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Abstract: 

This issue of “From the Courts” Reviews two cases: Tosten v. United States, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 15966 (7th Cir. August 2, 2012) and United States v. Mendiola, 696 F.3d 1033 (10th Cir. 2012). In the first case, a Wisconsin inmate was penalized for possessing material that was considered “gang literature,” even though he acquired the text from a prison library. The lower court and 7th Circuit Appellate Court disagreed with the inmate’s claim that he should not be punished for having material that he could access in the prison library. In the second case, a federal inmate appealed a district court decision to extend his sentence beyond the maximum suggested sentence in order to enroll him in a long-term rehabilitative course. This decision was overturned by the 10th Circuit Appellate Court, as this sentencing procedure was in clear violation of Tapia v. United States, 131 S. Ct. 2382.

Keywords: gang literature; prison term

Affiliations:  1: Pace University School of Law Library.