American Civil Liberties Union

Prisoners' Rights:
The ACLU's National Prison Project is the only national litigation program on behalf of prisoners. Since 1972, the NPP has represented more than 100,000 men, women and children. The NPP continues to fight unconstitutional conditions and the "lock 'em up" mentality that prevails in the legislatures. Learn more about our project and take action to protect the rights guaranteed to all Americans.


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Prisoner Rights : Press Releases

Judge Rejects Government Efforts to Block Details of Deficient Medical Care in Wisconsin’s Largest Women’s Prison (03/15/2007)
MILWAUKEE — The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that a federal judge has ruled that claims of grossly deficient medical and mental health care for Wisconsin’s women prisoners must be heard. Judge Rudolph Randa denied efforts by prison officials to dismiss these claims of inadequate health care at Taycheedah Correctional Institution (TCI), Wisconsin’s largest women’s prison.

U.S. Virgin Islands Governor and Attorney General Held in Contempt Over Deficient Care for Mentally Ill Prisoners (03/01/2007)
ST. THOMAS, VI - The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed a federal judge’s ruling finding Virgin Islands government officials in contempt for failing to provide court-ordered mental health care and appropriate housing for mentally ill Virgin Islands prisoners.

Solitary Confinement Called "Inappropriate" for Mentally Ill Prisoners in Indiana (01/30/2007)
INDIANAPOLIS-The American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project and the ACLU of Indiana announced today that, as a result of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, the Indiana Department of Correction has agreed to move all mentally ill prisoners out of the Secured Housing Unit (SHU), a "Supermax" unit where prisoners are forced to live in extreme isolation and sensory deprivation for months or even years.

ACLU Sues U.S. Immigration Officials and For-Profit Corrections Corporation Over Dangerous and Inhumane Housing of Detainees (01/24/2007)
SAN DIEGO - The American Civil Liberties Union today joined a lawsuit on behalf of immigration detainees at San Diego Correctional Facility, charging that chronically severe overcrowding places detainees’ health and safety at risk and is unconstitutional.

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.

Michigan Judge Threatens $2 Million Fine for Inadequate Prison Health Care (12/08/2006)
KALAMAZOO, MI— The American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project and two Ann Arbor civil rights attorneys, Patricia Streeter and Michael Barnhart, today lauded a ruling by a Michigan judge calling for improvements to deficient prison health care.

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.

Michigan Judge Orders an End to the Use of Restraints on Prisoners (11/13/2006)
KALAMAZOO, MI - Today Judge Richard Alan Enslen ordered that Michigan prison officials must make significant improvements to mental health care and cease the use of in-cell non-medical restraints for punishment, just one month after he heard arguments from the ACLU National Prison Project and local civil rights attorneys that mental health care in Michigan was a failure. The decision affects several prison facilities in Jackson, Michigan.

Judge Orders County to End Inhumane Overcrowding in Los Angeles County Jails (10/27/2006)
LOS ANGELES -- In response to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California's concerns about severe overcrowding in the Los Angeles County jail system, a federal judge today ordered that the county immediately end its unconstitutional practices in the jail's central processing hub.

Federal Court to Hear Challenges to Deficient Health Care in Michigan Prisons After Prisoner Dies in Restraints (10/13/2006)
KALAMAZOO, MI- At a hearing tomorrow before U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Enslen, the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project and two Ann Arbor civil rights attorneys will argue that some of the state's oldest and largest prisons do not meet constitutional standards for medical and mental health care, and that Patricia Caruso, Director of the Department of Corrections, should be held in contempt for the Defendants' non-compliance with court orders to improve medical services.

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