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ACLU Calls For Independent Audit Of South Carolina Department Of Corrections (08/26/2008)
CHARLESTON, SC – The American Civil Liberties Union's South Carolina Office today called on state officials to ask the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to perform an independent audit of the South Carolina Department of Corrections in the face of charges of lax security, inmate abuse and a politicized, hostile work environment. The Legislative Audit Council last week scrapped a plan to survey the department's employees after the department's director charged that the effort was politically motivated.

Prison Litigation Reform Act Must be Fixed, Law denies justice to victims (04/22/2008)
Washington, DC – The House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security is scheduled to examine reform of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), which was originally passed by Congress in 1996 as a way to stem the tide against what were thought to be frivolous lawsuits by prisoners. Since that time, the law has been used repeatedly to deny justice to victims of rape, assault, religious rights violations and other serious abuses.

ACLU of New Mexico Sues Jail for Rape of Inmate (01/24/2008)
ALBUQUERQUE — The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed a lawsuit today against the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) for failing to protect inmate Roman Gallardo from physical and sexual assault by another prisoner while Gallardo was incarcerated for a DWI offense in 2006. The rape took place after Gallardo, an openly gay man, was forced to share a cell with an inmate who was known to have sexually assaulted at least one other prisoner.

ACLU Calls Passage of Deaths in Custody Bill a Step in the Right Direction (01/23/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today supported a bill passed by the House that compels officials to report deaths of prisoners and immigration detainees in local and state custody. The Deaths in Custody Reporting Act, introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), demands accountability and transparency from state and local agencies, where most immigration detainees are held, when people die in custody. The bill does not, however, apply to deaths in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.

ACLU Testimony to Virgin Islands Legislature Urges Overhaul of Prison System (01/16/2008)
ST. THOMAS, VI – An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer advocated Wednesday that lawmakers in the Virgin Islands adopt a bill that would establish the Bureau of Corrections as its own governmental agency headed by a cabinet-level director appointed by the governor. In testimony given before the Virgin Islands Legislature’s Committee on Public Safety, Homeland Security and Justice, Eric Balaban, senior staff counsel for the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said the bill would create greater accountability for prison officials and go a long way toward improving what he described as the “unconstitutional and dangerous conditions” at the Virgin Islands Criminal Justice Complex (CJC).

ACLU Calls on Nevada Prison Officials to Comply with National Health Care Standards (01/07/2008)
ELY, NV – The American Civil Liberties Union today proposed to Nevada government officials, including Governor Jim Gibbons and Corrections Director Howard Skolnik, a series of basic reforms to dramatically improve prison health care at Ely State Prison (ESP).

Civil Rights Lawyers and Mississippi Department of Corrections Agree to Overhaul Violent Supermax Unit (11/15/2007)
ABERDEEN, Miss. – The American Civil Liberties Union, the law firm of Holland & Knight, LLP, and the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) have reached a landmark agreement paving the way for the continued sweeping reform of a super maximum security unit – Unit 32 – in the Mississippi State Penitentiary, once notorious for violence and chaos. Under the agreement, MDOC will continue to remove hundreds of misclassified prisoners and all seriously mentally ill prisoners from supermax confinement; improve basic mental health care and impose additional restrictions on the use of force by guards.

Disparate Advocates Tell Congress to Fix Law That Silences Prisoner Abuse (11/08/2007)
Washington, DC – Conservative activists, academics and prisoners united today to urge members of a House Judiciary Committee subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security to reform the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). The PLRA, enacted in 1996, was passed to reduce frivolous prisoner lawsuits, but in reality the law has made it nearly impossible for prisoners to report abuse and unconstitutional conditions of confinement in federal court.

Amendment to Legislation Will Require Government Transparency and Accountability Regarding Immigrant Deaths in Custody (11/07/2007)
Washington, DC – An amendment that requires officials to report deaths of detainees in local and state custody was passed today by the House Judiciary Committee. The amendment, offered by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and attached to H.R. 3971, the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2007, mandates transparency and accountability by state and local agencies of all immigration detainees who die in their custody. Since most Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are held in state and local facilities, most of the deaths of immigrants in detention would have to be reported to the attorney general.

ACLU of Arizona Lawsuit Triggers Transfer of TB Patient to Denver Hospital (07/17/2007)
PHOENIX – After spending nearly one year in a Maricopa County jail ward despite never having committed any crime, tuberculosis patient Robert Daniels will be finally transferred on Thursday to the National Jewish Medical and Research Center to receive treatment for his tuberculosis infection, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona confirmed today.

ACLU Seeks Release of Gulf War Vet Illegally Detained for Three Years (05/22/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a habeas petition seeking the release of Warren Joseph, a Gulf War veteran and immigrant from Trinidad who is a permanent resident of the United States. Joseph has been illegally locked up for more than three years in immigration custody in a New Jersey prison.

ACLU of Texas Applauds Passage of Prison Rape Elimination Bill (05/22/2007)
AUSTIN, TX – The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas cheers the passage of House Bill 1944, a measure that seeks to eliminate sexual assault in Texas Prisons, which cleared the Texas Senate yesterday. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston), also garnered support from the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA), Stop Prison Rape, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

Supreme Court Decision Overturns Draconian Limitations on Prisoner Litigation Imposed by the Sixth Circuit (01/22/2007)
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed a unanimous Supreme Court decision striking down a series of barriers to prisoner litigation imposed by the Sixth Circuit. Today’s decision in Jones v. Bock overturned the strict requirements imposed by the Sixth Circuit in the provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) that mandates that prisoners “exhaust” administrative remedies.

Autopsy Confirms Michigan Prisoner Died Due to Deficient Care (11/20/2006)
JACKSON COUNTY, MI- The American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project announced today the results of the autopsy of a Michigan prisoner who spent four days in restraints before his death in August 2006. The report confirmed that the 21-year-old, who has a history of mental illness, died of hyperthermia and dehydration after spending days shackled to a metal slab in an unbearably hot cell.

ACLU Urges Connecticut Officials to End Use of Attack Dogs to Control Prisoners (11/17/2006)
HARTFORD, CT -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut and the ACLU's National Prison Project is urging Governor M. Jodi Rell to end the use of canines to control prisoners, a barbaric practice that calls to mind the notorious photos of snarling dogs used against prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Supreme Court Limits Lawsuits By Prisoners Challenging Cruel and Inhumane Treatment; (06/23/2006)
WASHINGTON -- In light of a Supreme Court decision giving a broad interpretation to a Gingrich-era law restricting prisoners’ ability to vindicate their right to be free of torture and other cruel and inhumane treatment, the American Civil Liberties Union today called on Congress to amend the law.

ACLU Condemns U.S. for Failing to Uphold Civil and Political Rights (06/20/2006)
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union today released a report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee condemning the U.S. government for failing to comply with its treaty obligations to protect and preserve a range of human rights protections at home and abroad. Drawing attention to some of the most vulnerable members of society, including women, children, minorities, immigrants and the accused, the ACLU offered detailed recommendations to bring the U.S. in line with universally recognized human rights standards.

ACLU Urges New Orleans City Council to Review Conditions at Prison (12/08/2005)
In response to reports that hundreds of prisoners have returned to Orleans Parish Prison, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana today urged the City Council to conduct a full and thorough review of the conditions within the facility. In letters to each council member, the ACLU expressed concern that Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman re-opened the prison despite the lack of adequate evacuation plans or medical staff and equipment.

Texas Jury Rejects Prison Rape Case (10/18/2005)
WICHITA FALLS, TX -- A jury today rejected a civil lawsuit brought by Roderick Keith Johnson, a gay former Texas prisoner who was repeatedly raped and sold as a sex slave by prison gangs. The lawsuit sought damages from six prison officials for ignoring Johnson's pleas for help and refusing to protect him from repeated sexual assault.