when the challenged restrictions interfere with family relationships, including the parent-child bond. The court held that a prison regulation that prohibited non-contact visits from inmates' minor siblings, nieces, and nephews, violated the First Amendment. The court also found a violation in the regulation that prohibited non-contact visits from an inmate's natural child if the parental rights of the inmate to the child had been terminated. Similar violations were found by the court for regulations that banned visits from a former prisoner, probationer or a parolee (other than a prisoner's immediate family), required children to be accompanied by an immediate family member or legal guardian, and a permanent ban on all visitation (other than attorney or clergy) for prisoners with two or more major misconduct charges for substance abuse...