United States Sixth Circuit

Department of Corrections' haphazard non-contact visitation policies, including the banning of visits from certain relatives and former prisoners, were not reasonably related to a valid penological objective and were found to violate the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights of prisoners and their prospective visitors in a class action suit.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/10/2002
• Published 04/10/2002

Judges

• Before: MERRITT, CLAY, and GILMAN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Sixth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jill M. Wheaton (briefed), Dykema Gossett PLLC, Detroit, MI, Michael J. Steinberg (briefed), Kary L. Moss (briefed), American Civil Liberties Union Fund of Michigan, Detroit, MI, for Amici Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Michael J. Barnhart, Detroit, MI, Deborah A. LaBelle (argued and briefed), Law Offices of Deborah LaBelle, Ann Arbor, MI, Patricia A. Streeter (briefed), Detroit, MI, for Plaintiffs-Appellees., Lisa C. Ward (argued and briefed), Asst. Attorney Gen., Leo H. Friedman (briefed), Office of the Attorney General, Corrections Division, Lansing, MI, Mark W. Matus (briefed), Michigan Department of Attorney, Lansing, MI, for Defendants-Appellants.