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Prisoners' Rights
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Commission Finds Federal Law Denies Prison Rape Victims Access To Courts
The bipartisan commission's report shows that a law intended to reduce frivolous lawsuits denies victims of abuse their rights. More >>
Secret Creation of Isolated Housing Units in Federal Prisons Violates the Law
The ACLU and the ACLU of Indiana today filed a legal complaint challenging the unprecedented and secret creation of housing units inside federal prisons in which prisoners are condemned to live in stark isolation from the outside world. More >>
Sanctions Needed Against Virgin Islands Officials For Failing To Improve Jail Conditions
For more than 13 years, officials have ignored orders to make specific improvements in virtually every aspect of operations and conditions at the CJC and the CJC Annex. The Virgin Islands government has been held in contempt four times during that time and is currently operating under two separate contempt sanctions.
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ACLU Wins Judicial Order Requiring Proper Administration Of Medicine At Wisconsin Women's Prison
A federal judge has ordered correctional officials to take immediate steps toward fixing the error-prone system of ordering and administering medication to prisoners at the state's largest women's prison.
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> Motion For Preliminary Injunction
> ACLU of Wisconsin
ACLU Releases Expert's Report On Nightmarish Conditions At Men's Central Jail In Los Angeles
The American Civil Liberties Union today released an expert's report documenting how brutally overcrowded conditions cause or contribute to violence and serious mental illness in Los Angeles County's aging Men's Central Jail, and demanded that county officials swiftly implement changes to prevent unnecessary deaths or serious injuries. More >>
> Read Dr. Terry Kupers' Report on Mental Health Issues at Los Angeles County Jail
Blog: The Dirty Little Secret of Deaths in Detention
The New York Times' revelation of a Pakistani New Yorker's 2005 death in detention is the direct result of documents the ACLU obtained from ICE and other Homeland Security entities. More >>
> NYT: Immigrant Detainee Dies, and a Life Is Buried, Too (off-site)
ACLU Says Bureau Of Prisons Again Attempting To Illegally Ban Religious Material
The ACLU has filed formal comments opposing a proposed rule by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) that would illegally empower prison officials to ban vital religious works from prison chapel libraries, despite a law passed last year prohibiting them from doing so. The proposed rule would allow material to be banned based on a mere determination that it "could...suggest" violence or criminal behavior.
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> ACLU's Comments On BOP's Proposed Rule
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ACLU Secures Prisoner's Right To Practice Catholic Faith (7/1/2009)
NEW ORLEANS, LA Today the ACLU Foundation of Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections filed a settlement securing the right of prisoner Donald Lee Leger to practice his Catholic faith by participating in Catholic Mass and Confession. Leger, a Catholic death row inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, sued prison officials after being unable to regularly participate in Catholic Mass, although Baptist religious services were routinely held on death row. Leger also was made to watch and listen to predominately Baptist programming on a television directly placed outside his cell.
Prison Reform Advocates to Discuss Cost-Saving Alternatives to Incarceration at July 11 Forum in Tucson (6/29/2009)
PHOENIX – Saying Arizona's prison policies have led to high incarceration rates and government misspending, local prison reform advocates are urging community members to participate in a public dialogue on July 11 in Tucson on how to reduce crime and save taxpayer dollars.
Commission Finds Federal Law Denies Prison Rape Victims Access To Courts (6/23/2009)
WASHINGTON – The bipartisan National Prison Rape Elimination Commission (NPREC) released a report today finding that a law intended to reduce frivolous lawsuits by prisoners denies victims of prison rape and other abuse access to the federal courts. The report proposes national standards to eliminate prison rape and calls on Congress to reform key provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), passed in 1996. In its report, the commission also recommends reduction in prison overcrowding; improved training for prison and jail employees for better detection of sexual assault; improved classification of vulnerable prisoners to protect them from abuse; and better psychological and medical treatment for sexual abuse victims.
ACLU Lawsuit Challenges Secret Creation Of Isolated Housing Units In Federal Prisons (6/18/2009)
TERRE HAUTE, IN – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Indiana today filed a legal complaint challenging the unprecedented and secret creation of housing units inside federal prisons in which prisoners are condemned to live in stark isolation from the outside world. Called Communication Management Units (CMUs) and designed to house prisoners viewed by the government as terrorists, they were established in violation of federal laws requiring public scrutiny and today are disproportionately inhabited by Muslim prisoners – many of whom have never been convicted of terrorism-related crimes.
Prison Litigation Reform Act Denies Access To Courts For Over 2 Million People (6/16/2009)
WASHINGTON – In light of a new report showing that a law intended to reduce so-called “frivolous lawsuits” by prisoners has resulted in barring serious prison abuse cases from reaching the courts, the American Civil Liberties Union today called on Congress to amend parts of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996 (PLRA). The law requires prisoners to exhaust the internal grievance process of their facilities and allege a physical injury due to mistreatment in order to seek redress in the courts.
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