Prisoners' Rights
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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Court Case
Sep 2022

Prisoners' Rights
Alex A. v. Edwards
The Թֱ 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

Prisoners' Rights
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 Թֱ 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

Prisoners' Rights
Smart Justice
Dockery v. Hall
The Թֱ, 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.
All Cases
63 Prisoners' Rights Cases

U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2011
Prisoners' Rights
Smart Justice
Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington
Whether a jail policy of strip searching every new detainee violates the Fourth Amendment.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2011

Prisoners' Rights
Smart Justice
Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington
Whether a jail policy of strip searching every new detainee violates the Fourth Amendment.

U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011
Prisoners' Rights
Smart Justice
Brown v. Plata
Whether a federal court appropriately exercised its authority by ordering the State of California to reduce the size of its prison population, which was more than double the system’s intended capacity, after dozens of remedial orders had failed for more than a decade to ensure that California prisoners received constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care.
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U.S. Supreme Court
May 2011

Prisoners' Rights
Smart Justice
Brown v. Plata
Whether a federal court appropriately exercised its authority by ordering the State of California to reduce the size of its prison population, which was more than double the system’s intended capacity, after dozens of remedial orders had failed for more than a decade to ensure that California prisoners received constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care.

U.S. Supreme Court
Jan 2011
Prisoners' Rights
Smart Justice
Turner v. Rogers
Whether an indigent parent facing imprisonment for failure to pay child support is entitled to appointed counsel?
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U.S. Supreme Court
Jan 2011

Prisoners' Rights
Smart Justice
Turner v. Rogers
Whether an indigent parent facing imprisonment for failure to pay child support is entitled to appointed counsel?

Court Case
Dec 2010
Prisoners' Rights
+2 Issues
Թֱ 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

Prisoners' Rights
+2 Issues
Թֱ 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
Aug 2010
Prisoners' Rights
+3 Issues
Sossamon v. Texas
Whether the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which was designed in part to protect the religious rights of prisoners, allows prisoners to sue a state for money damages when a state violates those religious rights.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Aug 2010

Prisoners' Rights
+3 Issues
Sossamon v. Texas
Whether the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which was designed in part to protect the religious rights of prisoners, allows prisoners to sue a state for money damages when a state violates those religious rights.