Prison Life is Tough~ boo hoo~
Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 9:39 pm
Supermax Inmates Upset Over Secondhand Smoke
Two Federal Lawsuits Dismissed; Another Continues
POSTED: 3:35 pm MST March 25, 2005
DENVER -- A federal judge has dismissed claims by two inmates at the government's high security Supermax prison that secondhand smoke threatened their health. Similar claims from another inmate remain alive.
The allegations involve the so-called "Alcatraz of the Rockies" in the mountain community of Florence. It is the home of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols and Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the World Trade Center 1993 bombing.
A convicted bank robber at the prison sued in 2003, seeking damages for his exposure to smoke from other inmates' cigarettes. Three other inmates _ including one connected to the 1993 bombing and one who hijacked an Air Egypt flight in 1985 _ joined the case in April.
The Bureau of Prisons banned indoor smoking at its prisons last year.
"The cumulative effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke for three years caused me to lose years off my life span," inmate Jeffrey Scott Durham, 40, said via closed-circuit television during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger on Thursday.
Durham is scheduled to be released in 2099 for committing a series of armed bank robberies in Florida during the 1990s. As a fugitive, he appeared on "The Jerry Springer Show" with his transvestite lover in 1997.
Krieger dismissed Durham's claims and those of Dandenis Munoz Mosquera, who prosecutors said was a hit man for drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. Mosquera, 38, is serving a life sentence for drug charges and possessing false identification.
Mosquera's claims were dropped after he failed to appear during the hearing, and Krieger said Durham's case can't go forward in court because he still can ask prison authorities to address his claims.
Ahmed Mohammad Ajaj, 39, successfully asked for more time to explain his allegations that prison authorities haven't addressed his complaints. Krieger put his case on hold until he can prove he has addressed the issues with prison authorities.
Ajaj, who was sentenced to 240 years in prison without parole, was convicted of conspiring in the 1993 trade center bombing.
A fourth plaintiff, Omar Mohammed Rezaq, 47, pulled out of the case in January. He was sentenced to life without parole after he and two other men hijacked an Air Egypt flight shortly after takeoff from Athens in 1985 and shot several passengers, killing two.
The other two hijackers were killed. Rezaq, a Palestinian who was a member of the Abu Nidal terrorist group, served seven years in Malta before being convicted of air piracy in the United States in 1996. i found this article at FARK. LC
Two Federal Lawsuits Dismissed; Another Continues
POSTED: 3:35 pm MST March 25, 2005
DENVER -- A federal judge has dismissed claims by two inmates at the government's high security Supermax prison that secondhand smoke threatened their health. Similar claims from another inmate remain alive.
The allegations involve the so-called "Alcatraz of the Rockies" in the mountain community of Florence. It is the home of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols and Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the World Trade Center 1993 bombing.
A convicted bank robber at the prison sued in 2003, seeking damages for his exposure to smoke from other inmates' cigarettes. Three other inmates _ including one connected to the 1993 bombing and one who hijacked an Air Egypt flight in 1985 _ joined the case in April.
The Bureau of Prisons banned indoor smoking at its prisons last year.
"The cumulative effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke for three years caused me to lose years off my life span," inmate Jeffrey Scott Durham, 40, said via closed-circuit television during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger on Thursday.
Durham is scheduled to be released in 2099 for committing a series of armed bank robberies in Florida during the 1990s. As a fugitive, he appeared on "The Jerry Springer Show" with his transvestite lover in 1997.
Krieger dismissed Durham's claims and those of Dandenis Munoz Mosquera, who prosecutors said was a hit man for drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. Mosquera, 38, is serving a life sentence for drug charges and possessing false identification.
Mosquera's claims were dropped after he failed to appear during the hearing, and Krieger said Durham's case can't go forward in court because he still can ask prison authorities to address his claims.
Ahmed Mohammad Ajaj, 39, successfully asked for more time to explain his allegations that prison authorities haven't addressed his complaints. Krieger put his case on hold until he can prove he has addressed the issues with prison authorities.
Ajaj, who was sentenced to 240 years in prison without parole, was convicted of conspiring in the 1993 trade center bombing.
A fourth plaintiff, Omar Mohammed Rezaq, 47, pulled out of the case in January. He was sentenced to life without parole after he and two other men hijacked an Air Egypt flight shortly after takeoff from Athens in 1985 and shot several passengers, killing two.
The other two hijackers were killed. Rezaq, a Palestinian who was a member of the Abu Nidal terrorist group, served seven years in Malta before being convicted of air piracy in the United States in 1996. i found this article at FARK. LC
