Blog of Rights
Margaret
Winter

Margaret Winter is the Associate Director of the ACLU National Prison Project. She was lead counsel for plaintiffs in the case that led to the closing of Mississippi's supermax prison. She is currently challenging overcrowding, excessive force, mistreatment of the mentally ill, and other unconstitutional conditions of confinement in the Los Angeles County Jail, the largest jail in the nation. Winter has successfully argued a prisoner's rights case in the U.S. Supreme Court.

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07/29/2010

Corruption and Abuse By LA County Deputies Contribute To Suicide, Report Confirms

By Margaret Winter, National Prison Project at 4:06pm

John Horton was held in solitary confinement in the Los Angeles County Men‘s Central Jail following his arrest for drug possession. He committed suicide.

In the days leading up to his death in March 2009, jail staff noted that Mr. Horton was despondent. His cell was a dimly-lit, windowless, solid-front box the size of a closet. His body was already stiff by the time security staff discovered him hanging from a noose in his cell, with his hands bound – one of eight successful apparent suicides in the L.A. County jails in the past calendar year.

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06/25/2009

Prison Rape Victims Deserve Ways to Seek Justice And Accountability

By Margaret Winter, National Prison Project at 2:17pm

(Originally posted at Daily Kos.)

Tuesday's release of the bipartisan National Prison Rape Elimination Commission (NPREC) report called vividly to mind dozens of horrendous prison rape cases the ACLU has investigated that were immunized from legal challenge by a 1996 federal law, the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) — a law which too often slams the federal court house doors in rape victims' faces.

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