News in Brief

Erie – Former state Rep. Tracy Seyfert ended a six-month sentence for misusing government property and witness tampering and was released from a federal prison in Connecticut, officials said.

Seyfert, of suburban Erie, had been accused of obtaining an electric generator that was supposed to go to a volunteer fire department and using it to warm birds at her home. Prosecutors also alleged Seyfert then tried to cover up the crime by convincing witnesses to remain silent.

She pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining government property, a misdemeanor, and a felony count of witness tampering. Seyfert resigned her seat in the state House of Representatives and began a six-month prison sentence in September.

U.S. High Court Hears Prison Lawsuit Case

Washington, D.C. – Prisoners should be allowed to file federal lawsuits before they have exhausted state remedies, a lawyer for a Pennsylvania man told the U.S. Supreme Court last week. Changing the law, however, would lead to an increase in litigation and contradict the intent of Congress, said a lawyer representing the state of Pennsylvania.

Speedy federal appeals are needed when state laws do not allow prisoners to be compensated for injuries caused by guards, said Nancy Winkelman, who represents prisoner Timothy Booth.

Booth alleged he was assaulted by prison staff four times in 1996 and 1997. In one incident Booth said he threw water at a prison guard who retaliated by throwing a cup of cleaning solution in Booth’s face. In another incident, Booth said he was shoved by two guards, leaving him with a dislocated shoulder.

‘If what you are seeking is not available or cannot be provided, a federal option is needed,’ Winkelman said.

At issue is the interpretation of a 1996 federal law under which no litigation on federal or state prison conditions can be brought ‘until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.’

Gerald Pappert, who argued on behalf of Pennsylvania, said states are able to offer adequate compensation in most cases and federal appeals should be a last resort.

“There are an infinite and endless number of ways that the prison can satisfy the prisoner, short of money,’ said Pappert, Pennsylvania’s first deputy attorney general.

Justice Antonin Scalia interjected that if Booth had felt there were more valuable ways to be compensated, he would have asked for them.

Winkelman said prisoners should be allowed to seek federal and state remedies at the same time because the types of compensation available are different.

However, Pappert said allowing prisoners to file federal lawsuits before exhausting other remedies ‘would allow them to bypass the process and manipulate it.’

U.S. High Court Won’t Hear Lambert Appeal