On 12/01/1987, inmates at the Nebraska State Penitentiary filed a Section 1983 class action suit, pro se, in the District of Nebraska against officials of the Nebraska Department of Corrections. Plaintiffs alleged that defendants' practice of double celling constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment and that the penitentiary's policy relating to inmate liability for contraband violated the Fourteenth Amendment due process clause.
Prior to an evidentiary hearing, Jensen v. Gunter was consolidated with three other cases: Pierce v. Clarke, CV 87-L-497; El-Tabech v. Gunter, CV 87-L-377; and Luna v. Clarke, CV 87-L-476. Documents from all are included in this file. These cases involved other Nebraska inmates at the same facility raising the same issues.
Following an eighteen-day evidentiary hearing in June 1992, Magistrate Judge Piester granted plaintiffs' injunctive relief limited to defendants' failure to safeguard plaintiffs from the threat of violent attacks by a cellmate. However, Judge Piester recommended that the defendants be granted a period of time to submit a remedial plan to correct the deficiency. Over plaintiffs' and defendants' objections, the District Court (Judge William G. Cambridge) adopted Judge Piester's report and recommendation. Jensen v. Gunter, 807 F. Supp. 1463 (D. Neb. 1992). Defendants appealed.
The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals (Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold) dismissed the appeal, holding that because there was no final order the Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction. 992 F.2d 183 (8th Cir. 1993). In 1994, the District Court (Judge Richard Kopf) denied defendants' motion to revoke the prior order and granted plaintiffs' motion for an award of attorneys' fees. Tabech v. Gunter, 869 F. Supp. 1446 (D. Neb. 1994). Defendants appealed. In January 1996, the Eighth Circuit (Judge Richard S. Arnold) remanded for additional factual findings in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994). On remand, Judge Kopf held that the evidence was sufficient and certified the findings to the Court of Appeals. Tabech v. Gunter, 922 F. Supp. 244 (D. Neb. 1996). Defendants appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's order. Jensen v. Clarke, 94 F.3d 1191 (8th Cir. 1996).
Following the 8th Circuit decision, a satisfaction of judgment was entered in March 1997. The Court had, however, reserved jurisdiction to enforce the injunction that had been entered in {}.
In 2006, two different prisoners filed motions seeking contempt sanctions for failure to comply with the injunction. The Court rejected both. In the first, the Court noted that while it had reserved enforcement authority, the injunction applied only to the Nebraska State Penitentiary, not other facilities. Therefore the contempt motion exceeded the scope of the injunction. {CITE IF THERE IS ONE}. In the second, the Court more broadly ruled contempt inappropriate, explaining that because the Prison Litigation Reform Act had been enacted after the entry of the injunction, it would be inappropriate to allow prisoners to circumvent the act without complying with its limits on prisoner litigation. The Court instructed the prisoners who'd sought contempt that they could, if they wished, file a new action. {CITE IF THERE IS ONE}
Eoghan Keenan - 06/10/2005
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