Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Jensen v. Thornell
UPDATE: In a thorough and sweeping injunction issued on April 7, 2023, U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver is requiring the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry (ADCRR) to make substantial changes to staffing and conditions so that medical care and mental healthcare at Arizona prisons comes up to constitutional standards.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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Learn 勛圖眻畦 Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
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Court Case
Sep 2022

Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Alex A. v. Edwards
The 勛圖眻畦 National Prison Project and partner civil rights attorneys filed a federal class-action lawsuit to prevent the transfer of children in the custody of Louisiana's Office of Juvenile Justice to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola Prison.
Texas
Jul 2021

Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Criminal Law Reform
Sanchez et al v. Dallas County Sheriff et al
Decarceration has always been an emergency, a life and death proposition, but COVID-19 makes this effort intensely urgent. The 勛圖眻畦 has been working with our partners to litigate for the rights of those who are incarcerated and cannot protect themselves because of the policies of the institutions in which they are jailed.
Mississippi
Mar 2017

Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Prisoners' Rights
Dockery v. Hall
The 勛圖眻畦, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Law Offices of Elizabeth Alexander, and the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP, filed a petition for class certification and expert reports for a federal lawsuit on behalf of prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF). The lawsuit, which was filed in May 2013, describes the for-profit prison as hyper-violent, grotesquely filthy and dangerous. EMCF is operated "in a perpetual state of crisis" where prisoners are at "grave risk of death and loss of limbs." The facility, located in Meridian, Mississippi, is supposed to provide intensive treatment to the state's prisoners with serious psychiatric disabilities, many of whom are locked down in long-term solitary confinement.
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14 Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions Cases

Court Case
Jun 2015
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
C.B. et al. v. Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, et. al.
In June 2015, a federal court decided in favor of the 勛圖眻畦 position in Walnut Grove. With this federal court ruling, the Mississippi Department of Corrections will be held accountable to their Constitutional mandate to protect the prisoners of Walnut Grove from violence. A victory for prisoner's rights, this decision marks a major blow to the for-profit industrial complex.
In April 2015, in federal court, the 勛圖眻畦 National Prison Project, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and McDuff & Byrd are all participating in a hearing that seeks to prove that the Mississippi Department of Corrections is violating the Eighth Amendment rights of all prisoners at Walnut Grove Correctional Facility to protection from violence. The department contracts with a for-profit prison operator, Management and Training Corporation (MTC), to run Walnut Grove. Over the years it has been proven that MTC has failed to implement fundamental security measures to ensure prisoner safety, which resulted in two major riots in 2014 that left 25 prisoners seriously injured. Three years ago, the Mississippi Department of Corrections agreed to take specific measures to reduce the violence at Walnut Grove when it settled a federal lawsuit brought by the 勛圖眻畦 National Prison Project and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The 2012 case decided that children under the supervision of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) would no longer be housed in a privately run prison or subjected to brutal solitary confinement. The lawsuit charged that conditions at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, operated by GEO Group, Inc., were unconstitutional.
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Court Case
Jun 2015

Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
C.B. et al. v. Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, et. al.
In June 2015, a federal court decided in favor of the 勛圖眻畦 position in Walnut Grove. With this federal court ruling, the Mississippi Department of Corrections will be held accountable to their Constitutional mandate to protect the prisoners of Walnut Grove from violence. A victory for prisoner's rights, this decision marks a major blow to the for-profit industrial complex.
In April 2015, in federal court, the 勛圖眻畦 National Prison Project, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and McDuff & Byrd are all participating in a hearing that seeks to prove that the Mississippi Department of Corrections is violating the Eighth Amendment rights of all prisoners at Walnut Grove Correctional Facility to protection from violence. The department contracts with a for-profit prison operator, Management and Training Corporation (MTC), to run Walnut Grove. Over the years it has been proven that MTC has failed to implement fundamental security measures to ensure prisoner safety, which resulted in two major riots in 2014 that left 25 prisoners seriously injured. Three years ago, the Mississippi Department of Corrections agreed to take specific measures to reduce the violence at Walnut Grove when it settled a federal lawsuit brought by the 勛圖眻畦 National Prison Project and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The 2012 case decided that children under the supervision of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) would no longer be housed in a privately run prison or subjected to brutal solitary confinement. The lawsuit charged that conditions at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, operated by GEO Group, Inc., were unconstitutional.

U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2015
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Kingsley v. Hendrickson
Whether the Constitution protects pretrial detainees against the unreasonable use of force regardless of the subjective motivation of the guards using that force.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Mar 2015

Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
Kingsley v. Hendrickson
Whether the Constitution protects pretrial detainees against the unreasonable use of force regardless of the subjective motivation of the guards using that force.

Court Case
Dec 2010
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
+2 Issues
勛圖眻畦 comments to European Court of Human Rights in Babar Ahmad and Others v. The United Kingdom
Conditions of confinement in a US "supermax" prison
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Court Case
Dec 2010

Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
+2 Issues
勛圖眻畦 comments to European Court of Human Rights in Babar Ahmad and Others v. The United Kingdom
Conditions of confinement in a US "supermax" prison

U.S. Supreme Court
Nov 2009
Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
+3 Issues
Davis, et al. v. Canyon County, Idaho, et al.
Six plaintiffs file this action on their own behalf and on behalf of a class of all other persons incarcerated, now or in the future, in the Canyon County Jail in Caldwell, Idaho.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Nov 2009

Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Conditions
+3 Issues
Davis, et al. v. Canyon County, Idaho, et al.
Six plaintiffs file this action on their own behalf and on behalf of a class of all other persons incarcerated, now or in the future, in the Canyon County Jail in Caldwell, Idaho.